IT'S make or break for Andy Murray tonight at the ATP Tour Finals where he lines up against Milos Raonic.
A second successive defeat would send the Scot up the road early and he's a best price 1-2 to get the win needed to keep the dream alive.
The earlier match in Group B sees Murray's conqueror Kei Nishikori (2-1) against the evergreen Roger Federer (4-9) and there's also doubles action throughout the afternoon.
Novak Djokovic was in imperious form yesterday to thrash Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka was equally dominant against Tomas Berdych.
In the Grand Slam of darts, Michael van Gerwen, Raymond van Barneveld both sailed through to the last 16 with three wins out of three. The group stage winds up tonight and Phil Taylor needs just one leg against Andy Hamilton to secure his progress.
Scotland's Gary Anderson (3-10) faces a must-win clash against Holland's Wesley Hamms (13-5) and Peter Wright is 10-11 to edge out Simon Whitlock, who is priced at 4-5, for a knockout spot.
Good luck if you're having a bet and don't forget to post all your non-footie sporting tips and chat here.
From last night…
Darren Sproles Anytime TD scorer @ EVS WON
Jordan Matthews Anytime TD scorer @ 17/10 WON
Eagles to win every QTR @ 10/1 LOST (lost in the final qtr as well!)
Sproles Over 61.5 Rushing and Receiving Yards @ 5/6 LOST (Sproles managed a 60+ yd punt return but they don’t count towards this yardage)
Overall a good game for me. Was on Sproles first and 2+ and same for Matthews so made a lot of profit.
Ad – are you going O2 at all this year?
I fancied Stan to go far in the tourney and he was 22/1 but never put the bet on. He’s probably gone down to 10 now, played really well here last year. Hope Fed and Muzza can win today
Yes Id, in going to both sessions on Thursday. How about you? I’ve backed Stan at at 16/1 on betfair, think he’s still available around that mark.
Who do you fancy today? I think Raonic has a great chance against Murray and I’m thinking 2-1 Federer in the other match. May back Nishi and Milos on the handicaps/ to win a set.
Over 2.5 sets in the Murray-Raonic might be the best bet for today. Their last two matches has seen this come true, and I’m hesitant to place my money on Murray even though I hope he’ll make it through. Raonic has won 3 of the last five matches H2H. Looking at hard ground, Raonic still leads two to one looking at H2H, so it might be a tough one for Andy.
Going for over 2.5 sets – best 11/8 at bet365.
Treble
Federer
Murray
Sousa
2/1 @ bet365
I will not be touching murray today. I think there’s also a bit of risk in backing Federer but i hope he comes through like he should.
Federer to win 2-1 @ 16/5
Raonic + 2.5 games @ 5/6
Raonic d Murray @ 13/8
1st service break Raonic @ 11/8
Got my eggs in the Milos basket here but if Murray serves like he did against Nishikori he will get punished again. Milos was excellent in that second set against Federer, tiebreak aside, and his forehand Vs Murray’s second serve could be the matchup that swings this one. Keeping sakes sensible as Murray has shown he’s more than capable of digging deep over the years, and his recent form has been good, Sunday aside.
Ad,
Completely agree with not backing Murray, purely based on how bad he was against Nishikori, so I too will be on Raonic!
Just curious as to what you think the risk is with Federer? I thought Nishikori was fairly average against Murray and only came through because of how poor Murray was?
I didn’t actually see the Murray match, maybe if I had I wouldn’t have any doubts over Federer. Just looking at the stats it’s obvious Nishikori will have to serve a lot better to win today. Maybe ‘risk’ isn’t the right word, and I think I’m probably just a bit nervous as a big Federer fan and don’t like backing him at shortish odds in these circumstances. Nishikori has done well against Federer in the past and won’t be so nervous now having got his first tour finals win under his belt. If he’s near his best he will be dangerous. I’d rather wait till in play personally, but from a purely objective point of view your probably right in saying Fed is a decent bet.
I’ve given up intensive research into tennis tips for the year. There’s only so much you can do when it’s the best in the world playing the best in the world at they end of a season. Sit back and enjoy is my top tip!
A federer raonic 2-1 double pays 20/1 w ladbrokes and I’m taking that for a low stakes bit of interest
Fair enough Ad!
I see your tips on here all the time and your view is something I look out for hence my question, so thanks for the reply!
That’s okay,
Hope you haven’t been reading them too closely this week! Swings and missed. Pleased to see Rog making light work of Kei. Hope I didn’t put you off. As suspected I was just being irrationally nervous! I may back him at 7/2 to win the tournament. Id be surprised if he didn’t make the final and his odds will be down to around 13/8 by then id imagine.
Haha, didn’t quite manage to put me off.
Have 50 on Benneteau/Vasselin, Federer 2-0 and Raonic. Returns 458. Unfortunately cash out is only at 160 at the minute.
A bold bet, I like it. Hopefully Raonic will go ahead early on and boost that cash out. I fancy him to start faster than Murray, just got to hope he’s not feeling any nerves.
Talking of doubles, I fancy Peya/Soares to win the title at 6/1.
I’m just going to let it run, playing football tonight, 7:45 kick off, so won’t be watching the match!
3 points and a winning bet would be nice come 10pm!
