four-leaf

Sam Querrey to beat Gilles Simon at 1.90 with bet365
The bookies don't have a clue who's gonna win this match. No lean in any direction, completely even but I think Sam is closer to the win because of the following: Sam has played god awful tennis in his last 4 tournaments, winning just one match.
However, somehow, he came out and dominated a very good player in Frances Tiafoe in the first round. It was a completely different player on the court, and I can't help but think that the same player shows up against Gilles and then Gilles is likely toast. They have a pretty even head to head record, with Gilles ahead 4-3. Gilles posted a nice result in Lyon last tournament, making it to the finals, but it should be noted that he faced little competition along the way with his best win coming against the 85th ranked player in the world in Cam Norrie. I simply think Sam digs deep, and pulls off a second round win because with the right attitude Sam is nowadays better than Gilles even on clay but only if he comes in with the right mindset which I'm hoping he will do here.

KUZMOVA VS SVITOLINA
This is one game that has a whole lot of expectation wrapped around it for all that it threatens to deliver. Both players are in form with a h2h record of 8-2 each way. Svitolina would clearly seem to have the better form classwise although I feel Kuzmova will attend this conference well prepared. Surely among the formidable array of young ladies that have sprung up in modern day tennis, I believe it is high time we witnessed some of that quality. Kumova looks to be a young woman with a matured head on her shoulders. I strongly believe that she will not go down without covering the handicap or going over the total games. Verdict: Total games over 18.5

That admission by JMDP is more reason why JMDP should be backed against anybody. I wont be fooled by bluff talk. There was huge talk before the Mahut match about this same story that people were actually thinking Mahut to win or Del Potro to retire. It was neither. What we saw instead was a strong powerful and determined giant barging his way to victory. It was already obvious by the end of the third set that Delboy was in full control, yet he still kept pumping his fist after every shot. You could see the emotion at the end after he won. If you have any doubts, Del Potro has only played 5 matches on clay this year where he is 3/5. Just look at the kind of quality he played against there and look at the scores in each of those games and you will understand why you must let sleeping dogs lie!

Diego Schwartzman to beat (-2.5 sets) Adam Pavlasek at 2.00 with bet365
I don't get many bets correct these days but this one I think I have a pretty good chance of landing. Pavlasek just beat the non-clay player Mirza Basic and it didn't surprise too many people I think. I was not surprised by it happening myself at least, he mostly did what he was supposed to do as he is the better clay player of the two. But here Adam will face a guy who's got a game in the class of top 10 clay players this season. I saw Diego playing in first round where he beat Calvin Hemery pretty nicely, he played as solid on serve that you simply have to wonder how far can he go in RG 2018. He went out in a 5 set match to Nole last season but I think he's improved his game a lot and doesn't lose sets easily to guys ranked below 50 in the world. He's now ranked 12 and I suspect we might see him even closer to top 10 soon or he will break the top 10. For me he is too solid in his game to lose a set to this czech even though he is kind of specialized on clay. Adam simply is a few levels below Diego so Diego has a pretty good chance of taking it without droping a set. But there can be some tight sets here with tie-breaks to come or maybe even Diego can lose a set by a break so watch out for that because it can get tough as always with small margins deciding the winner of a set. But having seen Diego playing as good as he did in first round made me confident that he can win next round in 3 sets but I count on Adam to make this bet hard to bring home so I'm a bit worried but I trust Diego at the same time. So all in all this might get tricky but I'm hoping Diego plays solid enough to break Adams serve a few times.

omg, anyone seen what Serena's wearing? 
not even a pocket for a spare ball.
I won't mention her arse 

Van Uytvanck A. vs Wallace I.
Wallace makes her Grand slam debut and has never faced a top 50 player! 
Van Uytvanck -7.5 games @ 2.65 with 10Bet
Van Uytvanck -10.5 games @ 12.00 with PaddyPower
I think Wallace will be lucky to get zero!

Magdalena Rybarikova to beat Belinda Bencic at 1.53 with Bet365
Watched a bit of Bencic in the first round and she was way off as expected, especially early on. She's going to get better as the season progresses, but this showdown should be way too early for her with Rybarikova being one of the more crafty players. Chiesa wasn't really able to exploit Bencic's weakness, but Rybarikova is experienced and skillful enough to do that. I'd be shocked to see Bencic win this (although it would certainly help my pre-season bet on her).
Fernando Verdasco to beat Guido Andreozzi at 1.96 with Unibet
Martin Klizan to beat Gael Monfils at 2.40 with Unibet
Ernests Gulbis to beat Matteo Berrettini at 1.78 with Pinnacle
I'm obviously not exactly thrilled to be backing this particular trio of players, but I'd say that the odds are worth the risk at the end of the day, as they have enough class to beat their opponents if they are at least somewhat focused, which they should be after fighting so hard in the first round. Andreozzi is one of the more overrated players imo, Monfils has no form whatsoever, and Berrettini is still choky on the big stage (his performance against Zverev in Rome comes to mind).

