Nadal should cruise past Berdych but Federer faces fight with Simon
Published:Novak Djokovic continues to look unstoppable this year after gaining revenge over Kevin Anderson with a straight sets victory in Miami last night.
Anderson beat Djokovic in Miami three years ago in their only previous encounter, but Djokovic’s win sees his Sony Ericsson Open odds slashed to 10/11 to win after Mardy Fish set-up a semi-final with the Serb.
Tonight sees the top half of the draw in action and both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will meet in the other semi-final should they come through their quarter-final matches later today.
Roger Federer vs Giles Simon
Simon is one of very few players who can boast a dominant head-to-head record over Federer, and considering all three of their ties have gone the distance, it’s safe to assume this one will do the same.
Federer took five sets to record his first victory over Simon in the Australian Open, and while he is 1/7 to defeat the Frenchman later this evening, punters should consider the 7/2 for Federer to win 2-1.
It’s hard to oppose a player of Federer’s standard but both of Simon’s victories over Federer came in the shorter format of the game and of the two ties today, Simon is the more likely to cause an upset and is 4/1 to win.
Rafael Nadal vs Tomas Berdych
This should be a walkover for the world number one who has beaten Berdych comprehensively on the last eight occasions these two have met.
Berdych has defeated Nadal three times before but the last of those wins came in 2006 and while the world number seven seems a big price at 9/2, punters shouldn’t even consider it.
Nadal, is 1/8 to beat Berdych tonight but considering all of those previous eight wins have been straight sets victory, the 2/5 for Nadal to win 2-0 looks the pick of this betting market.
A £20 stake on Simon beating Federer would return £100. New customers can sign up here to get £60 in free bets.
