Events / Sean Calvert / 10 November 2011 /

Andy Murray will be enjoying the conditions in Paris far more than today's opponent Andy Roddick. Elsewhere, David Ferrer is there for the taking against one of the more unorthodox players of the ATP tour.

Wednesday at the Palais Omnisports proved to be a slightly better one, with Mardy Fish easing to victory with something to spare against Florian Mayer.

The American took full advantage of Mayer's inability to perform on the car park of a surface in Bercy and stormed to a straight sets win 6-1, 6-2, winning over 90% of his first serve points, against a dejected Mayer.

Our speculative small investment on Ivan Dodig unfortunately didn't come off, as Novak Djokovic, despite drifting from [1.2] to [1.32] in the betting, seemed to suffer no adverse affects from his injured shoulder.

On to Thursday then and Andy Murray plays his third round match against Andy Roddick with conditions firmly in the Scot's favour.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has talked about how slow not only the surface is, but also how the balls are apparently adding to the overall snail's pace of the conditions by fluffing up very quickly.

All of which means that Roddick's key weapons - such as they are - will surely be snuffed out by a quality counterpuncher such as Murray.

Neither player has performed particularly well here in Bercy in the past and you have to conclude that if Roddick couldn't break through at the Palais Omnisports when it was quick, he's hardly likely to on this week's pudding of a surface.

As for Murray, the surface should give him all the time in the world to pass Roddick when he advances to the net and the American won't enjoy many free points on serve.
Indeed, Roddick was broken twice by Julien Benneteau in his last match and looks vulnerable against a returner of the quality of Murray.

The pair have met four times on indoor hard-courts, with Murray leading 3-1 and two of those three Murray wins have been in straight sets, which looks the call again today.
The 2-0 win is trading at around the [1.52] mark and that's where my money will be going in Thursday's opening match.

My second bet today is more of a long shot, but with the match between David Ferrer and Alexandr Dolgopolov scheduled for Court One, I think that the Ukrainian has a shot at around [3.4] against the Spaniard.

There is a bit of a disparity between Court One and Court Central in terms of speed, with the smaller court appearing to be a reasonable amount quicker, which will help the outsider today.

In any case, Dolgo's unorthodox game should be suited to indoor tennis and he was impressive in defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber yesterday and breaking a four match losing streak in the process.

Dolgo's health problems have been well documented and consequently it's not always easy to judge when he's going to play at his best, but I get the impression that all is well this week and he'll be looking for his second win in a row against Ferrer.

The Spaniard's efforts at the end of this year have been concentrated on his own event in Valencia and - you would think - putting in a better effort at the O2 than last year.
Ferrer and Dolgopolov's last two clashes have gone to a decider and I expect a tight one again, with the edge just going to Dolgo.

Recommended Bets

Back Murray to beat Roddick 2-0 at [1.52]
Back Dolgopolov to beat Ferrer at [3.4]

Follow Sean on Twitter @seancalvert1

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