Johanna Larsson to beat (-1.5 sets) Bettanie Mattek-Sands at 2.10 with bet365
I think this bet should have a decent chance of coming in today. Bettanie has played a few three set matches on clay, in fact 4 in a row and lost 3 of them but I don't think she will have as mutch chance to take a set of Johanna as she had in her 3 recent losses in Rome, Madrid and Rabat. She's also beaten Caroline Dolehide on the Madrid clay in qualies. This might be a risky bet but I think Johanna does have a quite decent chance of taking this in two. They've met twice and Johanna lost the first on hardcourt in 3 in Copenhagen and not surprisingly on Johannas favourite surface she won the other 7-5 6-2 on clay in Gstaad.

Johanna Larsson to beat (-1.5 sets) Bettanie Mattek-Sands at 2.10 with bet365
I think this bet should have a decent chance of coming in today. Bettanie has played a few three set matches on clay, in fact 4 in a row and lost 3 of them but I don't think she will have as mutch chance to take a set of Johanna as she had in her 3 recent losses in Rome, Madrid and Rabat. She's also beaten Caroline Dolehide on the Madrid clay in qualies. This might be a risky bet but I think Johanna does have a quite decent chance of taking this in two. They've met twice and Johanna lost the first on hardcourt in 3 in Copenhagen and not surprisingly on Johannas favourite surface she won the other 7-5 6-2 on clay in Gstaad.

Back Stefanos Tsitsipas (AH +2.5 sets) to beat Dominic Thiem at 1.70 with Pinnacle
Did not really understand why Thiem "forced" himself to the final last week in Lyon, rather than saving his energy for the next (two?) week(s), but at least he got his reward and won the tournament. It was no surprise he went through the first round quite easily but will face a tricky opponent in the next turn. The Greek guy already caused him plenty of problems in their previous meetings, at these odds I definitely have to give it a try.
Back Benoit Paire (AH +2.5 sets) to beat Kei Nishikori at 1.65 with Pinnacle
Once again staying on the safe side and playing set handicap. Kei did not really impress me in the first round, in all honesty, I expected a stronger performance from him. He might have played good tennis in Rome, but at the same time is used to make matches difficult for himself. Stats are also on my side, Paire should be well able to take at least (!) one set in front of the home crowd.
Back Federico Delbonis to beat Pablo Carreno Busta at 3.00 with Bet365
The set handicap seems to be obvious for me here, but now I will risk an play the money line. I am not at all impressed with the Spaniard recently. Shaky performance in Rome, not to mention Madrid and Estoril. Ok, Delbonis is not in a hell of form either, but he holds a decent H2H record, so let's see.
Back Martin Klizan to beat Gael Monfils at 2.45 with Marathonbet
Even if probably his main focus from the beginning of the season was to get in good shape for these weeks, I am not really sure about Monfils. Not because he dropped a set in the first round against an unknown player on the big stages, but the French fun-maker is no longer the player he used to be. This match can definitely go into 5 sets, maybe worth to risk a small amount on that, but I definitely think the Slovak has a good chance here.

Bencic B. vs Chiesa D.
ten weeks without match play will undo Bencic I think against a fully up to speed Chiesa whose won three matches this past week.
Chiesa @ 2.10 with Bet365

Maria Sakkari to beat (-5.5) Mandy Minella at 1.90 with bet365
Hard to see Minella doing anything useful in this match. I had a tiny bet on Mandy in Nürnberg and it didn't go so well as she was actually totally outclassed by Alison Riske. If Maria is on her highest level here she'll do the same if not worse so I bet Maria will be on her game and completely pulverize Mandy who does in all fairness not have mutch to offer in either gameplay or ranking.
Edit: Maria beat Mandy 6-0 6-1 on clay in Fed cup this season.

Khachanov vs Haider Maurer
The one likable thing about a Grand Slam is that you can liken it to the F.A Cup where everyone comes together to compete for the trophy regardless of ranking. I would not want to say much here before arriving at my conclusion so I can save up enough energy to watch the game. Lol! Khachanov as we know is box office in men's tennis but currently formless....well, that is if i base his form on his current win/loss record. Although it must be pointed out that the losses  were against decent heavy weights of the game. To butress my point, I will call a loss a loss regardless. It leaves Mr Khachanov at 1/5 in the abyss at the confidence end.
Haider Maurer as most tennis afficionados know, is no mug on the clay and would appear to be nuturing some hard-t0-detect form. This game has been on my mind right from when i saw the draw and even more now close to the off time. My gutt feeling? Haider Maurer will surely win a set. This could really turn into a rumble in the jungle with 5 sets a clear possibility. Good Luck!!

