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Tuesday at the All England Club didn't go to plan, thanks to an impressive return to form from Serena Williams.

Petra Kvitova was beaten by the best performance that I've seen in a long time from Williams that was several levels above anything that she had previously produced this fortnight.

And Marin Cilic's error-strewn effort did nothing to lighten my mood as he went down in straight sets to Andy Murray.
So, it's on to men's quarter finals day at Wimbledon and Murray takes on David Ferrer, who blew away the weak challenge of Juan Martin Del Potro for the loss of just eight games.

That was a surprising result to say the least, but it was a fine display from Ferrer - his best on grass and one of Delpo's worst, most lacklustre efforts that I've seen from him for a long time.

But it does highlight that Ferrer can't really be classed as a 'clay court specialist' these days and he will be a big obstacle for Murray to overcome in their last eight match today.

Murray is trading at around 1.49 to reach another Wimbledon semi final and he's rightly the favourite based on past performances on grass.

But Ferrer's game has improved considerably on the supposedly faster surfaces, which could be something to do with the fact that the grass plays so much slower these days than it used to.

If Murray doesn't seize the initiative, be aggressive and take the game to Ferrer right from the off and serve a high number of first serves, he's in trouble in this match-up, but on the other hand if he does, he should win.

So, as ever with Andy Murray, it's all about his attitude to the match. He has it in him to win this (probably in four sets) but he also has it in him to lose in three or four if he plays like he did against Marcos Baghdatis.

Their head-to-head record mirrors the improvement shown recently by Ferrer, who has won their previous two matches and in their last two slam meetings (on clay and hard) both have gone over today's handicap mark, which is one bet to take on in this match.

I don't trust Murray anywhere near enough to back him to win this at 1.49 and if he doesn't play in the manner I suggested above it will turn into a slugfest and Murray won't win that type of match against this new, improved, slightly bigger hitting Ferrer.

Even if the positive, attacking Murray does turn up, I doubt he will keep it up consistently to win in less than four or five sets, so the 1.83 about over 39.5 games appeals the most.

My other bet is to back Ferrer at the start at 3.0 and trade in play from that start point.

Recommended Bets
Back over 39.5 games in Murray v Ferrer at 1.83
Back to lay Ferrer at 3.0

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