ATP Miami Masters Betting: Devvarman to take advantage against inconsistent Lopez

22Mar 2013

ATP Masters 1000

Sean Calvert dusts himself down after an agonising defeat yesterday at the Sony Open and casts his eye over Friday's play where he's identified an underdog worth backing...

Thursday was one of those days on the tennis tour that you have to accept occasionally, despite it being incredibly painful and extremely baffling.

David Nalbandian led Jarkko Nieminen by 6-2, 3-0 and 4-2 at which point almost £100,000 had been traded on the Argentine at 1.01 for the win yet he managed to somehow blow it and lose in three sets.

I said in yesterday's column that El Rey has problems these days closing matches out, but I wasn't expecting that. Without live pictures it's hard to tell exactly what happened, but apparently Nieminen became inspired when he had nothing to lose and Nalbandian crumbled.

Friday is another day largely without pictures and only Novak Djokovic against Lukas Rosol and Juan Martin Del Potro against Tobias Kamke will be shown live thanks to the tournament committee's strange TV scheduling.

Neither of those matches are of interest from a betting perspective and instead I like the look of Fabio Fognini to take down Michael Llodra today and Albert Ramos should have a great chance against an injured Juan Monaco.

Tommy Haas has a really poor recent record in Miami and hasn't bettered round two since 2006, but I'm not convinced that Igor Sijsling has what it takes to grab the win.

Kei Nishikori seems to be permanently injured and I don't add him to any multiples these days, as he seems to have a body that breaks down far too regularly.

As well as Fognini I think it's worth taking a chance on Somdev Devvarman to spring a surprise upon Feliciano Lopez in the 9pm UK time match on Court 2.

Lopez has won just four matches here in Miami since 2007 and has lost in the first round here four times most recently last year to Ramos in straight sets.

The Spaniard has lost in the first round in four of his last five hard courts Masters 1000 appearances and Devvarman is a talented opponent, who certainly has what it takes to beat the likes of Lopez if he's on his game today.

The Indian showed admirable fight to record a comeback win over Evgeny Donskoy in round one here and he'll be after more ranking points here in his quest to climb back up the rankings after long term injury.

Recommended Bet

Back Devvarman to beat Lopez at 2.5