Tennis - Australian Open

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Tough day for many it seems. I lost one of my 6 bets for the opening 2 days....Gonzalez and Pennetta both won but not in straight sets. Accumulator started well with Gonzo and Roddick winning. Benneteau is down 4-0 in opening set though. Not sure what is up there. And Grosjean is down 6-4 4-2 to Ilhan. Need a turn around once play resumes. I think the main thing so far is how the conditions are affecting play.

[ShanAce]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Any idea when the matches on the outside courts will resume?

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open tamira paszek to beat julia georges at evens with boylesports(3pts)! this is my tip of the day and the one match i honestly singled out when the draws came out that there could be some money made on. i cannot for the life of me understand how boylesports could make julia georges favourite over tamira paszek. Tamira's results last week at hobart were very encouraging. she beat vinci in straight sets and only lost in a final set breaker to dulko in the next round. she's a very talented player and the only reason her ranking is so low is because of all her injury troubles and her personal problems which i shouldn't elaboate on. but she seems to have turned a corner and anyway she generally always brings her best tennis to the grandslams. she broke onto the scene as a 16 year old when she made it to the 4th round of wimbledon a few years ago beating dementieva along the way (yes she has lost her way a bit since then but she's had injuries and personal problems as i've said) and the truth is her performances at the aussie open and grand slams in general have been much more impressive than meets the eye! two years a go she held match points against the in-peek-form jankovic in the first round before losing 9-7 in the 3rd.last year she lost a tight 3 set match to dokic which in hindsight is a good effort considering the run dokic went on. she's beaten kirilenko in the us open and almost beat schiavone at wimbledon in the 2nd round. in 2008 she beat the likes of pennetta,hantuchova and in-form ana ivanovic......this girl can really play and her results last week are a sign that she's back moving in the right direction. georges on the other hand is just an average player who has good groundstrokes but is one-dimensional,impatient and inconsistent from the back of the court. she has lost her first two matches of the yera to veteran jill craybas and lowly ranked brit sarah borwell....hardly inspires confidence.and she lost 6 of her last 8 matches in 2009.apart from beating srebotnik 16-14 in the final set at wimbledon in 2008 (she got neaten easily by erakovic in the next round) she hasn't really got a result of note on her cv! and hasn't won a grandslam match since!! tamira's matches often tend to swing as she herself has dips but she is motivated,more consistent from the back of the court and the better match player in general and this is a strong 3pt tip for me!

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open 3pts accumulator bet on agnieska radwanska,suarez navarro,medina garrigues and lisicki at 10-11 with boylesports! basically all these girls are a class ahead of their opponents and they all have good grand slam records and they are all are in good form and motivated (except maybe radwanska but she never loses to players of malek' calibre in grand slams....there is no real element of surprise with any of their opponents as well which is important! petrova,montanes and dulko treble with bet365 at 4-6! montanes has won his last six matches against hernandez and has better hard court pedigree plus he got to the semis of auckland last week! dulko is simply a class above kucova who got a cushy enough passage through qualifying but should be out of her depth against the reliable dulko. Petrova lost (7-5,7-5) to henin less than two weeks ago which isnt a bad showing. she is so reliable in the early round of slams.gallovits has been around for a while now without ever threatening to be a threat to the big guns.she has no weapons and i fully expect petrova to hit her off the court 3pts

