BNP Paribas Open Betting: Underdog Andujar can turn up the heat on Klizan

Pablo Andujar can benefit from slow, hot conditions today

It's set to be another hot day at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Friday, where Sean Calvert likes the idea of taking on a favourite who struggles in the heat...

It was a peculiar start to the tournament at Indian Wells on Thursday, with a few unexpected results and the predictable questionable efforts from some fresh from Davis Cup duty.

Of all 16 round one matches on Thursday I wouldn't have backed more than a couple that won, with successes for the likes of Albert Ramos over Viktor Troicki, James Duckworth over Dominic Thiem and Daniel Gimeno-Traver over Sam Groth.

At least the latter result highlights what I was saying about big servers (John Isner apart) tending to have less success at Indian Wells and an out-and-out dirt baller like DGT beating a walking serve like that of Groth on an outdoor hard court is a perfect example.

As for my bets, it was a day marred by injury, with Mikhail Kukushkin turning up on court like the Kazakh version of The Bionic Man with Kinesio tape all over his body.

I suspected a poor showing from Kuku after that and he rolled his serve in for a bit before retiring against Vasek Pospisil, who, to be fair, played pretty well, despite his fitness concerns.

Federico Delbonis, typically, was one of the few Davis Cup stalwarts who did put a shift in, but he didn't have to do much with Lajovic playing his own personal game of 'how often can I find the net' in a really poor display.

Friday's card offers an opportunity to back Yen-Hsun Lu, who has a decent record here, against Jack Sock at around 1.558/15, with the American playing his first match of the season.

Sock has had hip surgery and last played in Bercy last October, and never having won a match in three attempts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden this doesn't look the ideal tournament for his comeback.

Indeed, Lu probably isn't the ideal opponent either, with the Chinese Taipei player holding a creditable 11-7 record in all matches at Indian Wells and he thrashed Philipp Kohlschreiber here a year ago.

Lu played well at Delray Beach a few weeks ago beating Kevin Anderson and Sam Groth, which is another example of his prowess against big servers, and his efforts in Davis Cup amounted to the loss of a single game against an unranked opponent.

This would be a superb win for Sock on his comeback and it doesn't seem likely all things considered.

One bigger priced bet that I like today is to take a chance on Pablo Andujar against Martin Klizan at around 2.608/5.

Klizan really doesn't like the heat and it's set to be in the 30C plus range against today, which may see another feeble effort forthcoming from him.

The moody Slovakian has only ever played one match here at Indian Wells and he lost it and his last showing on tour was a really poor effort in the heat in Rio when he simply couldn't be bothered and was almost bagelled in the second set against Delbonis.

Prior to that Klizan was one of only four retirements at an Australian Open that was relatively mild by its usual standards and I can see him not fancying it today in this heat.

Andujar has a decent record here of 4-4 and he took Novak Djokovic to three sets here in 2012, which is a further example of how some of the clay guys can benefit from conditions at Indian Wells.

The Spaniard has also won six of his last eight matches against lefties such as Klizan and his price does appeal today.

Recommended Bets
Back Lu to beat Sock at 1.558/15
Back Andujar to beat Klizan at 2.68/5