@CzechPunter Cori Gauff lost the US open junior final last year only 13 year old to Amanda Anisimova. She's the youngest player ever to reach the US open junior final. Reason why I'm asking about Cori is because she made her pro debut this week on clay in Osprey ITF and won 4 of 5 matches all in straight sets. She's solid as a rock on serve, she didn't drop serve in the entire first set to Katerina Stewart. She lost in first round in the Aussie open junior tournament but come on she was still 13 year old then and she's recently turned 14 and is ranked junior no.20. This girl will be big in the future if she continues this way. I'm interested to see where she will be ranked after RG because of her Osprey adventure.

4 more bets from me for today
Andrea Arnaboldi to beat Mitchell Krueger at 1.80 with bet365
Best bet from chellenger Mestres today I think. The american is nothing on a claycourt while Andrea has enough momentum and talent for clay to see this through.
Steve Johnson to beat Marton Fucsovics at 1.80 with bet365
Odds could change here, Steve might drift to 1.90 or more or less than 1.80 so I'm taking this before anything happens because I think 1.80 is good enough on Steve. I don't think Steve will take this easily but he is better on clay than Marton so he should win.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to beat Ashleigh Barty at 2.50 with bet365
Pavs for me all the way here on this surface where she apparently also is on a roll right now. Ashleigh won their last meeting in straight sets in Zhuhai elite trophy last season but I don't think she's better than Pavs on clay but if it had been grass or hard I would have gone for Ashleigh.
Peter Gojowczyk/Fabio Fognini over 21.5 games at 1.72 with bet365
Not the best of odds but I don't care, sticking with bet365 today. Peter and Fabio going head to head, interesting and most likely a hard fought encounter with 3 sets or at least one tie break because both are playing some excellent stuff right now so over 21.5 games seems reasonable.

He found it in april when he beat Roberto Bautista Agut in a davis cup live rubber in Spain. Before that I had not seen anything good from him on clay but he's got potential.

@CzechPunter Cori Gauff lost the US open junior final last year only 13 year old to Amanda Anisimova. She's the youngest player ever to reach the US open junior final. Reason why I'm asking about Cori is because she made her pro debut this week on clay in Osprey ITF and won 4 of 5 matches all in straight sets. She's solid as a rock on serve, she didn't drop serve in the entire first set to Katerina Stewart. She lost in first round in the Aussie open junior tournament but come on she was still 13 year old then and she's recently turned 14 and is ranked junior no.20. This girl will be big in the future if she continues this way. I'm interested to see where she will be ranked after RG because of her Osprey adventure.

Simon vs Norrie - ATP Lyon
I don't know where Norrie has found this clay form from but I'm going to roll with it.
he has a great serve as opposed to Simon's lately which I hope will pull him thru'.
this is more of a hunch bet for me, I'm sure we all have them. 
Norrie to win @ 2.15 with Marathonbet
Norrie to win 2-1 @ 4.90 with Unibet

4 more bets from me for today
Andrea Arnaboldi to beat Mitchell Krueger at 1.80 with bet365
Best bet from chellenger Mestres today I think. The american is nothing on a claycourt while Andrea has enough momentum and talent for clay to see this through.
Steve Johnson to beat Marton Fucsovics at 1.80 with bet365
Odds could change here, Steve might drift to 1.90 or more or less than 1.80 so I'm taking this before anything happens because I think 1.80 is good enough on Steve. I don't think Steve will take this easily but he is better on clay than Marton so he should win.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to beat Ashleigh Barty at 2.50 with bet365
Pavs for me all the way here on this surface where she apparently also is on a roll right now. Ashleigh won their last meeting in straight sets in Zhuhai elite trophy last season but I don't think she's better than Pavs on clay but if it had been grass or hard I would have gone for Ashleigh.
Peter Gojowczyk/Fabio Fognini over 21.5 games at 1.72 with bet365
Not the best of odds but I don't care, sticking with bet365 today. Peter and Fabio going head to head, interesting and most likely a hard fought encounter with 3 sets or at least one tie break because both are playing some excellent stuff right now so over 21.5 games seems reasonable.

Anett Kontaveit to win 4th quarter at 9.00 with bet365
Max stake on this one. Anett is on the rise and has enough quality to win this on her own without any help from players droping out. It doesn't matter if she faces Petra Kvitova, Caro Woz or Dasha Kasatkina when she is on a roll because she's good enough to beat them all.

