Kubot should spark ATP round-of-16 treble into life
Published:The ATP tour is in action at Sao Paulo, Acapulco and Dubai this week with rounds-of-16 to look forward to around the world. Below is a treble with a selection from all three events with a £10 stake paying out £123.07.
Sao Paulo – Guido Pella to beat Horacio Zeballos @ 8/11
Horacio Zeballos bounced back from a three match losing run to beat a recovering Pablo Cuevas in the first round but the revival could be shortlived for the Argentine veteran with a more confident operator now in his path.
Zeballos now faces a limited but upbeat Guido Pella in the round-of-16 in what is his first meeting with the 23-year-old.
Pella has plied most of his trade on the Challenger Tour, however, there have been signs this year that he is close to being ready to make the step-up following some eye-catching wins.
Victories over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez last week in Buenos Aires and Leonardo Mayer to reach this stage – two players ranked over 50 places higher – represents excellent form relative to that of Zeballos and taking a set off world number 16 Tommy Robredo in his home tournament won’t have hurt either.
The bookmakers have rightly taken the view that Pella should be favourite to progress but at 8/11 he still represents value to continue his improvement and finally rise up the rankings.
Acapulco – Lukasz Kubot to beat David Goffin @ 6/4
Last year’s surprise Wimbledon quarter-finalist Lukasz Kubot has failed to match the form that earned him his best career result by some distance last summer, but the plucky Pole should not be deserted here.
On the face of it the 31-year-old has been correctly quoted as the outsider against David Goffin considering he has only won one match in a main draw in 2014 and has lost both of his previous meetings to the Belgium youngster.
However, a closer look at his results reveals that he has been handed some tough draws at the beginning of the campaign with understandable defeats to Nikolay Davydenko and Gael Monfils in two of his last three events.
Add in the fact that Goffin is struggling to make an impact himself at any events having either not reached the main draw or lost in the first round of the three events he has played.
As a result, neither player will arrive brimming with confidence but at the prices Kubot has to be the selection to take advantage of a better matched tie and an opponent finding it just as difficult at present but for less good reason.
Dubai – Andreas Seppi to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber @ 2/1
British tennis fans will be a lot more familiar with world number 31 Andreas Seppi after Italy host Leon Smith’s men in the Davis Cup quarter-finals on 4th April and the reliable Italian can show what they can expect with a second round win in Dubai.
The 30-year-old has never threatened the game’s elite but hasn’t been outside the top-50 for donkey’s years and reached the quarter-finals here last year.
He is understandably the layers’ second choice in his match against the higher-ranked Philipp Kohlschreiber, however, when inspecting the personal history between the two it appears the German’s chances have been overrated.
In their nine previous encounters Seppi has the edge 5-4 and although in their two meetings on hardcourts it is Kohlschreiber who has triumphed both times it seems less discouraging when the indoor results are considered, of which the Italian has won all three.
The world number 26 has had a steady start to the campaign with quarter-final appearances in Auckland and Rotterdam but the fact that he didn’t make it past either is further evidence as to why he has only mustered four titles from considerable talent and a long career.
It could be argued that Seppi is much the same, however, if that is the case he shouldn’t be a 2/1 shot to send his opponent crashing out at the same stage in the UAE for the third year running.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim up to £50 in free bets.
