Murray off the mark in Shanghai

Two-time defending champion Andy Murray (12/5 To Win Outright with bet365) eased past Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2 6-2 to secure his place in the quarter-finals of the  Shanghai Masters.

The British number one, who received a first round bye and then immediately progressed to round three when his scheduled second-round opponent Florian Mayer had to withdraw because of injury, showed no signs of rustiness as he romped to victory within an hour.

Murray adapted his game to see off the challenge of the Ukrainian, Dolgopolov, as he looks to build on his US Open success and eventually become the world’s top ranked player.

And, ahead of a last-eight date against Radek Stepanek (Murray 1/12, Stepanek 7/1 To Win Match with bet365), who beat big-serving American John Isner 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3, he told Sky Sports: “I have started trusting my baseline game more and using slower serves and more variety and that has paid off.

“My first serve percentage has gone up and I have been able to dictate more of the points.

“Also, I have worked a lot on my second serve and when you trust your second serve it allows you to be a bit freer on your first.”

Murray targets top ranking

Andy Murray has targeted the number one ranking next year and wants to finish the season well to give him the best possible chance of achieving his goal, starting with the Shanghai Masters this week (Murray 1/10, Florian Mayer – Round 2 Match Betting with bet365).

The Scot has dismissed suggestions that he could climb to the top of the ranking tree in 2012, despite a hugely successful year in which he won his maiden Grand Slam at the US Open as well as Olympic gold at Wimbledon.

Murray is looking at maintaining his good form through the remainder of the schedule to put himself in a good position to reach number one next season.

Murray should be feeling good going into his second-round match in Shanghai having won the last two events there, and is determined there will be no let-up in his game.

“I’ll try to do as well as I can between now and the end of the year. If I do that, there’s a possibility to get to number one next year,” Murray said.

“I think getting to number one in the world, that’s more a reward for playing very good tennis throughout the whole season at pretty much every tournament you play.

“You need to focus more on the process and not so much just ‘number one, number one’.

“The next Grand Slam in Australia is obviously a focus that would be not that far away, but I would say it’s more of a long-term goal.”

Murray has twice reached the final of the Australian Open and can be backed at 5/2 with bet365 to go one better next year, although defending champion Novak Djokovic – who beat the Scot in five sets in the semi-finals in January – is the 11/8 favourite.

Murray in the mood

Andy Murray has signalled his intention to go for glory at the US Open after cutting short his Olympic celebrations to focus on the Rogers Cup in Toronto (Murray 7/2 US Open Outright – bet365).

The British number one overcame years of frustration to put on his best-ever display and down the mighty Roger Federer in straight sets to take the gold medal at SW19 on Sunday.

The 25-year-old had already made it clear that he had moved on from defeat to the Swiss ace at Wimbledon earlier in the summer and looked like a man possessed throughout the Olympic tournament.

He dismantled the world’s greatest player, losing just seven games in the entire match, before claiming silver with Laura Robson in the mixed doubles.

But far from taking a few days off and celebrating his success in London, the world number four is set to begin his preparations for Flushing Meadows in Canada.

Murray will fly out to North America on Tuesday to prepare for the event although he has made it clear that his participation in the tournament will depend on how his body feels on arrival north of the border.

Murray has still to win a Grand Slam event and was last seen in the US Open final back in 2008 when he was blown away by Federer at his very best.

But there is renewed confidence in the Murray camp that he can finally go one better this time around and break his duck.

The Swiss ace will not play in Toronto after pulling out of the event while Rafael Nadal is still resting ahead of the New York City showpiece, but Novak Djokovic is scheduled to participate and, on current form, it would be no surprise to see the Serb face Murray in the final (Djokovic 15/8 US Open Winner).

Murray handed tough draw

Andy Murray may be the fourth favourite at 8/1 with bet365 to win this year’s Wimbledon, starting on Monday, but the draw has not been kind for the British number one.

The 25-year-old is hardly in the best of form having lost his only three matches on grass this year, albeit two of which were exhibition games, but he now faces a tough run through to the final at the All England Club.

