Wimbledon 2012: Andy Murray vs. David Ferrer Preview

Andy Murray and David Ferrer both won their fourth-round matches on Tuesday at Wimbledon 2012. Murray defeated Marin Cilic in straight sets, while Ferrer defeated Juan Martin del Potro also in straight sets.

As a result, Ferrer and Murray will meet in the quarterfinals of their second consecutive Grand Slam tournament. In their most recent meeting, Ferrer defeated Murray at the recently completed 2012 French Open.

Since Rafael Nadal is ancient history at Wimbledon 2012, both Murray and Ferrer have to be entertaining ambitions of making it to the final at the All England Club—if not winning the tournament outright. For Ferrer, you have to wonder if Wimbledon 2012 might be his final opportunity to make that kind of impression in London as he is 30 years old.

To date, the two players have not faced one another on the grass court surface. That is largely due to the fact that the Spaniard does not typically play his best tennis on grass. Despite contesting numerous Wimbledon draws, the veteran is into just his first Wimbledon quarterfinal. Murray, on the other hand, has made it at least this far at the All England Club in four straight appearances.

On head-to-heads, Murray and Ferrer appear to be evenly matched. They are each 5-5 against one another and 1-1 in best-of-five-set matches.

Neither player has faced a particularly arduous road to the quarterfinals. Ferrer dropped a set to Andy Roddick in the third round while Murray dropped sets against both Ivo Karlovic and Marcos Baghdatis earlier in the draw.

From several points of view, this quarterfinal might appear to be a pure coin toss. I think that Ferrer is actually playing a little bit better than Murray right now, but the Scot is the more established grass-court player.

In terms of odds, Ferrer is +200 (2/1) with Boylesports while Bwin have Murray at -210 (10/21). However, I don't think that Ferrer should be considered that much of an underdog, nor Murray that much of a favorite. I would consider the Spaniard's true odds to win this match to be more like a +120 (6/5) and Murray's true odds -120 (5/6).