Murray begins Madrid Open campaign and faces Kohlschreiber again

Andy Murray (13/2 tournament fourth-favourite with Coral) kicks off his Madrid Open campaign in the second round, after being given a bye, and coincidentally faces the man he just bet in the Munich Open final, Philipp Kohlschreiber.

However, the Scot didn’t have his all way, as he only just came through a tight 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 7-6 (7-4) match, but he is still the odds-on favourite at 2/7 for victory here, and 11/4 to do so in three sets.

Kohlschreiber, on the other hand, has a fairly decent record against Murray on clay, having won convincingly in their first-ever meeting on the surface at the Monte Carlo Masters in 2010, and took him to five sets at the French Open last year.

The German world number 24 is 5/2 to reach the third round, and 5/1 to triumph 2-1.

Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal also begins the defence of his title, and has a more straightforward encounter against American Steve Johnson. The Spaniard (15/8 tournament favourite) is heavily odds-on at 1/33 for victory.

Top seed Roger Federer (4/1 title chance), meanwhile, is odds-on at 1/6 to defeat up-and-coming Australian Nick Kyrgios (7/2). This duo have never faced each other before, but the latter could cause a few problems for the Swiss all-time great, who is 11/4 to a 2-1 win.

There are more top names in action on Wednesday too, with a couple of close encounters, as US Open champion Cilic (10/11) is up against Madrid-born Fernando Verdasco (4/5) and Richard Gasquet (13/8) duels with Tomas Berdych (4/9).

Other stars in the men’s singles section include Grigor Dimitrov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils.