Australian Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 22 January 2011 /

Things went a bit paer-shaped yesterday for Sean but his column is still up for the first week. Today he's predicting a former Grand Slam champion to go out to one of the in-form players of the tournament so far.

Day Six in Melbourne turned out to be a bit of a disaster, but I was due a bad day so things can only get better on my final day in the tipping hot seat today for this tournament.

Yesterday's pathetic effort from Guillermo Garcia-Lopez gave me an idea for tennis to bring in a boxing-style withholding of purses for Audley Harrison-esque showings such as the Spaniard's. Someone would make a killing for sure.

Shahar Peer was a game away from the win and then lost, while Marcos Baghdatis was a set and a break up before his body gave out and he retired mid-way through the fourth.

That's all the bad luck used up I reckon and as you'd still be £43 up if you'd had a tenner of each of my recommended daily bets, I'm going to continue to go for the value on Day Seven.

First up then is Stan Wawrinka to end Andy Roddick's tournament at a decent [1.95].

The Swiss number two was one of my long shots to follow in this event at around [300.0] and he hasn't disappointed thus far with straight sets wins over Gabashvili, the much-vaunted Dimitrov, and Monfils.

To not drop a set to those guys is impressive, while Roddick struggled in the face of a blitz from Robin Haase in the last round and looks ready for home.

They've played three times before, with Stan 2-1 up, but both those wins have come through Roddick retirements, so that's misleading.

Wawrinka's game has really come on since Peter Lungdren took up coaching duties and the win over Andy Murray in New York gave his confidence a big boost.

He's continued the good form this year and is unbeaten in 2011 in eight matches. He should make that nine tonight.

My final ladies singles bet is the in-form Shuai Peng to cause an upset over Agnieska Radwanska at an attractive-looking [2.3].

The Chinsese player has been in great touch lately, with nine wins from 11 on hard-courts so far this year, while her opponent has been struggling with injury and has done well to get to round four.

The Pole suffered a stress fracture of the foot at the end of last season and as this is her first event back, she will be feeling the pace a bit.

Peng also beat Radwanska at the US Open last year in the latest of their three meetings (the other two went to Radwanska) and each match has been close.

Their 2009 Wimbledon clash went to 9-7 in the third, but the recent improvement of Peng combined with Radwanska's fitness situation means that Peng has a great chance in this at odds-against.

Recommended bets

Wawrinka to beat Roddick at [1.95]
Peng to beat Radwanksa at [2.3]

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