British No.1 Andy Murray is in quarter-final action on Friday as he continues his quest to win the ATP 500 China Open in Beijing.
The 23-year-old Scot (2-11, boylesports) tackles Ivan Ljubicic, a player I backed to win his last-16 clash with Alexandr Dolgopolov.
I urged you to get your money on the world No.17 from Croatia, evens with some bookmakers, and he went on to dump Ukrainian Dolgopolov in straight sets.
One round on and Ljubicic is a massive 7-2 with William Hill to beat Murray! Such odds are there for a reason and I would be surprised if he proved a Brit of all right.
However, the veteran has beaten Murray in two of their five meetings, four of which have been tight affairs, therefore I reckon the Scot might need three sets to book his place in the semi-finals.
Murray to beat Ljubicic by two sets to one is 7-2 with Coral and Ladbrokes while a 2-0 victory for the Scot is 8-15 at Boylesports.
A win for Murray would set up a semi-final clash with either David Ferrer or Robin Soderling on Saturday.
World No.5 Soderling has beaten his Spanish rival, ranked 11, in seven of their nine meetings. The Swede has, in fact, won the last three but nothing last forever and I reckon Ferrer will edge through this time.
Both players have bagged one ATP title apiece this season, Ferrer with win/loss figures of 50/18 and Soderling 45/16. With all that in mind, this clash has three sets written all over it.
To go three sets you will get 11-8 with Boylesports but it's 2-1 Ferrer for me (4-1, Paddy Power, bet365).
In the opposite side of the draw world No.3 Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko should come through against Gilles Simon and John Isner respectively.
