Events / Sean Calvert / 23 August 2010 /

After a superb Masters event in Cincinatti won by Roger Federer last week, we're back to the more mundane grind of the ATP Tour over in New Haven. This is a tough event to call but here are the best bets, says Sean Calvert.

How unlucky were we last week in Cincinnati when my [50] shot Mardy Fish was beaten in an incredibly tight final by Roger Federer?

Fish beat the likes of Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Fernando Verdasco, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon before losing in a three-set final to the Swiss maestro.

We still made a huge profit on our investment though as Fish went from over [50.0] to [2.34] and allowed ample opportunity for trading out successfully.

On to this week then and it's the last chance for the slightly lower ranked players to fine-tune their games ahead of the final Slam of the year in New York, which begins next Monday.

The Pilot Pen Tennis event is now into its sixth year in New Haven, Connecticut, having been staged at Long Island, New York in the past and in the previous five years it's had three different winners, with only James Blake winning here twice.

Blake is in the draw again this year, having been handed a wild card, but the home favourite hasn't won more than three matches at a tournament since Queen's in 2009, so the veteran has his work cut out this year.

Fellow American Fish was scheduled to appear in New Haven, but he's wisely pull out after his exertions in Cincy and been replaced by the woefully out of form Radek Stepanek.

The recently married Czech lost in straight sets in the first round in Washington, Toronto and Cincy and even lost in qualifying here (to Teimuraz Gabashvili), but has been handed the lucky loser spot.

Another player who performed superbly in Cincy is Marcos Baghdatis and he is a worthy favourite on form at around [3.6] in an event that is short on quality, with the Cypriot being the only representative of the top-20 on show in New Haven.

Baggy reached the semis in Cincy by beating Nadal in the last eight and that's streets ahead of any of the others on show this week, but he is not one to rely on at that short a price, so the bottom half may be the best for value.

The top seed in that bottom half is Brazilian, Thomaz Bellucci, an improving clay-courter, whose overall record of 30-28 on hard courts makes him less than appealing this week.

A more likely contender in that half is wild card Fernando Gonzalez, whose injuries and loss of form in 2010 have contributed to his current world ranking of 29.

Gonzo has only played 22 matches this year and was last seen on a tennis court competitively in the French Open back in May.

The Chilean, now 30, has been struggling with a leg injury of late, but has the class to be a factor here even without match practice, if you're willing to trust his fitness so close to the US Open. His price of around [8.5] isn't great though.

The man who beat Gonzo in the French Open, Alexandr Dolgopolov is also in that quarter and could prove a lively contender at a handy of [9.2] after shooting up the rankings from a top-200 player to the top 50 in a year.

The 21-year-old is a confident sort, who believes he has a very bright future in the game and after some solid results on hard courts this year, he might be one to make it through in that section.

The adjacent quarter looks wide open, with Denis Istomin, Xavier Malisse and recent Hamburg winner Andrey Golubev the most likely.

Belgian Malisse has shown some fine form on hard court lately and after giving Cincy a miss last week, he should be fresh for this and he has history here too, after reaching the semis on his only appearance back in 2006.

His price is around the [8] mark and if you're planning a pre-US Open punt in New Haven, I'd be inclined to keep stakes on the small side and opt for Malisse or Dolgopolov to come through what looks to be a very tough tournament to call.

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