Wimbledon Betting / Sean Calvert / 19 June 2011 /

Those odds-on shots are always tempting to stick together in a Multiple but the first round at Wimbledon has thrown up some favourites worth taking on, especially when they're grass-court haters. Sean Calvert tells us who they are.

Robin Soderling [1.22] v Philipp Petzschner [4.8]

Let's start with a potential big upset, with number five seed, Robin Soderling looking like a dodgy one to include in a Betfair Multiple, against proven grass-court performer, Philipp Petzschner.

The German reached the final on grass in Halle last week before retiring in the final with a back problem, but I would imagine that was more of a preventative measure with an eye on Wimbledon, where he's defending doubles champion, alongside Jurgen Melzer.

Petzschner's run at Halle was no real surprise, given that he reached the semis there the previous year before losing to Roger Federer; he also ran Rafa Nadal close at Wimbledon last year, when he lost in five sets after leading 2-1.

As for Soderling, he hasn't bothered with a warm-up tournament on grass and looked really poor against Nadal in Paris, where the unforced error machine was cranked up to the maximum. Against a grass-court player as good as Petzschner, this will be no formality for the Swede.

Jurgen Melzer [1.29] v Alejandro Falla [4.5]

Melzer has cost me a few quid over the years with his wildly inconsistent play, but at [1.29] I certainly won't be backing him to beat handy grass-court performer, Falla.

Many will remember Falla's performance in defeat against Roger Federer last year when he was two sets up before Fed clawed it back, but on the back of a fine effort at Roland Garros, the Colombian has a shot here.

Falla reached the fourth round at the French Open before moving swiftly to England for two grass events ahead of Wimbledon and he comes here with confidence.

Melzer had a shocker in Paris where he lost in the second round at [1.15] to Lukas Rosol and the Austrian hasn't made the effort to play a warm up tournament, which is rare for him.

At around [4.5] it's worth a back-to-lay investment that Falla can catch Melzer cold early on.

Nicolas Almagro [1.62] v Jarkko Nieminen [2.6]

Almagro has such a bad record on grass that it's worth backing him to lose against pretty much anyone in the top-100.

The Spaniard has played just 13 matches on grass in his career, stretching back to 2005 and he's lost nine of those - the latest one being at s'Hertogenbosch to Michael Berrer in the first round, when he was number one seed.

Berrer's match immediately prior to that one was a 6-0, 6-1 beating by Jo Wilfried Tsonga at Queen's, which should give you an idea of how poor Almagro is on grass.

And his two losses on the green stuff prior to that were to Andreas Seppi and Denis Istomin, so Nieminen should have a great chance in this one.

The Finn isn't the best on grass either, but his record is much better than Alamgro's and he's a former Wimbledon quarter finalist.

Another early exit beckons for Almagro, who clearly couldn't care less
about the grass-court season.

Thomaz Bellucci [1.72] v Rainer Schuettler [2.36]

Regular readers of this column will know that I've done well by backing Rainer Schuettler against seeds in Slams over the years and this match up looks like it could be another one.

The flashy Bellucci is not a lover of the grass-court season, having only bothered to turn up to Wimbledon twice before, with a best of one last-32 appearance. Indeed, he's only played nine matches on grass in his entire career.

His high risk game will need to be on to get past the solid grass-court-loving veteran, who at 35-years-old still has the fitness and guile to trouble the top players.

The Brazilian struggled through two rounds at Queen's before losing to an injured Marin Cilic, whereas Schuettler has won five of his seven matches on grass this season and is a former Wimbledon semi finalist.

Bellucci won't fancy this and when it gets tough he'll be looking for a quick exit, which the German should provide.

James Ward [3.1] v Michael Llodra [1.45]

On the back of his breakthrough week at Queen's Club, Ward is an attractive-looking price to see off serial Wimbledon first round loser, Llodra.

The Brit's confidence will be sky high after his semi final run on the green stuff and he's more than capable of giving the fragile Frenchman a run for his money on home turf.

Llodra has lost five times in the first round at SW19 and has only beaten Jesse Witten and Josh Goodall here since 2007 - and it took him five sets to defeat Goodall, who's currently number 436 in the world.

The Frenchman is also struggling with injury after retiring at Queen's, where coincidentally he would have played Ward had he not quit against Jo Wilfried Tsonga. And he's not shy of a retirement, having clocked up an amazing 25 retirements or withdrawals in his career.

Three of those have come at Wimbledon, where Llodra is yet to record
consecutive wins. Back Ward to continue the pain.

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