Tennis - April 4-10

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 This Dimitrov kid is so overrated, bookies seem to always make him fave but he's done nothing on the tour yet.

[Psycho]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Looks pretty much like Challenger tournaments this week and naturally some 'great' results as well... Anyway have decided to get involved only now when some things have become clear and therefore will offer two of my selections for Houston tonight. 1) John Isner 2bt Horacio Zeballos. 1.83 @ Pinnacle (6/10) It's a myth that big John can't play on clay. He took Djokovic to five sets in Davis Cup on clay, in Belgrade last year and reach the final in ATP tournament in the same city couple months later. And this surface in Houston actually is a parody of a clay. Really not much of a clay there, like for women in Charleston. Isner beat Zeballos in their only meeting which was last year in Rome, on real clay and 1.83 on Isner really looks lame. He can serve on clay almost as well as on hard and hit some cracking forehands. Of these two Zeballos is definitely more vulnerable on serve. And like I said, the surface in Houston is far from real clay. 2) Ryan Sweeting v Sam Querrey. Over 22 games. 1.80 @ Gamebookers (5/10) Why Querrey is favorite in this I don't know. Maybe perhaps the reason is that he was in the final here last year (l. to Chela). Anyway Sweeting has beaten him already this year and I would not be shocked if he did it again. In either way don't think this match will be over quickly and 22 games for two inconsistent guys looks a bit short. It has been overs in both of their matches and nothing suggests it will be different this time around.

[Psycho]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 WTA Marbella. 3 selections 1) Sandra Zahlavova 2bt Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino. 2.13 @ Pinnacle (7/10) Well, this is horribly wrong. Sanda Zahlavova is well known player at this level, can play on every surface, also on clay and has actually had some nice results on this surface over past couple years, in Challenger events mostly. Today she'll play a Challenger level player. Have to admit that I haven't heard of her and obviously have not seen her play but she is Spanish youngester and has played already four matches this week, including qulies. I guess, the win against Niculescu is reason for odds to be like this but they are still ridiculous. Zahlavova beat Vinci in the first round and Vinci can hit some balls on clay. Another thing here that speaks against Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino is that she will be tired after four tough matches and clay can really wear you down. 2.13 for Zahlavova are mad odds. Not having that! 2) Laura Pous Tio +5.5 AH v Victoria Azarenka. 1.94 @ Pinnacle (6/10) No idea why Azarenka is here, she should not have been. If she wanted to play, she should have gone to Charlston which was closer to Miami. She got an easy win against Parra Santonja in the opening round but it has to be said that Parra is brainless player and that sort of was expected. Pous Tio on the other hand has got brain and makes her living on the dirt. 5.5 games is overrated here and with Azarenka being tired looks like a very good offer. The only worry here would be if Azarenka decided to retire which she has done previously in this tournament after tough matches in USA. She retired here last year in the 3rd round so one more match and then it's time to go against her, I guess. As far as this handicap is concerned, stats also look good for the Spanish player. She has beaten Aza in their only match on clay, 6-3, 6-2 in 2005 in Prague qualies. One could argue that Aza had not learned to play at the time but in WTA it's not that significant. And Pous Tio pushed Aza all the way in their 2nd meeting which was in Miami on hard in 2006, Aza won that one 7-6, 6-3. On clay I really fancy Pous Tio. 3) Anabel Medina Garrigues -2 AH v Alexandra Dulgheru. 1.93 @ Pinnacle (5/10) Garrigues humiliated Benesova 6-0, 6-2 and Iveta is not that bad, not on clay anyway. As for Dulgheru, don't think she'll be around much longer. She was all over the place in her first round match against Pivovarova and should have lost but managed to escape because the Russian youngester made some silly errors on big points and basically handed the match on a plate. Dulgheru was broken eight times in that match and it could have been a lot worse than that. Garriges has finally found some form and playing at home always gives an additional boost. Reckon she will win today and having handicap on this one. Can get away even with a three sets win.

