TennisSection previews the 2022 Qatar Open as Andy Murray takes on Taro Daniel in the first round on Tuesday, February 15th, 2022.
Andy Murray will be keen to avenge his loss to Taro Daniel when they square up at the 30th edition of the Qatar Open. The Brit is a wild card entrant and has a horror draw in his quest to land the 47th title of his illustrious career.
Andy Murray will be one of the star players at this year’s Qatar Open. The British former World No. 1 was unlikely to make the 32-man field due to his low-ranking status, but received a wild card at the ATP 250 event. Murray has won this tournament twice in his career and was part of a brutal finals defeat to Novak Djokovic in 2017. The 34-year-old will be playing in his fifth tournament of 2022, with his best showing coming at the Sydney International where he finished runner-up to Aslan Karatsev. Murray has not strung successive wins at the other four tournaments, with his latest defeat coming in Rotterdam this past week at the hands of Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Murray earned a shot at redemption when the draw of the Qatar Open came out. The Brit will face his Australian Open conqueror Taro Daniel in the first round. Daniel inflicted a painful loss to Murray in Melbourne when he became the lowest-ranked opponent to beat him at Grand Slam level. Daniel’s performances in Australia has seen him make up almost 15 places in the latest ATP rankings as he gears up to re-enter the world’s Top 100 again. The former World No. 64 will be playing for the first time since a third-round defeat to Jannik Sinner at the Melbourne Slam.
Andy Murray and Taro Daniel have only played twice, with the head-to-head tied at 1-1. Daniel, as mentioned at the top article won their most recent bout at this year’s Australian Open in straight sets. The 29-year-old Japanese played some of the best tennis of his life in Melbourne and the fact that he managed to push Sinner to four sets, showed his level was better than Murray’s. But I think Murray’s run to the Sydney final came at a cost, resulting in that defeat to Daniel. Murray’s hip is not adept to play a slew of matches within a short time frame despite his best intentions to prove otherwise. However, I’d put him as favorite after that early loss in Rotterdam.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Andy Murray in 3 sets.
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