Djokovic to prove too strong for Del Potro

16Mar 2013

ATP Masters 1000

Novak Djokovic looks in ominous form at Indian Wells and Sean Calvert doesn't envisage Juan Martin Del Potro being able to stop him in their semi final today...

Friday's recommended bet was a winner at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open, as Juan Martin Del Potro did more than the requirement of taking a set as the Tower of Tandil defeated Andy Murray in three.

It was a strange performance from Murray, who lost focus after winning the first set on a breaker and was unable to really get it back as Delpo went on to take the next two sets relatively comfortably to move through to today's semi final.

There were no such problems for the unbeaten world number one Novak Djokovic, who dismissed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the loss of only four games to set up another meeting with Del Potro.

And it looks a big ask for Delpo with Djokovic looking against Tsonga to have played his way into this tournament after a slow start and of particular concern to the Argentine will be the way Nole served last night, dropping just four points on serve even though that was against a limited returner.

The head-to-head heavily favours Djokovic with an 8-2 lead overall and one of Delpo's two wins coming by way of retirement. They have met four times on outdoor hard courts, with Djokovic winning them all.

Most recently they met a week or so ago in much quicker conditions in Dubai when the Serb was a 6-3, 7-6 winner and of concern to Delpo backers will be the fact that he still seems to be having problems with his left wrist, which hampers one of his key weapons - the bludgeoning two-handed backhand.

Having backed Tomas Berdych outright at the start of this event I would love to think that Delpo can cause an upset tonight, but after a long match last night and carrying a dodgy wrist it seems unlikely.

It's not that easy to find a good value bet in this one with Novak a 1.16 shot to win it, but he's short for a good reason and I can't see past the Djokovic 2-0 win at around 1.53 unfortunately.

Recommended Bet

Back Djokovic 2-0 at 1.53