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open here are some more tips i have concluded on: 1) 2pts kristina barrois to beat amanmuradova at 4-6 with boylesports! barrois has really blossomed into a fine match player late in her career(bit like gicquel)! she had her best season yet last year and performed particularly well in the slams! she got to the second round in both the french and the us open but the most impressive part is that it really took a top player to beat her! she pushed dementieva to three sets in australia, she gave azarenka(a player renowned for hockeying inferior players in slams) a really tough match at the french losing 7-5,7-6, she lost in two tie breaks to former wimbledon semi-finalist at wimbledon and she beat ursula radwanska in straights before pushing dinara safina all the way in 3 sets at the us open! these 4 performances prove in my mind that she was no fluke and can mix it with the topplayers!she has a tricky style,nice forehand,lplays a lot of dropshots and slice backhands (as does amanmuradova)!i dont think amanmuradova is a great match up for barrois but i feel she is still the classier player and amanmuradova rarely wins a match at grandslams and at times can be trully woeful!i have to go with the big game player here:barrois! 2)melanie oudin to beat alla kudraytseva at 4-5 with boyles!2pts melanie really burst onto the scene last year with fantastic showings in the last two grand slams taking the scalps of players like jankovic at wimbledon and sharapova and petrova at the us open! she showed that she is definately a woman for the big occasion and has a great temperment(thrives under pressure). while her greatest asset is probably her mental strength,her opponents greatest weakness is exactly that! kudraytseva is like poor mans petrova.....she has great groundstrokes off both wings,very aggressive but lacks the concentration required and she gets very tight under pressure!her aggressive style is likely to play into the hands of oudins consistent counter-punching style also! if this is a close match,there will only be one winner and thats ms.america! i am a little concerned about her form....she wasn't that impressive at the hopman cup though she did beat cirstea.however,her form between wimbledon and the us open was also very patchy before she exploded into form which leads me to conclude that she is all about the big stage. all on the other hand has become a bit over-rated i feel.she has been beaten by baczsinsky and medina this year already and hasn't beaten anyone of any consequence since sharapova ta wimbledon a few years ago and everyones beating her these days (including melanie). it could be tight but i think mel can do it 1pt victor hanescu to beat chela at 5-6 with paddypowers victor has become quite solid in the slams over the last few years. he has improved his movement a lot as he used to be very slow. he got to the 2nd round of the aussie open,,4th round at the french (beating simon and youzny on his way) and 3rd round at wimbledon and also losing in a tight first round match to john isner in the us open. chela has completely gone off the radar over the last year or two and i know he has had problems with injuries but there is no real sign of him getting back into the form he is capable of(he lost 3-6,3-6 to becker last week). hanescu also nhas a 2-0 head to head record against chela and surely represents the value at 5-6!

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open finally my total games tips: 1)stosur versus han total games over 17.5 games at 5-6:1pt 2)serena williams versus urszula radwanska total games under 18.5 games at 5-6 1pt 3)maybe davydenko versus kindlmann over 26.5 games at 8-11. also thinking about almagro but not sure yet. good luck all!

