Andy Murray favourite to win Aus Open

Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 3:01 am

The first grand slam of the year begins on Monday (January 19) and for the first time in years Punters have not picked Roger Federer as favourite to win the Australian Open. After some good performances in 2009 British Number 1 Andy Murray is the new favourite.

Swiss master Roger Federer is back in Australia to stake his claim once again to what was once his
own the number one ranking in the world.

Fedex kicked off his preperations for the Australian Open in grand style winning his 1st round match against Carlos Moya in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne.

Roger Federer, speaking on the tournament ahead said, “No, I’m always really happy coming down under, I love playing here. I’ve always been very successful. I’ve reached semi-finals or better (at the Australian Open). I’m still coming off winning the US Open, the last ‘slam’ of last year, so I hope I can carry the form I had over there into the next Grand Slam on hard courts in Australia.”

Federer’s smashing form will see him start as one of the favourites to win the Australian Open but the punters are backing world no. 4 Andy Murray to pull off a big surprise and it’s not gone down to well with the former number 1.

While Murray will aim to become the 1st Brit to win a grand Slam in 73 years, Fedex expects the real challenge to come from the usual suspects.

Federer said, “Novak (Djokovic) is the defending champion here, Rafa (Nadal) had an incredible
season last year, I won the last ‘slam’ of last season, so it’s surprising to hear, but we’ll see what
happens.”

Having already lost to Murray twice in 2009, the start to the season has not been ideal for the 13-time grand slam winner, but rest assured, come 19th January, Fedex is set to come out all guns blazing at the Australian Open.

Meanwhile, Federer’s countryman Stanislas Wawrinka too made a winning start in the Kooyong Classic beating 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

Wawrinka, the world number 16, was totally dominant from the start. A break in the third game set the tone for the match. A second break in the seventh helped the Swiss player wrap up the first set 6-2 in 31 minutes. Baghdatis, who has slipped to number 97 in the world, continued to struggle and two more service breaks for Wawrinka sealed a 6-2, 6-2 triumph.

And, another Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez had better luck than Baghdatis. Gonzalez won his opening game against Ivan Lubichich in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. The pair were evenly matched early on but Gonzalez managed a break in the ninth game to edge into a 5-4 lead.

The South American was then forced to save two break points before clinching the set 6-4 with a
backhand dropshot. Lubichich surrendered the first game of the second set with a double fault and Gonzalez’s defeat looked unlikely from that point on. He duly broke again in the ninth game as Ljubicic played into the net to bring the match to a close.

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Andy Murray favourite to win Aus Open

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