The ATP world tour visits Argentina, France, and the USA this week.
The Open 13 takes place on the indoor courts of Marseille and probably is the hardest tournament to predict of the three. The top half contains Berdych, Gulbis, Benneteau, Janowicz, and Gasquet, while Llodra, Del Potro, Tsonga, Davydenko, Simon, and Tomic lurk in the bottmo half. First up, I think DelPo - who just won Rotterdam today - is going to show up, take his appearance cheque, and leave early. I have a feeling Llodra will take him out in the second round. Llodra's record here is unbelievable and the home crowd would like nothing less than to see him take out the Tower of Tandil, especially given his current form. DelPo needs an easy week anyway so I'm sure he won't mind losing in the second round and heading off to Dubai a little early. I think Ernests Gulbis can continue his fantastic form and he will relish coming up against Tomas Berdych in the second round where the Latvian will look to repeat his Wimbledon win over the Itchy Bird. see here and here for some real Gulbis treats! I think Gasquet can continue his good form and if someone had a gun to my head with a betting slip in my hand, I would probably write his name on it at 15.00 (Betfair)
So, I think the semi final line-ups in Marseille will be Gulbis v Gasquet & Tsonga v Llodra. For betting purposes, Gulbis at 75.00 and Llodra at 60.00 on the exchanges represent the value for those seeking a long-odds punt while Gasquet at 15.00 is where the larger money should be going.
In the Copa Claro in Buenos Aires, David Ferrer returns as defending champion to make his debut on clay this season. I think he will win the title here and is about 5/4 with the bookies and the exchanges. He will most probably come up against Nico Almagro again in the final in what would be a repeat of 2012. Other likely contenders are are Nadal's conqueror Horacio Zeballos in the top half and Stan the Man in the bottom.
Finally, in Memphis Tennessee, there is an ATP 500 this week, namely the US Indoor Championships. It is a tough one to call again with all the big serving North Americans like Isner, Querrey, and Raonic taking part alongside the European contingent of Jurgen Melzer, Marin Cilic, and Alexandr Dolgopolov, with Kei Nishikori thrown in for good measure. The top quarter is definitely the toughest with Melzer, Cilic, Malisse and Nishikori all present here but I think Cilic will extand his 6 match win streak and come through. Note that Melzer is the defending champion here. In the bottom half, I see Raonic coming through to the final again for the third straight year, although he is yet to win it. He will play someone like Isner or Istomin in the semi final. I think Cilic will beat Dolgopolov in the other semi and I am going to tip the Croatian to lift his second indoor title of the year at 6.00 on the exchanges.
Recommended bets:
Marin Cilic to win US Indoors @ 6.00
David Ferrer to win Copa Claro @ 2.20
Richard Gasquet to win Open 13 @ 15.00
also:
Ernests Gulbis to win Open 13 @ 75.00 (to trade)
Mika Llodra to win Open 13 @ 50.00 (also to trade)
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