Cincinnati Masters - Outrights and overview

After the disappointment of Novak Djokovic's exit at the hands of Andy Murray in Toronto, I think it's time to have a small investment in a couple of relative outsiders here in Cincy.

I backed James Blake at around 80 last year and he obliged by making it all the way to the championship match, where the New Yorker was outclassed by Roger Federer in straight sets, but it was a handy profit and I'm going a similar way this year.

With Fed looking all at sea and somewhat shell shocked by the loss of his Wimbledon invincibility and Rafa Nadal surely conserving his considerable energy reserves for the Olympics after winning in Canada, it might be an idea to have a look at a couple of alternatives.

The three that leap out at their current prices are David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet and Janko Tipsarevic.

After a wretched season where once again his desire and fight have been called into question, Gasquet has started to play well of late and was the only player to take a set off Nadal in Toronto.

The Frenchman is in the section of the draw that houses Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Murray and Tipsarevic and on a course for a semi final match with Federer, so 90 is worth chancing on a mercurial talent that surely must reach a Masters final soon.

Ferrer is overpriced at 130 and has little in his section to worry him other than perhaps Marin Cilic and Fernando Verdasco and he would meet Nadal in the semi's should the world number one in waiting get past Germans, Tommy Haas and Benjamin Becker as seems likely.

Nadal's body is more likely to let him down than the Teutonic abilities of his early opponents and Ferrer could be the one to take advantage.

A real longshot could be Janko Tipsarevic at around 300 and the Serb possesses all the ability in the world without perhaps the physical endurance for a sustained effort in the majors.

He was perhaps a bit rusty in Canada when he lost to Nicolas Mahut and he's worth a chance at a big price to upset Moya and Davydenko and if he manages that, then he'll be dangerous.

As far as individual bets are concerned on Tuesday, I like the look of Gilles Simon to avenge last week's loss to Nicolas Kiefer at 2.08 and that's worth an investment.