[Atko]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Juan Monaco vs Ernests Gulbis: Gulbis at 1.62 Ernests Gulbis showed in Doha that he is a player ready to prove that he is worth all the hype that surrounded his breakthrough. The Latvian has a huge serve and lovely, accurate groundstrokes, and gave Roger Federer a fright in Qatar. He meets clay-courter Juan Monaco, who is an extremely talented player, but can often go walkabout on a hard court. Against players who spar, he's fine, but Gulbis will attack him at all costs and I'm not sure the higher-ranked Argentine will be able to deal with that. They've met twice, with both players winning, although tellingly, Monaco won on clay, while Gulbis won an outdoor hard court. I'd like the price to be a bit bigger, but I feel the Latvian is best placed to move into the second round. Bet strength: 4pts Nicolas Almagro vs Xavier Malisse: Malisse at 1.80 Almagro had a horrible start to the season - he turned up at Auckland and was walloped by Marc Gicquel. The Spaniard isn't the fittest player in the world and to boot, he doesn't like any other surfaces except clay. Yes, he can play on hard court, and he has the big shots to do so, but it's his movement that lets him down. Historically, he struggles in Melbourne - he's only got past R1 once. Malisse's best days are probably behind him but he came through qualifying and has more game time under his belt than the Spaniard. I think this match could come down to fitness and if that's the case, I have to side with the Belgian. Bet strength: 2pts Mikhail Youzhny vs Richard Gasquet: Youzhny at 2.37 Gorgeous first round tie this, and I'm going to go against the Frenchman. Youzhny is a fine player on all surfaces - he has all the tools, just sometimes his mentality can be all wrong. He got a wake-up call in Doha when beaten by Sergiy Stakhovsky and I think the Russian will react in the right manner. He leads the H2Hs 2-1 and has beaten Gasquet in Melbourne before. As for the Frenchman, he's on the way back to his best after the drugs scandal, but he had a hard week in Sydney and lost to Baghdatis in the final. I suspect he may be slightly weary. In addition, the Frenchman showed in that final that mentally, he still has a lot of improvement to do. He was broken when serving for the second set and he seemed to let that really affect him. There will be plenty of twists and turns in this one, but I fancy the Russian to prevail. Bet strength: 2pts Evgeny Korolev (vs Brands) x John Isner (vs Seppi): Double at 2.00 I picked these two in separate doubles that are now bust, so I'll go for them again. I like Korolev, he's playing on his best surface against a player who really only rose to semi-prominence last year and much prefers clay. As for Isner, the rain will have given him a good rest after winning Auckland. He's in form, he likes these courts and has the big serve and forehand to out-gun Seppi. The Italian is a nice player but struggles against hard-hitters, and I can't see him having enough in his locker here. Bet strength: 1pt Leonardo Mayer (vs Lacko) x Lukasz Kubot (vs Zverev): Double at 2.30 I've gone for this on the strength of the odds. Lukas Lacko did well in Chennai to get through to the quarters, but he didn't beat anyone special and this is his first Grand Slam. I expect Mayer, who plays well on hard and has a nice, powerful game, to come through. As for Kubot, he's proven over the last twelve months that he's a good singles player and he likes these courts. Zverev's had an appalling time of it recently, losing this year to Carsten Ball and then in qualifying to an outsider in Sydney. His confidence is low and expect Kubot to be able to take him here. Bet strength: 1pt Christophe Rochus vs Donald Young: Rochus at 2.10 I think the odds are the wrong way round here. Young is a player who had huge potential as a junior but hasn't fulfilled it at all. He's playing a Belgian who isn't anything special but plays most weeks on the main tour and knows his way around slams. He'll see this as an ideal chance to progress and earn some cash against the American, who has too many question marks over him at present. Small stakes, but a worthwhile punt. Bet strength: 1pt Kristof Vliegen vs Michael Berrer: Vliegen at 3.50 Much the same as his compatriot, I see Vliegen as being underpriced here. Yes, he's been off the tour since the late summer, but he has the talent, as proven by a former ranking inside the top 30. He's a decent hard court player and has the serve to trouble the German. Berrer is a run-of-the-mill player who can serve well, but I'm not sure he can keep that up for five sets. Vliegen is worth a punt for the price alone, as these two are, in my eyes, more evenly matched than the odds suggest. Bet strength: 1pt That's my lot for day 2. Rain is expected once again, so we could be in for a topsy-turvy ride again in terms of matches played. I also considered Hanescu to beat Chela, but too many questions surround his fitness. Stephane Robert, who plays Potito "I'm afraid of a hard court unless I'm playing Frederico Gil" Starace, was another on my list, but I don't know enough about the Frenchman to make an informed choice. Good luck to all, Atko

[AntoNescU]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Sport Tennis Event G Garcia Lopez vs S Wawrinka Selection Over 3.5 Sets Strength 10/10 Date 19/01/2010 Bookmaker/Price Bet365 @ 1.90 (Back) Reasoning Certainly,Wawrinka is clear favorite in this meeting.Garcia Lopez is now on 43th place in ATP ranking,while Wawrinka on 19th place.Lopez lost in Auckland with Isner,score 6-4,6-7,2-6,while Wawrinka played the final from Chennai,but lost here,score 6-7,6-7 with Cilic.If Garcia Lopez won one set with the strong player Isner,I think he can win one and in this meeting,but I expect Wawrinka to win at final.Probably 3score will be 3 sets Wawrinka with 1 set Garcia Lopez. ;)

