Australian Open Tips Day 9: Will Roddick bring his A-game?

Australian Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 26 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

The Australian Open is rapidly approaching the business end and Roddick looks revitalised, so will he overcome Novak Djokovic? Ben Caudell might just have the answers...

Fernando Verdasco proved to be too strong as Andy Murray's dream of winning his first Grand Slam came to a faltering end early on Monday morning. Refusing to blame his recent Illness and instead highlighting the fact that Verdasco was just too good for him, the young Brit struggled to take hold of the game in the fifth set eventually losing 2-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. This result wasn't all that bad as one of my tips was to back the Verdasco +6.5 handicap at around even money.

My other selection was to back Gael Monfils in the match odds; unfortunately the showman had to retire at the start of the fourth set due to a wrist injury. Strangely enough, there were two other retirements during Monday's play - Victoria Azerenka was in floods of tears having won the first set and then having to retire at 4-2 down in the second set against number two seed Serena Williams, while Jie Zheng's tournament ended after she pulled out against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Today's Selections: Andy Roddick v Novak Djokovic
This exciting encounter between the reigning champion Novak Djokovic and the rejuvenated Andy Roddick will be a corker. By his standards Roddick had a poor 2008 season, but he is relishing the prospect of making it back into the top four of the world rankings. To do that he knows he needs to start beating the likes of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. So far at the Australian Open, Roddick has lost just one set, hit a spectacular 63 aces and won 83% of his first service points. These stats highlight what a challenge it will be for the Serb to break A-Rod's service game. At last year's US Open these two met in the quarter final stage with Djokovic eventually winning the match in four sets. A total of 39 games were played in this match with only the last set being close. This time I expect the sets to be a lot closer and therefore will be backing over's on the 'Total Games Market'

Selection: Back Over 41.5 Games @ Even money


Marion Bartoli v Vera Zvonareva
These two have played each other no less than ten times since May 2003, with Vera Zvonareva winning nine of them. Only one of these head-to-heads has gone to three sets and very few sets have had more than nine games in them. Both players are in a good run of form and Zvonareva will be especially motivated for this one, giving her the chance to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam event for the first time.

Selection: Back Vera Zvonareva to win match 2-0 @ even money

Selection: Back Vera Zvonareva @ [1.4] to win match.