Tennis week of 8th August

[Smithy888]

Been waiting for ed to kick us off but here goes. Great week for tennis betting with nearly full complement of top players (less Federer and Safin) at Montreal and two women's tournaments in LA and Stockholm. Given a case can be mounted against most of the top seeds at Montreal I have gone for a few speculative bets for overall winner with one from each quarter of the draw: Agassi @ $8, Nalbandian @$25, Gonzalez @ $35 and T Johansson @ $50. My reasoning being that Nadal is not as dominant away from clay, Roddick has been a very busy lad lately, Davydenko is injury prone, and Hewitt may be carrying mental baggage from his dismal Davis Cup games. For first round Puerta appeals @ $3.50 - I know he ain't much away from clay and has been beaten rather easily since RG but Horna must surely be beatable even though the odds don't suggest that. Horna was in good form last week beating Hrbaty, Ginepri and Scud but he isn't a top 50 player. He has beaten Puerta twice back in 02 and 03. Plus throw in an accumulator of mod priced favs in Gonzalez, Nalbandian and Gasquet @ $3.75.

[edtkh]

Re: Tennis week of 8th August Count me out for advice on WTA events, Smithy! :rollin Anyway, just some quick previews to get the Montreal Masters started after a week of bollocks. 20pts Henman-Gonzalez (2.61 @ Ladbrokes) :( I've said down the years I'm not a big fan of Henman and his ranking obviously does not necessarily mean that's where he rightly belongs in the game. That said, I feel he's been riding a rough time over the last couple of months(basically, I don't recall him doing anything of note since Roland Garros) and he's certainly a better player than one to get the boot in the first two rounds of most tournaments(given the protection he enjoys from the seeding he normally gets) week-in-week-out. He's not having it easy today I must add, but I feel it's about time he got his show on the road again and put to sword another warhorse who's been in equally horrendous form of late - quite simply, Hrbaty doesn't look half the player he was at the start of the year when his solid, defensive game seemed to be taking him everywhere. I'm not banking on form here, but class and track record to prevail. Henman leads Hrbaty 3-1 on h2h, losing the last meeting earlier this year on clay - that said, Hrbaty hasn't beaten Henman on hardcourt. Gonzalez has got to be a cracking bet today at the sort of price he's available. For one reason or another, Mirnyi - much like Karlovic - doesn't seem to be able to replicate his half his grasscourt game on hard surfaces and he looks set to have his work cut out against the Chilean whose titanic serves should see him through. 20pts Nalbandian-Gasquet (2.41 @ Ladbrokes) :D Gasquet lost 3-1 to Youzhny in the only meeting ever between the pair at the 2003 Australian Open, but it must be noted Gasquet was barely out of his nappies when that match was played - he wasn't even 17 then. Hence, records don't matter for this match IMO. I must admit to being impressed with the way Gasquet has come on since he beat FedEx at Monte Carlo 4 months back and he's simply gone from strength to strength adapting to the grasscourt season from the claycourt one without much hassle. On that basis, I feel he should also be able to just as seamlessly adapt to the hardcourt season from the grass one without much hassle - my only concern, however, is Gasquet has only played 2 games on hardcourt this year(including Challenger level) and that lack of match practice could undermine his confidence somewhat, but Youzhny's YTD hardcourt record of 3-5 should offer some encouragement IMO. Nalbandian to beat Chela at 1.57? This is a cracking joke and something not to pass up for IMO. Chela is a solid player who has little flair to his game and I simply can't see him troubling his more illustrious counterpart who has a much more solid game that has seen him make at least the QF in the Grand Slams on 3 different surfaces in his young career - this is just a total mismatch IMO and Bandy should walk this. Will come back with more if I see any more bets worth taking, but there just isn't an underdog today whom I fancy at the moment - taking a close look at Wawrinka, but as yet remain undecided... Oh, and as if anyone didn't already know, stay off that cnut called Davydenko - that mug must have links with the mafia from his homeland given how easily he's taken to retiring while in the lead! :rollin Cheers & Good Luck! :ok Starting Bank : 100.00pts Current Bank : 100.00pts Profit/Loss : 0.00pts