US Open 2014 Men's Betting: In-form Monfils to give Federer a fright

Federer could be tested by Monfils tonight

The last of the quarter-finals in the Men's Singles at the US Open are in play today in New York and, after another big priced winner yesterday, Sean Calvert is back to preview the action...

It was another late night for UK tennis fans on Wednesday, well, Thursday really, as Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray toughed it out in a match that ended at around 6:30am UK time, but it finished perfectly for my bet.

The 3-1 set betting advice on Djokovic provided us with a nice 3.8014/5 winner to make up for that cruel one with Grigor Dimitrov's overs the previous day.

It's all set to be another hot day on Thursday, with temperatures in the high 20s and touching 30c in Flushing today, so it'll be another test for the players in what's been a gruelling tournament.

Roger Federer and Gael Monfils meet for the 10th time in their careers at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre and it could be a bit of a classic.

Incredibly, Monfils, who seems to be playing better without a coach, has arrived at this last eight stage of a Grand Slam without dropping a set, which is something the Frenchman has never done before.

The closest he's ever been to achieving that feat in the past was when he dropped a set to Jurgen Melzer en route to the 2009 French Open last eight when he beat David Ferrer and then lost in the semis to today's opponent.

Indeed, Federer has knocked Lamonf out of the French Open three times, but they have never met at any other Grand Slam tournament until today.

All of their nine previous clashes have come at biggish tournaments though and their most recent was in Cincy a few weeks ago when Federer won in a decider.

The tale has largely been close losses for Lamonf, but he has won two of the last four against the Swiss and I wouldn't count him out of this one completely.

Federer hasn't really been tested this tournament so far and regardless of what he says about feeling super confident I still think he hasn't quite got the belief of old.

We saw it in the Cincy final when he went totally AWOL in set two against Ferrer after winning the opener and almost got bagelled by the Spaniard and I would be very surprised if Roger won this one easily.

It would be sadly typical of Gael to throw in his worst performance of the championship in the match that matters and Federer is the most likely winner here of course, but I think he'll trade higher than the current price of 1.282/7.

The fortnight has been a peculiar one for Gael in that he's actually looked like a professional tennis player at times - one that's out to win matches as expediently as possible - rather than playing to the crowd, although there of course have been spells of wizardry and showing off.

Hard court meetings between Federer and Monfils have tended to be close affairs and the Swiss will do well to emerge from this one with a straight sets win, which makes the over 38.5 total games look like a bet for me.

That one is priced at around 1.910/11 and looks the call in this 1am UK time encounter.

Recommended Bet
Back over 38.5 total games in Federer/Monfils at 1.910/11

Sean Calvert profit and loss – 2014 season

Profit based on 10 stake per bet = + 1107.00