Australian Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 18 January 2011 /

Janko Tipsarevic is generally an inconsistent player but he's consistently good when it comes to winning big matches in front of big crowds at Grand Slams. His match against Fernando Verdasco should see him in his element says Sean Calvert.

Tuesday was another good day for us in Melbourne, with Hewitt v Nalbandian going long and Shuai Peng winning as well, so it's on to Wednesday with our pockets still full.

The men's second round matches on Day Three have thrown up a few
interesting clashes and perhaps none more so than Fernando Verdasco versus Janko Tipsarevic.

As ever, I'm on the hunt for a bit of value in my bets and with plenty of sub [1.1] shots around today I think it's worth taking more of a risk and backing Tipsy tonight against the inconsistent Spaniard.

You can never be sure what you're going to get from either of these players and at around [2.5] it could pay dividends to back the Serb to repeat his 2008 Australian Open win over today's opponent.

Tipsy won in straight sets that day and he went on to repeat the result a few weeks later on the hard-courts of Miami before Verdasco won their last meeting on the slow indoor hard of Valencia in 2009 when the Spaniard was at his peak in the rankings.

Verdasco's first round win over Rainer Schuettler may not add up to much and it's worth noting that the world number nine hasn't beaten anyone inside the world's top 70 since the US Open. Nor has he beaten anyone under the age of 32 in that time.

Tipsy has wins over Andy Roddick and Tomas Berdych in the last few months and we all know that he loves matches like these on the big stage as underdog with nothing to lose.

This can be highlighted by the fact that he's beaten top-10 ranked players on nine separate occasions. Back Tipsy to do so again this time.

On the women's side, there are plenty of short priced favourites around to get stuck into in multiples and the like, but a slightly more risky bet that could pay dividends is to back Kaia Kanepi to beat Julia Goerges at around [1.95].

Goerges has never bettered the second round at any of the four Grand Slams, while Kanepi has reached the quarter finals in her last two - at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010.

That sort of Slam pedigree and experience should prove too much for the 22-year-old Goerges, who whilst clearly improving, still has a poor record in tour level events on outdoor hard-courts.

Kanepi's slow start to the season means that she is very backable at [1.95] and the Estonian won the pair's only meeting thus far - on outdoor hard in Sydney 2008 - in straight sets so there shouldn't be a problem with the match-up.

Recommended bets

Back Tipsarevic to beat Verdasco at [2.5]
Back Kanepi to beat Goerges at [1.95]

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