French Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 03 June 2009 /

Swiss maestro has been taken to the limit a few too many times and could find Frenchman his opponent yet, says Ben Caudell.

Fernando Gonzalez, recommended at [150.0] to win the French Open title, is now as short as [5.8] to lay after sweeping aside British hopeful Andy Murray 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 in two hours and 15 minutes.

Murray was - to put it simply - destroyed by the Chilean's awesome power play on the forehand side which some people believe is the best in the business. Time after time, Gonzalez ran around his backhand to unleash winners from all angles giving the Brit very little time to control the pace of the rallies. The 1998 junior Roland Garros winner, Gonzalez (only five junior champions have gone on to win the men's singles title) will take on another player in the form of his life, Robin Soderling of Sweden, in a semi-final battle that that will showcase the two players I believe have shown the best form so far at this year's event.

Soderling completely annihilated Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 to book his place in the semis, the Swede looked every bit a Grand Slam title contender winning an amazing 78 per cent of first serves and 72 per cent of second service points without being broken all match. In what has without doubt been the best tournament of his career, Soderling has already sent home odds-on favourite and world number one Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, another clay court specialist who had high hopes of doing well at this year's French Open, and has lost just the one set (to Nadal).

Today's Selections:

Gael Monfils (FRA) v Roger Federer (SWI)
Roger Federer's passage into the quarter-finals has been far from simple yet somehow the Swiss master has managed to dig himself out of all scrapes so far, a situation we have seen so many times in the past, usually resulting in successfully achieving what he has set out to do by either by reaching the final or by winning the tournament.
At this year's Australian Open, Federer came from two sets down to defeat Tomas Berdych in (R16), during the US Open 2008, he was taken to five sets by Igor Andreev (R16) before eventually taking title against Andy Murray. And it's happened here too, another five set match in (R16), this time against Tommy Haas. Clawing his way back from the brink of defeat, Federer found that inner strength that has won him so many Grand Slam titles in the past to take the match 6-2 in the fifth.
This has not been the only match at this year's Open the Swiss has struggled, his second round defeat of Jose Acasuso lasted just under four hours and was won in four sets, he lost the first set against Paul Henri Mathieu and in total has played more than 12 hours of tennis over the last 10 days compared with Monfils' six hours and thirty minutes.
With the support from the partisan crowd on the Frenchman's side, I believe this will be another slug fest for Federer - and a match in which he may not have the energy left to see it through to the end.
Selections:

Back Monfils @ [4.1] to win match
Back Roger Federer @ [3.0] to hit most aces
Lay Three Sets @ [2.58]

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