Events / Sean Calvert / 28 September 2009 /

Sean Calvert has little to go in terms of form as this is a brand new event but other studies tell him French Open finalist Robin Soderling is the man to be on this week.

It was back down to earth with a small bump last week after three winning weeks in a row, as Gael Monfils finally managed to end his four-year streak without an ATP title in Metz.

The Frenchman is among the line up again this week, as the tour begins the newly boosted Asian swing.

The ATP, in a move clearly designed to generate lots of cash from the emerging Asian tennis market, has created a couple of new events in the region, of which the Proton Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur is the first.

The tournament will be played indoors on a Greenset hardcourt surface using the Wilson US Open balls.

As this is a brand new event, there's obviously no history to go on, but current form, overall records on indoor hardcourts and a look at the draw leads me to the conclusion that there is a clear favourite in Kuala Lumpur this week.

Robin Soderling ([4.8]) has been in the form of his life in 2009 and since suffering a thrashing at the hands of Rafa Nadal on clay in week 17 the Swede has a stellar 26-7 record in all competitions.

A further look at that record reveals that of the seven losses Soderling incurred in that time four were to Roger Federer and one was a walkover due to injury.

That means that Soderling has lost only two matches since April that didn't involve Federer - one to Nicolas Almagro on clay in Hamburg, (which preceded his run to the final at Roland Garros) and a tight clash with Lleyton Hewitt in Cincinnati when Soderling was suffering with an elbow injury.

Soderling loves playing indoors and holds an impressive record of 74 wins against 30 losses indoors at tour level with three titles. Compare this to someone like David Ferrer for example, whose record indoors is 28-34.

My tip was also in fine form in the Davis Cup two weeks ago when he crushed Victor Crivoi and Victor Hanescu of Romania in straight sets in his singles rubbers.

The draw also looks good for Soderling, as he has been paired with one of his favourite opponents Nikolay Davydenko, against whom the world number 11 holds a 5-2 head-to-head record, including the last four in a row.

Davydenko ([7]) has been struggling with a leg injury, which coincidentally occurred during the Russian's defeat to Soderling in New York and he has been out of action since.

Others of note in that top half of the draw include Monfils ([9.0]), whose questionable fitness surely counts him out of winning back-to-back titles and Tomas Berdych ([22.0]), who might be the one to trouble Soderling the most.

The inconsistent Czech has been in fine form in the Davis Cup of late and has enjoyed a reasonable hardcourt campaign in 2009. He also admits to enjoying playing in Asia and won the title in Tokyo last year, so don't rule Berdych out of this event.

The rest of the opposition in the top half of the draw looks limited, but the bottom half appears by far the more competitive with the likes of Ferrer ([27.0]), Fernando Gonzalez ([6.6]), Fernando Verdasco ([5.1]), Richard Gasquet ([42.0]), Lleyton Hewitt ([25.0]) and two interesting wildcards in Marcos Baghdatis ([90.0]) and Joachim Johansson ([270.0]).

Johansson is making his return to tour level tennis after a serious shoulder problem that has plagued the Swede for the last four years.The 27-year-old was as high as number nine in the world back in 2005, but hasn't played a tour level event since Stockholm in 2008, which was his only tennis that year. He has played a few challengers in 2009 without any success, but hasn't played at all since May despite being offered numerous wild cards and is now ranked at 451 in the world.

Baghdatis is another who has suffered badly with injury and despite winning a couple of challengers recently (beating Xavier Malisse in the final both times), he has struggled at tour level, barely winning a match.

More likely winners from this section of the draw of course are the two Fernando's - Verdasco and Gonzalez and of this pair I just favour Gonzalez this week.

The Chilean hasn't played since losing to Nadal in the quarter finals in New York, as he is in dispute with his national team management, so he didn't appear in the Davis Cup.

I lean towards Gonzalez rather than Verdasco on the basis of the former's better record in Asia and the fact that Verdasco hasn't played since incurring an injury at the US Open and missed the Davis Cup as a consequence.

Gonzalez was runner up to Nadal in the Beijing Olympics last year and he won the tour title there in 2007, while Verdasco has never made it to a final in Asia and also reportedly has a foot problem that requires minor surgery.

Hewitt is said to enjoy playing in Asia and he could be one to watch at around [25.0], while Gasquet could also spring the odd surprise, but all in all the bottom half looks trappy with Gonzalez the pick for a saver bet.

Recommendations:

Back Soderling at around [4.8] (large stakes)
Back Gonzalez at around [6.6] (small stakes)

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