After two weeks of fantastic action and plenty of drama the top two seeds in the men’s draw will play out the final of the Australian Open on Sunday as Novak Djokovic takes on Andy Murray in what is fast becoming the big rivalry of our time.
Djokovic will be looking to win this title for the sixth time in this match while Andy Murray will be looking for his first title. His brother Jamie won the doubles on Saturday so Andy will be hoping to make it a family double but he’ll know he has his work cut out here.
Djokovic has had his ups and downs in this tournament but he has made it into another final where he is the emphatic favourite. I’m sure he would have taken this position when he was making 100 unforced errors in a marathon win over Gilles Simon last week.
Since then he has blown Kei Nishikori away and then played some of the most flawless tennis you will ever see in destroying Roger Federer and a repeat of that performance surely lands him his 11th Grand Slam title.
In fairness to Andy Murray he’s played some sublime tennis at times in this tournament too. He took Bernard Tomic apart in the fourth round and outlasted both David Ferrer and Milos Raonic in the quarter final and the semi-final respectively so he’ll be feeling as good as he can ahead of a meeting with his Serbian rival.
Djokovic now leads this rivalry 21-9 but he has won 10 of their last 11 meetings and that has to be a concern for Murray. Murray has all the stamina and all the technical skills to stay with Djokovic, especially in defence but he doesn’t have the power or the consistency to overpower him and that is where his problem lies.
Like most opponents he faces these days Djokovic seems to have worked out the winning formula in battles between these two but we must give credit to Murray. When they meet in Grand Slam matches he is rarely overawed and beaten out of sight.
In fact the two men have met in Grand Slams on eight occasions. Djokovic has won six of those meetings but only one of the six has he won in straight sets and that was way back in the final of this in 2011 and Murray is a much better player now who is used to this sort of occasion.
I still don’t think Murray is quite good enough to win this final but history shows it would be wrong to think he’ll die in straight sets so I like the 6/4 on Djokovic to win the match but on Murray to win a set.
Back N.Djokovic to win and Murray to win a set for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with William Hill
