Events / Sean Calvert / 03 August 2009 /

After a profitable return from his tipping on the LA Open, Sean Calvert looks ahead to the second leg of the US Hardcourt swing where last year's winner Juan Martin Del Potro is likely to make a real fist of defending his valuable ranking points.

Leonardo Mayer's run to the semi finals in LA last week ensured that my advice made a profit despite Mardy Fish's withdrawal due to injury.

Indeed, had Mayer taken advantage of a dream semi final against world number 205 Carsten Ball we would have been looking at a massive payout, but instead we had to be content with a trade from a high of [75.0] down to [5.0].

Not a bad start to the US hardcourt swing though and there looks to be another fine punting opportunity with which to increase the coffers this week in Washington.

The Legg Mason Tennis Classic has been around since 1970 and has been upgraded to an ATP 500 event this year, thereby increasing the prize fund and the ranking points on offer considerably.

It is the task of 2008 champion Juan Martin Del Potro to defend those ranking points and it appears after scrutiny of the draw that the lanky Argentine has been handed a fine opportunity to do so.

The world number six has been off the tour since suffering a straight sets defeat to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon, but he kept himself busy by winning his two Davis Cup matches easily in the Czech Republic last month.

Del Potro has proven in the past that he goes well fresh and I expect him to take full advantage of a draw that has placed most of the dangerous floaters in the opposite half.

The Argentine has the likes of Dudi Sela ([500]), Lleyton Hewitt ([30]), Victor Troicki ([300]) and Robin Soderling ([12.5]) in his quarter, with Tommy Robredo ([200]), Tommy Haas ([16]), Fernando Gonzalez ([14]) and Igor Andreev ([200]) in the adjacent quarter.

These are players that Del Potro shouldn't have too many problems with on paper, unless Soderling or Gonzalez have one of those days where they don't miss, but the defending champ will be desperate for revenge over Hewitt for that Wimbledon loss.

At a price of around [5.5] I'll be taking the chance that Del Potro will be going all out for this, having chosen not to defend his ranking points from 2008 in either Stuttgart or Los Angeles.

Washington has been a favoured venue for the big hitters in recent years, with the likes of John Isner ([300]), Ivo Karlovic ([34]) and Andy Roddick enjoying success on these pacy courts of late.

Fortunately for us Del Potro backers, most of the other huge servers are in the top half of the draw, which makes that section something of a lottery.

Tomas Berdych ([28]), Sam Querrey ([50]), Mardy Fish ([80]), Dmitry Tursunov ([100]), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marin Cilic join Roddick, Karlovic and Isner in the top half and if you throw in Indianapolis winner Robby Ginepri ([200]) and Leonardo Mayer ([1000]) into the mix, it makes it very tough to pick a finalist from that section.

Following his excellent effort at Wimbledon many will fancy three time Washington champion Roddick for the title here, but I'm not convinced.

This will be A-Rod's first event since sustaining a hip flexor injury at SW19 and his price of around [4.8] seems a tad low for me to get involved considering all of the danger men that lurk in that side of the draw.

A better value bet for my money would be Tsonga at around [13.0].

The big Frenchman was desperately disappointed to lose to Karlovic at Wimbledon and like Roddick, he has not been in action since.

He has an outstanding 16-5 record on hard courts in 2009 and a defeat to Igor Andreev at Indian Wells apart, Tsonga has only lost to the best this season on the quick courts.

The world number seven looks good to reach the semi finals at least unless he runs into Isner on a day where he doesn't get a sniff of a service return, but on the whole an injured Mardy Fish and an injured Tursunov, combined with the likes of Berdych and Ernests Gulbis, shouldn't be a problem to overcome.

Another to consider as an alternative to Roddick is Marin Cilic at around [20].

The 20-year-old Croatian has a 12-4 record on hard this season and performed well on an unfamiliar surface at Wimbledon where he lost out in a classic to Tommy Haas 10-8 in the fifth.

Since then Cilic won his two rubbers on clay in the Davis Cup win over the USA, but it's on this sort of pacy surface that the world number 15 is at his best.

The main problem with a wager on Cilic is the fact that he will probably have to face Davis Cup teammate Karlovic for the first time in a competitive match and who knows how that clash could turn out?

My recommendations for the Legg Mason Classic 2009 then would be to back Del Potro and consider savers on either Tsonga or Cilic.

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