Davis Cup First Round: Czechs to defeat under strength Switzerland

1Feb 2013

Davis

With no ATP Tour action this week it's the turn of the Davis Cup to take centre stage. Sean Calvert talks us through the best bets from round one's ties..

The men's tour takes a well-earned break this week following the exertions of the Australian Open, but this weekend sees the return of the Davis Cup.

The 2012 Davis Cup ended in a dramatic win for my tips the Czech Republic over Spain, but it's unlikely that the Spanish side will make the latter stages this year, as they face an away tie in Canada without Rafa Nadal, David Ferrer and Nico Almagro.

Spain's replacements aren't the best, with the likes of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Albert Ramos called up and they will surely struggle against Milos Raonic on his most effective indoor hard surface, which is sure to be quick.

Serbia's tie away in Belgium may be tougher than the odds suggest, depending on how much of a part Novak Djokovic will play. They are already without Janko Tipsarevic and if Djokovic only plays doubles as he has before that has upset written all over it on indoor clay. The courts are reportedly very heavy in Charleroi and Djokovic may not fancy it.

Argentina versus Germany is another tie where the away side looks to have a good opportunity at odds-against, with the hosts without Juan Martin Del Potro and injury worries over David Nalbandian and Juan Monaco.

As Great Britain have a bye in this round of their group, the tie that UK viewers will be able to watch live this weekend on British Eurosport is Switzerland versus Czech Republic.

Normally one would expect this tie to be very watchable, with the likes of Roger Federer on show, but neither Federer or Radek Stepanek are in the squad nominations and both teams will consequently rely heavily on their top men, Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych.

Although Wawrinka has won his last three matches against Berdych they haven't met for almost two years now and Stan's Davis Cup record is not a patch on that of the Czech.

The Berdman has 22 wins to 12 losses in singles and he's 16-1 in doubles, while Wawrinka is 15-11 in singles and a shocking 2-9 in doubles.

For the Swiss to win, Wawrinka will need to win both of his singles and hope for either an unlikely doubles win or for something special from one of Michael Lammer, Marco Chiudinelli or Henri Laaksonen.

The highlight will obviously be Berdych v Wawrinka and it will be fascinating to see if Stan can play with the same kind of aggressive freedom that he displayed when pushing Djokovic all the way in Melbourne with the hopes of Switzerland resting squarely on his shoulders.

Lukas Rosol has a big part to play for the Czechs and although he has a 3-0 record in singles, all of his matches have been in dead rubbers and he'll be looking on this as a great chance to step up and prove he's the man to take over when Stepanek retires.

Indoor hard will suit Rosol, although he'd probably like it to be quicker than the medium/slow Rebound Ace surface that the Swiss have prepared, but I would expect Rosol to be able to come up with a win over whichever of the three Swiss aside from Wawrinka gets the nod.

The Czechs should win the tie, although it could be close if Wawrinka is firing, and it's also worth a cheap lay of Serbia at 1.1 and a back of Canada at around 1.7 and an interest in Germany at around 2.8.

Recommended Bets

Back Czech Republic to beat Switzerland at 1.6

Lay Serbia at 1.1 v Belgium

Back Canada to beat Spain at 1.7

Back Germany to beat Argentina at 2.7