Sunday, May 20th, 2012
The New Haven Tennis ATP event is the final stop off for the men and women before the US Open.
You can watch the men’s singles matches live on Betfair – open an account, its free, and head to the live video section.
Marcos Baghdatis, a semi-finalist in Cincinnati is top seed with Mardy Fish is a late withdrawal.
This is always difficult to call, as the New Haven Tennis events proceeds the US Open. The top players are resting, while others may be suffering minor niggles that they are unwilling to aggravate too much with Flushing Meadows just round the corner. Marcos Baghdatis is a worthy favourite after good runs in Washington and Cincinnati, but he may be both tired and focused on next week.
Fernando Gonzalez is always good to watch, but he’s making his return from a knee injury, again just to make the US Open. Xavier Malisse has impressed this summer, and also has a fairly kind looking draw, so he must be considered. Second seed Thomasz Belluci has to be considered a stronger player on clay, while Alexandr Dolgopolov is talented but streaky. He has ability, but seemingly the desire to smash the cover off the ball every point.
Florian Mayer is seeded, has a good section of the draw, minus Mardy Fish now, and has shown good form. He’s also likely to be realistic about his US Open chances and see this as an event where he can get ranking points. He’s good value at 16/1 with Bet 365, as long as he he can get past Thiemo De Bakker. A Mayer-Malisee final seems the most likely outcome.
Today’s Betfair streamed matches – sign up for free and click the live video – are Taylor Dent v Eduardo Schwank and Pere Riba v James Blake.