Shanghai Rolex Masters Betting: Pospisil to complete hat-trick of wins over Giraldo

Pospisil can cover the handicap against Giraldo

Masters 1000 tennis action in Shanghai is the order of the day as far as tennis is concerned on Tuesday and Sean Calvert is back to preview the action...

The opening rounds of the Shanghai Masters continue on Tuesday, when Andy Murray makes his 2014 debut at a tournament he's won twice in the past.

Kevin Anderson's slow start on Monday meant a loss for my only wager of the day when the South African took a set too long to take care of James Ward.

There are 14 first and second round matches on Tuesday's card and Murray takes on the power hitting of Teimuraz Gabashvili at around 11.30am on Stadium Court.

The pair have never met, but the match-up is a straightforward one, with the Russian adopting aggressive tactics against Murray's defence and he can light it up when he finds his range, but consistency has always been one of his problems.

The other is his poor mental strength and I've seen Gaba lose matches purely because someone was sitting in the wrong seat in his eye line and he's not been able to let it go.

He could have one decent set in him and the 7.5n/a about Gabashvili winning set one could be interesting if Murray starts this match as slowly as he has in quite a few of late.

But a better bet can be found in the 8am UK time start on Stadium Court between Vasek Pospisil and Santiago Giraldo, with the Canadian a likely winner here minus 2.5 games on the handicap.

This will be their third clash in 2014, with Pospisil coming out on top on outdoor hard in Washington in week 31 and again on indoor hard in Davis Cup a month ago.

These quick conditions can only aid Pospisil, who performed well in defeat to Novak Djokovic in Beijing last week and should have taken a set off the Serb.

Vasek failed on set point on his own serve on that occasion and it was the closest that anyone came to taking a set off an imperious Djokovic last week.

Giraldo had a poor hard court summer, with just two wins in four tournaments and was brushed aside all too easily by John Isner in Beijing last week and Pospisil looks much the fresher of the two, having played 20 matches fewer than the Colombian in 2014.

Much of that is down to Pospisil's early season injury and he should have more left in the tank at this time in the campaign.

Recommended Bet
Back Pospisil -2.5 games to beat Giraldo at 1.804/5