Soderling and Ferrer fancied to make round three in Valencia

Andy Murray’s defeat to Juan Monaco in the second round at the Valencia Open has thrown the tournament wide open and two of the more fancied prospects should have it easy in reaching round three.

Robin Soderling has made the quarter finals in his last three hard court tournaments and is now favourite at 11/4 to win the Valencia Open.

He clashes with Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the second round in what will be the first career meeting between the two.

Born in Valencia, Gimeno-Traver will be keen to shine in his home event despite not having the greatest record on hard courts in his recent tournaments.

He lost in the first round in Stockholm to little-known Michael Ryderstedt in straight sets and this form gives him little chance against the world number five.

Soderling is 1/7 to beat Gimeno-Traver, with the Spaniard a 4/1 underdog.

Spanish fans wanting a home-grown winner in Valencia will probably rate David Ferrer as their best hope and he is also 1/7 to win his second-round showdown with Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Ferrer has been in blistering form of late, losing the final of the China Open to Novak Djokovic before going down to Soderling in the Shanghai Masters.

Meanwhile, Gabashvili has not been past the second round in his last four tournaments, but may have gained some confidence from his opening round success over Arnaud Clement.

Gabashvili is also 4/1 to provide an upset and move into the third round.

A tighter betting clash takes place between Gael Monfils and Stanislas Wawrinka, with bother players 5/6 to take victory.

The head-to-head record provides no help in finding the winner as both players have one victory apiece and both of these meetings also took place on hard courts.

However, Monfils may be in the better recent form having beaten Ivan Ljubicic in the final of the Open Sud de France, while Wawrinka’s best performance in his last four tournaments is reaching a quarter final.

Monfils is 9/4 to beat Wawrinka in straight sets, while it is the same price for Wawrinka to triumph 2-0 in sets. See the full Monfils vs Wawrinka match betting odds market.