4 more bets from me for today
Andrea Arnaboldi to beat Mitchell Krueger at 1.80 with bet365
Best bet from chellenger Mestres today I think. The american is nothing on a claycourt while Andrea has enough momentum and talent for clay to see this through.
Steve Johnson to beat Marton Fucsovics at 1.80 with bet365
Odds could change here, Steve might drift to 1.90 or more or less than 1.80 so I'm taking this before anything happens because I think 1.80 is good enough on Steve. I don't think Steve will take this easily but he is better on clay than Marton so he should win.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to beat Ashleigh Barty at 2.50 with bet365
Pavs for me all the way here on this surface where she apparently also is on a roll right now. Ashleigh won their last meeting in straight sets in Zhuhai elite trophy last season but I don't think she's better than Pavs on clay but if it had been grass or hard I would have gone for Ashleigh.
Peter Gojowczyk/Fabio Fognini over 21.5 games at 1.72 with bet365
Not the best of odds but I don't care, sticking with bet365 today. Peter and Fabio going head to head, interesting and most likely a hard fought encounter with 3 sets or at least one tie break because both are playing some excellent stuff right now so over 21.5 games seems reasonable.

Ok I'm not giving up yet, 3 bets from me today
Caroline Dolehide to beat (-1.5 sets) Maria Irina Bara at 2.20 with bet365
Caroline is up 2-0 against Irina and is yet to lose a set to her. Caroline is about 3 years younger and seeing that she beat Irina in straight sets when she was 16-17 makes me even more confident in this bet. Let's see if Caroline can do it again outside Florida.
2018 $60,000 Indian Harbour Beach, FL USA Clay Final DOLEHIDE 4-6 5-7
2016 $25,000 Wesley Chapel, FL USA Clay Round 2 (Qualifying) DOLEHIDE 5-7 5-7
Harmony Tan to beat Georgina Garcia-Perez at 2.25 with bet365
Going with the french 20 year old woman here seems like the best option. Georgina is nothing special.
Alexandra Dulgheru to beat Tamara Korpatsch at 1.80 with bet365
Dulgheru has played well enough to pass this test as well. I think she should be a slightly bigger favourite. She's also beaten Tamara once last season in 3 sets on hard.

Ye really great write ups, not a single correct bet. Crap is what it is. I've had 2 correct bets this week. Not exactly a great week for me.

Ok I'm not giving up yet, 3 bets from me today
Caroline Dolehide to beat (-1.5 sets) Maria Irina Bara at 2.20 with bet365
Caroline is up 2-0 against Irina and is yet to lose a set to her. Caroline is about 3 years younger and seeing that she beat Irina in straight sets when she was 16-17 makes me even more confident in this bet. Let's see if Caroline can do it again outside Florida.
2018 $60,000 Indian Harbour Beach, FL USA Clay Final DOLEHIDE 4-6 5-7
2016 $25,000 Wesley Chapel, FL USA Clay Round 2 (Qualifying) DOLEHIDE 5-7 5-7
Harmony Tan to beat Georgina Garcia-Perez at 2.25 with bet365
Going with the french 20 year old woman here seems like the best option. Georgina is nothing special.
Alexandra Dulgheru to beat Tamara Korpatsch at 1.80 with bet365
Dulgheru has played well enough to pass this test as well. I think she should be a slightly bigger favourite. She's also beaten Tamara once last season in 3 sets on hard.

Ok this is the last bet for today
Marta Kostyuk to beat (-1.5 sets) Martina Trevisan at 2.20 with bet365
The great big talent of this 15 year old ukrainean girl is available to see for everyone and yet she's as high as 1.50 to beat this italian because she dropped a set to Eri Hozumi in first round. I don't think she'll drop a set this time and it comes to me as a nobrainer since Marta is way more talented than Martina. It's 9 years between them and Marta is already ranked top 150, the question is only when she will break top 100. Martina has been top 150 last season for a short period at 144 which is her career high ranking but losing on clay in straight sets to players like Silvia Soler Espinosa in Rabat qualies, Michaela Honcova in a italian 25k ITF and getting destroyed by Marie Bouzkova in Lugano qualies doesn't look good. That 3 set final loss in another 25k italian ITF to Manon Arcangioli 23 years old ranked career high 268 (2015) doesn't look good either. Based on those matches I'd be surprised if Marta drops a set here. In round 1 Martina defeated Francoise Abanda in 3 sets and that's nothing special as well as Martas 3 set win over Eri Hozumi is nothing special. Anyway now I think it's not impossible that Marta will raise her game and likely take this in 2. I better be right about this risky bet since I've already lost a lot of risky bets this week.