One week to go before the final slam of the season and the tennis circus moves onto New Haven this week for an event that has, for obvious reasons, been swerved by the leading players.
All the seeded players get an automatic bye into the round of 32 so that is only two games from a quarter final where there should be some trading opportunities.
There are two players we like this week in different sections of the draw and it could be worth risking a small puntinplay on each of them.
Xavier Malisse is currently in a rich vein of form which dates back to Wimbledon where he too “Big Sam” Querrey to five sets and almost stole a titanic struggle. Since then his form has been on an upward curve. He made the last eight in Atlanta, eventually losing to Roddick and performed even better in Washington where he took out Isner and Berdych before losing to Baghdatis in a close fought semi-final. He lost to Murray in Cincinnati on his last outing.
Thiemo De Bakker is going to come good shortly and it could just be his week. He has put some decent runs together this season and made the semi-final at Barcelona and the last 32 at Roland Garros. Both those events were on clay but he has made progress on the hard courts this season. He has a potential match up with Malisse should they both make the last four.
Not all the firms have priced this one up but with Bet365 Malisse is currently an 8/1 chance and De Bakker is 20/1.
