April 23 - April 29

[CzechPunter]

Lots of stuff this week, including Barcelona, Budapest, Fes and Stuttgart.

[tomdang2]

Re: April 23 - April 29 How do you PM?

[ImLovinIt]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo to beat Radek Stepanek @ 23/10 with BetVictor Alright, so Ruben Ramirez, a massive clay court hustler, this guy is a one trick pony, he only does well on clay, but hey, guess bloody what? This is CLAY! AND He has a wildcard into a HOME TOURNAMENT. This guy has beaten Marin Cilic @ the French Open in straight sets and I expect this to be another big name scalp he'll be adding to his list. Stepanek is a tricky player but rather inconsistent, too inconsistent for clay, he almost beat Tipsarevic in the Davis Cup and probably should have but was playing with a lot of heart, passion and absolute desire to win on that day. Ruben has had an amazing run on clay and beat Lorenzi in a challenger final around 3 weeks back now, I watched most of the matches in that challenger and the quality of tennis was ridiculously good, definetely at an ATP 250 standard and you could possibly say even at an ATP 500 standard. This is an ATP 500 event and Stepanek for me isn't to that standard on clay, especially not at this time in his career. 9/10 in the confidence stakes. PS: Odds will DROP QUICK, SO BE QUICK. TennisInsight.com - MATCH PREVIEW - Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo v Radek Stepanek Marcel Granollers to beat Federico Gil @ 4/6 with YouWin Granollers is a hustler on clay, but he only really brings these hustling qualities to the table when he is inspired and motivated. Historically speaking, he does well at home events, last year he won the Valencia open on hard court beating Monfils, Del Potro and Monaco to lift the title. Despite being in relatively bad form, he'll be at home again tomorrow and I expect him to be inspired enough to come through. 7/10 in the confidence stakes Lorenzi to beat his Italian Countryman Cipolla @ 6/4 with Paddy Power or Blue Square Lorenzi is too much of a clay court warrior to lose to this pusher on Clay and I can't see any other result. Granted Lorenzi will be tired after his final with Querrey tonight, he'll have a day off to recover and still for me manage to overcome Cipolla. TennisInsight.com - MATCH PREVIEW - Paolo Lorenzi v Flavio Cipolla 3-1 in the head to heads. 8/10 in the confidence stakes

[Manel88]

Re: April 23 - April 29 ImLovinIt, not that it matters that much but i see the h2h between Lorenzi and Cipolla, 3-1 to Lorenzi and not 4-0...according to my source Cipolla won in 2007 in a Challenger in Turin

[Atko]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo to beat Radek Stepanek @ 23/10 with BetVictor Alright, so Ruben Ramirez, a massive clay court hustler, this guy is a one trick pony, he only does well on clay, but hey, guess bloody what? This is CLAY! AND He has a wildcard into a HOME TOURNAMENT. This guy has beaten Marin Cilic @ the French Open in straight sets and I expect this to be another big name scalp he'll be adding to his name. Stepanek is a tricky player but rather inconsistent, too inconsistent for clay, he almost beat Tipsarevic in the Davis Cup and probably should have but was playing with a lot of heart, passion and absolute desire to win on that day. Ruben has had an amazing run on clay and beat Lorenzi in a challenger final around 3 weeks back now, I watched most of the matches in that challenger and the quality of tennis was ridiculously good, definetely at an ATP 250 standard and you could possibly say even at an ATP 500 standard. This is an ATP 500 event and Stepanek for me isn't to that standard on clay, especially not at this time in his career. 9/10 in the confidence stakes. PS: Odds will DROP QUICK, SO BE QUICK. TennisInsight.com - MATCH PREVIEW - Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo v Radek Stepanek Marcel Granollers to beat Federico Gil @ 4/6 with YouWin Granollers is a hustler on clay, but he only really brings these hustling qualities to the table when he is inspired and motivated. Historically speaking, he does well at home events, last year he won the Valencia open on hard court beating Monfils, Del Potro and Monaco to lift the title. Despite being in relatively bad form, he'll be at home again tomorrow and I expect him to be inspired enough to come through. 7/10 in the confidence stakes Lorenzi to beat his Italian Countryman Cipolla @ 6/4 with Paddy Power or Blue Square Lorenzi is too much of a clay court warrior to lose to this pusher on Clay and I can't see any other result. Granted Lorenzi will be tired after his final with Querrey tonight, he'll have a day off to recover and still for me manage to overcome Cipolla. TennisInsight.com - MATCH PREVIEW - Paolo Lorenzi v Flavio Cipolla 4-0 in the head to heads. 8/10 in the confidence stakes

