AIG Japan Open Tennis Betting Preview

Tokyo, Japan – The AIG Japan Open is one of the bigger tournaments (other than the Masters Series events) of the fall swing on the ATP calendar. So to say the stakes are high is an understatement. An added dimension to the tennis betting market on the Japan Open is the absence of the big trio of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the field, making the push to the final on Sunday that much more tighter a speculating prospect for the online sports betting community as theoretically the title is up for grabs.

American Andy Roddick, winner at the China Open, arrived in Tokyo amidst a star-studded line up that includes defending champion David Ferrer and newly added to the winner’s circle, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who won his maiden ATP title at the Thailand Open. The tournament also features red-hot betting ticket Juan Martin Del Potro –winner of four back-to-back titles in the summer and silver medallist at the Beijing Olympics, Fernando Gonzalez.

David Ferrer leads the way as the top seed. The top half of the draw, which is weaker than the bottom half of the draw, lacks in upset potential so technically Ferrer should have a relatively untroubled course to the final eight, but given that his performance over the last few months has been shaky he is my prime target for an upset – sooner rather than later.

Since winning the title in s’Hertogenbosch in June, Ferrer has gone 7-7 in tournament play. Should he survive the early rounds and reach the final eight he could potentially face a huge obstacle in Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro is the fifth seed in the tournament and one of my favourites in the top half of the draw to reach the semis if not the final on Sunday.

Andy Roddick weighs in as the second seed and after his triumphant run in Beijing, he will hope to carry the momentum in Tokyo. However, his draw could be tricky for should he persevere through to the final eight he could collide with big serving Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (seeded seventh). Tsonga is coming off his maiden title victory in Bangkok wherein a rematch of the Australian Open final against Djokovic saw him avenge the loss in straight sets. Should the Roddick-Tsonga quarterfinal feature according to pre-tournament predictions, the consensus is that the winner of this matchup will emerge as the favourite for the title.

The top 16 seeds include some streaky players the likes of which are Fernando Gonzalez (third seed), Richard Gasquet (fourth seed) and ninth seed Tomas Berdych – the threesome at any given point in time can turn up the level and raise their game to impressive heights or crash early in abysmal finesse and style. None of them are particularly intimidating players so in principle anything can happen in their quarters of the draw.

Gonzalez and Berdych fall in the same quarter as thirteenth seed Sam Querrey, making their quarter the toughest of the tournament in my opinion. Querrey is coming off a great summer hard court swing and definitely has the potential to shake things up in the bottom half of the draw and challenge for a berth in the quarters.