Novak Djokovic favourite ahead of Andy Murray in Australian Open betting
Serbian star nudges ahead in betting market
Wednesday 11 January 2017 17:41, UK
Novak Djokovic will head into the Australian Open as favourite to claim a record seventh title, ahead of Andy Murray.
World No 1 Murray had started 2017 at the head of the betting but Djokovic has nudged ahead in Sky Bet's outright market following his three-set triumph over the Scot at the Qatar Open.
With six titles to his name, Djokovic has triumphed Down Under more times than any player in the Open era - Australian Roy Emerson also won six titles during the amateur era - and has beaten Murray in four of the last six finals at Melbourne Park.
However, cracks began to emerge in his dominance of the tour after he completed his career Grand Slam with a maiden French Open title last June. A solitary title followed in the remainder of last season.
Murray seized the opportunity to claim top spot and consolidated his status as the game's top player with by beating the Serb at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals.
However, Murray could not reinforce his dominance in Qatar, failing to record back-to-back wins over his great nemesis. The last time Murray managed that was in 2012.
After wasting three match points in the second set, 12-time major winner Djokovic showed the sort of grit missing from his game in the second half of last year to prevail 6-3 5-7 6-4 on Saturday.
That win prompted Sky Bet to initially place the pair alongside at the head of the betting at 13/8 apiece, but the volume of industry-wide interest has prompted Djokovic's price to come in to 6/4.
The bookies are understandably struggling to look past the top two, with 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka third in the betting at 12/1.
Rafael Nadal is the same price, while fellow returning former champion Roger Federer is given a 20/1 chance of claiming a fifth Australian Open title at the age of 35.
Milos Raonic is rated the most likely of those looking to claim a maiden major title at 20/1, followed by Kei Nishikori (22/1) and recent Brisbane winner Grigor Dimitrov (33/1).
Check our game-by-game updates from Andy Murray's matches at the 2017 Australian Open by following our blog on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportstennis.
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