Rome update - our boys are in good form...

Thursday 15th May 2025

Greetings from the Peak District…

I’m on annual leave this week. But of course, being the consummate professional that I am (and a self-confessed tennis nut) - I’m still keeping an eye on the action…

The Rome Masters is at the business end now. Last week, we had a total of four Each Way picks across this joint ATP & WTA 1000 event. The biggest clay-court tournament before the French Open at the end of the month…

We’ve got two men left standing in Rome…

Our 33/1 shot Lorenzo Musetti is through to the semi finals tomorrow. This is the Italian’s third consecutive Masters semi final this clay season.

Musetti has now won 14 out of 16 matches on the red dirt in 2025. Which bodes well for the man with the magic one-handed backhand, who we have in the book as a 100/1 men’s French Open 2025 early-bird pick from as far back as last November.

Before a ball was hit in the Italian capital this fortnight, I said that odds of 25/1 looked too big for Casper Ruud. The Norwegian - a two-time French Open runner-up, and recent Madrid Masters champion - is on a nine-match winning streak on clay.

Ruud plays in the Rome quarter finals this evening (from 6pm, UK time - Sky Sports Tennis).

Once again, we have price on our side - and underdogs with high-quality credentials…

1. From odds of 33/1 at the start of the tournament, Musetti was just 11/2 (6.5) in this morning’s revised Outright Winner market. With our 25/1 day-one pick Ruud now down to 12/1 in general

1. What’s more, most bookies are now betting Win Only for Rome. While we have Each Way terms of 1/2 odds for reaching the final

That’s the good news.

The next matches are as tough as they come right now…

Musetti takes on reigning Roland Garros champ Carlos Alcaraz in the semi finals. The career head-to-head is 5-1 to the Spanish star. Although Lorenzo’s sole victory to date did come on clay. And our boy Musetti has taken at least one set off Alcaraz in all four of their clay-court contests.

Ruud faces returning world no.1 and Italian favourite, Jannik Sinner. The head-to-head is 4-0 to Sinner. But as I said in last week’s Rome preview, these two have yet to face each other on clay. That quarter final match takes place this evening.

A couple of good Ones to Watch positions for us there.

And we have four more tournaments to look at next week, before the French Open itself takes centre stage…

I’ll be back from my break, ready for action next week: the tours are in Hamburg, Geneva, Rabat, and Strasbourg. After that, we’ll be full steam ahead for Paris & Roland Garros.

P.S

Note: my new email address is:

oliver@spapublishinggroup.co.uk

Enjoy the tennis…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Ones to Watch