ATP Qatar Open: Tournament betting preview and free tip

When to bet

Starts 10am Monday

Best bet

Andrey Rublev to win title
1pt 9-2 Betfred, Hills, Sky Bet

Tournament preview

Stan Wawrinka's decision to play in the Qatar Open instead of the inaugural ATP Cup led to raised eye­brows and with his performance in Doha this week likely to come under greater scrutiny than would normally be the case, it may be prudent for punters to keep the top seed on their side.

With the ATP’s drive towards more and bigger team events, the Doha tournament’s star has fallen in recent years and none of the big three, all of whom have been crowned Qatar Open champions, are in the Middle East this week.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are competing in the ATP Cup in Australia while Roger Federer, who scratched from the Swiss cup team after Wawrinka, is saving his energies for the Australian Open which is two weeks away.

It’s 12 years since Wawrinka made the final in Doha, where he lost in three sets to Andy Murray, who is missing the start of the new tennis year.

Another seasoned campaigner, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, is the only player in this year’s field to have lifted the title – he defeated Gael Monfils in straight sets in the 2012 final.

But while Wawrinka and Tsonga merit respect, punters could get more bang for their buck siding with second seed Andrey Rublev on the outdoor Plexicushion hard courts.

The talented Russian missed out on an ATP Cup place due to Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov being ranked higher and that could spur on Rublev in his bid to improve on his Doha final loss to Monfils two years ago.

There are plenty of others capable of taking the title should the top three seeds fall short.

Milos Raonic, Filip Krajinovic, Frances Tiafoe, Fernando Verdasco, Alexander Bublik, Miomir Kecmanovic and Kyle Edmund all possess viable credentials for taking the title.

It’s only fair to expect better from powerful Briton Edmund this year after a below-par 2019 and the Yorkshireman is another with a point to prove.

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