Events / Sean Calvert / 13 June 2011 /

We can expect plenty of stop-start tennis at Eastbourne this week because of the weather but over in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, we should have fair weather. Not to mention a very fair price on the home favourite to win the whole things, says Sean Calvert.

The English weather put paid to the final at Queen's Club on Sunday, but my outright tip from last week, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, is still live although the Frenchman should be heading to Eastbourne today for this week's tournament there.

Tsonga is the number one seed in Eastbourne, but that event looks trappy and I don't fancy another week of hanging around waiting for the rain to stop, so instead I'm focussing on this week's other tournament, the Unicef Open in s-Hertogenbosch in Holland.

And the Dutch fans could well be cheering on a home win in the form of Robin Haase, who has a cracking draw and a decent chance at around [8.0].

The draw looks very lopsided, with number one seed Nicolas Almagro, Dmitry Tursunov, Rob Kendrick, Nicolas Mahut, Adrian Mannarino, Xavier Malisse, and Jeremy Chardy all drawn in the top half.

In contrast, only Haase, Jarkko Nieminen, Arnaud Clement and Marcos Baghdatis have any grass-court pedigree to speak of in a bottom half of the draw that's full up with clay-courters who, it's fair to assume, won't be busting a gut to make the latter stages.

Baghdatis is a former Wimbledon semi finalist, but he hasn't been past the second round in his last five grass-court events and you have to go back to Rotterdam in February for the last time the Cypriot won two matches in any tournament, on any surface.

Haase was unlucky to be drawn against Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round in Halle last week and lost a tight one in the decider against the Ukranian, but the draw has been much kinder to him here.

In his last two visits to Wimbledon, Haase has taken both Lleyton Hewitt and Rafa Nadal to five sets and with his big serve and forehand, the Dutchman's game should be perfect for grass.

Nieminen's best grass-court result was a quarter final at Wimbledon, but that was five years ago and approaching his 30th birthday, the Finn's best days are probably behind him; he lost in straight sets to Yen Hsun Lu in Halle last week.

One of the favourites at s'Hertogenbosch this week is Malisse, who performed well at Queen's last week in defeat to Andy Murray, but the Belgian hasn't won an ATP Tour event since 2007 and at just shy of his 31st birthday, [6.0] seems a bit short.

His best grass-court form stretches all the way back to 2002 when he made the semis at Wimbledon and despite making the last four in this event last year I can't see him improving on that in 2011.

Number one seed, Almagro can be backed at around [8.0], based on a host of first round losses on the surface and a best of a Wimbledon third round in 2009 to show from four years of playing on the green stuff.

Better value alternatives in the Spaniard's quarter are Tursunov at around [16.0], Mahut at around [17.0] or even Kendrick at a whopping [75.0].

Tursunov has a respectable record on grass, with his best being the Eastbourne title two years ago and we all know about Mahut's prowess on the surface, although he may be sick of it after that match with John Isner last year.

Kendrick has always performed well on grass, but he is knocking on a bit at 31-years-old and both he and Mahut should note that a serve/volleyer hasn't won here since Mario Ancic in 2006.

Recommended bet:

Back Robin Haase at around [8.0]

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