I can see your logic in the Hidalgo match, as the Spaniard has been playing some good tennis recently in the Challengers (some nice pieces of form, beating Giraldo in Colombia) but Gil is a bad match-up for an out-of-form Granollers (H2H is 3-1 Gil and he beat him in Australia last year). Gil was injured though against Simon so taking him with a one-ball bookie could be the answer. Re: Lorenzi - he'll probably play on Tuesday but he's got to get from Sarasota (Florida) to Barcelona, overcome jet-lag and adapt to red clay after being on the green stuff. The guys who came over to Monte Carlo from the States last week didn't do very well. Cipolla's probably at the peak of his powers right now. I'm not sure I'd want to back Lorenzi but the price is a good enough reward for you if the bravery pays off. Good luck :ok

[ImLovinIt]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Fixed that. Thanks bro. :)

[ImLovinIt]

Re: April 23 - April 29

I can see your logic in the Hidalgo match, as the Spaniard has been playing some good tennis recently in the Challengers (some nice pieces of form, beating Giraldo in Colombia) but Gil is a bad match-up for an out-of-form Granollers (H2H is 3-1 Gil and he beat him in Australia last year). Gil was injured though against Simon so taking him with a one-ball bookie could be the answer. Re: Lorenzi - he'll probably play on Tuesday but he's got to get from Sarasota (Florida) to Barcelona, overcome jet-lag and adapt to red clay after being on the green stuff. The guys who came over to Monte Carlo from the States last week didn't do very well. Cipolla's probably at the peak of his powers right now. I'm not sure I'd want to back Lorenzi but the price is a good enough reward for you if the bravery pays off. Good luck :ok

Thanks man, I've got actually somewhat big on Ruben ... I can't see how he is going to lose to Stepanek on this surface WITH the home crowd behind him and being well rested. What do you make of Kukushkin being priced @ 1/2 to beat Gimeno Traver? Traver's been diabolical recently, surely those odds are only as generous due to the fact he's at home..... right? How supportive are the crowd in Barca... on the outside courts? ...and yes, the other two are no guarantees, small stakes on each of them....

[Atko]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Thanks man, I've got actually somewhat big on Ruben ... I can't see how he is going to lose to Stepanek on this surface WITH the home crowd behind him and being well rested. What do you make of Kukushkin being priced @ 1/2 to beat Gimeno Traver? Traver's been diabolical recently, surely those odds are only as generous due to the fact he's at home..... right? How supportive are the crowd in Barca... on the outside courts? ...and yes, the other two are no guarantees, small stakes on each of them....

Hmmm, not sure about Kukushkin. Didn't beat much in Monte Carlo. Mayer's a bampot and not playing well and the Volandri match could have gone either way really. Wouldn't say that's great form. Don't think clay is his best surface and was out for almost two months with injury, so a few negatives. However, DGT is awful right now. But, back in Spain, he might be galvanised. Saw him in the flesh at Wimbledon last year against Murray and for a set-and-a-half he showed he's got loads of talent. It's the mental side of things that lets him down - and when his confidence is low, like it is now, he gets terribly jittery. Believe he was 6-2 5-2 up on wee Mikey Russell in Houston yet still lost in a 250 event. Not good. And he's actually one of these Spaniards who plays better on a hard court ... I reckon Kukushkin will win but I'm not happy with the 1.50 on offer, nor would I want a handicap on him either. At present, it's a no bet, and I can't see that changing.

[ImLovinIt]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Hmmm, not sure about Kukushkin. Didn't beat much in Monte Carlo. Mayer's a bampot and not playing well and the Volandri match could have gone either way really. Wouldn't say that's great form. Don't think clay is his best surface and was out for almost two months with injury, so a few negatives. However, DGT is awful right now. But, back in Spain, he might be galvanised. Saw him in the flesh at Wimbledon last year against Murray and for a set-and-a-half he showed he's got loads of talent. It's the mental side of things that lets him down - and when his confidence is low, like it is now, he gets terribly jittery. Believe he was 6-2 5-2 up on wee Mikey Russell in Houston yet still lost in a 250 event. Not good. And he's actually one of these Spaniards who plays better on a hard court ... I reckon Kukushkin will win but I'm not happy with the 1.50 on offer, nor would I want a handicap on him either. At present, it's a no bet, and I can't see that changing.

