Cincinatti
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Cincinatti is one of the fastest hard-court surfaces so the big servers tend to run well here.
Karlovic-Melzer
I was very surprised to see that Melzer leads the h to h 4-0 here and even more surprised to see that Karlovic has not managed to get a single set in any of those games. He will never have as good a chance as here to reverse that. Melzer has been plagued with wrist problems and his comeback against Blake resulted in a tight two set loss where he did not manage a single bp chance (Blake created 14). If Blake’s powerful serving game gave him a good workout last week then the bombs that Ivo will throw down will really see how well he has recovered. ffice:smarttags" />
Murray’s loss to Foggini last week showed how much a wrist injury can affect a player and I’m willing to bet against Melzer’s wrist standing up here. Big Ivo has been very good to me recently (5 from 5 in the last weeks) and if Fed can’t manage a single bp against him I’m willing to chance him again.
2 Units Karlovic @ 1.64
Henman-Chela
I know as recently as a month ago I said (not for the first time) I’d never bet on Henman. That was in the aftermath of his first round defeat to Isner. Given how well Isner subsequently played in making the final you’d have to view Henman’s loss slightly more kindly. He has a good record here (Final, SF) and has split 8 games with Chela. The Argentine seems to be in a very mixed vein of form and even if Henman’s best days are well past he still looks some small value here.
0.75 Units Henman @ 2.9
Almagro-Mayer
Almagro up to his usual tricks last week when cracking at the vital moment against Russell. He should find Mayer slightly more to his liking. He has a 2-0 record against the German (1 hard) and Mayer is coming straight from European clay.
1.25 Units Almagro @ 1.92
Moya-Nalbandian
Signs of life last week from Bandy in making the 3
rd round before getting munched by a rampant Djokovic. Whether that should make him a 1.7 favorite against an in form Moya, who leads the h to h (3-2), who has a much better record here.
1 Unit Moya @ 2.38