[Psycho]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Absolutely ridiculous set of tennis by two pathetic Americans. Sweeting 3 times a break up against Querreyin the 2nd set, serves for the set not once but twice, of course does not want to win and throws it away, also wastes a set point on his own serve in the tie-break. Querrey though had none of it and smashed in a double fault on the 2nd set point and proved to be the smartest of the two idiots :lol

[WinningTipster]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Hi guys, 2 more picks for the WTA Charleston tournament: VESNINA (+5 GAMES HANDICAP) TO DEFEAT STOSUR @ 2.21 pinnaclesports PEER TO DEFEAT GOERGES @ 1.34 betfair Vesnina has a great return of serve and good counterattacking game against Stosur's big serve and big forehand so it should not be an easy win for Stosur. Both last matches between them were very close also. Goerges is very erratic, will not hit enough winners against Peer on clay.

[Atko]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Good calls on the Querrey-Sweeting overs and Isner Psycho :ok Taking two bets myself today. Mardy Fish returns to action in Houston and takes on Albert Ramos. Fish's best surface is by no means clay but he can play on it and the quicker red brick will help him out here. He's the top-ranked American now so I don't expect him to rest on his laurels, so I feel MARDY FISH -3.5 GAMES is appealing. Ramos is essentially another Challenger player who has got into a 250 event. Competent enough on clay but not in the same league as the bigger boys here. I'd expect Fish to take care of him comfortably enough. Another bet I quite like is the overs line between Blaz Kavcic and Fabio Fognini. Both men are pretty talented but both can be dreadfully inconsistent. Fognini's got a bit more pedigree but he showed his instability against Gerard Granollers-Pujol by dropping a set. The line is set pretty low so I think OVER 22 GAMES, at a price well above 2.00, is worth a shot in Casablanca. I don't see either player seeing this match out with any great comfort. Selections Mardy Fish -3.5 games AH @ 1.877 with Pinnacle 3pts Over 22 games AH in Blaz Kavcic vs Fabio Fognini @ 2.09 with Pinnacle 2pts :hope

[Psycho]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Two more for me today... Gilles Simon -3 AH vs Frederico Gil. 1.80 @ Nordicbet (7/10) 3 games handicap looks a bit short for this match. Simon has not played on clay that much lately but we have to remember that he knows what to do on this surface and has won some titles as well. Gil of course spends more time in the dirt but lack power and baseline rallies are to be won by Simon most of the time, I guess. They have had one match between them, that was on the hard in Sydney this year, Simon won 6-1, 6-3. Should be closer on clay but not much of a chances still for Gil. Elena Vesnina vs Samantha Stosur. Over 19.5 games. 2.05 @ Pinnacle (6/10) Like two options here - handicap on Vesnina and overs, will go ver the latter as there's always a possibility in WTA of 7-6, 6-1 scoreline. Both are big hitters and normally in matches like that there are very close fights and three sets would not be a shock today. Vesnina is not that bad actually and playing against one-dimensional player like Stosur she can have some chances. Their H2H stats says that they have played two times before, it was three sets on botsh ocasions. Vesnina won in New Haven in 2009, Sam got revenge in US Open last year.

[SayYesMoreInLife]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Sweeting vs Gabashvili - Sweeting @ 4/5 with Coral Rating 9/10 Easily the better player Sweeting, the only reason the bookmakers have both players at almost evens is because of Ganashvili's semi-good credentials on clay. Sweeting looked very impressive against Querrey and impressed me both @ Indian Wells and Miami. Going for the much more solid player on this one, the guy with the bigger serve and more variety.

