ATP Rogers Cup Betting – Soderling vs. Gulbis

Toronto, Canada – Many notable players have descended on Toronto for the Rogers Cup this week, namely the top five players on the ATP Tour – Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Soderling.  With such big names in the draw, tennis bettors can be sure there will many goings-on around the courts.

Robin Soderling is up to world No.5 on the back of startlingly improved play since the astonishing sprint to the French Open final last year. However, and this is hugely important, he hasn’t won anything of note over the course of this ascent in the rankings.

Soderling has five career titles to his name. Full Stop. Of these five, none is even an ATP 500-level event let alone a major of any kind – Masters or Grand Slam.

This year Soderling picked up one title in Rotterdam (ATP 250-level event) and that under dubious circumstances (through no fault of his own) as Youzhny threw in the towel in the second set.

That Soderling hasn’t won a big title yet hasn’t quelled the discussion about him as a potential threat for a big title. I suppose because he has made it to the latter stages of major tournaments this year (French Open final and Wimbledon semis) the refrain tossed about pointing to him becoming the next World No.1 player (ya right!) and winning the “Big One” (soon) seemingly carries weight.  

By doing well on the big stage, he has indeed emerged a contender but still you need only look at the winner’s circle in the Majors category over the last six years to understand how hard it is to win such titles. Expressly, how hard it is to wrestle them from the firm grips of Nadal and Federer. There is a difference between competing and winning.

Robin Soderling features in Tuesday action as he gets his Rogers Cup bid started against Ernests Gulbis. This match should be a corker. Gulbis is an interesting prospect. Nevertheless, Soderling should win this match.

Tennis Betting Line:

Ernest Gulbis  +3½  -125   +175   22½  O -135   U -105  
Robin Soderling  -3½  -115   -225  22½  O -135   U -105  

First Set Line: Ernest Gulbis  +140         Robin Soderling     -180

Match Time: 03:30 PM Eastern Time (12:30 Pacific Time) Tuesday August 10, 2010

Broadcast TSN 1 & 2, ESPN, Tennis Channel

Tennis Betting Verdict: This is the first-ever meeting between Soderling and Gulbis. Soderling is a firm favourite at -225 to win outright and considering how many fans the big Swede has acquired over the last 18 months and how much he has improved as a player, the betting trend should fall in line with his odds. 

As a top five player, he needs to underscore his place in the game with a win over Gulbis, especially because the Latvian is a very interesting prospect that has shown to have the ability to topple big players.

Gulbis might fancy his chances against Soderling. He certainly isn’t the sort to be easily intimidated and he has a recent win over Federer to give him confidence. Let us face it, Federer is the greatest player in the game so if you can beat him, certainly you can beat the Sodman.