Events / Sean Calvert / 13 April 2011 /

Austria's finest hit the world's top-ten recently but it's all gone downhill since, says Sean Calvert, and he is one to be against as the Monte Carlo Masters continues on Thursday

I might have known it was too much to ask Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco to win in the same week and so it proved yesterday when the latter slumped to a defeat that will see him slide out of the top-ten and down the rankings.

Another player who is in danger of doing the same thing as Verdasco very soon is in action later on Thursday, as Jurgen Melzer takes on Nicolas Almagro in Monte-Carlo.

Melzer's currently the world number nine, but his form since hitting those heights has been poor, with his best effort in 2010 being a solitary quarter-final in Marseille.

Almagro on the other hand is on a fantastic run on the red dirt, having reached five finals in his last six clay court events, stretching back to autumn last year.

The Spaniard had an almighty struggle against fellow clay specialist Maxi Gonzalez on Wednesday, but he showed his bottle in the end by taking it 12-10 in a final set breaker.

That match should have knocked any rustiness out of Almagro, who I expect to be too classy for the struggling Austrian at around [1.74].

Melzer just about dismissed Robin Haase in three sets on Wednesday, with the Dutchman admitting afterwards that he had a shocker, so Melzer's overall play still looks to be comfortably below top-10 standard right now.

The Austrian had only played two matches on clay in 2011 before this week and one of those was a straight sets defeat to the struggling Jeremy Chardy in Davis Cup, so his surface form is questionable too.

This pair have met on two occasions in the past, with the series tied at 1-1, but Almagro won their only meeting on clay in straight sets easily in Madrid last year and he should be a good bet to do the same today.

Recommended Bet
Back Nicolas Almagro to beat Jurgen Melzer at around [1.74]

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