Federer Dominates the Betting at ATP Basle

Another week, another dollar! That seems to be the mantra according to Roger Federer who this week is playing in his home city of Basle in Switzerland. The event is the Davidoff Swiss Indoors and is one of the ATP International Series tournaments amongst the many others.

For several of the men tennis players on the ATP circuit, this event - along with the concurrent St Petersburg, Russia and Lyon, France ATP events this week – offers a chance to eke out a few more ATP ranking points in the quest to finish in the top 8 positions after the Paris Masters which takes place next week. When the dust has settled after Paris, we will know who the lucky 8 are that will compete in the big finale, the ATP Masters Cup in Shanghai in mid-November, offering a prize pool of $3,700,000.

We do know who four of them are. Long since qualified have been Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The rest were fairly level and slogging it out against each other week after week but two more names crawled over the line this week. Croatian Ivan Ljubicic and American Andy Roddick cannot now be edged out of the top 8 thanks to the early elimination in this week's tournaments of rivals Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and Tommy Robredo of Spain.

In Basle, we imagine Roger Federer is playing because it is his home country. He has usually rested if the event is not one of the Masters Series, as he is not in need of points. What this means from a betting perspective is that most of the bookies have simply not bothered to make a book as Federer is such a hot favourite he just has to walk onto court to win. It is not that simple but the man is in phenomenal form and many of his major challengers are not here.

Federer's only resistance is likely to come from the likes of David Nalbandian, David Ferrer and Fernando Gonzalez. There is also Tim Henman to consider but he is in line to play Nalbandian in the next round of the Swiss Indoors if he can edge past today's last 16 opponent, Stanislas Wawrinka.

Federer is a 1/100 shot for his match, so forget that! There are matches of more competitiveness to bet on such as Tim Henman, who is a 4/6 shot to beat Wawrinka with Ladbrokes and VC Bet. Several layers are 1/2 or 8/15 and with Henman in good form at present, 4/6 is worth a punt.

Fernando Gonzalez needs ranking points and could be worth following. His last 16 match is already in play as we write (he was first on court today) so keep an eye on him if he makes it through to the last 8.

Thailand ace Paradorn Srichaphan is a 8/13 shot to beat Juan-Ignacio Chela with Blue Square Betting. This might be a worthwhile bet, perhaps doubling up with Henman for an overall 5/3 (approx) wager, if you can get the odds with the same firms.

Ed note: A free £25 bet is waiting for you at Blue Square Betting when you open an account.

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