ATP Mutua Madrid Open Betting: Homesick Isner to struggle against in-form Garcia-Lopez

6May 2013

ATP Masters 1000

Tennis expert Sean Calvert served up a winner on day one of the Mutua Madrid Masters on Sunday and today's he's opposing big serving John Iser..

It was a winning start to the week for this column on Sunday at the 2013 Mutua Madrid Open, as Radek Stepanek defeated Bernard Tomic in straight sets.

My recommended bet on day one rarely looked in danger, as the Czech veteran eased past the young Aussie 6-3, 6-2 in a match where Steps didn't drop serve once and took all three of his break point chances to consign Bernie to another defeat on the dirt.

Later on it was reported that Tomic's father John had been arrested for allegedly attacking Bernie's hitting partner Thomas Drouet and may have to face a Spanish court today and there are also reports emerging that Tomic Snr may have struck his son during practice in Monte Carlo recently too.

None of the above will come as a surprise to seasoned Tomic watchers, as John has a string of previous incidents to his name and will surely find himself banned from the sport in the near future.

On to Monday then and I think it's worth taking on John Isner in the third match scheduled for Arantxa Sanchez Vicario Court today when the big man meets Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

This pair are facing each other across the net for the third time in total, with the score tied at 1-1 currently, but importantly GGL has faced the Isner serve before and come out on top indoors, where Isner would be favoured and both previous matches were close affairs.

Isner's win in the clay court event in Houston recently has probably made him favourite for this match, but he plays so much better at home in the USA and the clay in Texas is not the same as here in Europe.

Big John has a really poor record in Masters 1000 events on clay in Europe, having only once been past the second round and today's opponent is in good form having made the final a couple of weeks ago in Bucharest and he came through two matches in qualifying here, so he will be more attuned to match conditions in Madrid.

I think this one could well go long, but the chances of Isner winning it in two are slim and I'll be laying him to win 2-0 at around 2.8 today.

Recommended Bet

Lay Isner 2-0 vs. Garcia-Lopez at 2.8