With the sporting world largely quiet for the remainder of the month and with a long-term intention to add more tennis events to our repertoire it makes sense to cover the latest Masters Series 1000 event – the ATP Miami Open.
This tournament was won by Roger Federer last year and he is back to defend the title in what should be an intriguing week as the stars of the future look to get themselves positioned in the rankings to be able to take over from the legends as they slowly ease away from the top level in the years to come.
Recent Winners
2017 – Roger Federer
2016 – Novak Djokovic
2015 – Novak Djokovic
2014 – Novak Djokovic
2013 – Andy Murray
2012 – Novak Djokovic
2011 – Novak Djokovic
2010 – Andy Roddick
2009 – Andy Murray
2008 – Nikolay Davydenko
The Format
Much as last week in Indian Wells the format is pretty simple. 96 men enter the tournament with the 32 seeds getting a bye into the second round. The other 64 players are placed in the draw against each other with the winners progressing to face a seed in round two. The tournament is played out in knockout format over the best of three sets throughout. There are tiebreaks are any match that goes the distance in the final set.
Top Quarter
Defending champion Roger Federer is the number one seed this week and as such is headlines the top quarter. He is joined in the draw by Kevin Anderson who is the next highest seed after a good start to the year. The other seeds are Fernando Verdasco, Adrian Mannarino, Pablo Carreno Busta, Tomas Berdych, Kyle Edmund and Karen Khachanov.
There are some competent unseeded players in this section too. Frances Tiafoe is expected to rise to stardom eventually and he’s in this part of the draw. Alex de Minaur and Steve Johnson are another names that stand out when we sift through the names.
Second Quarter
Alexander Zverev is the leading seed in the second quarter of the tournament despite his early exit last week. The bang out of form Jack Sock is the other member of the top eight seeds in this section of the draw. The other seeds are David Ferrer, Nick Kyrgios, Fabio Fognini, Sam Querrey, Damir Dzumhur and Borna Coric.
In truth the unseeded players aren’t of the best quality here although Leonardo Mayer came as close as anyone to beating Juan Martin del Potro before the final last week. Denis Shapovalov will be looking for a big week while big things are expected of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev.
Third Quarter
This is where the Indian Wells champion Juan Martin del Potro is housed although it is Grigor Dimitrov who is the leading seed in what is the quarter of death as far as the overall draw is concerned. Kei Nishikori, Filip Krajinovic, Novak Djokovic, Diego Schwartzman, Milos Raonic and Richard Gasquet are the other seeds in a section that looks a tournament in itself.
We didn’t need top level unseeded players in this part of the draw but the likes of Marton Fucsovics, Jeremy Chardy, Mischa Zverev and Yuichi Sugita have all been competitive in recent times. British duo Cameron Norrie and Liam Broady have qualified in this section too.
Bottom Quarter
It is the Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic who heads up the seedings in the final quarter of the draw. The returning David Goffin is the other top seed in what looks a wide open part of the draw. Feliciano Lopez, Hyeon Chung, Roberto Bautista Agut, John Isner, Gilles Muller and Andrey Rublev are the other seeds here.
One of the stars of last week Taylor Fritz is an unseeded player in this section. Ivo Karlovic and Gilles Simon have both been much higher ranked than they are now while Jared Donaldson, Marcos Baghdatis, Ryan Harrison and Joao Sousa all add quality to a really open quarter.
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Outright Betting
I think with a number of star players missing in the form of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, or returning from injuries or in the early stages of coming back on the tour in the likes of David Goffin, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori and Nick Kyrgios, there is the potential for someone to break through from the bottom half of the draw.
When you factor in that Grigor Dimitrov and Marin Cilic aren’t showing the best form right now and Juan Martin del Potro must be knackered after back-to-back tournament wins then the finalist from the bottom half could be a real surprise. Hyeon Chung may not be the surprise he might have been before the Australian Open but he could be the one to spring through. He made the semis in Melbourne and was a quarter finalist last week before Roger Federer dumped him out. He won’t face Federer until the final here and looks to have solid each way claims at 33/1.
Quarter Betting
With Roger Federer unopposable in the top quarter and my outright bet in the bottom quarter as well as the third quarter being a tournament in itself we are left with the second quarter to have a go at from a betting point of view.
Nick Kyrgios is the favourite for the quarter but he’s just coming back from injury and could be rusty while was dumped out in his first match last week and looks vulnerable. Jack Sock has lost all of his form and looks incredibly there for the taking too which makes me think we might have a lesser expected semi-finalist.
I have this between Sam Querrey and Borna Coric and at twice the price I’ll go with the Croatian who was playing some excellent tennis last week. He took it to Federer in the semi-final in Indian Wells but the fact he came out of the second quarter there bodes well. He may well lose to Federer in the semi-final here too but out cash will be safe by then. We are seeing more of the Coric we expected to see when he burst on the scene and another week of that can see him come through this second quarter at 14/1.
Tips
Back H.Chung to win ATP Miami Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back B.Coric to win 2nd Quarter for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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