Cincinnati Masters, 2nd Round, Wednesday, 17/08/2022
14 years ago now, he stood at the top in Cincinnati. Now, more than a decade later, he’s taking the plunge once again. Andy Murray has fought his way into the 2nd round of the Masters by the skin of his teeth.
Nevertheless, in my Murray Norrie tip I reveal why everything looks like a pretty close match in my eyes!
Is he getting tired or not yet? Andy Murray has long since entered the late autumn of his career. At the age of 35, he is venturing once more into the US Open, wanting to get the necessary self-confidence in Cincinnati.
After his bitter Wimbledon exit in four close sets against John Isner, his performance curve has recently been on a steep downward trend. In the last two tournaments, he did not even make it past the first hurdle.
First he narrowly failed against Mikael Ymer, then he suffered a clear defeat against Taylor Fritz. If you look at the world rankings, you will see: Cameron Norrie, his current opponent, is even better ranked than Fritz.
With odds of 1.40 to 2.90, Betano is nevertheless very cautious on the way, the win bet on Norrie would even almost be worth it with a bonus.
Only once, around three years ago, have the two Brits met head-to-head.
Murray had snatched a 7-6, 6-7, 6-1 back then, but knows: This one success does not have much significance. In 2008 and 2011 it was the Scot who stood at the top in Cincinnati. At a time when he was a big player and even topped the world rankings.
Without wanting to offend Murray: These successes are unlikely to be repeated in 2022. The first round already showed how difficult he has it, in the duel of the oldies against Stan Wawrinka he prevailed 7-6, 5-7, 7-5.
A great match for the fans, but the many hours must have taken a lot out of Murray. But the 80% points won on the first serve were strong, and he has to serve like that on Wednesday as well.
Cameron Norrie may be much higher up in the rankings, but he still managed an almost identical result. He won against Holger Rune, but at 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 it could have tipped over at any time.
The 26-year-old also shows that he cannot quite confirm his performance from Wimbledon. After the semi-final against Novak Djokovic, he reached the final in Los Cabos, but in Canada he was already eliminated in the round of 16.
Felix Auger-Aliassime, Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic – the names of the three opponents who inflicted his last defeats sound highly prominent, but Murray can’t quite keep up.
Norrie has not yet had any successes in Cincinnati, but that shouldn’t matter too much. The question will be: Which player was more affected by the tough fight in the 1st round?
My Murray Norrie Tip
Andy Murray seems to be moving further away from the top of the world these weeks, now looking to avoid at least a third 1st round exit. I wonder if his compatriot Cameron Norrie isn’t a bit too strong for him?
In my analysis, I could see that the Briton has only been eliminated against the big names lately. Both have one thing in common: in the 1st round they had to go to their limits against Stan Wawrinka and Holger Rune respectively.
That might have made them both a little tired. Although Norrie is my favourite, you can never write off Murray. Since I’m expecting a close result, I’ll send the following tip into the race:
We see more than 20.5 Games!