[fishy25]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Two for me again today, considered the overs in that Fognini match as Atko has mentioned but sticking with the women today. Shahar Peer vs Julia Goerges- Peer -4.5 handicap- 4/5 Bet365- (6/10) Fancy Peer again today and can't add much to what I've said about her in my write ups this week. The clay courts seem to suit her due to the slow conditions and she can play her natural game on them and simply wear her opponent down and pounce on the loose returns. She hammered Arvidsson in her first match, showing that she has recovered from her poor show a couple of weeks back in the US. Goerges is also a good player on clay which is her best surface but against quality opponents, i.e. the top 15, she really struggles. Last year on clay, she beat alot of players who are ranked around the same place as her or worse. However, the likes of Williams, Pennetta, Sharapova and Henin all beat her with some ease. Peer can match all of those players on clay which suggest the German won't be able to cope. Already she has struggled, dropping the first set against Birnerova and only won the match due to her retiring. Peer is on another level to the Czech and she should be comfortable here. Sania Mirza vs Sabine Lisicki- Lisicki -3.5 handicap- 4/5 Bet365- (4/10) Took this one a little earlier and price has dropped a tad but Lisicki should be fine here. Whenever I watch Mirza she really doesn't impress me in the slightest. Know she is seen as a goddess over in India but that simply is down to her lifestyle and that she's the only female tennis player that I'm aware of. Saw her against Jankovic a month or so again and she was well and truly demolished. She didn't play any matches at all on clay last year, and the season before that, only 4. Not really sure why that is, guessing she just isn't keen on the surface. That suggests to me that Lisicki should love her draw today. She missed a lot of tennis last year, including the entire clay season due to an ankle injury but before that she showed what a good player she is. She made the quarters at Wimbledon and also won this very tournament back in 2009. Back then, she beat players such as Williams, Bartoli and Wozniacki which was a top effort. This year she's had to play a number of qualifiers due to her ranking but for Charleston she didn't and she looks like she is making the most of it. Hammered Bartoli last night, showing she is playing well and how she enjoys playing on these courts. If she plays anywhere near how she did against Bartoli, Mirza won't have any answers and should be a quick match. The German already beat Mirza in 3 sets this year back in Auckland and covered the handicap in the process. Would be suprised if she doesn't do the same today and win more comfortably.

[valve]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Di Mauro (vs Guez) @ 1.42 (Nordicbet) - stake 6/10 Di Mauro (vs Guez) (-3.5) @ 1.85 (Nordicbet) - stake 4/10 Hope Alessio will be up for this. Defeated Hajek pretty easily in first round, on the other hand Guez got broken 4 times by Muster :fp. Just don't feel he can perform in this moment very well on this kind of surface. Di Mauro is a clay court specialist (also a betting specialist :D, but willing to overlook him on this one) and should have an upper hand on this one. Lapentti (vs Pereira) (u20.5) @ 1.83 (bet365) - stake 7.5/10 Pereira is a young Brazillian who came through qualifiying and hasn't got much experience on this level. Doub't he can push Giovanni over this line. Gio recently won titile on hard in San Jose and surely should have too much for Pereira here. Price and line seems great.

[Alberto22]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10

Sport	Tennis
Event	Hantuchova - McHale
Selection	McHale + 5.0 games handicap (Asian-handicap)
Strength	10/10
Date	07/04/2011
Bookmaker/Price	Gamebookers @ 1.75
Reasoning	These two players are in a very good shape here in Charleston. Hantuchova managed to win in two sets against Alla Kudryavtseva and Evgeny Rodina; On the other hand, Christina McHale defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the previous round 6-1, 6-0. I fancy a lot this young-American girl. The 18-year-old from New Jersey is very talented and she has a bright future ahead. McHale managed to win against the two-time Grand Slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova two weeks ago, in the second round at Indian Wells. Christina McHale is an aggresive baseliner, and her favorite shot is the forehand. She moves very well on the court, and si has a decent serve. I think we will see a very balanced match between these two girls. Hantuchova has more experience than McHale, but this young-American girl is very motivated and she plays without pressure. McHale should cover this spread! I can't see a walk-over for Hantuchova here!

