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Sony Ericsson Open Daily Tips: Becker's miserable run set to continue?

Events RSS / / 24 March 2010 /

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Benjamin Becker faces a tough assignment on day one in Miami

Benjamin Becker faces a tough assignment on day one in Miami

"Becker is a truly miserable run of form at the moment and in truth he has been for a while, so I’m not quite sure why the layers have him as favourite against Simon Greul."

Sean Calvert provides a pair of exciting bets on the day one of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Sunday's recommended advice of backing over 23.5 games in the Indian Wells final between Andy Roddick and Ivan Ljubicic came to fruition and hopefully you also heeded my warning about backing Roddick at [1.46] outright.

The next Masters event is quickly upon us, as we head to Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open, played as ever on outdoor hard courts. Today's first round match-ups have provided a selection of handy bets and one of the best chances of value is in the all-German battle between Benjamin Becker and Simon Greul.

Becker is a truly miserable run of form at the moment and in truth he has been for a while, so I'm not quite sure why the layers have him as favourite against Simon Greul. Although Greul is generally regarded as a clay specialist, he has had some decent results on hard courts, including coming from a set and a break down at Indian Wells last week to take out Gael Monfils.

He also beat Becker on hard in Stockholm at the end of last year, since when the pair's fortunes have headed in opposite directions. Becker has won just five completed matches at Tour level in 2010 (not including qualifying) and the last time he got past the second round of any Tour level event was last summer on grass at S'Hertogenbosch.

You have to go back as far Basel in October 2008 to find the last time Becker won more than two matches at a hard court event at Tour level and if that wasn't enough, he was stuffed in straights by Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round at Indian Wells.

The only concern in this one is that Greul failed to show for his third rounder against Melzer in California, but if he's anywhere near fit, he should take Becker comfortably and at [2.26] it's worth the slight risk.

My other fancy today is Marc Gicquel [1.83] to beat red dirt specialist Eduardo Schwank. The Frenchman has been off the tour since losing to Andy Murray in Melbourne, but he beat Schwank on the Argentine's favoured clay last year and Gicquel will be much happier in these conditions than his opponent.

If he's fully fit Gicquel should win this one comfortably.

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