Andy Murray vs Tomas Martin Etcheverry Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Australian Open

Prediction published on 13/01/2024, 11:45  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 13/01/2024 at 12:45 in ATP Australian Open Predictions

Five-time runner-up Andy Murray faces 30th seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the Australian Open first round. For the winner there's a second round match against either Gael Monfils or Yannick Hanfmann. Tougher opponents lie ahead though with the third round opponent likely to be top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic. Murray is 1-1 in previous meetings with Etcheverry and beat him on an outdoor hard court (the surface for this match) at Indian Wells last year. Their most recent meeting was later in 2023 when Etcheverry got a three-set win in the Swiss Indoors Championships. The Scottish player hasn't had a great start to 2024 wtih a loss to Grigor Dimitrov in Brisbane. That went to a final set and Dimitrov went on to win the tournament, so it wasn't too bad a result. Murray reached one ATP hard court final last year and won three Challenger Tour events but hasn't made it past the third round of a Grand Slam since 2017.

Tomas Martin Etcheverry has struggled so far this year. He's been beaten in the first round of both the warm-up tournaments he's played. His best performance in this Grand Slam came when getting to the second round and has only reached one quarter final. That was at last year's French Open and clay is his best surface making it to two ATP Tour finals on that surface in 2023. He lost more matches than he won on hard courts last year. We tip Murray to get the win in this match.