[Alberto22]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10

Sport	Tennis
Event	Andreev - Nishikori
Selection	Andreev
Strength	10/10
Date	07/04/2011
Bookmaker/Price	Pinnacle Sports @ 1.77
Reasoning	These two players have met one month ago at Indian Wells, and Igor Andreev managed to win that game pretty easy. Now this game will be played on clay-court, and Andreev is a clay-court specialist. The Russian guy is in a good shape now, and he defeated Michael Russel in the oppener round with a 6-2, 6-3. Nishikori is an up-and-down player, without great results lately. He prefers to play more on hard-courts, and Andreev is for sure the better player on this slowly surface. Igor Andreev should win this one in straight sets!

[valve]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10

Mardy Fish returns to action in Houston and takes on Albert Ramos. Fish's best surface is by no means clay but he can play on it and the quicker red brick will help him out here. He's the top-ranked American now so I don't expect him to rest on his laurels, so I feel MARDY FISH -3.5 GAMES is appealing. Ramos is essentially another Challenger player who has got into a 250 event. Competent enough on clay but not in the same league as the bigger boys here. I'd expect Fish to take care of him comfortably enough. Selections Mardy Fish -3.5 games AH @ 1.877 with Pinnacle 3pts :hope

Agree with this one. Ramos is also in Monte-Carlo qualification draw which starts on 9.4. and he hasn't pulled out still. Fish doesn't like clay to much, but he should be up for this.

[fishy25]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Shocker from Peer, handicap is virtually lost and the outright looks very dodgy now.

[CzechPunter]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 No kidding. Zahlavova 5-1 against a Spanish youngster and manages to lose the set 5-7. Seven set points! Seven! :puke

[Psycho]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Gilles Simon -3 AH vs Frederico Gil. 1.80 @ Nordicbet (7/10) WIN John Isner 2bt Horacio Zeballos. 1.83 @ Pinnacle (6/10) WIN Ryan Sweeting v Sam Querrey. Over 22 games. 1.80 @ Gamebookers (5/10) WIN Sandra Zahlavova 2bt Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino. 2.13 @ Pinnacle (7/10) LOSS Laura Pous Tio +5.5 AH v Victoria Azarenka. 1.94 @ Pinnacle (6/10) LOSS Anabel Medina Garrigues -2 AH v Alexandra Dulgheru. 1.93 @ Pinnacle (5/10) LOSS Elena Vesnina vs Samantha Stosur. Over 19.5 games. 2.05 @ Pinnacle (6/10) LOSS WTA had a shocker. Two of the matches were definitely sold. How on earth Zahlavova did not win the first set, I will never understand. Stosur did not want to play either, missing volleys 5 meters long when having all the time in the world. Sam also did not chase wide balls and responded only to those that were hit mid-court. 'Awesome' display from the defending champion. Garrigues had some really suspicious plays as well but not that clear as the other two losers. Real shame...

[fishy25]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10

Two for me again today, considered the overs in that Fognini match as Atko has mentioned but sticking with the women today. Shahar Peer vs Julia Goerges- Peer -4.5 handicap- 4/5 Bet365- (6/10) Sania Mirza vs Sabine Lisicki- Lisicki -3.5 handicap- 4/5 Bet365- (4/10)

LOSS LOSS Like Psycho shocker on the WTA front. Peer never got into it and Lisicki only took 4/14 break points. God I hate clay court tennis.

[Atko]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Quarter-final day arrives for the men, not sure there's a great deal on offer for us punters at the moment. I am, however, going to back Albert Montanes in Casablanca against my old friend Fabio Fognini. The Italian came back from the brink yesterday against Blaz Kavcic. He was 6-1 5-2 (a double break) down and then Kavcic served for the match in the third. Nuts match between two very patchy players. Fognini won't get away with such tricks against Montanes. The Spaniard is a very solid man in the northern hemisphere on clay. Destroyed Filippo Volandri yesterday and despite a struggle against Fognini in Buenos Aires earlier this year (he won 6-2 4-6 6-4), I'd be happy to take ALBERT MONTANES -4 GAMES AH. Fognini's played two three-setters already and is lucky to still be in Africa. Montanes should take this comfortably. Reccommendation: Albert Montanes -4 games AH @ 1.855 with Pinnacle 4pts Good luck to all that play today :hope

[WinningTipster]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Hi guys, 1 more picks for the WTA Charleston tournament: VESNINA TO DEFEAT GOERGES @ 1.65 betfair Great win for Vesnina over Stosur yesterday and over Mattek 2 days ago. She has a great return of serve and good counterattacking game against Goerges attacking game and she holds a 2-0 lead in head to head matches over Goerges.

