Andy Murray was able to pull off a fairly big upset over world #1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, while Federer had a tough match with Del Potro, winning in two tie breakers to set up this solid final. Both of these players have played tremendous tennis to this point in the tournament and season for that matter. Murray now seems to be Djokovic’s biggest threat as he has fared well against the Serbian in their recent four matches, winning twice and taking sets in the others.
Murray and Federer did not play at all last season largely due to the fact that they were #3 and #4 seeds at all big tournaments and they both were never able to make a final together, which would have been the only way they could meet. In 2010 the two split their year 2-2 and Federer has the most recent victory over Andy, which was at the 2010 Barclays year end championships. Federer is extremely strong indoors though so it may be more reasonable to look at the previous two matches, both of which Murray won on outdoor hard courts. Without getting too far into who will win this match let’s look at the odds:
Dubai Tennis Championships Finals Odds
Andy Murray +115
Roger Federer -135
These odds are from 5Dimes.com our top rated tennis betting site. You will be hard pressed to find better odds on either player online.
Dubai Finals Prediction
Both Murray and Federer have had tremendous starts to the season, but it is hard to argue that Murray’s 2012 has been superior. Murray said that he would be playing less tournaments this year in order to focus harder on the Grand Slams and Olympics and to this point he has kept his word. Murray played one tournament to prepare for the Aussie Open, a ATP250, winning it easily with Dolgopolov being his most difficult opponent in the finals. At the Australian Open he proceed to defeat a plethora of medium ranked players before losing to the eventual champion Djokovic in the semi finals in a hard fought 5 set battle. He defeated Berdych and Djokovic the #6 and #1 players on tour in this tournament on his way to the finals without dropping a set to either of them or even heading to a tie break. It is safe to say that Andy Murray is on top of his game.
Federer has only lost twice this season, once to Nadal in the semi’s of the Aussie Open and then to John Isner in the Davis Cup first round. He has defeated Del Potro three times, first in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, then in the finals in Rotterdam and also in the semi’s here in Dubai, but that is the only top player Federer has really defeated this season. For this reason I have to give the edge to Andy Murray who has shown he can defeat the best in tennis this season and has also had success against Federer in the past. It also doesn’t hurt that he is the underdog in this match.
Play: Andy Murray +115 (5Dimes.com)
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Written by: Niko de Jonge
Andy Murray betting • Roger Federer betting