Davis Cup Betting / Sean Calvert / 06 April 2012 /

There's no ATP Tour action for Sean Calvert to mull over this week, so instead our tennis expert has turned to the Davis Cup to find a few betting opportunities over the Easter weekend.

With no ATP Tour action until next week, the Davis Cup takes centre stage this weekend with semi final places in the World Group up for grabs.

British fans will also have something to shout about, as Great Britain look to back up their shock win over Slovakia and earn themselves a place in the World Group play-offs by defeating Belgium.

British Eurosport is the place to catch the live action as GB attempt to upset the odds again, but their cause has taken a blow with the news that neither James Ward nor Andy Murray are available for the Glasgow clash. So, Dan Evans and Josh Goodall will be in singles action to complement the crack doubles outfit of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins and this looks a tall order for the Brits.

Goodall, who at around 6'2" will doubtless feel like a giant, surrounded by the diminutive Evans and Belgium's vertically challenged pair of Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus, plays only his second Davis Cup rubber and he is yet to win a set in the competition. He is in decent nick though at least, having won a Futures event last week, but let's be honest, Goodall hasn't bettered the first round at Challenger or Tour level since reaching the second round in Tallahassee in 2010, so he's unlikely to win a point for Britain this weekend.

Evans's form is a little better, having beaten former Grand Slam finalist Arnaud Clement in a Challenger in Guadeloupe last week and he may well become inspired by returning to the Braehead Arena and he's got every chance of taking out Rochus at a price of around [4.5] on that form.

Rochus has a patchy Davis Cup record with a 14-14 win/loss mark in singles, but Darcis's stats make better reading with a 7-4 singles record and the world number 68 has been in decent touch lately.

I would expect GB to take the doubles, but it's a big ask for Evans to come up with another two wins, so Belgium should take this tie 3-1 or 3-2.

In the World Group, it's Spain v Austria, France v USA, Czech Republic v Serbia and Argentina v Croatia.

There's no Nadal for Spain, but David Ferrer has done an about turn after saying he wasn't available initially and they look strong if a touch inexperienced with Nicolas Almagro, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez having featured in only eight rubbers between them.

Jurgen Melzer is always a complete enigma and could easily cause Spain problems if he fancies it. The Austrian number one handed out a severe beating to Ferrer at Roland Garros a couple of years ago and if he's in the mood Melzer could trouble Spain, as he has a good record against Almagro too.

Spain should win, but I don't see the [1.06] about a home win as anything other than very poor value.

France face a tricky tie against the USA, with John Isner in fine form at the moment and of course with a win over Roger Federer on the red dirt last time out in Davis Cup. Ryan Harrison is less experienced on clay though and it's hard to see the young man coming out on top in best of five set rubbers on the dirt against the likes of Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

France are around [1.45], which is a touch short, considering the Bryan brothers have never lost a Davis Cup doubles rubber on clay and have a 19-2 record on all surfaces. Isner would probably need to win both matches though, which will be a big ask.

The Czech Republic have also opted for clay as the surface for their home tie with Serbia, who are without Novak Djokovic and I would fancy the Czechs to take this one given Janko Tipsarevic's pretty average dirt form and Viktor Troicki's general poor form.

Tipsy does have a 14-3 record on clay in Davis Cup, but most of those matches were a long time ago against weak opposition. He hasn't beaten a top-25 player on dirt since Gael Monfils in Monte Carlo back in 2009.

As for Troicki, well, he hasn't beaten anyone ranked inside the top-25 on any surface on tour since Roland Garros almost a year ago, so the [1.64] about a home win looks good to me with Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek both available for the home side.

The last match completes the clay quartet and it's hard to make much of a case for Croatia on the dirt against the Argentine line-up of Juan Martin Del Potro, Juan Monaco, David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank.

Ivo Karlovic and Marin Cilic are no pushovers, but Karlovic's clay form is restricted to the unusual conditions in Houston, while Cilic, although effective on the dirt on his day is inching his way back from injury.

Surely a home win will be the outcome here, but you won't get rich at around [1.06].

Recommended Bets

Back Czech Republic to beat Serbia at [1.64]
Back to lay Evans to beat Rochus at [4.5]

Follow Sean on Twitter @seancalvert1

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