ATP Tour: Roger Federer the Favourite in Dubai
The ATP Tour continues this week and the players travel to the United Arab Emirates to contest the 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships. This is an ATP 500 event and will take place between the 25th February and 2nd March.
This will be the 27th edition of the competition and it will be played at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre, which is an outdoor, hardcourt surface.
Agut Returns Following Illness
The defending champion is Roberto Bautista Agut and he is in Dubai to defend his title. The Spaniard reached the final in Doha back at the end of December and progressed to the quarter-final of the Australian Open. However, he was forced to withdraw from his quarter-final match in Sofia earlier this month due to illness and it remains to be seen what condition Agut is in for this tournament.
He also finds himself in the same half of the draw as Roger Federer and that is never a good sign. Agut is available at 14/1 with William Hill to retain his title in Dubai.
The Favourite
Federer comes into this tournament having not played an event since his elimination at the round of 16 stage at the Australian Open. Therefore, the Swiss is not the number one seed for this event as many people would expect and he is actually the second seed.
Nonetheless, Federer enjoys his tennis in Dubai and has won the event a record seven times. He knows what it takes to win this tournament and will be fresh having not played since January. Federer should have little trouble overcoming Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round, a man he has a 13-0 record against and will fancy his chances of making it eight titles.
Federer is the 2/1 favourite to win the 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships with Betfair.
Number One Seed
The number one seed for the tournament is Kei Nishikori. Having progressed to become the 4th ranked player in the world, the Japanese struggled with injury problems but made a tremendous comeback in 2018 and looks set to enjoy a strong season.
He won in Brisbane, reached the quarter-final of the Australian Open and semi-final in Rotterdam, losing only two matches in the process. Nishikori is known for being a consistent player and is rightly placed as the number one seed for this event.
You back Nishikori to win the 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships at 11/2 with Ladbrokes.
100/1 Outsider
For those looking to place a bet on an outsider, Nikoloz Basilashvili could be worth consideration. The Georgian is currently enjoying the highest ranking of his career and had his best season in 2018. He does not have an easy draw, with Karen Khachanov in the first round but the Russian has not been in great form.
Get through that and he could face Agut, who has not played since illness forced him to withdraw in Sofia. Basilashvili is out at 100/1 with Betfair to win the 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships and makes an interesting outside bet.