[kaaaziii]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Victor Hanescu v Andrey Kuznetsov (08/04/2011) Pick: Andrey Kuznetsov to win 3/10 @ William Hill 3.40 Reasoning: Hanescu was the champion in Hassan last year. That should give him some credit, however, on the other hand we have youngster Andrey Kuznetsov who is playing with Hanescu in quarter-final. Andrey Kuznetsov beat M. Baghdatis in a previous round. I have been watching the match and despite the fact that Baghdatis was not in a good form he could have won the match in the 3rd set. Moreover, he was not able to win his service neither Kuznetsov, but youngster showed some impressive game and he took advantage in the deciding set. Hanescu had some difficulties in a match with D. Gimeno-Traver where he lost the first set, but he was able to recover in the 2nd and 3rd. However, that match was full of broken services too.

[valve]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Riba is out of the singles draw, he's due to play qualifications in monte carlo. He and fognini are playing doubles later tonight. Price on Lindstedt/Tecau ain't great, but for parlays it's ok.

[valve]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10

Riba is out of the singles draw' date=' he's due to play qualifications in monte carlo. He and fognini are playing doubles later tonight. Price on Lindstedt/Tecau ain't great, but for parlays it's ok.[/quote'] Easy money. 6-2 6-1

[CzechPunter]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Right. Good thing I am staying away this week. Simon 4-2* 40-0 up in the decider. It ends 4-6. What? Edit: And have I mentioned that Hanescu had a *4-0 lead over Kuznetsov in the first set and lost it 6-7? What a week.

[Atko]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Getting involved in today's semi-finals. I've been very impressed with how KEI NISHIKORI has played this week. The Japanese is normally injured at this time of the year, so we don't really know how good he is on clay. His challenger record on the red brick is mightily impressive - 19 wins, 3 losses and 3 titles. He takes on Pablo Cuevas in Houston in what should be a good match. Cuevas is in good form too but I think Nishikori might have the advantage. He is fresher, has played less tennis this week and appears more solid on serve. Cuevas was tested by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez yesterday and also played doubles. I would make Nishikori the slight favourite so happy to pounce on the 2.07 available. I expect a pretty tight match in the Casablanca semi-final between Potito Starace and Victor Hanescu. Starace leads the H2H 3-2 and their last meeting brought up three sets. Quite impressed with how Hanescu battled back against Andrey Kuznetsov - as last year's runner-up, he has lots to defend. Both men are fairly stable on serve and I can see it being a tight affair. OVER 22 GAMES AH seems a tad short between two fairly even clay court players, so I'm happy to pounce on that. I'll also have a wee nibble on the OVER 21.5 GAMES in the first Casablanca semi-final between Albert Montanes and Pablo Andujar. Andujar has lost both meetings in straight sets to Montanes but this year's Andujar is a different man. Very solid across all facets of the game and is happy to spar away from the back of the court. Montanes is obviously a talented chap on the clay but wasn't as convincing against Fabio Fognini as the score suggested. Andujar can certainly be competitive here, and I don't think Montanes will have it all his own way. Reccommendations Kei Nishikori @ 2.07 with Pinnacle 2pts Over 22 games AH in Potito Starace vs Victor Hanescu @ 1.86 with Pinnacle 2pts Over 21.5 games in Albert Montanes vs Pablo Andujar @ 2.01 with Pinnacle 1pt Good luck :hope

[CzechPunter]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Getting involved today too. (6/10) K.Nishikori to bt. P.Cuevas @ 2.07 at Pinnacle Impressive from Kei so far, while not so good from Cuevas. Definitely fancy the Japanese player here - he is the more talented player and is rising through the ranks quite quickly. Great performances against Andreev and Fish. In fact, the statistics might tell the story the best. He faced THREE break points in the three matches. What else would you want?

