Australian Open Results: Misery mounts for Murray

Australian Open Betting / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 30 January 2011 /

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Andy Murray wonders whether it's all worth it after losing his third Grand Slam final

"Critics will say that the big first serve that was so crucial in Murray’s come-from-behind win against David Ferrer in the previous round went missing and that at times he wasn’t positive enough and didn’t go for enough winners on the big points. But the truth is that Djokovic played unbelievable tennis throughout the whole match..."

Andy Murray continues his search for a Grand Slam title after the Scot found Novak Djokovic just a little too hot to handle this morning...

The wait for Andy Murray to win a Grand Slam continues after the Scot was comprehensively beaten in straight sets (6-4, 6-2, 6-3) by Novak Djokovic.

Many believed this may have been Murray's best-ever chance of winning a Grand Slam given that he didn't have to face either of Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer throughout the tournament and was up against a player who may have been plagued with some self doubt after winning just one Grand Slam despite being considered the third best player in the world for almost four years now.

Critics will say that the big first serve that was so crucial in Murray's come-from-behind win against David Ferrer in the previous round went missing and that at times he wasn't positive enough and didn't go for enough winners on the big points. But the truth is that Djokovic played unbelievable tennis throughout the whole match, just as he had against Federer in the semi-final and it's unlikely any player in the world could have lived with him today.

The 2008 Australian Open champion was matched at a high of [14.5] on Betfair to win the tournament and at [5.1] to win the final in straight sets.

As for Andy Murray, he traded at just [1.42] to win any Grand Slam this year before today's final but his comprehensive defeat has led the market to re-think his chances and he's trading closer to [2.5] to win any of the three remaining ones. A similar story happened on the Sports Personality Of The Year market where he was matched at just [2.7] in the build up to this match; he's still the favourite but has now drifted to [6.6].

At least betting.betfair readers will have made some money from Murray's misery. Jack Houghton wondered whether he was destined to join the group of players who had reached Grand Slam finals but never won one while Ben Caudell pinpointed Djokovic's experience of delivering the goods in a Grand Slam final before, his better form on hardcourts and extra freshness after having had one more day to recover from his semi. Maybe Jack is right and it's just not meant to be for Murray...

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