Davis Cup Betting / Sean Calvert / 10 July 2009 /

The 2009 Davis Cup reaches the quarter final stage this weekend and you can watch all the action on Betfair Live Video. The draw has thrown up some interesting final eight ties and hopefully some potentially profitable wagers too, says Sean Calvert...

Czech Republic v Argentina

The Czechs will be out to avenge their 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Argentina in the last meeting between these two nations in 2005.

This clash on the indoor hard courts of Ostrava will be the first time that these countries have played on any other surface than clay and the home side are on a roll after dumping out France in the previous round.

They will again be relying on Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek in both the singles and doubles and perhaps surprisingly the former has a very decent 17-6 overall record in Davis Cup and has never tasted defeat in the doubles in six matches.

Even without the injured David Nalbandian, the Argentina side looks to have strength in depth with world number five Juan Martin Del Potro and the newly short haired Jose Acasuso probably being the singles picks.

The visitors also have up and coming 22-year-old Leonardo Mayer and Juan Monaco among their ranks as they look to reach the semi-finals for the sixth time in eight years.

The Czechs have won their last three Davis Cup home ties by the score of 3-2 and that could well be the outcome this time as this looks to be a closely matched contest.

Take the Czech Republic to proceed to the semi finals at around [2.5].

Croatia v United States

The home side are defending an unbeaten record against the USA, having defeated them in the only two meetings between the nations so far.

Ivan Ljubicic was the main reason for those successes though and following his retirement and the continuing injury problems of Mario Ancic the Croatian side will probably rely on Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic for both singles and doubles.

Andy Roddick's withdrawal from the USA team is a big blow to them as they won't be able to rely on his 31-11 winning record.

Instead they will play Mardy Fish, who has a distinctly average 4-4 mark in Davis Cup singles matches and James Blake (18-9) in the singles and the Bryan brothers, who have only ever lost two matches, in the doubles.

This one is being played on the indoor red clay of Porec and home advantage could well count, with Croatia favoured at around [1.7].

Spain v Germany

Defending champions Spain beat Germany at the same stage of the competition last year and even without Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer the home side look too classy for a Germany side that doesn't look the strongest on clay.

Phillip Kohlschreiber is their best bet for points, but it's hard to see Nicolas Kiefer, Andreas Beck or Mischa Zverev taking anything away from the Plaza de Toros de Puerto Banus.

This one should be comfortable for Spain at around [1.20].


Israel v Russia

Israel reached the quarters for the first time since 1987 with a surprise win over Sweden and their prize is a home clash with two time Davis Cup champions Russia.

The home side look certain to be strong in the doubles with specialists Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, whereas the Russian's best partnership of Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn is not an option due to an injury to Tursunov.

The visitors look strong in the singles though with Marat Safin (21-15 win/loss ratio); Mikhail Youzhny (10-9); and Igor Andreev (9-6) being the likely selections.

Israel's highest ranked singles player Dudi Sela is a decent hard court player, who has lost just one of his last eight Davis Cup singles matches, but he is unlikely to receive much assistance from world number 210 Harel Levy.

That said, world number 33 Sela may be able to win his two singles against Safin, who is very much on the decline and Andreev who has lost his last three singles rubbers in straight sets, so Israel could well be the value bet of the quarter finals at around [3.5].

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