Navigation

Thursday 2 August 2012

Murray vs Almagro (Olympics 2012 Quarter - Final Preview)

A place in the gold medal match is on the line, surprisingly all 8 quarter-finalists represent 8 different countries.
Murray and Almagro open the proceedings on Court 1, while Djokovic and Tsonga play second on the centre court, followed by Federer and Isner, while Nishikori and Del Potro play 3rd on Court 1.

Let us have a look at the Murray Almgaro match. Enjoy the Federer - Isner Preview here, and Djokovic - Tsonga preview here.

With a place in the medal match, both Murray and Almagro will be keen on walking off the court smiling.

Description Murray Almagro
Match record this year  35-10   49-15
H2H     2      1
H2H on grass     0      0

The pair has not met since their meeting in Indian Wells 2010, where Almagro had to retire in the second set. Almagro is one of the two players who have not lost  a set in making it to the quarter-finals.

Murray is coming off a confidence boasting win over Baghdatis in the 3rd round, where he came back after loosing the first set to win the match in 3 sets.

Let us have a look at the performance of the players so far in the tournament:

Description Murray Almagro
Aces 9 12
Double Faults 1 4
First Serve 62% 61%
Points won on first serve 80% 85%
Points won on second serve 63% 51%
Receiving points won on first serve 35% 27%
Receiving points won on second serve 55% 66%
Break points 34% 60%
Total winners 26 26
Unforced errors 16 13
Net points won 73% 81%


Almagro has been strong on his first serve winning 4% more points as compared to Murray. Murray on the other hand has been strong on his second serve, winning 12% more points behind his second serve as compared to his quarter-final opponent.

The pattern of serve stats is reversed in the return stats, Murray has won 8% more points as compared to Amgaro when returning the first serve, whereas Almagro has won 11% more points than Murray when returning the second serve.

The winners - unforced errors differential for Almagro is +13, while for Murray it is +10. Both Murray and Almagro have been broken twice so far in the tournament.


Grass is not Almagro's favourite surface, while Murray is at home on grass. Almgro will complete half a centry of matches if he wins this match, with the reward of playing for a medal. Murray is keen to make impact in the Olympics by bagging a medal and will be keen to march past Almagro.

If Almagro brings on his A game and keeps up his serve, he will give Murray a run for the semi-final spot, however, home crowd will definitely help Murray and Murray will be tough to beat.

Pick: Murray in 2 sets

Who are you rooting for?

No comments:

Post a Comment