Australian Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 21 January 2011 /

Sean was successful yesterday when he laid an Andy for a straight sets win. He's at it again today as the British number one bids to reach round four. Meanwhile, in the women's draw our man's going after another upset...

The players were dropping like flies at the Australian Open on Day Five, which meant that two of my three bets were void, but the other one was successful with Robin Haase giving Andy Roddick a very tough time in the opening two sets of their clash.

The lay of 3-0 Roddick was comfortably home early doors, giving a decent profit on the day's proceedings.

On to Day Six then and Andy Murray makes his third round appearance against Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who could give the Scot a tougher time than the [1.06] about a Murray win suggests.

Garcia-Lopez's game has improved a lot over the last 12 months and he boasts wins over Rafa Nadal, Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick, so Murray shouldn't take this lightly.

Murrays' defeats to the likes of Juan Monaco and Gael Monfils at the end of last season suggest he's vulnerable to grinders as well as big hitters and that's what Garcia Lopez will bring to the court.

The Scot should have enough, but a lay of 3-0 at around [1.46] looks the bet in this one.

The other match I like the look of in the men's draw involves Marcos Baghdatis and Jurgen Melzer and I'm taking the former to win this one at a handy [2.0].

Baggy started off poorly in Melbourne, but played some great stuff in his win over Juan Martin Del Potro and a repeat of that level should see off Melzer, who has never been past this stage in the Australian Open.

The Austrian has had two absolute gimmes so far and will need to raise his game markedly to beat Baggy, who will as usual have a big and noisy following, making this more of a Davis Cup tie, and it's on late on Hisense, which means it will be loud. Can Melzer handle it or will we see Jurgen Meltdown once more? Back the Cypriot to cause a minor upset.

On the ladies side, I fancy another upset of the odds, with Shahar Peer looking like good value at around [2.2] to inflict another defeat upon Flavia Pennetta.

The Israeli is at a career high of 12 in the world rankings after an impressive run towards the end of last season and the fact that she beat tonight's opponent twice last year on hard courts in big matches (US Open and Indian Wells) makes her a decent wager at the price.

Pennetta is presumably favourite based on her win over Vera Zvonareva in Sydney, but she's never bettered the third round here in Melbourne and has slipped out of the top-20 after cracking the top-10 18 months ago.

The Italian hasn't won more than two matches at a tournament since Cincy last summer and that trend looks set to continue tonight.

Recommended bets:
Lay Murray to beat Garcia-Lopez 3-0 at [1.46]
Back Baghdatis to beat Melzer at [2.0]
Back Peer to beat Pennetta at [2.2]

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