[AntoNescU]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Sport Tennis Event J Monaco vs E Gulbis Selection Over 3.5 Sets Strength 10/10 Date 19/01/2010 Bookmaker/Price Bet365 @ 1.50 (Back) Reasoning An interesting game here.Monaco,on 30th place in ATP ranking,lost with Isner in Auckland,7-5,4-6,3-6,while Gulbis,on 84 th place,lost hard with Federer at Doha,score 2-6,6-4,4-6.I think both players will have equal chances for qualification in 2nd round,because this players had and last year good evolutions.I this situation,certainly a bet with over 3.5 sets seems to be the best choice. :ok

[AntoNescU]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Sport Tennis Event N Almagro vs X Malisse Selection Over 3.5 Sets Strength 10/10 Date 19/01/2010 Bookmaker/Price Bet365 @ 1.50 (Back) Reasoning Almagro lost in Auckland with Gicquel,score 0-6,3-6,while X Malisse played this year only matches for qualification for Australian Open,where he won 3 games with modest players.Almagro seems to be the better player here,but certainly and Malisse can provide a good evolution tonight.The odds predicts that,so a sure choice is over 3.5 sets in this meeting. :nana

[AntoNescU]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Sport Tennis Event P Mayr vs K O'Brien Selection Over 2.5 Sets Strength 10/10 Date 19/01/2010 Bookmaker/Price Bet365 @ 2.20 (Back) Reasoning P Mayr lost with Dushevina in Sydney,0-6,1-6,while O'Brien lost with Rodionova 3-6,3-6.I expect a balanced match here.Why?Because bot players have unsteady evolutions and,on the other hand,Mayr and O'Brien are almost adjacent in ranking,Mayr being on 90th place,while O'Brien on 87.Is hard for me to say who will win,so I expect a match in 3 sets for to decide the winner. :notworthy

[AntoNescU]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Sport Tennis Event S Robert vs P Starace Selection P Starace Strength 10/10 Date 19/01/2010 Bookmaker/Price Pinnacle Sports @ 1.71 (Back) Reasoning Starace lost at Sydney with Gasquet,score 3-6,6-7 ,while Robert lost with Berrer 6-7,3-6.First chance in this meeting will be for Starace,he having good evolutions on hard in this year.Robert is a less experienced player and he will have hard difficulties with the Italian.We can see Starace lost hard with Gasquet last week,while Robert lost with a player of almost equal value with him.The Italian will qualify in next round. :cheers

[AntoNescU]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Sport Tennis Event B Becker vs G Zemlja Selection B Becker -5.5 Strength 10/10 Date 19/01/2010 Bookmaker/Price 10bet @ 1.96 (Back) Reasoning Becker lost at Sydney with Gasquet,score 2-6,6-7,while Zemlja played 3 qualification rounds for to be in first round today.Becker,39th place in ATP ranking,is certainly favorite in the meeting with Zemlja.The Slovak is only on 168th place and I think he cannot put more problems tonight.In this conditions,I try a pick with -5.5 AH for Becker. :ok

[AntoNescU]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Sport Tennis Event D Istomin vs J Chardy Selection J Chardy -5.5 (Asian Handicap) Strength 10/10 Date 19/01/2010 Bookmaker/Price 10bet @ 1.93 (Back) Reasoning Chardy lost at Auckland with Clement with 5-7,4-6,while D Istomin lost at Chennai with Sela,score 1-6,2-6.Istomin is a modest player on hard,so for he will be difficult to make a good game.He lost with anothers modest players on this area,so I believe Chardy can have a relatively easy mission tonight.I bet on the French player with -5.5 AH. :D

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Safe to say that was a shocking round one for me. Will update record after week 1.

[keliot]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open

Careful with Juan Carlos Ferrero. He withdrew from Auckland after twisting his ankle and it might be worth laying him on anywhere that doesn't void retirements' date= backing Dodig to take a set or else waiting and doing something inplay when his condition and the direction of the match is clearer.