I could not agree more with every word, its crazy how we have sort of encountered such similar thoughts on this match Atko, the main reason I ask is because I have doubled it with Ruben ... on a huge stake ... and it really would be a true and massive heart breaker if he suddenly hits into gear merely as he's on home turf and I lose coz of a 1/2

[Pensioner65]

Re: April 23 - April 29 ImLovinit & Atko,one game that i keep on going back to is Falla vs Raonic in the 1st round at Barcelona....Falla is at the moment around the 2.75/3 to win that match. Falla loves the clay,Raonic is poor on clay,I can only see a Falla win. Opinions? Also like the look of Vinci vs Kerber on the tuesday @Stuttgart could see Vinci winning that at a decent price.

[ImLovinIt]

Re: April 23 - April 29 I don;'t like the Raonic bet personally, Montanes is on another level to Falla, but I can see why your fancying it. Vinci to win atleast a set is 4/6 with Paddy Power... I'm more drawn to betting in play on that one. Kerber isn't great on clay and Vinci loves the red turf, never-the-less, Kerber gets every ball back and is mentally a lot more tough ... she's so clutch .. still would have to fancy her but the game and set handicaps look relatively tasty.

[Darek]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Krajinovic to beat Cervantes @2.42 Betfair I haven't seen any of them last time but as I read some opinions Filip played some decent tennis lately. The results says that is true, he achieved good result in Rome and lost 3 setter to Fognini in Barletta. In the other hand I completly don't know who is Cervantes but comparing to Filip without any injury problems the price is worth to try.

[Atko]

Re: April 23 - April 29

ImLovinit & Atko' date='one game that i keep on going back to is Falla vs Raonic in the 1st round at Barcelona....Falla is at the moment around the [u']2.75/3 to win that match. Falla loves the clay,Raonic is poor on clay,I can only see a Falla win. Opinions? Also like the look of Vinci vs Kerber on the tuesday @Stuttgart could see Vinci winning that at a decent price.

Not sure about Falla. I don't think Raonic will be as poor as he was last week (he's had a week's practice and the defeat to Montanes in Monte Carlo was his first match on clay this year). I'd expect a much better showing from Milos in this one. He's 9/18 on clay on the Tour and made R16 here last year and also did well in Estoril. He can be effective on the red brick. Not sure where Falla will be at after he blew a two-set lead against Bellucci in Davis Cup a few weeks. Rodent-like player who has ability but is often a bit fragile, particularly on serve. He'll keep the ball low and that will inconvenience Raonic but the Canadian could easily hit him off the court. I actually think Raonic will win this and would perhaps entertain the handicap (which is -3 games). It's one I'm mulling over.

[Alovenac]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Raonic - Falla Nice odds here for the Raonic ML. He was very bad last week in Monte Carlo and losing against Montanes. But people forget this was the first match this year on clay for him. In the history he don't have good results on clay, but with the perfomance from the last year he can beat Falla here. What about Falla? At the most time he played Challengers on clay, but the results are not good every time. Two weeks a go he must be giving up with a injury in Pereira Colombia, but i think he will be missing a lot of fitness. 3/10 Raonic ML @ 1.50 Pinnacle

[Alovenac]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Tomic - Gulbis Pick also for tomorrow. But i think odds will be totally dropped till 1.20/1.25. Tomic showing good perfomance last week in Monte Carlo on clay. After 3 years when he would not won a match on clay. No words to say he is the fav here and odds are to high. Gulbis is a falling talent. People say years a go, that he will make it to the top 10. Now he is on the 86th place on the ATP World Ranking and in my eyes that is to high for hem. Dramatic perfomance this year and beaten last week in Rome by Greul 26 46. 1/10 Tomic 2-0 @ 2.00 Bet365 5/10 Tomic ML @ 1.45 Pinnacle

[Alovenac]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Chardy - Starace Chardy won the first three meeting against Starace, but all the meetings on Hardcourt. Starace showing a good perfomance the last week. Playing very well and playing a very good set against Almagro in Monte Carlo last week. In the second set he was totally damaged everywhere and that will be a dramatic set. But odds are to high here, i think Starace will make this a very difficult game for Chardy. Don't see a player to win this match easy in two sets. 2/10 Over 21.5 games @ 1.80 Pinnacle

[Alovenac]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Moraru - Kubot If Kubot will be play good and will be quicky done, this Moraru will be totally dominated. The Romanian showing only bad results this year and don't know how to play against players on this niveau. 1/10 Under 17.5 games @ 1.68 Pinnacle

