The Overrule: ATP Barcelona

By Sports Magician

The withdrawal of Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdych and David Nalbandian has thrown the betting for Barcelona wide open. The Overrule backed Juan Carlos Ferrero in the each-way market before the tournament began, as we shied away from delving into the top half of the draw as there was nothing to be gained from opposing Nadal. The King of Clay was also too short to back for our liking and punters who lumped on Nadal after his success in Monte Carlo will be seething as virtually all bookmakers run an ‘all in compete or not’ policy. There was always going to be the possibility of Nadal skipping an event on clay after he ran himself into the ground during last season’s European clay court swing. He and his team have clearly taken last year’s lesson on board and the Spaniard has erred on the side of caution.

Now that Nadal is out of the picture, we are free to back David Ferrer in the top half of the draw. Ferrer has been a runner-up in Barcelona for the past two years (losing to Nadal) and will be encouraged by Nadal’s withdrawal. Fernando Verdasco, Fernando Gonzalez and Tommy Robredo are all contenders to come out of the top half of the draw, but it’s Ferrer’s consistency that gives him the edge. Verdasco reached the final of Monte Carlo last week, but Ferrer may well have done the same had he been in the top half of the draw, rather than the bottom half where Nadal stood in his way once again.

Nalbandian’s withdrawal means that our match bet on him to beat Jurgen Melzer is now voided, while Igor Andreev lost out to Richard Gasquet during yesterday’s action in a rain interrupted match.

PICK: 3.5*DAVID FERRER WIN BARCELONA @ 6.5 (BET365)

Sports Magician