ATP Monte Carlo 21st-27th April

[Mr Intensity]

Shocking week to start the clay season with, so it's Monte Carlo or bust this week:ok

[Mr Intensity]

Re: ATP Monte Carlo 21st-27th April MINAR @ 3.05 Pinnacle. Got to go with my boy Minar again! I've said how I like him, and we all saw what he is capable of last week against Davydenko. It's a shame he couldn't get the job done, but the performance was there and he should carry that into this week. He's come through qualifying comfortably, beating Benneteau which is a decent win. Ancic has done very well this year, but the fact remains he hasn't played on clay since the French in 2006! He's decent on clay, but can get too defensive from the back and that will play into Minars hands. Should be a very good match to watch, and at this price I'm going for an upset. SODERLING @ 1.72 Skybet. This looks a pretty solid price to me. Soderling has been playing at a really high level this year, and even though this isn't his best surface he can still do well. Especially in this event, where he reached the quarters last year and third round in 2006 strangely both years beating Davydenko. He comes in this year after a very good Davis Cup effort, beating Acasuso and taking Nalbandian to 9-7 in the fifth on clay in Argentina. He should come in with quite a lot of confidence and like this match up. H2H is 3-1 to Soderling, with Stepanek winning the only clay match in Hamburg 2006 - that was the year Stepanek reached the final and was at the peak of his powers. He's had a decent year so far, and beat Andreev on indoor clay in Davis Cup, but I think Soderling wins this in a couple of tight sets. TIPSAREVIC @ 2.74 Betfair. Couple of pretty big negatives for Mathieu in this one: he has an awful record here only passing the first round once in 4 attempts, and he had a shocker last week in Davis Cup in America. I can see it taking him a while to get over that, and he definately has demons in this event. Remember 2006, he played Coria in the second round, in the days where Coria couldn't serve (I was on Mathieu at a massive 3.00) - Mathieu was 6-1 *5-1 up and blew it massively, I don't even have the words to describe how I felt about that one! I've been pretty disappointed in Tipsarevic this year, but he seemed to find some form and had a good run in Miami. His results on clay are OK, and he had some decent performances last year and I think his game could be well suited to the surface. Expect a lot of rallies in this one and looking for a lot of errors from Mathieu.