Tennis: 19th-26th February

[fishy25]

Quite a few events going around over the next week or so. The men are over in Marseille and Buenos Aires, whilst some of the women travel to Monterrey, with the big names set to play over in Dubai. On top of that, both the men and women head over to Memphis so there should be plenty of opportunities for some action this week. Fire away :ok

[fishy25]

Re: Tennis: 19th-26th February I'm going to try my hand at a couple of outrights this week as the prices look pretty attractive in my eyes. Varvara Lepchenko to win WTA Memphis- 8/1 Bet365- (2/10) E/W Olga Govortsova to win WTA Memphis- 16/1 Bet365- (1/10) E/W The field over in Memphis doesn't look particularly strong for the women as most of the big names will be playing in Dubai and to me, this draw looks incredibly open. The bookies have Nadia Petrova as the big favourite looking at the odds as she is a lot shorter than everyone else but her preparation for the tournament is hardly ideal, as she's only played 3 matches this season, losing 2 of those including a drubbing at the hands of Suarez Navarro in the Fed Cup a couple of weeks back. How fit she is I'm not sure but there's certainly enough to suggest that this tournament could be won by a less favoured girl I feel. I do really fancy Varvara Lepchenko to go well this week if her early form this season is anything to go by. I watched alot of her match against Hantuchova in the Aussie Open, a match she perhaps should have won in the end after winning the first set and having chances to press home the advantage. It wasn't to be though but last week in Doha, she really caught a few people's attention. She beat the likes of Wozniak and Goerges, both in straight sets before pushing Radwanska further than anyone did apart from Azarenka. That to me suggests she is hugely confident at the minute and playing some good stuff and if you look at the players she's lost to this year, most of them are of that higher bracket in the women's game at the minute. This draw though is without anyone you'd fancy to blow everyone else off the court. Her draw doesn't look terrible at all. She'll play the young American Lauren Davis in the first round and I wouldn't expect her to have many problems there, and then potentially play a ridiculously out of form Johanna Larsson in the second round, which again shouldn't be a problem. The quarters are where it gets a bit trickier, as she'll most likely have to play Brianti or Pervak but to be honest, Brianti hasn't started the season well and makes too many unforced errors, whilst Pervak although having some tough draws, has only won 2 matches all season so she may suffer from a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence is something Lepchenko isn't suffering from at the minute and if she gets past that little mini-section, I'd fully expect her to reach the final at the very least. We've already seen the likes of Kerber and Barthel step up and shoot to fame in recent weeks, and this could well be the American's chance over in Memphis, so I'll back her to go well and carry on her impressive form of late. One girl in the top half who looks a big price to me is Govortsova, who could have hardly asked for a better preparation coming into this week. She won a challenger event 2 weeks ago in Midland, beating some decent opposition in Hampton, Tatishvilli and Rybarikova in the final so she should be full of confidence at the minute. What I really like about her chances are that she's probably had the most match practice on the indoor courts than anyone else in the tournament, as she played Serena Williams in the Fed Cup a few weeks ago. Sometimes it's not the easiest thing to do, adapting to the different court conditions but that shouldn't be a problem for her which I like. There's really nothing in her potential draw that she can't beat. Obviously she may have to beat Petrova, as they are both in the top half of the draw but I've spoken about Nadia and the worries I have over her at the minute. The only reason I can see for the odds being this high on Govortsova is the fact she'll have to play Baltacha most likely in the second round but the Brit has lost to some distinctly average players this season already and Govortsova hammered her last year in Cincinnati in straight sets and given the form she's in, she'd be the slight favourite for me in that one. Like I've said, the quality of the field this week isn't spectacular by any sorts and with these two girls being in the form they are in, I'll back that they both go well and try and gain some crucial ranking points over in Memphis.