Slovakia v Croatia - Davis Cup Final - December 2nd-4th

[Mr Intensity]

It's finally here!!! I was going to advocate a bet on Croatia to win at 1.53 last week but decided to wait and that price is long gone:sad . Anyway, onto the singles: HRBATY v Ancic @ 1.66 WillHill 4.55pts You can wait for a better price, but I don't think i'll be online again until tomorrow afternoon so need to post this up today. First up is Beck v Ljubicic, we have to expect Ljubicic to win that and put Croatia 1-0. This is the one the Slovaks need if they are to have any chance in this final. A lot has been made of the surface in Bratislava. It is, in my opinion, the main reason the Slovaks beat the Spainish and the Argies. It was mega fast and low bouncing, the main thing being the low bouncing part which really suited Hrbaty. It was getting pretty old, so they relayed it before the recent challenger event there. Guess who won?:D Bratislava, Slovak Republic CH, 7-Nov-05, I, Hard , Draw: 32

R32 Lacko, Lukas (SVK ) 0 6-3 6-2 R16 Vacek, Jan (CZE ) 215 6-3 6-3 Q Wessels, Peter (NED ) 104 4-6 6-2 6-4 S Sabau, Razvan (ROM ) 119 6-0 6-3 W Bracciali, Daniele (ITA ) 108 7-5 6-1

This Event Points: 0, New Indesit ATP Race Position: 20, Prize Money: US $ 14400 Yeah baby! Only slight bit of trouble to had was in the first set against Wessels, which I can understand as Wessels beings a huge serve and can take a set off anybody (Karlovic-esque). They are saying that the surface gets faster the older it is - so when it is layed it is on the slow side of medium pace. One weeks play isn't going to effect it that much (hardly any really) so it should still be medium paced and low bouncing which is perfect for Hrbatys game. In singles rubbers (he doesn't do the doubles) Hrbaty has been playing pretty good stuff, all of the matches at home:

R2 - W Fernando VERDASCO 6-3 6-4 6-7(7) 6-3 R1 - W Raemon SLUITER 6-1 5-7 6-4 6-3 R4 - W Peter WESSELS 6-3 6-1 3-0 RET R2 - L David NALBANDIAN 6-3 5-7 5-7 3-6 R4 - W Guillermo CORIA 7-6(2) 6-2 6-3 Only the loss to Nalbandian bliting his record, however, we have all seen what Nalbandian is capable of;) .

Ancic has been very average of late, since he reached the final in Toyko: Stockholm, Sweden International Series, 10-Oct-05, I, Hard , Draw: 32

R32 Beck, Karol (SVK ) 57 7-6(2) 6-4 R16 Bjorkman, Jonas (SWE ) 54 5-7 6-7(7)

This Event Points: 4, New Indesit ATP Race Position: 13, Prize Money: US $ 13500 ATP Masters Series Madrid, Spain Tennis Masters Series, 17-Oct-05, I, Hard , Draw: 48

R64 Bye, () N/A R32 Rochus, Olivier (BEL ) 27 6-1 4-6 6-7(5)

This Event Points: 1, New Indesit ATP Race Position: 16, Prize Money: US $ 15000 Lyon, France International Series, 24-Oct-05, I, Carpet , Draw: 32

R32 Blake, James (USA ) 23 6-2 7-6(5) R16 Enqvist, Thomas (SWE ) 116 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-4 Q Roddick, Andy (USA ) 3 4-6 4-6

This Event Points: 11, New Indesit ATP Race Position: 20, Prize Money: US $ 23000 ATP Masters Series Paris, France Tennis Masters Series, 31-Oct-05, I, Carpet , Draw: 48

R64 Bye, () 0 R32 Tursunov, Dmitry (RUS ) 73 7-5 4-6 6-7(3)

This Event Points: 1, New Indesit ATP Race Position: 21, Prize Money: US $ 15000 Not a lot of positives in that lot, except perhaps the win against Blake which I watched and to be fair he was pretty good in. Apart from that match, everytime I have seen him he has been very dodgy. His serves isn't having the same dominating effect it was last year, and he doesn't look good at the net at all (a lot like Mirnyi of late this year). Ancic also hasn't played that well in the Davis Cup this year. He has won the 3 doubles matches he has played with Ljubicic, but Ljubicic has been the dominating force. Check out the live singles he has played:

R2 - L

Andy RODDICK

6-4 2-6 1-6 4-6

R1 - L

Andrei PAVEL

6-1 4-6 6-4 3-6 4-6

R1 - L

Nikolay DAVYDENKO

5-7 4-6 7-5 4-6

Two of those at home, and he just hasn't been bringing enough. We can excuse the loss to Roddick in the USA, but losing to Pavel on a fast court in Croatia? WTF:eek . Also losing to Davydenko in Croatia - a player who will bring a similar game to Hrbaty. The scoreline flatters him a bit too, if I remember right Davydenko served for the match in the third set befores having a temporary breakdown. The H2H isn't that great:

2005	Marseille, Hard, R32 France	Hard	R32	Ancic	3 6 5 7
2004	Wimbledon, Grass, R32 England	Grass	R32	Ancic	5 7 3 6 5 7
2004	Barcelona, Clay, R64 Spain	Clay	R64	Ancic	7 6 6 7 5 7
2002	Bratislava, CH, Carpet, R16 Slovak Republic	Carpet	R16	Hrbaty	6 4 7 6
2002	US Open, Hard, R128 NY, U.S.A.	Hard	R128	Hrbaty	4 6 6 3 7 6 5 7 3 2

As you can see quite a mixed bag, with Ancic having won the last three. However, Hrbaty has beaten him in straight sets on this court three years ago. Ancic was always going to win the game on grass, and they are both pretty poor on clay. I'm willing to overlook this. The fans are planning some surprises in terms of how they express there support during this final. I have no idea what this will, be there will surely be a great atmosphere, especially for this match as everyone knows how important this match is to Slovakia. I'd fancy Ancic to crack under the pressure before Hrbaty does, and I don't think he should be priced any more than 1.50.

[Mr Intensity]

Re: Slovakia v Croatia - Davis Cup Final - December 2nd-4th Sorry the formatting has going a bit crap but I think it's still readable:ok