Wimbledon preview and odds: Tomas Berdych vs Andy Murray

Published on: 08/07/2016

Wimbledon preview and odds: Tomas Berdych vs Andy Murray

July 08, 2016 - Wimbledon, Semi-finals

Andy Murray will be aiming to make his third Wimbledon men`s singles final appearance in five years when he goes up against World No.10 Tomas Berdych on Friday afternoon.

Murray moves stope closer to third Wimbledon final

Since the early departure of Novak Djokovic, there has been a buzz amongst British tennis fans eager to see Andy Murray to take advantage of the Serb`s absence and claim his third Grand Slam crown. Of course, despite Djokovic`s brilliance, there are still other talented contenders standing in Murray`s way including Friday`s semi-final opponent Tomas Berdych.

Berdych can be inconsistent and unpredictable but is capable of beating anyone on his day. In fact, both Federer and Djokovic have fallen to the Czech player on the Wimbledon grass in the past. A recent change to his coaching set-up seems to have paid off and he now looks a different player to the one who was humbled by David Goffin in Rome not so long ago.

Murray holds an 8-6 career record over his opponent and has won the last four in a row. However, they have yet to meet on grass. And remember, Berdych reached his one and only Grand Slam final here back in 2010.

After a fairly easy passage in to the quarter-finals, Murray needed five sets to find a way past Jo-Wilfred Tsonga to book his place in the last four. Despite the epic nature of that match, it may have done Murray some good, as he often taps into his best form when his back is to the wall. Berdych had a much easier ride in the last round, cruising to a three-set win over Lucas Pouille.

Betting predictions

Murray has won the last two grand Slam meetings with Berdych including an edgy four-set victory in the semi-final of last year`s Australian Open. He also beat him at the semi-final stage on his way to the US Open title in 2012.

A lack of history on grass between these two makes this one slightly tougher to call but with just one defeat (to Djokovic) in his last 22 matches, it would be hard to bet against the Scot. As a result, you won`t get much value from the bookies.

Instead, you can get Evens for this match to go to four sets or more and that is exactly what happened in the last two Grand Slam meetings between the two.

You can back over 3.5 sets at Evens with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 08/07/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (08/07/2016 07:38:22) but are subject to change.