Murray looking mint in Oz

Catching up with latest from the Australian Open

British tennis ace Andy Murray seems to be gathering pace as he targets what would be his first Australian Open title, after finishing as runner-up five times, including in each of the last two-years.

The 29-year-old Scot, now a Sir, if you please, continued his progress in Melbourne with a one-sided win over American Sam Querrey in the third-round courtesy of a 6-4,6-2,6-4 result, getting the job done in under two-hours to maximise his recovery for the last-sixteen.

Murray fancied in the last 16

The Scot now sizes up German Mischa Zverev, an opponent currently ranked number 50 in the world. We can take little for granted in this competition – we’ll speak more about that later – but British tennis fans, and punters too, would see anything less than another straightforward win as a bit of a disaster. Coral traders seem to agree, offering a Murray win at 1/50 against Zverev’s 14/1, while another 3-0 in the set betting market is 3/10.

Those looking to have him in the outright market, to go one better than last time and finally get his hands on the trophy, will find 5/6 favourite at the time of writing.

Djokovic out on his ear

That price is short because of the upset of the week, which no one saw coming, in Novak Djokovic being eliminated in the early exchanges.

The six-time Australian Open champ, who came here chasing three in-a-row, was tossed out on his ear by little-known Denis Istomin, an opponent ranked 117 in the world. In a battle just shy of five-hours, Novak struggled to find his rhythm, but no one imagined the plucky underdog would see it through, with the final score reading 7-6, 5-7, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.