Indian Wells Third Round Betting: Roddick and Blake in action

Indian Wells, California – American hopefuls Andy Roddick and James Blake will hope to give the home crowd something to cheer about when they get their third round matches underway in the Californian desert – a spot in the BNP Paribas Open fourth round on the line.

Roddick is set to take on Thiemo de Bakker, a lightweight in the game in terms of ranking. Meanwhile, Blake is set to go head-to-head against an exciting and very dangerous Nicolas Almagro.

Tennis Betting Line:

Thiemo De Bakker +5½ -130 +1000 19½ O -130 U -110
Andy Roddick -5½ -110 -3000 19½ O -130 U -110

Match Time: 06:30 PM Eastern Time Tuesday March 16, 2010

Tennis Betting Verdict: The bookies are entirely confident Andy Roddick is the player to advance from this match, listing him at untouchable odds of -3000. Roddick has home strength to guide him through as well as top ten pedigree. The American also has the added edge of a 1-0 lifetime mark over De Bakker, a win he earned at the Aussie Open earlier this year. Roddick beat De Bakker in the first round 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

There is no doubt in my mind Roddick is the better play. Question is how well he will play because there is no value in his outright win odds. Methinks he will put on a clinical performance. Here is why.

Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker reaches the third round with wins over Marcos Daniel and Janko Tisparevic. He secured both wins on outside courts in Indian Wells. This will be his first appearance on Stadium 1, the show court at Indian Wells. It will be hard enough to play against Roddick, let alone, under such intimidating circumstances. All this leads me to believe De Bakker maybe out of his league and outplayed.

Tennis Free Picks: Roddick -3000 | Roddick – 5 ½ -110| Under 19 ½ -110

Tennis Betting Line :

Nicolas Almagro +3½ -135 +170 22½ O -135 U -105
James Blake -3½ -105 -220 22½ O -135 U -105

Match Time: 07:00 PM Eastern Time Tuesday March 16, 2010

Tennis Betting Verdict: James Blake enters this match as the -220 favourite but tennis bettors should not be fooled. These odds are more a function of home edge rather than anything else. That said Blake has played well in Indian Wells and earned two good wins. Is that enough? You decide. For me it really isn’t.

Almagro is a dangerous opponent and a real threat to Blake. If Almagro takes it to Blake, anywhere near the manner in which he took it to Tsonga in Melbourne Blake will have a real battle on his hands. One in which the winner will be hard to pick.