Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish both lost their opening match at the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals and whoever loses today faces an early exit from the competition.
Mardy Fish is making his first appearance at the ATP World Tour Finals and part of the American will simply be happy to be able to take his place amongst the world's elite for the first time in his career, at the age of 29. The other part, the competitive side of the world number eight, will be looking to win and he will have been disappointed to lose in a final set tie-break to Rafael Nadal on Sunday evening.
There were some who suggested that Fish's performance owed more to Nadal's lack of form than anything that his opponent did on the court. That would, however, be unfair as Fish frequently out hit the Spaniard and Nadal was certainly not lacklustre - he wanted to win.
It is, therefore, a bit of a surprise to see Fish at odds of 13/8 to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his second match. Yes, Tsonga took Roger Federer to three sets but the Swiss was playing at half pace, confident that he could beat the Frenchman, having defeated him in the Paris Masters final a week before.
Tsonga, who is the 1/2 favourite to win today, didn't serve particularly well on Sunday. He will need to be much better if he is to win this afternoon. He does have the psychological advantage of having beaten Fish in their only previous meeting but it was a narrow five set victory at this year's US Open, which could have gone either way.
It should be another very tight match today in the O2 Arena and it would be no surprise to see three sets.
Paddy Power have set the Over/Under Games line at 22.5, which seems very low, considering that both players' games are based around serve. This line could be covered by two 7-5 sets or a 6-4, 7-6 to either man and will obviously be cleared in a three set match. It is by far the best bet of the day, at odds of 5/6.
