2009 FRENCH OPEN BETTING TIPS NADAL FALLS TO SODERLING

Shock and awe today at Roland Garros as world #1 seed Rafael Nadal was defeated by Robin Soderling in what turned out to be Rafa's first loss at the French Open. Roger Federer is nearly an odds-on favourite with a price of 11/10. Many see this as an opening for him to finally get some momentum back in his favour and start winning majors again. Andy Murray has also effectively been gifted a genuine chance at winning that elusive first major tournament and bookmakers are firmly stating that he is the #2 favourite to win the tournament. Paddy Power has him at 4/1 and thats good odds, especially if you're backing him each-way. Nikolay Davydenko is at 13/2 and Fernando Gonzalez is 10/1. After Juan-Martin Del Potro and his 11/1 price the betting takes a dramatic jump with Gael Monfils available at 20/1 and Soderling and J-Wilfried Tsonga both listed at 22/1. Andy Roddick carries a 33/1 price with Philipp Kohlschreiber and Tommy Robredo at 50/1. Tommy Haas brings up the rear at 100/1. Each-way odds are paying 1/3 on places 1 and 2. You can put together some really solid accumulator bets by taking advantage of the Match Betting that Paddy Power has available. Kohlschreiber vs Robredo has very little between them, with prices of 4/5 and 10/11 respectively. Federer is a huge favourite over Tommy Haas who carries a 9/1 price with the Swiss player listed at 1/33. Andy Roddick is a solid bet and is listed at evens against Monfils- I'm backing Roddick to take this one and I think his price is higher than it should be. Andy Murray vs Fernando Gonzalez also represents excellent value with Murray listed at 4/7 and Gonzalez carrying a price of 5/4. VERDICTThis one is wide open with Nadal out. I think this is the opening that Andy Murray has been waiting for. I'm getting behind him on patriotic grounds (and there's value on that 4/1) so I'm backing him to win, outright.I'm also playing Roddick (evens) x Murray (4/7) x Davydenko (4/9) on accumulator which pays out at nearly 7/2.