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Tennis News :: Australian Tennis Open Mens Singles Betting

Posted on 2009-01-15 by Gooner

Bettors all over the world have been waiting for this moment.

The first major event of the 2009 tennis season is the Australian Open, starting Jan. 19 at Melbourne Park in Melbourne. The country’s sporting mecca and second largest city will be treated to two weeks of top-flight tennis.

And the fields for both the men and women are wide open this year, although the men’s draw could be less competitive than expected.

Marat Safin pulled out of the Kooyong Classic eight-man exhibition on Monday with what he’s calling a shoulder injury. Safin is the 2005 Aussie Open champion and enjoyed something of a revival in 2008 by reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon, normally his weakest Grand Slam.

If Safin is out of the picture, that opens the field up somewhat for Andy Murray, the 21-year-old Scotsman who wowed the tennis world by beating both Roger Federer and Andy Roddick to win the Qatar Open. Murray also beat both players to close out 2008 with a victory at the Tennis Masters Cup in China. Both events were played on the hardcourt.

The United Kingdom is a haven for betting on tennis, and Murray has been the uncrowned champion of punters since he cracked the ATP’s Top 10 last summer. Murray is currently the No. 4 player in the world and expected to ride a wave of British money into the favorite spot for Melbourne.

Roger Federer (No. 2 in the world) and Rafael Nadal (No. 1) figure to be crowding Murray at the top of the Aussie Open odds list.

Nadal is still noted as a clay-court specialist, although he did win his first Wimbledon last year. But Nadal has never been to the finals at either the Aussie or the U.S. Open – also a hardcourt event – while Federer won at Melbourne in 2004, 2006 and 2007. For good measure, Murray beat Nadal in the U.S. Open semis last year after losing his first five encounters with the Spaniard.

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Sourced From : BookieLabRat.com Sports Betting Blog

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Australian Tennis Open Womens Singles Betting