:drums

[Atko]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open

Safe to say that was a shocking round one for me. Will update record after week 1.

Aye I've had an abysmal first round, lots of results I just didn't see coming. Back to the drawing board for tomorrow. Learn from the mistakes and come back stronger! :ok

[choc13]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open to that chocking twerp gasquet,,,cannot believe hes choked like this 3-0 up in the 4th set 2 match points and hes sat on his eggs ,,,un.kenbelievable ,,,talent obviously is not enough to u through

[marron]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Gasquet maybe could have been more ruthless at times but i think you should give credit to the way Youzhny has played to take this into a deciding set.

[Atko]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Finally, a winner!!! Wonderful comeback from the Russian.

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Gasquet has always had a choke in him. Good match to watch though, some wonderful backhands in there.

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open wow!! that was a disappointing first round!!i'm still up thanks to accumulators but what really hurts is the manner in which my bets lost! oudin was 6-2 5-3 up with 2 match points and lost 7-5 in the third! full credit to kudraytseva though...neither player gave an inch in the third set....i've never seen alla so mentally strong and consistent! gasquet was too sets up and playing the better tennis but as gooner says he always has a bit of choke in him!fair play 2 youzny. cibulkova was in an accumulator and was winning 5-1 with match points and she lost 7-5. melzer lost in 5. so so sick! on the bright side,i'm still in profit but very small. putting my neck on the line with paszek tomorrow!

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Smeg what you think of Azarenka vs Cohen-Aloro overs/unders? Bet365 have the line at 16.5 games....overs is anything better than 6-2 6-2. Having doubts cos Azarenka typically bullies opponents early on in slams but she looked tired in Sydney last week.Seems very short line i think but i guess she could bagel her in one of the sets.

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open i thought about it myself!if i had to choose i'd back cohen aloro to just about beat that handicap. she beat zahlavova strycova here last year in straights and took kleybanova to three sets. i've seen her play on clay twice and she's useful enough. but honestly,i'd leave it as azarenka could easily beat her 6-1,6-3 or something like that as you say yourself she is ruthless. the handicaps are getting harder because this time last year you could have probably had over or under 18 games available. the bookies are copping on and puttin us out of work!!!

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open What do you think of paszeks chances by the way?I really fancy her but i need some reassurance!!

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Wouldn't know Paszek's game very well to be honest. Watched parts of her match with Dulko in Hobart and she played well off the ground, serving was weak though(different conditions aswell to be fair). Georges aswell can throw in alot of errors. It's one of those I wouldn't be able to choose between....seems to be a drift on Paszek's price though.

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Monaco to beat Llodra @ 4/6 Dunno when this one will be played, maybe Thursday morning but Monaco is worth a shot here. Llodra came through Vassallo but still doubts about his condition I think. Many poor losses in recent weeks...Cuevas not fully fit, Harel Levy. Not Monaco's best surface but the courts aren't playing that fast and he is solid from the back of the court. Beat a terrible Gulbis in round one in straight sets.....Gulbis was very poor, many errors but Monaco was still solid. Think he takes this one.

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Don't know if I'm missing something but am thinking strongly about..... Date-Krumm over Shvedova

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Martinez-Sanchez +1.5 games over Zheng @ 10/11 Don't think Zheng should be favourite here. MJMS double bagelled Rodina in round one and has a good game for HC. Good serve, got a different style of play...can slice, drop shot and serve&volley. Zheng is one of the few women I like but don't think she's playing that well right now. Struggling with serve and might have some problems here.

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis - Australian Open Other interestin matches I'm thinking about: 1. Date-Krumm over Shvedova 2. Kubot over Giraldo 3. Benneteau on handicap vs Karlovic. 4. Maybe some sort of accumulator...Gonzalez,Isner and Roddick should win(dangerous to say after last few days!!) and might add one decent priced match to bring it up....Lopez over Schuettler/Ljubicic over Golubev or Troicki over Mayer.