US Open Daily Tips Day Five: Murray on easy street

US Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 03 September 2010 / Leave a Comment

Murray should minimise his court time with an easy win tonight

"Tonight’s match against world no.4 Murray, a former US Open finalist, represents a massive step-up in class for Dustin Brown. He will find it extremely hard to stay in the rallies from the back of the court and will struggle to hold serve against one of the best returners in the game. "

Ben Caudell picks the best bets from two of tonight's men's singles matches - Andy Murray v Dustin brown and the all-Spanish affair between Guillermo Garcia Lopez and Nicolas Almagro

Andy Murray (GBR) v Dustin Brown (JAM)
Andy Murray steps into the relative unknown this evening as he faces Dustin Brown, a player he knows very little about, having never played the Jamaican on tour. Murray admits he has never seen Brown hit a ball.
Brown made history in the first round when he beat clay court specialist Ruben Hidalgo to become the first Jamaican man to post a victory at a Grand Slam tournament since 1974. The 25-year-old is something of a rarity in today's game - a serve and volley specialist, a big hitter and also a great athlete on and off the court.
Currently ranked at 123 in the World, Brown's favourite surface is grass. Born in Germany he moved to Jamaica with his Jamaican Dad and German mother where he finished college and played Futures and Challenger tournaments until 2004 before returning to Germany to train in Hannover.
Brown now competes mostly on the lower circuit and his finest achievement so far this year was winning the Johannesburg Challenger tournament on hard courts in April. More recently, Brown managed to qualify by winning three matches in New Haven before losing in the first round proper to Jan Hajek in straight sets.
Tonight's match against world no.4 Murray, a former US Open finalist, represents a massive step-up in class for the Jamaican. He will find it extremely hard to stay in the rallies from the back of the court and will struggle to hold serve against one of the best returners in the game. This will be Brown's first ever match against a top-10 player and there is little doubt in my mind that Murray will breeze through n straight sets, dropping very few games on the way.
Selection: Back A Murray -9.5 Games @ [2.0]
Back Under 28.5 Games @ [1.98]


Guillermo Garcia Lopez (ESP) v Nicolas Almagro (SPA)
Tonight's all-Spanish affair between world no.53 Garcia Lopez and Almagro, ranked 16, is defiantly a match to look out for. Both players are more accustomed to the clay courts, however both have adapted their styles of play to suit the faster and bouncier American hard courts.
Almagro has struggled recently with his form, losing in the first round of Cincinnati and the second round of Toronto. Garcia Lopez, who is returning to the game after spraining his right ankle in Hamburg, has played very little on the hard courts this year. But he looked in good health and as fit as a fiddle as he duly dispatched of Lukas Kubot in his first round match in Flushing Meadows in straight sets.
I believe that there is good reason and value to be had backing Garcia Lopez to win this match, the Spaniard has won five of his last six against fellow Spaniards and has a resounding 4-0 head-to-head series lead over tonight's opponent. There are also rumours that Almagro is suffering from an intestinal virus!
Selection: Back Garcia Lopez @ [2.5] to win match