Miami Open: Soderling by a whisker

Events / Ben Caudell / 27 March 2011 / 1

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Robin Soderling rarely takes his eyes off the ball in Masters tournaments

"With a very competitive match on the cards, I expect the Swede to pull off a minor upset in three and continue his good run of form."

Former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro is up against Robin Soderling in the glamour tie of the third round in Miami and Ben Caudell thinks the smart money is on the Swede

Avid tennis fans from around the world are in for a rare' third round' marquee match-up taking place tonight at Crandon Park, the venue for this week's Miami Masters event, as fourth seed Robin Soderling takes on the comeback kid and 2009 U.S Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.

Both players came through their previous rounds with egos slightly dented, having been made to battle through three sets of gruelling conditions that has so far seen 12 seeds fall in the second round. Del Potro dispatched of Philipp Kohlschreiber for the second time in two weeks (6-7 6-4 7-5) while Soderling went through against Ivan Dodig, the PBZ Zagreb Indoor champ (3-6 6-2 6-4).

Tonight's pairing has met only three times in their careers with the Argentine leading the head-to-head series 2-1. Each match has been a close fought encounter with four of eight sets played being decided in a tie-breaker.

The two players share similar form coming into this evenings' duel - Soderling and Del Potro are both 9-1 in all matches and have tournament wins to their names this year. However, Soderling has been more successful on this latter front, winning no fewer than three tournaments in 2011: Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille, compared with just Delray Beach for the Argentinian.

I'm not sure the Swede should start as the underdog for this match [(2.1]). Yes, Del Potro is improving faster than expected after wrist surgery, but the question is: who has he beaten this year? The highest ranked player is World Number 23 Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine. Soderling is in a different class to what he's beaten, holds a singles ranking of 4 in the world, reached the semi-finals of this event last year, has three tournament wins to his name and loves playing on the extremely slow Miami surface.

With a very competitive match on the cards, I expect the Swede to pull off a minor upset in three and continue his good run of form.

Recommended Bets:

Back Robin Soderling @ [2.1] to win match
Back three sets @ [2.40]

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(1)

Colin Mafham | 28 March 2011

Glad I haven't been listening to these Miami mens tips LOL!

Would have lost a lot :( How could you not back Del Potro over Soderling!!!

When is Ben going to get a tip right?!

Bring back that guy Sean (but then again he did tip Murray to win LOL!)