BNP Paribas Masters 2014 Betting: Murray to seal O2 spot at expense of Dimitrov

Andy Murray can qualify for the World Tour FInals today

Round three of the BNP Paribas Masters is the order of the day on Thursday in Bercy and Sean Calvert selects the best bets for today's last-16 clashes...

It was a tale of two tie breaks in Paris on Wednesday, as both of my wagers were defeated in breakers at the BNP Paribas Masters.

Those who backed Dominic Thiem to win a set against Stan Wawrinka can consider themselves very unlucky, as the Austrian was denied by a net cord in set two and had a set point.

Thiem was serving at *5-4 and had moved into the net to finish off the point when a thick net cord perplexed the youngster and he ended up slicing long.

Then Jack Sock was unable to win a final set tie break against Milos Raonic, but at least the American provided good trading material from the opening 3.211/5 in to a low of 1.695/7.

Andy Murray didn't seem to suffer any lingering effects from his recent heavy schedule in a comfortable straight sets win over Julien Benneteau and he can take Grigor Dimitrov out of the London running and seal his own spot at the O2 today.

Murray faces Dimitrov for the sixth time in their careers at around 1pm UK time and having lost the last two against the Bulgarian he'll enjoy this one if he is victorious today.

And there's no real reason to think he won't after beating Benneteau and going on to describe his current on court level as being "match tight."

It's hard to get a level on Dimitrov at the moment, as he looked spent at times in Basel last week, but came out looking sharp against an admittedly poor Pablo Cuevas yesterday.

The Uruguayan may have had other matters on his mind, having become a dad in the last week or so and he may well have been more than happy to end what's been a good season for him yesterday.

Dimitrov must win if he has ideas of being in London himself, but I don't expect the slow conditions here to help the Bulgarian too much, with Murray playing his best tennis of the year just now and confidence at a high.

The opening match of the day is an intriguing one, with Feli Lopez taking on Tomas Berdych for the 12th time in a career series that has been close at six wins to Lopez and five for the Czech.

Berdych should have the motivation, with London qualification still not settled, but Lopez was good yesterday against Sam Querrey and he might not be a bad bet to win the opening set at a tempting 3.02/1.

Following on from that match will be Wawrinka facing Kevin Anderson for the sixth time, having lost the last two to the big South African, although I expect the Swiss will come through this time.

Stan, despite being a little lucky at the end of set two, played some of his best tennis in a fair old while yesterday and having already qualified for the O2 the Swiss should be able to play without any fear in this one.

It won't be easy though and the 4.30100/30 on the 2-1 win for Wawrinka appeals there.

Recommended Bets
Back Murray to beat Dimitrov at 1.558/15
Back Lopez to win set one vs Berdych at 3.02/1