Grass-loving Becker a good bet against Dolgopolov

13Jun 2013

ATP Új

It wouldn't be the grass court season without rain delays and Sean Calvert is hoping for better weather at Queen's Club today to continue his good start to the swing. Sean fancies a German veteran to do well in today's conditions..

Wednesday's unseasonal weather washed out a significant chunk of matches on a day where it was one winner, one void and one still in-play from my recommended bets.

It was a good start to the day for my bets when Dan Evans not only covered the handicap but defeated Jarkko Nieminen to progress to the third round where he'll meet Juan Martin Del Potro.

Kevin Anderson's shoulder injury that I mentioned yesterday proved to be too much for him to play and he withdrew from the tournament, so stakes are returned on that wager and Nicolas Mahut is still in-play with Andy Murray after numerous stoppages for rain and that one continues today.

The rain has caused a backlog in the tournament and we're now into a familiar situation whereby some players will have back-to-back matches in a day while others won't.

Murray, if he beats Mahut, will have to play again on Thursday against Marinko Matosevic at around 6pm and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Edouard Roger Vasselin will also play again versus the winner of Igor Sijsling and Denis Istomin. Should Feli Lopez finish off Julien Benneteau he'll play Marin Cilic later, so it's a packed schedule today.

Of today's matches that are definitely set, Lleyton Hewitt has been backed in to around 1.84 against Sam Querrey after his fine show against Grigor Dimitrov, but that is too short for me and there are only two matches that interest me - Evans vs Del Potro and Becker vs Alex Dolgopolov.

Evans should really be facing Xavier Malisse today, but Delpo benefited from a Belgian choke and the big man will need to show a lot more than he did against the X-Man if he's got ideas about winning this event.

Much will depend on Evans's attitude in this one in his first match against a really big name, as Delpo is vulnerable on these fast, slippery, greasy courts, while Evans is much more at home on them as he's already shown.

I think there's a good chance that a lay of Delpo at 1.13 with a view to backing back later in-play will prove a good tactic in this, as Evans could easily start well and he could take a set in this, but will probably end up on the losing side in the end.

The other play I like today is to side with grass-loving Becker against Dolgopolov, who hasn't won two straight matches at any grass event since Eastbourne back in 2010.

Dolgo beat James Ward and Jamie Baker that year, but since he's lost to Carlos Berlocq a pre-retirement Fernando Gonzalez and Benoit Paire on the green stuff and he edged past Santiago Giraldo in his opening match here.

Grass is pretty much the only thing keeping Becker in the top-100 or so in the rankings and this will be his eighth match of the swing already. Wins over Lukas Rosol and Bernard Tomic make good reading and in conditions he enjoys at odds-against it's well worth a bet that he'll have the better attitude out there and will come away with the win.