Tennis - 8-14 November

[Atko]

The big event this week is the ATP Paris Masters 1000 event in Bercy. All the big guns are there except Rafael Nadal. It's another indoor hard event on Greenset. Five ATP Challengers come from Ortosei (indoor), Aachen (indoor), Guayaquil (clay), Knoxville (indoor) and Loughborough (indoor). Think the women are done for the year.

[Atko]

Re: Tennis - 8-14 November Three bets for me tomorrow. - Jarkko Nieminen -3.5 games AH (vs Xavier Malisse) @ 1.877 with Pinnacle (7/10) Malisse leads the H2H 2-1 but their last meeting came way back in 2008. The Belgian really isn't finishing the year well. A couple of very average R1 defeats mean that I have to favour Nieminen here, who is in good form after a nice QF berth in Basel. He's playing nice stuff indoors and has won a lot of matches recently, as he's qualified for most events. He's not to far from breaking into the Top 40 and with few ranking points to defend, he's probably got one eye on an Australian Open seeding. This, to me, appears to be a match where one player has lots to go for while the other one doesn't. Nieminen is in really good place at the moment, and I reckon he can cover the line against an out-of-sorts Malisse. - Michael Berrer -3 games AH (vs Fabio Fognini) @ 1.909 with Pinnacle (6/10) I lost on Berrer last week but going to trust him here. Fognini is not in the same league as Viktor Troicki on this surface and I reckon the big German will be able to take this. Fognini is a clay courter and doesn't relish the quicker courts. He's a good sparrer but offers too many presents on serve and will be punished by Berrer, who himself serves well and forages to the net often. Fognini also has a hideous record against lefties, so there's an issue there. The German's best results have come indoors this year and he got to the semis of Vienna a few weeks ago, so has some form behind him. They have a 1-1 record in all, but Berrer won the meeting on hard and Fognini won on clay. In these conditions, Berrer has to be my favourite and a handicap victory is achievable. - Radek Stepanek -3.5 games AH (vs Michael Russell) @ 1.935 with Pinnacle (6/10) This is a big week for Stepanek. He got to the semis in Paris last year and therefore has a lorryload of points to defend, which is vital for him if he wants to stay in the Top 40. I don't expect him to emulate last year's success but I'd imagine him to get past Russell. The American is a grafter but doesn't have what it takes to beat decent players indoors. Stepanek is in his element here, as he can attack to his heart's content. You always have a chance on Russell's service games as the American throws in a lot of errors. He also gets tight - just look at his two recent encounters with Sergiy Stakhovsky, where he blew serving for it in each. Stepanek's got enough in his locker to take care of Russell and this handicap. :hope