Events / Ben Caudell / 28 April 2009 /

Let's hope for better weather on day two as Ben Caudell spies some tasty odds and Andy Murray makes his entrance to the Rome Masters event...

Windy conditions followed by sudden downpours disrupted the opening day's play at the Rome Masters which meant that not all of the scheduled matches were completed.

Yesterday's tip on Andreas Seppi to defeat Sam Querrey will be one of the matches rescheduled for Tuesday (13:15 UK time). Also playing tomorrow will be the defending champion Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who is yet to go beyond the third round in Rome. Murray is still gunning for that elusive number three spot in the world rankings and believes that if Novak Djokovic doesn't win this year's event he will finally succeed in ousting the Serbian.

From the matches that were completed, the biggest upset was James Blake's defeat to little known Victor Crivoi from Romania. Blake refused to blame the windy conditions and vowed to make some adjustments in his game before the start of the French Open. Qualifier Crivoi will now meet either Robin Soderling or Marcel Granollers in the second round.

Today's Selections:

Mischa Zverev (GER) v Tomas Berdych (CZE)

Tomas Berdych has a 1-0 head-to-head record over the German Mischa Zverev, the match was played on a hard court and Berdych won in straight sets 6-1 6-4 two years ago. Berdych, who at times has shown glimpses of a scintillating all-round game to match any player in the top 20, has a knack of not fulfilling his true capabilities especially against lesser ranked players. To be fair to the 24-year-old-Czech, 2009 hasn't been all that bad, the majority of his losses have been against top ten world ranked players, including a five set thriller against Roger Federer at the Australian Open and most recently a close three set loss to Fernando Verdasco.

Mischa Zverev on the other hand is a left hander whose main weapon is the serve. The serve is less important on clay than on other surfaces and without all-round court ability the German will struggle against a better more experienced player in Berdych. Zverev's game suits a faster court surface and having never been past the first round at Master Series level, I expect this to be a comfortable straight sets win for Berdych at rather tasty odds.

Selection: Back Tomas Berdych @ [1.4] to win match
Back Berdych 2 -0 @ [2.0]

Andy Murray (GBR) v Juan Monaco (ARG)

Andy Murray may have defeated Juan Monaco in three sets last month but today they meet on the Argentine's favoured clay court surface. Monaco has a slight advantage coming into this match; he has already played three matches so far at this year's Rome Masters, two rounds of qualifying and a first round win over Nicolas Kiefer. He will therefore be more accustomed to the faster clay court and will exude confidence in the knowledge that Murray has struggled on this surface in the past and has never been past the third round in Rome.

Selection: Lay Andy Murray 2-0 @ [1.3]
Back Juan Monaco @ [4.4] to win match (small bet)

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