Roger's Masters? A match bet win!

Yes, I'm back in the game with my first match bet success in what seems like quite some time.

Imbibing large quantities of alcohol before attempting to size up a tennis match is not usually recommended, but thanks to a birthday celebration with a bunch of lawyers and large amounts of wine, I felt able to take a view on the Marcos Baghdatis v Carlos Moya match and the resulting three point single on Baghdatis came in successfully, I'm pleased to report.

The Cypriot had to save four set points in the first set tie break before easing to victory by 6-1 in the second to achieve a straight sets win. Fortunately for my stress levels and as a result of alcohol, I fell asleep at 5-5 in the first set and wasn't made to suffer unnecessarily.

Baghdatis' win is also good news for my outright bet, as I expect him to take care of Robin Haase in the next round and set up a probable meeting with Andy Roddick for a place in the quarter finals. The head to head is 1-1, with Baghdatis winning the solitary hard court match in four sets at the Australian Open in 2006 and I think the Cypriot stands a good chance, should the match-up materialise. Roddick is a shocking 14-1 outright and that represents no value whatsoever and I'm liking the 120-1 that I found for Baghdatis in preference.

There are some great matches to look forward to tonight and my bet of the day has to be David Ferrer to beat David Nalbandian. Ferrer owns the head to head by 5-1 and is in by far the better form of the two. Nalbandian looks on the slide to me and I've taken the widely available 4-6 on a Spanish victory.

Other wagers that take my fancy today are home favourite, Frank Dancevic, to beat Wayne Odesnik and Gasquet to beat Verdasco. I also think that if fit, Arnaud Clement is no 6-1 shot to take out Roddick. The Frenchman leads 2-1 on head to heads and on his day can beat the best on hard courts. Lleyton Hewitt owns James Blake and that could be worth an interest too and I may have a small accumulator today.

Elsewhere, my falling asleep precluded me from going in at evens on Mario Ancic last night and as if to prove the maxim 'you snooze, you lose' I missed the chance of backing the Croatian, who obliged in straight sets. Good to see Ancic back after a long break with glandular fever.

My other longshot, Tommy Haas, went through in straight sets against Agustin Calleri yesterday and he looks to have a winnable passage to at least the quarter's. He faces Michael Russell next for the right to face Stepanek. Both of those look within Hass's capability and I'm hopeful of a decent run from the German, who this time won't have to deal with the bombs of John Isner.