Davis Cup Betting / Sean Calvert / 09 February 2012 /

Without Andy Murray in their ranks Team GB are in for a tough first round match against Slovakia says Sean Calvert, but Japan look a good bet to beat Croatia.

The ATP Tour takes a break this week, but there's still plenty of the top stars of the men's game in action, as the opening matches in this year's Davis Cup take place.

Great Britain have been promoted to Group 1 of the Europe/Africa Zone and their first match is this week's home tie against Slovakia, which will be screened live on British Eurosport from Friday.

But this group is a big step up from the opposition that GB have been used to lately and even with home advantage, they will struggle to come out on top in this clash without the unavailable Andy Murray. With specialists Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming available they should win the doubles, but James Ward and Daniel Evans have their work cut out in the singles against the in-form Lukas Lacko and world number 120 Martin Klizan.

Evans is yet to win a Davis Cup match, but did at least reach the main draw in Zagreb last week, winning three matches in qualifying against decent opposition, but he hasn't beaten a player ranked inside the top-100 since defeating Wayne Odesnik in 2009.

Lacko reached the final in Zagreb last week and will surely be too strong for both Ward and Evans, but they both have a shot against the left handed Klizan, who is not exactly pulling up any trees at the moment.

Klizan did show his quality in Slovakia's last Davis Cup match though, when he defeated Ilya Marchenko and Sergiy Stakhovsky, which are excellent wins, although that tie was played on clay, whereas we're on indoor hard in Glasgow this weekend.

Expect stubborn resistance from the Brits and a win in the doubles, but Slovakia should take this one.

Perhaps the most competitive tie of a weekend that involves plenty of short priced favourites is the clash between Japan and Croatia in Hyogo.

Kei Nishikori's recent run to the top-20 in the world makes the 22-year-old the main man in this tie and he hasn't lost a Davis Cup tie since 2008, but the opposition has been poor and it will be interesting to see how he copes with carrying his nation's hopes this weekend.

Nishikori's team mate Go Soeda is also a man in form, after winning the Challenger event in Honolulu to make up for a disappointing Australian Open and the world number 90 does hold a 1-0 head-to-head advantage over Ivan Dodig, who he meets in the tie's opening rubber.

The Croatians are without the injured Marin Cilic and retired Ivan Ljubicic and will have to rely on Dodig and Ivo Karlovic this weekend, but I have reservations about Doctor Ivo's indoor form. Karlovic hasn't bettered a quarter final indoors since 2008 and he lost both of his rubbers indoors against Germany in his last Davis Cup appearance a year ago.

A good returner such as Nishikori should have his chances against Karlovic who probably doesn't have the time to lumber round his backhand and hit the forehand on the quicker indoor surfaces, which probably explains his better form on clay.

Dodig will use his main weapon - his serve - to good effect on the indoor surface, but he wasn't great in his home tournament in Zagreb last week and he has lost four of his last five Davis Cup rubbers to go with his overall singles record of four wins and eight losses.

Soeda has a great record in Davis Cup, but as this is Japan's first match in the World Group since the Japanese number two was a toddler, it doesn't mean that much.

There will be some nerves about but the home support will be important in this first meeting between the two nations and with Croatia playing only their second away tie since 2007 that should give the hosts the edge.

The layers have this one as more or less even, with Japan's price for the tie win likely to be around the [1.88] mark and that looks the best bet of the weekend's matches.

Recommended Bets

Back Japan to beat Croatia at around [1.88]
Back Slovakia to beat Great Britain (market yet to fully materialise)

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: