Men's French Open Betting: Can Gulbis finally come of age against Federer?

Will the Federer backhand hold up against Gulbis today?

The fourth round of the 2014 French Open begins on Sunday, with an intriguing clash between Roger Federer and Ernests Gulbis and tennis expert Sean Calvert, after a couple of winners yesterday, selects the best bets...

It was back to winning ways on Saturday at the French Open and although there was an element of fortune about both winners I'm happy to take it after some unfortunate earlier losses.

Kevin Anderson's win over Ivo Karlovic was very well received when the big Croat retired after set one of their match having lost the opener 6-3.

And having given up on the overs in the Philipp Kohlschreiber/Andy Murray match with the Brit cruising I was delighted to see Murray throw in a shocker of a game in set four when firmly in control of a beaten Kohlschreiber.

Murray was a 1.021/50 shot at that stage, but two double faults and zero first serves in one game handed the break back to the German, who accepted the gift.

Andy now finds himself locked at 7-7 in the deciding set after play was abandoned last night and he'll be back after the Tomas Berdych/John Isner match at around lunchtime on Sunday.

But overs backers are long since collecting and, after my sixth straight correct prediction of a Murray match dating back to Rome, I'll attempt to figure out an even tougher proposition - that of one involving Ernests Gulbis.

The temperamental, controversial, and highly entertaining Latvian faces his own personal coming of age match today against Roger Federer and the question here is can Ernie finally deliver in a grand slam tournament?

We've all been waiting for more than five years for Gulbis to do something at a major, but this is the first time he's been past the third round stage at any slam since his one and only prior time, which was here back in 2008.

Or to put it another way it's been 24 majors and 10 first round exits since his last fourth round match and at around 2pm today he'll take on Federer, who is certainly beatable and vulnerable as favourite today.

The pair haven't met since back in 2010 and Ernie has never failed to take a set from the Swiss in a close career series that Fed leads 2-1, but that holds little relevance today, with Ernie's brain the deciding factor here.

Federer was a little fortunate that Dmitry Tursunov injured himself in the last round, as their match was close and unless Gulbis has a brain freeze, which is quite possible of course, I can't see him not taking a set today.

The over 38.5 total games looks good here at 1.728/11, while Federer's poor performances on break points these days (he's 25th ranked this season on BPs converted) combined with Ernie's powerful serving suggests that the 7.5n/a about Gulbis winning the opener on a breaker looks a good Cash Out choice.

The match between Milos Raonic and Marcel Granollers is one between two players, who've played a lot of tennis here in week one, but Granollers has played more and with his injury record I'd expect Milos to take that one.

I'm not of a mind to start backing Raonic at a price like 1.241/4 and the 3-1 win for the Canadian looks the most appealing option in that one at 3.55/2.

Recommended Bet
Back over 38.5 total games in Federer/Gulbis at 1.728/11

Best Cash Out Opportunity
Back Gulbis to win set one 7-6 at 7.5n/a