[TD]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Steve Darcis vs. Andrey Golubev After the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 event the ATP World Tour moves to Barcelona, where another famous clay court tournament takes place. One of the first round matches is a clash between Belgian Steve Darcis and Andrey Golubev from Kazakhstan. Darcis is a solid player but he has always been plagued by injuries. His strenghts are serve and forehand and he has no problems to adapt his game to all surfaces. Darcis, nicknamed as "Shark", relies on his consistency and you have to show some solid tennis if you want to beat him as he rarely beats himself. Andrey Golubev is exactly the opposite - he can hit the ball with enormous power and make some excellent winners but usually has no consistency in his shots and often beats himself with plenty of unforced errors. The highlight of Golubev´s career was a title from Hamburg 2010 and he was even named as 2010 Most Improved Player Of The Year. But he showed nothing since then is now well outside Top100 and playing mostly challenger events. Golubev qualified for the main draw with two straight sets wins so he could gain some confidence and match rhytm but his lack of consistency should show in the end, especially in a match against player of Darcis style. Starting Time: 23 April 2012, 13:30 CET Bet: Darcis Odds: 1.72 Stake: 8 units Bookmaker: Unibet

[slider24]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Sao Paulo Challenger - Leonardo Kirche to beat Marcel Gawron @ 6/5 BET 365 Strength (5/10) Bit of value here I feel, simply because Kirche is the more reliable player and you know that most of the time he'll turn up and give 100 %. He rarely gets blown away. The fact that he's playing in his home country of Brazil should ensure that as well. He's also improved as a player in recent months, beating the likes of Blaz Kavcic and going toe to toe with Wayne Odesnik. Gawron is a bit of strange one, a capable player but doesn't play that often and you wonder how committed he is. He's also in questionable form and does alot of his best stuff in Europe. If Kirche brings to the court what he's shown in the last couple of months I would fancy him to win here. :hope

[Atko]

Re: April 23 - April 29 Not sure I'm going to get involved today. Loads of matches but nothing much standing out, so will cool the jets until tomorrow. Good luck to those who play :ok

[homunculus]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo to beat Radek Stepanek @ 23/10 with BetVictor Alright, so Ruben Ramirez, a massive clay court hustler, this guy is a one trick pony, he only does well on clay, but hey, guess bloody what? This is CLAY! AND He has a wildcard into a HOME TOURNAMENT. This guy has beaten Marin Cilic @ the French Open in straight sets and I expect this to be another big name scalp he'll be adding to his list. Stepanek is a tricky player but rather inconsistent, too inconsistent for clay, he almost beat Tipsarevic in the Davis Cup and probably should have but was playing with a lot of heart, passion and absolute desire to win on that day. Ruben has had an amazing run on clay and beat Lorenzi in a challenger final around 3 weeks back now, I watched most of the matches in that challenger and the quality of tennis was ridiculously good, definetely at an ATP 250 standard and you could possibly say even at an ATP 500 standard. This is an ATP 500 event and Stepanek for me isn't to that standard on clay, especially not at this time in his career. 9/10 in the confidence stakes. [... snip ...]

Looks like Sexy realized his chances are slim and he withdrew Barcelona

[slider24]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Sao Paulo Challenger - Leonardo Kirche to beat Marcel Gawron @ 6/5 BET 365 Strength (5/10)

7-6 6-1 :ok

[ImLovinIt]

Re: April 23 - April 29 And then he loses the Eduardo Schwank! LOL!

[the matador]

Re: April 23 - April 29 I really doubt hidalgo would have beaten a fully fit stepanek here, as you can see he lost to a totally out of form schwank who lost in the qualifying and really hasnt had any success in singles all year.

[slider24]

Re: April 23 - April 29 David Goffin to beat Pablo Andujar @ 3/1 BET 365 Strength (4/10) Probably a bit of a long shot but I feel this kid Goffin could be something special and seems to gearing to up a level which will see him beat the likes of Pablo Andujar on clay one day. He might not be ready yet however he seems to be improving at a rather rapid rate and these odds are too tempting. He's an extremely talented shot-maker who recently who his first Challenger in France and although clay isn't his greatest surface, he could still provide some big problems for Andujar if the Spaniard has one of his off days. He's certainly not infallible Andujar, and despite retaining his Casablanca title, has had some mixed results and can be inconsistent. :hope

[the matador]

Re: April 23 - April 29

David Goffin to beat Pablo Andujar @ 3/1 BET 365 Strength (4/10) Probably a bit of a long shot but I feel this kid Goffin could be something special and seems to gearing to up a level which will see him beat the likes of Pablo Andujar on clay one day. He might not be ready yet however he seems to be improving at a rather rapid rate and these odds are too tempting. He's an extremely talented shot-maker who recently who his first Challenger in France and although clay isn't his greatest surface, he could still provide some big problems for Andujar if the Spaniard has one of his off days. He's certainly not infallible Andujar, and despite retaining his Casablanca title, has had some mixed results and can be inconsistent. :hope

