Sony Ericsson Open Daily Tips: Stan can land Monday gamble

Events / Sean Calvert / 29 March 2010 /

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Warwinka can pull off a mini upset today

"Stanislas Wawrinka has been concentrating on other things lately, with the arrival of his first child, but he's back now and more than capable of defeating Youzhny on this surface."

Sean Calvert picks the best of the bets from Miami

It was a bit of an up and down day at the Crandon Park Tennis Centre yesterday, with two winners and two losers.

David Ferrer cruised past Ivo Karlovic in straight sets as predicted and Nicolas Almagro took out Jeremy Chardy in three, but my outside tip Oliver Rochus lost, as did Tommy Robredo in one of the most bizarre games of tennis you'll ever see.

Monday features several competitive-looking match-ups and with some of tennis's flakiest performers on show today, you might want to pick and choose carefully in the last of the men's third round matches.

For example, at [1.2], I wouldn't bet on Tomas Berdych to beat my sister, let alone a fellow professional tennis player, while the same could be said of Fernando Verdasco at [1.4] against Jurgen Melzer.

Mardy Fish against Feliciano Lopez is another to avoid, but there could be some value in backing over 22.5 games at around [1.73] in the Marin Cilic v Marcos Baghdatis encounter.

This one has all the makings of a tight clash and I don't see it ending quickly in a comfortable straight sets win for either player.

The pair have met only once and that was in an exhibition match in Kooyong prior to the Australian Open of 2009, so there's no real previous to go on, but both players seemed to be in excellent form in their respective opening matches and I can't see either lying down easily today.

Another bit of value today could prove to be Stanislas Wawrinka to take out Mikhail Youzhny at around [2.5]. The Russian has had a great six months or so that have seen him climb back into the top 20 in the world and he did demolish Santiago Giraldo in the first round here, but Stan has a 2-1 lead in their personal series and won both of their matches last year.

The Swiss has been concentrating on other things lately, with the arrival of his first child, but he's back now and more than capable of defeating Youzhny on this surface.

Indoor hard is arguably Youzhny's best surface these days and he has no great record here in Miami, having been beaten in the first round on four occasions.

Stan played well here last year, before running into Rafa Nadal and going out in two tie-breaks, but in the battle of the expansive backhands, expect a close contest with the Swiss having the edge.

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