Betting tips / Ralph Ellis / 20 January 2012 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

With most of the top seeds breezing through the third round of the Australian Open, it's Rafael Nadal, looking his usual dangerous self, who has caught Ralph Ellis's eye.

Rafael Nadal seems to be the one who turns up at every big tournament with doubts about fitness and form, and then gets better and better until he wins it.

It hasn't been any different in Melbourne this week. There were all sorts of scares in the build-up, including a mysterious episode when his knee seemed to have locked up after he sat down in a chair. But here we are and he's cruised through the first couple of rounds of the Australian Open and is beginning to gather some momentum.

Nadal at [8.8]is the longest price of the big four competing for the first Grand Slam of the year and if anything ever screamed "value", then that's it. Some of the traditional bookmakers have already trimmed their odds to as tight as [5.0] after watching his first couple of rounds.

The Spaniard arrived Down Under with all sorts of doubts about what he might be capable of achieving at the tournament which is, in any case, his least favourite Grand Slam. His 2009 title represents his only appearance in a final so far, and he's only been beyond the quarters on one other occasion.

But there are a couple of changes that suggest promise. He's recovered successfully from an operation to a shoulder injury that hampered him last year, and he's also had his racquet altered with a little bit more weight. An extra three grams on the top of the frame might not sound much, but according to Rafa: "it means for the higher balls you can hit them a little bit more flat and with more power because the racquet goes faster into the ball."

More practice and more matches will help him take more advantage of that, and if it provides a small extra edge that could just be enough to see him through to a semi-final against Roger Federer, who was much less convincing in his first round win over Russian Alexander Kudrvavtsev and then got a walkover when Andreas Beck withdrew.

Either of them will be more than wary of favourite Novak Djokovic, who cruised through his second round match with Santiago Giraldo in the early hours of this morning, needing less than two hours to win 6-3 6-2 6-1. He's now [2.28] to retain his title.

Andy Murray also opened the day by keeping the British flag flying, serving really well as he got past Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Five things you might not know about Michael Llodra

1. Born May 1980 in Paris, where his father Michel was a midfield player at Paris St Germain - although he only played three first team games.

2.He played tennis for fun until he was 13, when through his dad's sporting contacts he met Guy Forget's coach George Deniau who taught him how to serve and volley.

3. When he and partner Fabrice Santoro won the men's doubles title at the 2004 Australian Open they celebrated by stripping to their underpants and throwing all their tennis gear into the crowd.

4.He was coached during 2010 by former women's world number one Amelie Mauresmo

5.Never ranked higher than 21 in singles or three in doubles, he's still made a decent living for wife Camille and children Manon and Teo. His career prize money totals more than £4.3million.