US Open Final - Murray vs Federer
Live on Sky Sports 1 tonight. Build-up from 8pm GMT.

After an enthralling victory over Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray will make his first appearance in a Grand Slam final against new world no. 2 Roger Federer.

Murray has improved no end this year, and his level of play in his semi-final was simply exceptional. It is one thing to have Nadal on the back foot; quite another to be involved in tiring baseline rallies and come out on top against him. The Scot is playing sensational tennis, and hit an incredible 65 winners against Nadal, which had the Arthur Ashe crowd on their feet.

It would be foolish to ignore the credentials of Roger Federer, who is looking for his fifth consecutive title at Flushing Meadows. The former world no. 1 has looked rusty of late, including a tough five set match against Russian Igor Andreev in the fourth round. However, he looked back in great nick in his semi-final against Novak Djokovic, and will be desperate to salvage a relatively poor year by his standards with his first Grand Slam of the season.

Federer is generally available as 1.5 favourite with the bookies, but if Murray keeps up his phenomenal form, that could look awfully short come late on Tuesday morning. Murray also has a 2:1 H2H in favour, and is now one of the fittest players on tour, thanks to a gruelling regime over the last twelve months. So, I am confident that he can last the full five sets if needed.

I think we'll have a great match on our hands, and in terms of straight bets, we'll side with Murray for some value. Elsewhere, I think this could potentially be an epic match and so over 40.5 games in the match looks like a cracking bet.

NJ's Bets:

Over 40.5 games - 3pts @ 1.83 (Totesport)

Murray to lift the cup - 1.5pts @ 2.8 (Sportingbet)