Events / Ben Caudell / 13 November 2009 /

Ben Caudell believes that fine form will prevail over inconsistency in the French capital today...

Gael Monfils (FRA) v Marin Cilic (CRO)

Neither Monfils or Cilic will be competing at the ATP World Tour Finals in London this year, being ranked 16 and 13 respectively, but both players will surely be knocking on the door of the top 10 and a chance to play at the 02 Arena in 2010.

Marin Cilic played impeccably in yesterday's win over Fernando Verdasco. The Croat who went to three sets for the second time in Paris - the other was a first round win against Lukasz Kubot - showed immense determination and stubbornness that totally baffled the Spaniard into almost tanking the last couple of games and the match due to Cilic's awesome shot making skills. The Zagreb native moved into the quarter finals for the first time to improve to 4-1 overall in Paris, last year, he posted wins over Andreas Seppi and Marcus Granollers before falling in the third round to Roger Federer.

Gael Monfils went onto defeat giant killer Julien Benneteau in straight sets, hitting 16 aces and saving all six break points he faced. The Frenchman has a career 4-3 mark in the Paris Masters and with the home crowds support will hope to go further now that the tournament draw is minus Andy Murray and Roger Federer.

This will be the first time that these two players have faced each other on the ATP Tour. Their games are suited to the faster indoor surfaces, they posses big serves and are attack minded. The odds reflect the uncertainty as to who will win this match with Cilic being posted as the slight favourite. Due to the fact that Monfils can often become very erratic on court, and can never quite be trusted compared with Cilic's fine form and dogged determination, I believe there is definitely value in backing the Croat as he should be shorter than [1.9]

Selection: Back Marin Cilic @ [1.91] to win match
Back Cilic 2-1 @ [4.5] (small bet)

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