Wimbledon Betting / Sean Calvert / 25 June 2010 /

A stellar cast grace the All England club on Friday in both the men's and women's tournaments. So where is Sean Calvert putting his money?

We almost had the mother of all upsets on the finely manicured lawns of The All England Club on Thursday when Ruud van Nistelrooy lookalike Robin Haase stunned Rafa Nadal on Centre Court.

Rafa had to claw his way back from 2-1 down to sneak through and all that after John Isner stumbled over the line against Nicolas Mahut in the most ridiculous match in tennis history.

Friday sees Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic in action on the men's side, along with Justine Henin, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Jelena Jankovic in the ladies singles.

Of all the men's matches, the banker of the day looks to be Lleyton Hewitt to take out Gael Monfils at around [1.4], but it's not a great price, so a more profitable punt should be Jurgen Melzer to beat Feliciano Lopez at [1.75].

Melzer has the all-round skills to be effective on grass, as does Lopez of course, but the Spaniard's form since beating Nadal at Queen's has been poor. He lost to Britain's James Ward in Eastbourne and has been extended to four sets by a couple of other no-hopers so far in this event, while Melzer is in the form of his life after his fine run to the last four at Roland Garros.

Melzer leads the head-to-head 3-2 and importantly won the only one at a Slam between the pair and this battle of the lefties could well be tight again. The over 40.5 games market is worth serious consideration as well.

First up on Centre Court though is Justine Henin taking on Nadia Petrova in what will be their 17th career meeting. Although Henin leads 14-2 overall, this is not quite the Henin of old and grass is of course her least favoured surface, with winning Wimbledon presumably being the target of her comeback.

The Belgian has twice been beaten in the first round here and she hasn't been in the final since her 2006 loss to Amelie Maursemo, while Petrova has a very consistent record at SW19. She hasn't been beaten here before the fourth round stage since way back in 2003 when she was a third round loser and I expect a close battle on Friday.

Their last four matches have all been tight and half of the last eight sets the duo have contested have been decided by tie-breaks, so the [3.75] about a breaker being played looks like the value bet in this one. Henin should prove just too strong in the end, but I don't fancy the [1.33] outright, as the price will probably be bigger than that at some stage, but the Over 21.5 games at around [1.8] looks worth a wager.

Recommended bets:

Back Jurgen Melzer to beat Feliciano Lopez [1.75] Back Total games over 40.5 [1.80]

Justine Henin v Nadia Petrova
Back yes in tie break played [3.75]
Back total games over 21.5 [1.8].

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