TUESDAY was a much better day as the winning bets accumulated in between the rain showers at a soggy Roland Garros.
Dmitry Tursunov got the day off to a fine start by not only taking a set from Alex Dolgopolov but defeating the Ukrainian in straight sets. I said yesterday1.26 was a shocking price on Dolgo and so it proved as yet again he failed to produce at Roland Garros and as short-priced favourite.
Things continued to go well when young Czech star Jiri Vesely gave Philipp Kohlschreiber a real test and when the 19-year-old took the second set after losing the first in a tie break my wager was successful.
That was followed by the match between Denis Istomin and Florian Mayer going the way I predicted, with Istomin getting the retirement from the German after winning the third set to lead 2-1. Match odds punters would have been paid out on that one nice and early when the injured Mayer called it quits.
And the clean sweep of four winners from four bets was complete when the penultimate match in my potential first-round upsets came in, albeit just, when Guido Pella came through a marathon with Ivan Dodig 12-10 in the fifth.
There's little doubt about the headline match of the day in Paris on Wednesday and that is Gael Monfils v Ernests Gulbis on Philippe Chatrier at around 2.30pm UK time and although it should be a great watch I couldn't possibly bet on a match involving those two.
Viktor Troicki isn't exactly Mr Reliable either but facing a tired Daniel Gimeno-Traver who has been struggling with his fitness anyway, he should be able to move through to the third round at a price of around 1.72 today.
The Serbian is coming back to some sort of form and it might well pay to catch him now against an opponent he's beaten twice in the past and who benefited from another substantial choke from Juan Monaco to get to this stage.
There are a few options for 3-0 layers to consider, not least Marin Cilic who's split from coach Bob Brett and looks a little lost at the moment. The Croatian has a huge banana skin in the form of young Aussie Nick Kyrgios and the kid has nothing to lose here after beating Radek Stepanek in round one.
It's worth a lay of Cilic whose form has been poor lately and who defeated an injured opponent in round one at around 1.7 for the 3-0 win.
Milos Raonic is also heading in a new direction after splitting from coach Galo Blanco and is working with Ivan Ljubicic but despite the 4-0 head-to-head in his favour Llodra can take a set today, as he has done in two of their three tour level meetings and the only one to be played on clay.
Llodra showed some excellent form to beat my fancy Steve Darcis in round one and in front of his home crowd after passing round one for a change he'll be up for this and a tie break in at least one set looks a virtual certainty.
Recommended Bets
Back Troicki to beat Gimeno-Traver at 1.76
Lay Cilic to beat Kyrgios 3-0 at 1.7
Lay Raonic to beat Llodra 3-0 at 2.52
Milesey (Betfair)
RESULTS
————–
ATP – SINGLES: Roland Garros
Kyrgios N. (Aus) 0-3 Cilic M. (Cro)
Mahut N. (Fra) 0-3 Tipsarevic J. (Srb)
Gimeno-Traver D. (Esp) 2-3 Troicki V. (Srb)
Milesey
Raonic M. (Can) 3-1 Llodra M. (Fra)
Lay Raonic to beat Llodra 3-0 at 2.52
Milesey
yer awfy quiet the day Milesey?…any “certs” b4 I hit the fairways…nice 5 or 6/1 double?