Shanghai Masters Betting: Mayer to test Murray

Can Florian Mayer upset Andy Murray?
Sean Calvert will be up early again to watch the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday morning where Andy Murray takes on Florian Mayer and he fancies the German to test the Scot...
Tuesday didn't quite go to plan in China as Fernando Verdasco produced a performance of his 2009 vintage to stun Juan Monaco.
I was one of many who thought that Verdasco was no longer capable of such a standard of play and I kept expecting him to collapse, but he didn't and hopefully for his sake that level wasn't a flash in the pan.
Wednesday in Shanghai sees the world's top three players begin their title campaigns in front of what will hopefully be more than the shameful smattering of spectators that we've spotted in the crowd thus far.
Roger Federer kicks off with an eminently winnable match against Yen Hsun Lu, while Novak Djokovic may face at least some resistance for a time against the erratic Grigor Dimitrov.
Murray however could face a decent challenge in the form of the quirky, unpredictable German Florian Mayer, who seems to show his best form in China.
Mayer vs Murray is set to start at around 10am UK time on the sparsely populated Stadium Court.
Mayer was a semi-finalist in Beijing last week and he defeated Rafa Nadal and David Nalbandian in a run to the quarter finals here in Shanghai 12 months ago.
Murray is the two-time defending champion in Shanghai and of course has the confidence of being a Slam winner about him now, but it didn't help him last week against Milos Raonic and I wouldn't have a cent on him outright in this at 1.11/10.
The extra effort that the Scot put in over the summer in the Olympics may have left him and a few others a little bit short on physical conditioning now that we're almost at the end of the season and this shouldn't be straightforward for Murray.
The German can be wildly inconsistent and he could just as easily either win this or lose two and two, but he has beaten top-10 ranked opponents nine times and that win over Rafa last year will be in his mind today.
They've met on one occasion in the past, with Murray winning a topsy-turvy encounter on clay in Rome last year 1-6, 6-1, 6-1, which is a fairly typical Mayer scoreline.
There may be some play in laying Murray at 1.11/10 with a view to backing back later, but Mayer should take this one over the 19.5 total games mark at around 1.9010/11
Recommended Bet
Back over 19.5 games in Murray v Mayer at 1.9010/11