Open de Moselle - a Title for the Taking

Metz, France – Novak Djokovic are resting up for the upcoming Masters Series events and most of the remaining top players headed to Tokyo for the AIG Japan Open.

The result is that the Open de Moselle indoor hard court tournament currently underway boasts a wide-open field as the players assembled are matched relatively evenly. Though not lacking in talent, the title is right there for the taking.

The highest ranked player featured in the draw is Ivo Karlovic who weighs in at No. 14 in the ATP rankings. Winner in Nottingham Karlovic leads the line-up of seeded player, which includes second seed Gilles Simon (titlist in Casablanca, Indianapolis and Bucharest) and third seed Nicolas Almagro (titlist in Acapulco and Costa do Sauipe). The remaining seeds are Paul-Henri Mathieu, Dmitry Tursunov, Andreas Seppi, Radek Stepanek and Mario Ancic.

The depth of the unseeded group of players is also remarkable considering Carlos Moya, Marcos Baghdatis, Ernests Gulbis, Janko Tipsarevic, Michael Llodra, Ivan Ljubicic and Victor Hanescu are in attendance. Also competing on wild card entries, but no less threatening is the Frenchman veteran duo of Nicolas Mahut and Arnaud Clement.

The top half of the draw is the tougher of the two with most of the stalwarts featuring there so ideally the bottom half of the draw holds the best value for upsets in tennis betting. Simon heads up the bottom half of the draw as the highest seed and considering he has had a great summer he is one of the favourites of that section.

Being French should also helps the steady Simon, as the partisan crowd is sure to cheer him on his path to the final – though he opens his tournament against fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and could face several more Frenchman that load the bottom half of the draw along the way.

Latvian prodigy Ernest Gulbis featuring in the bottom half of the draw could emerge as a potential semi-final matchup for France’s best title hope Simon. Gulbis topped eighth seed Mario Ancic on the opening day of the tournament and next faces Janko Tipsarevic.

Paul-Henri Mathieu also features in the bottom half but he has been in the throes of a slump lately and unless he turns his game around he is would be my pick to crash before the final eight (in the semis if he is lucky).

The talent in the top half of the draw is staggering and evenly matched, making it more of a free-for-all affair. Aside from the seeded players –Stepanek, Almagro, Tursunov and Karlovic – either of the Frenchmen Julien Benneteau or Michael Llodra has a fine chance of pushing through to the quarters or semis even. Victor Hanescu won a title this year and could challenge in this section as well as Moya or Ljubicic.

Overall, the Open de Moselle promises to be an exciting tennis betting affair at BetUS Sportsbook and tennis online bettors following this tournament will not have long to wait for some interesting tennis betting outcomes.

Nila Amerova is a freelance sports writer and regular contributor to the BetUS.com Locker Room