US Open 2014 Men's Betting: Seppi to overcome Stakhovsky test

Will Seppi be celebrating again today?

Play begins in the 134th US Open on Monday, with Andy Murray among the names in action on day one. Sean Calvert looks at the best bets on Monday...

The weather is set fair and we're all ready to go in New York at the 2014 US Open, with 56 matches on the card today - 24 in the men's singles first round.

Murray is set to play at around 6pm UK time against Robin Haase and no doubt the pair will remember their 2011 clash here when the Dutchman went two sets up and was beaten.

Haase isn't in that sort of form these days and it's difficult to see anything other than a Murray win here, with Haase having lost nine of last 11 matches on hard courts in the last 12 months.

He might show up a bit better here and the +8.5 games is a consideration, but I'd be surprised if Haase were able to muster a set today.

Stan Wawrinka might find the going tougher and he's one of two of my 'five potential upsets' that play today, along with Nick Kyrgios.

Solid-looking bets today for multiple backers include Tommy Robredo, Leo Mayer, Milos Raonic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Philipp Kohlschreiber, but none offer much of a reward in the match odds markets.

At more palatable odds it's worth backing Andreas Seppi to get past Twitter legend Sergiy Stakhovsky in their 4pm clash on Court 7.

Stakho, when he's not attempting to solve the world's problems in 140 characters or fewer, has a poor record in New York, with a 3-7 overall mark and 2-5 in the main draw.

He pulled out of Winston-Salem after losing in round one of Atlanta to Robby Ginepri and in Washington DC to Malek Jaziri and Seppi will be really disappointed if he doesn't manage to win this after an okay showing last week.

The Italian played well to defeat Nicolas Mahut there and didn't look too interested after that against Yen Hsun Lu in Winston-Salem, but he should be up for this and he seems a decent price at 1.584/7 here.

I'm also going to take a chance on French veteran Michael Llodra in his last major tournament before retirement at the end of the season and after being a controversial choice for a wild card here he looks to have a great chance as underdog today.

Daniel Gimeno-Traver has only ever won two matches at Flushing Meadows and he didn't bother with any hard court preparation, as usual, with his most recent hard court match coming in Miami back in March.

Llodra's form has been poor, hence the price, but he has beaten DGT in both prior meetings and surely he'll be more motivated to at least win one match in his last slam.

Mika has at least been playing on hard courts, but probably with little passion in his final months on tour, and he's been complaining of an elbow injury in recent weeks - all of which makes Llodra the outsider today.

He's always played when he feels like it though and with the onset of slow surfaces he's been forced to bide his time and wait for opportunities in suitable conditions to come along.

The difference between this pair should be Llodra's desire not to flop in his last slam and the Spaniard's desire to pocket a juicy $35,754 for turning up in round one.

For those staying up all night world number one Novak Djokovic should crush 5'7" Diego Schwartmann and either the unders or set one correct score of 6-1 or even 'yes' in 'will there be a 6-0 set?' look good options there.

Recommended Bets
Back Seppi to beat Stakhovsky at 1.584/7
Back Llodra to beat Gimeno-Traver at 2.466/4

Best Cash Out Opportunity
Back Djokovic to win set one 6-1 at 5.04/1

Plus already advised potential upsets

Tennis profit and loss – 2014 season

Profit based on 10 stake per bet = + 920.60