French Open 2012

[fishy25]

2nd slam of the year is upon us then on Sunday with the draw having been made earlier on today. Rafa is looking to win his 7th title over in Paris whilst Li Na will be looking to defend her trophy from last year in a draw which features both Williams sisters. The links for both draws are: http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ms/index.html http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ws/index.html Let's hope for a profitable slam in the forum by all and see the clay season off in style :ok

[fishy25]

Re: French Open 2012 Couple of early outrights for me. May take some more later on but just these for now. Tomas Berdych to win French Open- 50/1 BetVictor- (0.5/10 E/W)- 1/2-1,2 Tomas Berdych to win 2nd Quarter- 11/2 BetVictor- (1.5/10) To me this draw looks set for Rafa to capture his 7th title and I don't really see anyone beating him in truth. His draw looks pretty appealing, providing he can see off the challenges of any few between Karlovic, Mayer, Raonic, Monaco, Almagro and Tipsarevic before potentially facing Murray or Ferrer in the semis. I expect him to do that comfortably in truth so that makes me stay firmly away from the bottom half of the draw. The top half though, looks to be the far tougher half, with the likes of Djokovic, Federer, Del Potro, Berdych, Isner and Tsonga all battling it out for that one final spot. Novak Djokovic is the obvious favourite with Federer just behind but IMO, Tomas Berdych has a decent chance himself of potentially setting up a repeat of the 2010 Wimbledon final against Nadal. The Czech looks to be returning to somewhere near his best recently, with wins over Del Potro, Almagro and Murray, whilst pushing Rafa, Novak and Roger close as well. One thing that's impressed me most of all over the past month or so has been his serving, which is a indicator for me to see how well Berdych is playing. He's been mixing it up well, and most of all, his first serve percentage has been pretty high as well which is what he needs to do in order to really push the top 3. He's avoided Djokovic in his quarter and out of the top 4, perhaps excluding a slightly injured Andy Murray, you'd have to say Berdych would feel the most comfortable playing Roger Federer and that's just what he'll be up against here you feel. Obviously he'll have to beat a likely combination of something like Sela-Garcia-Lopez-Anderson and most notably Del Potro to face Federer, but his draw, although he'll have to beat Del Potro doesn't seem too bad to me. Berdych finally beat the Argentinian for the first time in 4 meetings a few weeks back in Madrid and that should do his confidence the world of good if he has to play him in the fourth round here. If he does beat Del Potro, it's hard to see Federer not awaiting him in the quarter finals, but like I said, Berdych knows he has the game to beat Federer now and secretly, Federer would have been wanting to avoid him. Berdych has won 3 of the last 6 between the two, with 2 of the 3 Federer wins being extremely tight matches indeed. I just feel if this is the quarter final match-up, Berdych will really fancy it and arguably his toughest match will come in the shape of Del Potro in the round before, but if he gets past that, I feel 11/2 is a cracking price for him to win this quarter. One thing I haven't mentioned is the potential flurry of ranking points Berdych can pick up over the next couple of weeks. He embarrassingly went out in the first round 12 months ago to Stephane Robert, after throwing away a seemingly comfortable 2 set lead away. That means there are some serious ranking points for Berdych to pick up over in Paris and that should be an extra motivator for him I really fancy him to go well over the next couple of weeks and if he can get past Del Potro and Federer, and continue playing like he has done, it's certainly not going to be easy for Djokovic in the semis so I'll back Berdych to see just how far he can take my money in Paris. One outright for the women as well. Marion Bartoli to win French Open- 200/1 Sportingbet- (0.5/10 E/W)- 1/3-1,2 Wouldn't advise any bets with Sportingbet given the stupid deposit fees they have but I do have some lingering change in my account with them so that's why I'm taking this bet with them. Now the formalities are over, wtf is the reasoning with this price on Bartoli here :loon Am I missing something- seriously? Granted I haven't been too involved with the tennis recently but the last time I checked, this was a girl who can match any woman on the WTA tour on her day, was a semi finalist in Paris 12 months ago and is playing in front of her home crowd, so why she has warranted a 200/1 price escapes me. I suppose the main worry is her form on the clay this season, with just the 2 wins and lost her last 4 but as we see so often on the women's tour, all it takes is a couple of comfortable wins and that can seemingly transform a woman's game. Spoken how she made the semis last season so she knows she'll have points to defend but looking at her draw, I'm not sure she could have picked a better run in to be perfectly honest. Her quarter looks something like Pliskova-Martic-Medina Garrigues-Kerber. She leads the H2H comfortably against Martic and Medina Garrigues whilst Kerber has been struggling with a little back problem so there's no guarantees over her right now especially as she'll probably face Pennetta as well. Radwanska in the quarters is a huge problem for Bartoli though, given she's taken just one set from the Pole in 7 meetings. What's worth mentioning though is that Radwanska will have to play Venus Williams, Kuznetsova and either Errani or Ivanovic as well even before she reaches the quarter finals which is a really tough draw for her and all of the before mentioned should provide a test. Bartoli has the easier of the two routes to the quarters and if she can pick up a couple of good early wins and her fitness holds, she might not even have to face Radwanska in the quarters given her draw. If she makes it out of the quarter, it looks like Azarenka in the semis and Bartoli has a really good record against her, winning 3 of the last 5 including their only meeting this year and Bartoli's hard hitting game from both sides is something which can trouble Azarenka. If this is the semi final pairing, then the crowd will be ridiculously behind Bartoli given the home support and the fact that Azarenka will deafen them come the end of the match. If Bartoli reaches the semis, you would have the option to lay her off for a tidy sum as well but if she can get a run going and some momentum in her home tournament, she really could well I feel. She's already made one final in Paris this year and I'll back her to repeat that sort of performance or provide the fans with a home winner.