Rogers Cup 2014 Betting: Wild card Sock to oust Melzer in Toronto

Jack Sock's forehand could be a big factor today

Day two of the Rogers Cup sees the opening round hopefully complete in stormy Toronto, where Sean Calvert talks us through the best bets on Tuesday...

Monday at the Rexall Centre in Toronto saw a soggy start to this Masters 1000 week in Canada and it also witnessed a disappointing display from Roberto Bautista Agut.

RBA served for set one and held three set points at various stages, but blew his chances, which lead to a poor loss to Feli Lopez.

My other bet didn't get to court, so Bernard Tomic will have to wait until 6pm UK time today to face Ivo Karlovic, which might not be a bad thing after quite a busy schedule for Bernie of late.

I wrote about the questionable wild card system on the ATP Tour in these pages last week and one of the biggest beneficiaries of recent years, Jack Sock, has been given one again this week in Toronto.

This one is the American's fourth such free pass to round one of a main draw in the 2014 season, which is at least down from the seven he benefitted from last year and I expect him to make this one pay.

Sock takes on Jurgen Melzer today and the favourite has the advantage of a few weeks' hard court tennis under his belt already, after playing in Atlanta and Washington DC in the last fortnight.

He made the semi finals in Atlanta before being beaten by eventual champion John Isner and Sock was also beaten by the tournament winner in DC with a two tie break loss to Milos Raonic.

Sock's confidence was certainly boosted by winning the Wimbledon doubles title with Vasek Pospisil and both men have used that as a bit of a springboard for success in their singles play.

Melzer has been beset with injury issues over the last year or so and a toe injury that required surgery has been his problem this summer.

The veteran Austrian has played only one match in the last six weeks and that was a straight sets loss to Pablo Andujar in Kitzbuhel and he's lacking a fair bit in court time here.

In any case, Melzer has a poor record in the Rogers Cup, with a 3-7 mark overall and no wins in Toronto since way back in 2004.

Sock has a decent record against lefties of 20-7 in his career and 7-2 at tour level, so a southpaw shouldn't be a problem for him and it's asking a lot for Melzer to win this in these circumstances.

The only other bet I'll take on today is for Gilles Simon to beat Dominic Thiem, who will very likely be exhausted after a long trip from Kitzbuhel and a tough run this year generally.

The great thing about Thiem and his 'mega' social media updates is his honesty and I'm sure he won't be quite so candid about things soon enough, but for now he seems to be running on fumes.

Because he had to qualify for pretty much everything at the start of 2014 until now he's played 51 matches already this season, which is a hell of a lot.

Many of those (24) have been on clay too, which is tougher on the body and he's played nine times on the dirt since Wimbledon at three tournaments.

The switch of surfaces from clay straight to hard with barely any preparation can't be in his favour either and today's opponent will be much fresher after only 37 matches this season and three since Wimbledon.

He's had much more time to prepare for this after losing early in Gstaad thanks to a bizzare injury where he fell over on his chin, but his fortunes could change today in more favourable circumstances.

Recommended Bets
Back Sock to beat Melzer at 1.574/7
Back Simon to beat Thiem at 1.814/5