Fernando Gonzalez has been made to work hard to reach the fourth round.

Fernando Gonzalez has had a tough time in this tournament so far, being taken the distance by the unheralded Evgeny Korolev in the last round before toughing things out in five sets. 

A lot of players might have packed it in mentally earlier in the tournament, especially when Gonzalez was down 2 sets to 1 against Korolev.  However, Gonzalez persevered and showed the fighting qualities if not the quality of tennis that took him all the way to the Australian Open final back in 2007.

Gonzalez now draws a prime time player in Andy Roddick in the 4th round for the Australian Open and it appears to be the end of the road for Gonzo.  He has held his own over the years against Roddick especially on hard court, but Gonzalez still has a weak 3-8 overall record against Roddick head to head.

Roddick has yet to show a major weakness at the 2010 Australian Open and he has come in as a big favorite against Gonzalez, priced at -275 (4/11) with Boylesports and Stan James.  At present, Roddick feels like a bigger threat than that to win this match and our recommendation is to pound Roddick for the victory.

For those looking to back Gonzalez, hope can be grounded in the fact that all three of his victories over Roddick have come on hard court and the best price available for Gonzalez to win appears to be with Sportingbet (+260, 13/5).

You can watch Roddick v Gonzalez live for free on bet365. To watch, simply follow these 3 simple steps:
 
1. Go to bet365 and sign-up or register (it's free)
2. Click on Sports > Live Streaming > Tennis
3. Watch Roddick v Gonzalez for free