Thursday sees the first semi-final in the men's draw of the 2012 Australian Open as old rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal go head to head in Melbourne. The pair have met 26 times on the ATP tour with the Spaniard having the better of their meetings, winning seventeen opposed to Federer's nine in the head to head. However the betting has the number three seed Roger Federer as the favourite, with bookmaker Bet365 making the Swiss superstar 5/8 to reach Sunday's final.
Federer has eased through to the semi finals stage in Melbourne, having played a game less than Thursday's oponent thanks to the injury to his second round opponent and he is yet to drop a set in the tournament. He beat Russian Alexander Kudryavtsev in the first round and followed that up with a walkover against Andreas Beck in round two before another straight sets win over the big serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in round three. Federer overcame a potential banana skin on Sunday when beating the young Australian Bernard Tomic before a very comfortable win over Jual Del Potro in the quarter finals.
Bet 365 go 11/8 about Rafael Nadal's chances here and the bookmakers have been against the world number two throughout the tournament it seems. An injury scare on the eve of the tournament saw Nadal's odds pushed right out to fourth favourite but like Federer, Nadal made light work of his first week opponents beating Alex Kuznetsov, Tommy Haas and Lukas Lacko in straight sets in the first three rounds. Fellow countryman Feliciano Lopez was no match for Nadal in the last sixteen before he came through a gruelling four set quarter final with Tomas Berdych on Tuesday night. Berdych threw absolutely everything at Nadal and the energy it took out of the Spaniard is the probable reason why Bet365 are willing to lay him.
Nadal has proved over the years that he's no usual specimen however and despite spending more hours on court than Federer the 7/5 looks like a decent bet. As discussed, Nadal has the edge of Federer in the head to head and he won three of the four meetings the pair had in 2011, including the French Open final. In fact, Nadal has won the last four meetings between the two in Grand Slams and you have to go all the way back to the 2007 Wimbledon final for Federer's last win in a major against his Spanish opponent.
Andy Murray has had a relatively comfortable route to Friday's semi-final with Novak Djokovic. The Scotsman dropped a set in his opener with American Ryan Harrison before beating Edouard Roger-Vasselin in straight sets in the second round. Murray won an entertaining encounter with Michael Llodra in round three before beating the retired Mikhail Kukushkin when two sets to love up. A routine quarter final win over Japan's Kei Nishikori means that Murray has reached the semi-final of a Grand Slam for the fifth consecutive tournament.
World number one Novak Djokovic is another who has cruised to the semi-final stage as he looks to win this tournament for the second consecutive year. The Serbian won three of the four majors last season and is odds on to reach Sunday's final by beating Murray and the favourite of the remaining four top seeds to win the title at 11/8 with Bet 365. Djokovic has beaten Paulo Lorenzi, Santiago Giraldo, Nicolas Mahut, Lleyton Hewitt and David Ferrer on his way to the semi-finals, dropping just one set along the way to Hewitt and losing just 34 games in sixteen sets of tennis.
Djokovic beat Murray in the final in Melbourne twelve months ago and has a 6-4 record in ATP matches throughout their career. This will be only their second meeting in a Grand Slam and Djokovic is prices up a 4/9 to beat Murray (19/10) with Bet365.
Match Odds
5/8 Roger Federer
11/8 Rafael Nadal
19/10 Andy Murray
4/9 Novak Djokovic
Outright Betting
11/8 Novak Djokovic
12/5 Roger Federer
9/2 Rafael Nadal
9/2 Andy Murray
Odds supplied by Bet365.com, featuring live betting in-running throughout both semi-finals.
Posted: Wednesday, 25th January 2012
Author: Russell Lloyd
Tags: australian open, roger federer, rafael nadal, andy murray, bet365,
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