[Cramer]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Sport Tennis Event Cuevas v Nishikori Selection Nishikori Strength 10/10 Date 09/04/2011 Bookmaker/Price Pinnacle Sports @ 2.05 Reasoning Agree with the thoughts already posted. Nishikori has a very high level when he is 100% but that doesn't happen too often. He looks to be playing very well this week with good results in the past 2 matches as the underdog. Cuevas is a decent sort on clay, but if Nishikori plays well he has more to offer. On slow clay you'd have to favour Cuevas but on the quicker Houston surface I make Nishikori favourite.

[Alberto22]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10

Sport	Tennis
Event	Albert Montanes - Pablo Andujar
Selection	Pablo Andujar
Strength	10/10
Date	09/04/2011
Bookmaker/Price	Pinnacle Sports @ 2.92
Reasoning	Albert Montanes is very overrated here! He served really bad yesterday against Fabio Fognini, with 44% -1st serve procentage hitting 5 double faults. Montanes almost have lost the first set, saveing 4 set-points to take the first set in tie-break. Pablo Andujar is in a very good form here in Casablanca. Andujar defeated Jeremy Chardy and Pere Riba in straight sets, dropping only 13 points on his serve against Pere Riba. Andujar is looking to reach his second ATP World Tour singles final. The first one was played at the BCR Open Romania (lost to Chela) in September 2010. Here I see a 50-50 match, and the value is on Andujar's side!

[Psycho]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Jelena Jankovic > Caroline Wozniacki. 2.00 @ Pinnacle (6/10) A bit late on this one but still have to take while it's at evens. Jankovic has got great record against Wozniacki, it's 4-1 but perhaps should have been 5-0 had not she messed in their last meeting which was in Dubai earlier this year. Jankovic was serving for the first set, was 5-3, 40-0 up but managed to throw it away and went onto lose the match. Wozniacki has been awful this week. Playing two tie-breaks against crap player like Barbora Strycova is terrible stats to have for world number one and she had another toughy against Wickmayer, playing three sets. Jankovic has not been fooling around and has saved more energy. If she does not collapses like she did in Dubai, she'll be fine to win. She's got defence that can cope with most thing Wozzi will throw at her and also Janko can hit some cracking winners and hurt the Dane from both wings. Pick Janko here.

[Alberto22]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10

Sport	Tennis
Event	Potito Starace - Victor Hanescu
Selection	Potito Starace
Strength	10/10
Date	09/04/2011
Bookmaker/Price	Pinnacle Sports @ 1.60
Reasoning	Fifth seeded Potito Starace has reached the Casablanca semi-finals in a hard-fought victory over the Former World No.6 Gilles Simon. The Frenchman had a 4-2 lead with the service in the third set, but Starace managed to come-back in that one, winning 4 games in a row. Starace has proven to have more self-control in the important points of that game. The Italian Potito Starace is a very good player, with a solid game from the baseline, and he has the first chance to win this match against Victor Hanescu. Hanescu had poor results in these first three months of the year, and the Romanian is an up-and-down player. He won a hard game yesterday against the Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov. Starace holds a 3-2 lifetime edge against Victor Hanescu, and the Italian is the better player here! He should win this one in straight sets!

[homunculus]

Re: Tennis - April 4-10 Kuzzy has been really schooled by Begu today. Though that Begu character is completely unknown, she played an extraordinary tennis - Kuzzy did not play bad, but she was simply not good enough (just see the match stats). Actually, if Begu repeats the level tomorrow against Azarenka, she may as well cause one of the biggest upsets this year. But there will be that brain factor - Begu is not experienced enough and final is final. What do you the other think of Aza - Begu match?