Iam a big fan of Goffin and i think hes a very talented player, however i think andujar on this surface might just be a step too far for him especially as andujar is playing at home in spain and will surely be highly motivated. Also andujar having made the final in bucharest the past 2 years decided to skip the event that was moved to this week when its usually in september ,and opting to play barcelona im sure he will have more than enough reasons to try and have a good week because if he chose to play bucharest he may have won the title even as he is obviously playing very well there. Goffin will compete well as always i wish you the best of luck with this bet we will see how it turns out tomorrow.:ok

[slider24]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Iam a big fan of Goffin and i think hes a very talented player, however i think andujar on this surface might just be a step too far for him especially as andujar is playing at home in spain and will surely be highly motivated. Also andujar having made the final in bucharest the past 2 years decided to skip the event that was moved to this week when its usually in september ,and opting to play barcelona im sure he will have more than enough reasons to try and have a good week because if he chose to play bucharest he may have won the title even as he is obviously playing very well there. Goffin will compete well as always i wish you the best of luck with this bet we will see how it turns out tomorrow.:ok

Thanks for the info. Yeah, It's one of those bets which I'm kinda expecting to lose but I would kick myself if Goffin won and I didn't bet on him. The way Goffin has finished his last two matches gives me some hope that if he can into a groove then he may outmaneuver Andujar. Pablo had a little dip last year after winning Casablanca so hopefully he can slacks off again.

[the matador]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Thanks for the info. Yeah' date=' It's one of those bets which I'm kinda expecting to lose but I would kick myself if Goffin won and I didn't bet on him. The way Goffin has finished his last two matches gives me some hope that if he can into a groove then he may outmaneuver Andujar. Pablo had a little dip last year after winning Casablanca so hopefully he can slacks off again.[/quote'] Yeah i hope he can pull off the upset here he comes here in amazing form having won 11 of his last 12 matches(only loss to almagro). Problem is i havent seen enough of goffin on clay to be sure he can really compete with somebody of andujars standard on this surface.

[TD]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Steve Darcis vs. Andrey Golubev After the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 event the ATP World Tour moves to Barcelona, where another famous clay court tournament takes place. One of the first round matches is a clash between Belgian Steve Darcis and Andrey Golubev from Kazakhstan. Darcis is a solid player but he has always been plagued by injuries. His strenghts are serve and forehand and he has no problems to adapt his game to all surfaces. Darcis, nicknamed as "Shark", relies on his consistency and you have to show some solid tennis if you want to beat him as he rarely beats himself. Andrey Golubev is exactly the opposite - he can hit the ball with enormous power and make some excellent winners but usually has no consistency in his shots and often beats himself with plenty of unforced errors. The highlight of Golubev´s career was a title from Hamburg 2010 and he was even named as 2010 Most Improved Player Of The Year. But he showed nothing since then is now well outside Top100 and playing mostly challenger events. Golubev qualified for the main draw with two straight sets wins so he could gain some confidence and match rhytm but his lack of consistency should show in the end, especially in a match against player of Darcis style. Starting Time: 23 April 2012, 13:30 CET Bet: Darcis Odds: 1.72 Stake: 8 units Bookmaker: Unibet

Darcis won 46 76 76.

[Alovenac]

Re: April 23 - April 29

Raonic - Falla Nice odds here for the Raonic ML. He was very bad last week in Monte Carlo and losing against Montanes. But people forget this was the first match this year on clay for him. In the history he don't have good results on clay, but with the perfomance from the last year he can beat Falla here. What about Falla? At the most time he played Challengers on clay, but the results are not good every time. Two weeks a go he must be giving up with a injury in Pereira Colombia, but i think he will be missing a lot of fitness. 3/10 Raonic ML @ 1.50 Pinnacle

Chardy - Starace Chardy won the first three meeting against Starace, but all the meetings on Hardcourt. Starace showing a good perfomance the last week. Playing very well and playing a very good set against Almagro in Monte Carlo last week. In the second set he was totally damaged everywhere and that will be a dramatic set. But odds are to high here, i think Starace will make this a very difficult game for Chardy. Don't see a player to win this match easy in two sets. 2/10 Over 21.5 games @ 1.80 Pinnacle

Moraru - Kubot If Kubot will be play good and will be quicky done, this Moraru will be totally dominated. The Romanian showing only bad results this year and don't know how to play against players on this niveau. 1/10 Under 17.5 games @ 1.68 Pinnacle

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