ATP San Diego Betting: In-form Huesler value against Elahi Galan

It was nice to get the week off to a good start on Tuesday when Gilles Simon not only won the first set at 3.185/40 but ended up beating David Goffin in straight sets at the Moselle Open.

That's now six losses in a row as favourite at ATP Tour and major level for Goffin, who continues to be a player not to be trusted at odds-on.

Wednesday's play features mainly those that were involved in Davis Cup (or the latter stages of Challengers) last week , with those players given a later start, which is sensible, and one such man is Ugo Humbert.

Humbert can edge all-French battle with Bonzi

The one match that stood out to me when the draw was made in Metz was Ugo Humbert versus Benjamin Bonzi, with Humbert my pick in that one.

Humbert has slumped to 139 in the world from number 26 this time last year, but his win in the Rennes Challenger on Sunday is the perfect preparation for another tilt at the title at his hometown tournament.

Bonzi will be on a bit of a downer after a long season (57 matches played compared to Humbert's 48) and after losing all three of his matches in Davis Cup last week, which went a fair way to France failing to qualify.

That will hurt and Bonzi is now on a run of eight defeats in his last 11 matches, while Humbert should be buzzing after winning Rennes without dropping serve and playing at his home event.

All six of Humbert's matches in Metz (including qualies) have gone the full three sets, so with his weak return game in mind, too, the over games or over sets could be good options here, but I'll take the 4.216/5 about Humbert winning this one 2-1 for half a point.

Bonzi has now lost seven of his last eight matches that have gone to deciders (including all three at Davis Cup last week) and if this does go to a third, which seems likely, I'd fancy Humbert to get the job done.

Bonzi took the win in five when this pair met at the US Open, but indoors over three sets I like Humbert to gain some revenge.

Gasquet one to consider against Thiem

Richard Gasquet played well in Davis Cup last week and he might be facing Dominic Thiem at the right time, with the latter looking jaded in the final of the Rennes Challenger on Sunday.

Thiem was bageled by Ugo Humbert in that final and he said afterwards: "I was not in my best shape after a week of playing," so this might represent a chance for Gasquet, who has beaten Thiem twice indoors in the past.

Those matches were in 2015 and 2017 though and I'm not sure if Gasquet's patient style of play is ideal against Thiem, who likes time on the ball and has now had an extra day or so to recover.

Elsewhere in Metz, I'm not sure about Alexander Bublik at 1.171/6 against the French qualifier Evan Furness.

Bublik remains as unpredictable as ever, saving his best performance last week in Davis Cup for a dead rubber when he beat Cam Norrie in straight sets having lost his two live rubbers.

Furness held serve in all 26 of his service games in qualies and if Bublik is in one of his off moods then I wouldn't be surprised to see the qualifier do something in his first career match at this level.

Bublik has only ever been priced up shorter than 1.21/5 on two prior occasions at main level and while he did win both of those matches I certainly wouldn't be backing him at today's odds.

Elahi Galan looks the wrong favourite against Huesler

Over in San Diego, the best bet there for me is to take Marc-Andrea Huesler as underdog against Daniel Elahi Galan.

Elahi Galan seems to be being priced up as favourite here because of his win over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open, but the Greek had an elbow problem in that match that affected the outcome considerably.

Both Huesler and Elahi Galan are coming from South America to California after Davis Cup duty, but Huesler's tie was on outdoor hard (and he's had a match in San Diego already in doubles), while Elahi Galan will have to switch surfaces, as he played on clay.

That aside, Huelser has proven himself over a stretch of matches to be a tough opponent on hard courts lately, having won five matches in a row to reach the Winston-Salem semis as a qualifier.

That's the same surface that they use in San Diego and his lefty, net rushing game is likely to be something that Elahi Galan hasn't come across too often and it'll deprive the Colombian of baseline rhythm.

These prices look the wrong way round to me and I'm happy to back Huesler at around the 2.0621/20 mark for one point.

I said yesterday that Christopher Eubanks was short against Mitchell Krueger and I ended up regretting not taking Krueger at a generous price when he beat Eubanks in straight sets.

Krueger is just about the most viable underdog option again today (other than Huesler) when he takes on James Duckworth, but I much prefer the Swiss man to the fairly limited American qualifier today in San Diego.