The fourth round gets underway this Sunday with the main favorite – Andy Murray – in action. Bookmakers Review breaks down the fixtures below and lists the best available odds from green listed bookmakers.
Murray vs. Zverev
After Novak Djokovic’s defeat, Andy Murray is now the undeniable favourite to lift the trophy in Melbourne. The world no.1 played at a very high level in the previous round against Sam Querrey, defeating the American in three easy sets. Despite rolling his ankle in the 2nd round, Andy said that he felt very good on the court.
At the age of 29, Mischa Zverev makes his debut in the 4th round of a Grand Slam event. After struggling with several physical problems in recent years, Zverev is finally healthy and ready to compete at the highest level. Despite his outstanding run this week, Mischa already spent 11 hours on the court among his 3 singles and two doubles matches.
With so much tennis played in the last few days, it’s unlikely to see Zverev maintaining a high intensity throughout the whole match. Besides this, Murray should create many problems to the German with his outstanding return to serve. Therefore, Andy should cover his -9 spread at 7/10 at Pinnacle in a match where he’s the heavy favourite to win at 3/100 at William Hill while Zverev is available at 22/1 at BetVictor.
Federer vs. Nishikori
Looking now to the matches scheduled for this Sunday in Melbourne, the highlight clearly goes to the contest between Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori.
Despite some doubts about Federer’s ability to play long matches after so much time away from competition, the Swiss dismissed Tomas Berdych in three easy sets. Even Roger was surprised with his level of tennis. The four-time Australian Open champion said that the biggest surprise for him was not facing a single break point throughout the match.
Nishikori also performed at a very good level in the previous round with a straight sets victory against an inspired Lukas Lacko. Due to the proximity with Japan, Kei always counts with a huge support on this event. After his victory against Lacko, Nishikori mentioned that he feels very comfortable playing the Australian Open due to the strong support he receives.
Even though Roger played at an outstanding level of the previous match, Nishikori won’t be an easy match-up for the Swiss. The Japanese is a phenomenal returner and it’s highly unlikely to see Federer dominating with his serve as he did in the previous match. Therefore, Kei is clearly the value play on this match with William Hill offering 3/2 for his victory while Federer is available at 63/100 at Pinnacle.
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