The ever-dependable Rafael Nadal turned in a quite fantastic performance during Sunday’s final in Rome in what was his thirtieth meeting with rival Roger Federer. Many people would have thought the times of Nadal/Federer finals, particularly on a clay court were long gone. However, Federer demonstrated in the Italian capital that on a going week, he still retains the ability and more importantly the consistency to compete in the bigger events on tour. From the start it was evident Nadal wasn’t there for the beating as he raced to a double break lead in the first set. All in all, only 69 minutes separated the first shot from the last as Nadal emerged victorious 6-1 6-3 to become this column’s seventh winning selection of the year. What this all means (at time of writing) is Nadal sits at 1.76 with BETDAQ for the French Open that commences in seven short days, with Djokovic at 3.2, and Rome finalist Roger Federer at 17. Beyond that, it’s effectively 38 (David Ferrer) and bigger the remainder in what looks increasingly like to develop into a two-man tournament.
As mentioned above, just seven short days remain until the year’s second Grand Slam gets underway in Paris so it’s no surprise to see many of the household names absent in this week’s tournaments in Nice and Dusseldorf. Tomas Berdych had stated his intention to participate in France but given his exertions over the last fortnight, he’s taken the right decision to rest up ahead of Roland Garros. That said, we still have six of the world’s top twenty in action across the two events.
ATP Nice
There can’t be many more picturesque locations on the ATP World Tour than the Cote D’Azur and that’s exactly where we’ll start with this week’s preview. Returning in 2010 after a 15-year absence, Nice is one of five events held in France, along with Marseille, Metz, Montpelier and Paris. Unsurprisingly, the home contingent are usually very well supported and so the tournament organisers will be delighted to see the likes of Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils commit to their event. The bottom half of the draw, within which Simon and Monfils find themselves looks considerably tougher than the top half. A strong case could be made for any number of players and looks trappy in the extreme so for that reason, we’ll dodge the bottom sixteen players and switch our attentions to the top half. Oddly, Tomas Berdych’s withdrawal has seen Spain’s Albert Montanes not only take his place in the draw but benefit from his top seeding and subsequently his bye through to the second round. This in itself opens the top half up even more and presents a very good opportunity for a player at slightly bigger odds to make a run through to the latter stages. As mentioned above, the crowd in Nice do love a home favourite to cheer on and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (pictured) could enjoy such an atmosphere. The 29 year-old wildcard finds himself at number 76 in the ATP rankings but has demonstrated an aptitude for the dirt over recent weeks. Aside from bumping into some useful players in David Ferrer, Milos Raonic and Andy Murray, he managed to piece three straight-set wins together in Monte Carlo (two of which were in qualifying), as well as pinching a set off Ferrer in Portugal. Roger-Vasselin lost narrowly to eventual champion Nicolas Almagro here twelve months ago but prior to that defeated compatriot and Rome semi finalist Benoit Paire. Yet to secure his first ATP World Tour title, Roger-Vasselin may not be presented with such an opportunity many times in his career and he will look to go one better than Delray Beach earlier this year. 40 or 50/1 is a price I expect to be available with BETDAQ and I’ll be investing a proportion of last week’s winnings on the Frenchman.
Selection: Edouard Roger-Vasselin
ATP Dusseldorf
The week’s second tournament comes from Dusseldorf in Germany where the tournament top seed is world number 11 Janko Tipsarevic. Formerly the ‘World Team Cup’ and traditionally held the week before Roland Garros, Dusseldorf introduces the inaugural Power Horse Cup and reverts from a team event to an individual one. Frankly speaking, I was never a fan of the old format as I never felt the event had much credibility or indeed bearing on what actually mattered the week after. It goes without saying I’m in favour of the format change.
Until showing some form on the surface, I just can’t have Tipsarevic in a clay court event. He has looked low on confidence on the dirt which defeats to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Daniel Brands show. Tipsarevic looks opposable in almost every match against players who thrive on the surface and I’ll be looking elsewhere for a likely winner.
Juan Monaco is a player who does indeed thrive on the clay and will enjoy the conditions in Germany. A 10-10 won/lost record for 2013 doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in Monaco this week but 2013 started particularly slowly for the Argentine. Over recent weeks though we’ve seen flashes that Monaco mightn’t be a million miles away from a decent run of results. Narrow defeats to big-serving pair John Isner (Houston) and Kevin Anderson (Madrid) aren’t too alarming, nor are defeats to players who are considerably better on a clay court such as Novak Djokovic and Nicolas Almagro. It goes without saying that Monaco won’t be facing that calibre of opposition in Germany. On reflection, a three-set defeat to eventual semi finalist Benoit Paire in Rome perhaps wasn’t all that bad and it could be a ‘tip’ in itself that Monaco has taken a wildcard in Dusseldorf. I’m pretty sure he could’ve accepted a similar position in the Nice draw but Monaco will be all too aware that his chances of victory are enhanced here and at 4/1, is my idea of the winner.
Selection: Juan Monaco
Follow Chris on Twitter @cdquinn86
NEW !!!
You can now follow BETDAQ updates on Google+
For further details – CLICK HERE
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
