The ATP1000 Rome Masters ends at Foro Italia on Monday with a mouthwatering clash between world No.1 Novak Djokovic and world No.3 Rafael Nadal in the men's final.
Both players came through their semi-finals in straight sets on Saturday – Serbian Djokovic beating Roger Federer of Switzerland a few hours after Mallorcan Nadal accounted for fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Rain washed out play on Sunday, resulting in the men's final being postponed for 24 hours, but all going well Rome will be basking in sunshine again today.
Nadal is bidding for a sixth title in the Internazionale BNL d'Italia but lost out last year when Djokovic defeated him in the final. Djokovic needed just two sets to win that one but I believe today's encounter, which gets underway at around 11am UK time, will require three.
So let's get down to the betting; Nadal is the slight favourite at 8-11 with bet365, sportingbet and Paddy Power. Djokovic is 5-4 with Betfred and Stan James.
Nadal was my tip to be champion before play got underway in Italy and I don't see him being stopped in their 32nd career meeting. He leads his rival 17-14 and won their last meeting on clay just last month in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. He outclassed Djokovic in two sets for the loss of just four games.
Despite losing in the same final last year it's Nadal for me today and I'm convinced he'll need three sets this time. Nadal 2-1 is 16-5 with sportingbet. A straight sets win for the Spaniard is 17-10 at Paddy Power.
For those of you who reckon Djokovic will triumph it's 7-2 at bodog, bet365 and Skybet for 2-1, 2-0 Djokovic is 3-1 with William Hill.
Recommendations
Nadal 2-1
(16-5, Sportingbet)
Tiebreak in match
(1-1, BetVictor)
Three sets
(6-5, William Hill, Skybet, BetVictor)
Shocking tips on the tennis as usual :s how does this get posted?
Think your bang out of order re the tennis tips. Davie picked Nadal on the outrights at the start of the tournament, one which featured all the world’s top players. He had winners and losers throughout the tournament as all tipsters do. For the final he kept faith with Nadal to beat world No.1 Djokovic and he came up trumps. From what I could see Davie was trying to put up value bets, some set betting and what he wrote made sense. Having tipped the winner I see no reason not to allow him post in future. And I say to everyone if you don’t like his posts don’t read them. No one is making you and no one is charging you.