Events / Editor / 10 August 2007 /

There is a total of almost $2.5million in prize money up for grabs at the event which will be competed for by the world's top 45 men at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal this year.

The public will be enthralled by the presence of the big two of Federer and Nadal in addition to Andy Roddick, who has also tasted success at the tournament, and a host of other big name players.

Swiss world number one Federer will be attempting to defend the title he regained last year in Toronto after he lost his 2004 crown to Spanish rival Nadal the following year. The pair are sure to once again dominate the betting for this important ATP Masters Series event and the changing odds will make fascinating reading throughout the tournament as backers assess the form of the great rivals.

Nadal showed in July's Wimbledon final that he is getting ever closer to the standard set by Federer, and the three-time French Open champion will certainly believe he can again enjoy success in the city where he claimed his first career hard-court title. The closing of the gap will be reflected in the betting but the odds are still likely to favour the world number one, especially on this surface.

There are some outside bets to consider with one or two interesting contenders likely to be double-figure odds, at least, but who will give the favourites a run for their money throughout the Masters Series?

Several youngsters have shown they are getting close to making a major impact at the highest level and will have support in match betting and on some of the outright betting markets.

The likes of Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis and talented Serb Novak Djokovic, who met in the quarter finals of Wimbledon, will be expecting to reach the latter stages of the event, while British number one Andy Murray will be keen to prove he is now over the worst of his injury problems. Those having a bet on the young Scot should monitor his initial progress in what is his first competition since he damaged his wrist.

Talented Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet, who progressed all the way to the semi-finals at SW19 claiming Roddick's scalp along the way before finally succumbing to Federer in the last four, are bound to also attract interest in the betting.

However, many punters have lined their pockets through betting on Federer over the years and the Swiss star, who turns 26 during the competition, will be expected to attract the majority of sizeable bets.

He holds the record for the longest streak of consecutive matches in the series having gone 29 without defeat in 2005-2006, while only last year he set the record for the most finals reached in the series after appearing on six occasions, landing plenty of good bets along the way.

That is likely to make the Fed-Express short odds once again in the betting both before the event and during the competition with many exciting in-play betting opportunities to tempt punters.

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