Murray takes on former world number three Nikolay Davydenko in the first round with the big-serving Ivo Karlovic and Kevin Anderson potentially in his way to the last 16.

Milos Raonic and recent Queen’s Club winner Marin Cilic are also in his quarter, while David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal are on his path to the final, where of course he could face either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer.

Nadal opens his account against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a potential last-eight opponent, while bet365′s 13/8 tournament favourite Djokovic begins his title defence against former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero with Tomas Berdych seeded to meet him in the last eight.

Six-time winner Federer will take on Spain’s Albert Ramos in the first round with his quarter-final opponent seeded to be Janko Tipsaveric, while a British highlight could be Jamie Baker’s first-round clash with Andy Roddick.

Ferrer cautiously optimistic

David Ferrer admits he is playing well at Roland Garros but feels he will have to be right at the top of his game to beat Andy Murray in Wednesday’s quarter-final (Ferrer 8/15, Murray 6/4 Match Prices – bet365).

The 30-year-old has been one of the best players on clay in the past few years but, surprisingly, has never made it past the quarter-finals at the French Open.

He has yet to drop a set in Paris this year with comprehensive victories over Lukas Lacko, Benoit Paire, Mikhail Youzhny, and Marcel Granollers en route to a last-eight clash with the Scot (Ferrer 3-0 Set Betting 9/4 – bet365).

Conversely, the British number one has struggled physically in the French capital and almost withdrew from the tournament during his second-round clash with Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen due to a back injury.

But he battled on and overcame further problems with his body when beating Richard Gasquet last time out.

It looks set to be a classic encounter in mid-week and Ferrer appears in a confident mood ahead of his showdown with the Brit.

“I don’t know if I’m playing my best tennis, it’s difficult to say that, but of course I am in a good moment,” he said. “I am playing very good this tournament.”

The Spaniard has won all three meetings with Murray on clay, while his opponent has been dominant on the other surfaces, but the Valencia resident was quick to play down his superior head-to-head record on the red surface.

“Every match is different and I know to beat Andy I need to play my best tennis,” he added. “He is very, very good on a clay court and all surfaces.”

Nadal happy with Paris warm-up

Rafael Nadal admits that winning the Rome Masters was the perfect way to prepare for the upcoming French Open (Nadal 5/6 French Open Outright – bet365).

The Spanish star was looking to atone for defeat to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final and he duly took revenge on the Serb with a straight sets victory in Monday’s delayed final to claim his sixth title in the Eternal City.

Djokovic dominated the Majorcan last year and had beaten him in seven consecutive finals before Nadal finally tamed the five-time Grand Slam winner in Monte Carlo prior to his Italian triumph.

That defeat could possibly be put down to the death of Djokovic’s grandfather midway through the event but there were no excuses this time as Nadal proved too good on the slowest surface once again.

The players now head to Roland Garros for the year’s second Grand Slam with Djokovic the 15/8 second favourite to end Nadal’s dominance in the French capital.

But it will not be easy as the talented left-hander has proved time and again that he is the man to beat at the French Open, with six victories in the last seven years at the event.

Despite losing the last three Grand Slam finals to Djokovic, Nadal will be confident of making it a magnificent seven in Paris and he was happy to be back in the winner’s enclosure this week having taken out a some big names en route to the title.

“I won here without losing a set, against players like (Tomas) Berdych and (David) Ferrer and Novak so I am very happy,” he said. “It’s the most important title of the year for me so far.”

Federer relishing Djokovic match-up

Roger Federer insists he will look to be aggressive against Novak Djokovic when he faces the world number one in the Rome Masters semi-finals on Saturday evening (Djokovic 17/20, Federer 19/20 – Match Prices with bet365).

Federer set up the clash with a 6-1 6-2 demolition of Italian Andreas Seppi, while Djokovic beat French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5 6-1 to advance to the last four in the Eternal City.

The two stars are set clash for the 25th time in their careers, with the Swiss ace holding a 14-10 winning record over the Serb.

