Indian Wells Daily Tips: Prepare for a mini-epic when Rod meets Sod!

Events / Sean Calvert / 20 March 2010 /

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Does Roddick's great run end here?

"Roddick, as you would probably expect given the slow nature of the surface, has never reached the final at Indian Wells, his best effort being three semi-final spots - and he's had a simple route through to the last four this year. "

Sean Calvert looks at today's semi-finals at Indian Wells

It wasn't the greatest of days betting-wise at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Friday, as Andy Murray crashed out to Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals.

The Scot put in one of those insipid performances that he produces every now and then - think Marin Cilic in the US Open last year and took down one of our bets in the process.

Andy Roddick's straight sets win over Tommy Robredo redressed the balance somewhat though and the American now faces Soderling in what promises to be a cracking semi-final today. Soderling starts as favourite at around [1.73] and you would have to fancy him to continue his winning run over Roddick.

The pair have met twice with the Swede winning tight encounters both times, but both came indoors, so this is their first meeting under today's conditions.

Roddick, as you would probably expect given the slow nature of the surface, has never reached the final at Indian Wells, his best effort being three semi-final spots - and he's had a simple route through to the last four this year.

Beating Lu, De Bakker, Melzer and Robredo is comfortable stuff, but he'll certainly be taken out of that comfort zone today when he faces Soderling. I said yesterday that Soderling had it all to prove in these conditions and that's still the case, but he went a long way to doing that against Murray and you would have to say that a repeat of that form on Saturday would be good enough against Roddick.

The Swede still has a tendency to lose focus mid-match so I wouldn't be too keen to go for a straight sets win, but over 22.5 games looks worth a bet too, as breaks of serve will surely be at a premium.

The other semi pits Rafa Nadal against Ivan Ljubicic and this is surely where the Croat's great run comes to an end.

The two have played six times, with Nadal winning the last five, but Ljubicic has taken a set each time they've met on hard courts, so I wouldn't be going all in on the [1.55] for the Spaniard to win 2-0.

Nadal should win this one, but [1.17] is too short, as Ljubicic will be well rested after a day off and could push his opponent, but overall I can't see an appealing wager in this one

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