French Open quarters: Murray faces Ferrer, Serena in Errani encounter

All three of Andy Murray’s previous Grand Slam meetings with French Open quarter-final opponent David Ferrer have gone to four sets. That would seemingly make odds of 3/1 with Coral for Britain’s top tennis player to win 3-1 well worth taking.

There’s just one small problem. Murray has never beaten seventh seed Ferrer on clay in four previous attempts. Punters may thus feel taking 13/8 on the Spaniard to send the Scot home, or 11/2 to do so in four sets, are an attractive alternative bet.

Murray is definitely having his best-ever clay court campaign, however, and based on that is an odds-on 1/2 match favourite. He’s also joint-third at 8/1 in the outright men’s singles betting to win at Roland Garros, behind world number one Novak Djokovic and reigning French Open champion Rafael Nadal, the so-called king of this surface.

Murray overcame home hope Jeremy Chardy in four sets in round four to reach his 17th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final; a record which he was keen to emphasise when asked.

“Unfortunately, I’m playing against guys that make some of the things I have done look pretty average because of how good they have been,” said Murray. “But in terms of the history of the game, there are not loads of players that have been that consistent at these events. That’s something that I look at and I’m very, very proud of.”

In the women’s singles draw, odds-on 8/13 favourite Serena Williams has recorded five of her eight career wins over Italy’s Sara Errani on clay. This is reflected in the Grand Slam great holding strong 1/10 status for victory again.

Errani beat another American woman in Alison Riske and 10th seed Andrea Petkovic during the early rounds at Roland Garros, but there is no case for her as a 6/1 match outsider. She has once pushed Williams into a deciding set, but still lost and that was on a hard court.

Backing Serena in straight sets at 2/5 is the only salient bet for punters on this quarter-final clash, as this price is much more attractive than William’s overwhelming odds-on price in the outright match betting.

Coral betting tip: Take Murray at 3/1 to send Spaniard Ferrer packing in four sets!