Ah fair enough, well good luck mate. Try not to think about all that money hanging in the balance when you’ve got an open goal gaping in front of you!
An early tip for tomorrow. Im all over Cilic to best Berdych, and to beat him 2-0. Berdych pretty much has a mountain to climb if he wants to qualify and he’s well aware of that. He needs Stan to get pasted by Novak and to avoid a pasting at Novaks hands himself. Not going to happen! Cilic has a much better chance and was actually fairly close to playing well for periods against Djokovic. Cilic has done Tomas in straight sets the last two times they’ve met and I expect more of the same. They have similar games but Cilic has a higher top level and is willing to mix things up a bit and show his opponent something slightly different he needs to. He at least tried drop shots and serve volleying when things were going teets up against Novak for example. Berdych just kept executing his one and only tactic badly against Wawrinka. They may both have lost 6-1, 6-1, but Cilic’s defeat was far more forgivable.
3/4 for the win.( NAP)
7/4 for 2-0.
Just done Murray at evens enhanced, should I be worried
Can’t really complain about getting evens. But I’m expecting Raonic to win. Perfectly prepared to be proved wrong on that one though. If murray brings his A game he’ll be okay…
Ad – I would have gone with Fed this pm 2-0 lol
I’m guessing Muzza for this one – maybe 2-0
The above was a thought not a tip – this match is a no bet for me!
Ad I hope Fed v Muzza is the evening match. I have tickets for the evening. Do bbc get first pick on these?
I’ve got day pass for Friday and doing the semis and final as well. Pushing the boat out this year lol
Well Raonic is playing like an absolute chump. Murray is serving better but be really hasn’t had to so much else. Thought Milos had sorted himself out with that generally very impressive second set v federer
Good to hear you’ve got yourself so many tickets, gna be gooood!
I guess it will depend what happens in this match as to which is the evening match. They try and schedule so there are no dead rubbers.
Hard to see anything other than a Fed v Novak final at the moment. Stan’s the only one who has a chance of upsetting the apple cart on the showing so far.
How Raonic hasn’t broken to go ahead yet in this set I have no idea. He had missed some absolutely shocking bread and butter shots. If Murray does win this 2-0 it should help the odds on Federer to beat him at least, which I will be jumping all over.
Murray 6-5 up,serving for the match,,,Cmon ANDY!!!
Murray wins 6-3 7-5 Well done Andy
Well done indeed. Poor old Milos, 38% first serve ac in the first set, how am I supposed to win any bets with that?!
Sounds like Milos massively underperformed. Still get home to a couple of nice winners:
Benneteau/Vasselin
Federer 2-0
Raonic
50 returns 458 – *LOST*
Duckworth
Bunting
Wade
Anderson
150 returns 502 *WON*
Wright
Wade
Anderson
60 returns 178 *WON*
Roll on the NBA tonight!
Ad – thurs schedule is Muzza v fed as pm match.
Benny/ Vasselin v dodig/ melo is the doubles
Day match Nishi v milos and doubles is Nestor/ zimonjic v Granollers/ lopez
Interesting. Cheers for that Id. I guess they were always bound to put Federer Murray on at night if in doubt. Makes for the best evening atmosphere. But if Nishi beats Raonic doesn’t that mean Murray is out? Or would he have to win 2-0 to eliminate Murray before he’s played his match. I’m not quite sure whether they go to head to head before sets won if its just 2 players tied on matches.
Potluck what are your NBA tips
DEANDRE – no NBA tips from u today??
If Nishi wins 2-0 then Muzza needs to win big to take it to game difference. Then they would be 4-2 in sets and 4 points each
not gna happen is it id!
I strongly fancy Cilic tomorrow and Federer on Thursday. I also fancy Nishikori and Lopez/Granollers. May go for a high risk, high reward 4-fold.
In other news I just got 2/1 on Dodi/Melo to beat Benneteau/Vasselin and i’m not sure why. There’s a chance they might have already won the group I suppose so they’ll take it easy, but seems strange to me.
NBA Bets
Portland Trail Blazers
Dallas Mavericks
Milwaukee Bucks +2.5
Pays 5/4
Nikola Vucevic 16.5+
Kobe Bryant 25.5+
Pays 2/1
Good luck :-)
I am not a tipster however, based on a tipster on twitter that I follow, I am backing the following:
Mavericks -3
Spurs +13
100 GBP double, returns 201
Mavericks -3
Spurs +13
Magic @ Raptors Over 199.5
Thunder @ Bucks Over 184.5
Trail Blazers -35
31 GBP four-fold, returns 265
Also going to have a flutter on DeAndre’s treble :)!
Hya DeAndre I won’t go as big but I’m with you mate thanks and to you also pot luck for not claiming the bets as your own!
I’ll be keeping an eye on Stan total games handicap – if it’s set at 7.5 games I’ll be on. might go to 8.5, but would be a risk the way Novak is playing. Probably be on cilic as well tomorrow
its over 9.5 on pp. too high to get on really.
Federer at even money to beat Murray 2-0? Wow. All over that one.
i’m feeling a federer/cilic 2-0 double.
I think Tinchy Stryder is worth an ew bet for I’m a celeb at 12/1.
Thanks for the tips guys, i made a couple of bets kind of a mix between DeAndre ones and PotLuck ones
good luck ;)