And Federer has also dominated on clay, with three wins to Djokovic’s one on the slowest surface.

He ended the five-time Grand Slam winner’s unbeaten start to the 2011 season with a semi-final victory in last year’s French Open, before Djokovic gained revenge at the same stage of the US Open.

It all points to a classic match-up in Italy and Federer is determined to use the same tactics that he employed against Seppi to try and reach the final.

“It was a very good match for me (on Friday). From the start I played aggressive,” he said. “The goals have to be the same against Djokovic – take it to him and play my game.”

Djokovic was made to work hard in the first set against Tsonga before blowing him away in the second and the Monte Carlo resident admits that his game is coming together at just the right time of the clay-court campaign (Djokovic 6/4 – French Open Outright with bet365).

“In the second set I played one of the best sets on clay this year,” he said.

“This is encouraging for the challenges ahead. With Roland Garros coming, I’m playing and feeling better in every match.”

Federer quickly turns focus to Rome

Roger Federer was glad to survive a “brutal draw” when winning the Madrid Open final 3-6 7-5 7-5 against Tomas Berdych and will now turn his focus to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome this week (Roger Federer 8/1 – 2012 French Open outright bet365).

The Swiss superstar had not played for six weeks arriving at the Spanish capital and had already lost twice to Berdych this year, but turned on the style to secure his fourth tournament win in 2012 and go above Rafael Nadal to number two in the world rankings.

Should he get back to the top of the rankings for the first time since May 2010, the 30-year-old would equal, and almost certainly go on to break, Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks as number one.

“It was a tough tournament and a brutal draw,” said Federer, who joined Nadal on 20 victories at the elite Masters Series level. “Tomas played very well.

“I’m sure we will see each other many more times and they will be quality matches like this one.”

Two-time runner-up Federer is in the top half of the draw of the 77th edition of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, won by world number one Novak Djokovic (6/4 2012 French Open outright bet365) last year, and opens his account in the Eternal City against a qualifier or Carlos Berlocq.

Murray through in Monte Carlo

Czech ace Tomas Berdych stands between Andy Murray and a place in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters as the Scot continues his preparations for the 2012 French Open (Murray 12/1 – French Open Outright – bet365).

The British number one’s passage through to the last eight was aided by the withdrawal of Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the third round after he suffered ankle and wrist problems in the 11th game of the first set.

At that point the opener was poised at five games all but it soon became clear the 30-year-old was not fit enough to continue to give Murray the match.

Berdych awaits Murray in the quarters and he was given a real scare after Japan?s Kei Nishikori took the first set in their match before he hit back to seal a 2-6 6-2 6-4 victory.

Murray was given a bye in the first round in Monte Carlo before handing out a thrashing to Serbian Viktor Troicki in his first match after securing the win – 6-0 6-3 – in just over an hour.

King of Clay Rafael Nadal is the 10/11 to win the French Open this year with bet365 which would give him a seventh title.

Federer books Roddick clash

Roger Federer says he is expecting a ‘great’ match when he faces old rival Andy Roddick in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Monday (Federer 1/10, Roddick 6/1 with bet365).

The Swiss star overcame home favourite Ryan Harrison in straight sets on Saturday afternoon to set up the clash with the man he has beaten four times in Grand Slam finals, once at the US Open and thrice at Wimbledon.

Despite a comfortable opening set, the 30-year-old’s (11/4 tournament outright with bet365) progress wasn’t at all plain sailing after a rather bizarre game where he was initially serving for the match, but ended up being broken when he stopped playing after he incorrectly thought he’d heard a line call.

This forced a tie-break but the former world number one refocused to win 7-3 and book his place in the next round.

After the match, Federer seemed uncharacteristically flustered by the events of the final game and predicted that his match with Roddick could be a classic.

“I was completely sure it was the linesman (who made the call),” the Swiss told Sky Sports. “It’s one of those things but it felt like I had to win the match three times today.

“It’s unusual to see him (Roddick) so early in the tournament but I’m sure it’s going to be a great match.”