Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

[IAmGooner]

Another Masters event after Indian Wells. Qualifiers starting today. Early thoughts............. Mello to beat Capdeville.....Mello is a better player and is in much better form. Had a decent run on dirt a few weeks back and won 3 matches at IW last week losing to Montanes in 3 sets. Capdeville lost to Im, Lindahl, Okun and Poerschke on hard this year. Mello leads 2-0 h2h aswell. Koubek to beat Zverez......Koubek in some decent form...3rd round at the AO, beaten Lopez, Devvarman aswell this year and got to 1/4 final at last week Sunrise Challenger beating Chardy and Phau before losing to eventual winner Flo Mayer. Zverez got out of his terrible slump a while back with his run in Marseille indoors but has since easily lost to Fish, Almagro, Berrer and got bagelled by average Daniel last week before winning in 3. Still not convinced by him. Also outdoor hard is not a great surface for him...much prefers indoor or carpet. Never won a match in Miami (0-3 record although Koubek's is pretty bad aswell at 4w-10l). Think Koubek has more in his favour here. Haven't seen the prices yet so will see if any value in these picks.

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April So, Mello is 4/9 to beat Capdeville Koubek 8/11 to beat Zverez Mello is short-ish but he's 4/11 and 2/5 in some places which seems about right so will take him at 4/9. Koubek is priced about right...had him somewhere between 1.7-1.9...so i'll take him. Any shorter and it's not worth it.

[ShanAce]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April hi gooner where u getting odds of 4/9 for mello? good work in the previous tournaments

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Decent week last week mate. Some really disappointing losses though(like Wozniacki who was horrible against Jankovic and Ferrer against Blake) and really surprising results....but profit overall. Mello 4/9 was from William Hill at the time I posted that. Just had a quick look and it's plummeted now to 4/11 which is a bad price. Also took him at my Paddy Power account at 2/5 earlier but he's now 3/10 there. Don't think he's worth it now.

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April ducque marino to beat stephanie dubois at 4-6 bet365 2 points! mariana ducque marino is a young columbian with a very bright future and bags of talent!! she's 21 and up until the last few months she has often had difficulties with finishing matches off and tightness and for me that is one of the main reasons we haven't seen her at the business end of more tier one tournamenst (as she has very solid strokes and is an excellent mover) it's worth noting that over the years ducque marino has been notorious for losing final set tie-breaks and had a bad tie-break record as it was! however,she seems to have found some mental toughness in 2010 and had a fantastic result on clay winning in borgota beating the likes of arn, antoniychuk, zakapalova, parra santonja and the in-form kerber in the final and won 3 out of 3 tie-breaks! A week earlier she lost a clay court challenger final in cali beating zahlavova,peskeric,de los rios before finding hercog too good in the final in 2 sets but hercog also looks a good prospect! marino can also play on hard.....beating tanasugarn in the main draw of us open in 2008 after qualifying and last year lost to zahlavova strycova in final set breaker in the us open 3rd round qualifying which is a very decent effort! ducque marino has made lots of progress since then and is a player on the up!! dubois on the other hand is in woeful form!! she has lost 5 of her last 6 games to chan,dentoni,szavay,tetreault and baltacha(mostly hockeyed) and only could beat lowly granillo!!! all the signs are that the confident ducque marino can take this one against the passive and low in confidence dubois!! would be a 3 point tip only marianna has not played since borgota....hope she hasn't celebrated too hard ))))

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April ducque marino is actually 5-6 with paddypowers who can't seem to separate the two!!!has to be backed i feel

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April kirsten flipkens to beat osterloh in straight sets at 4-5 bet365 1 point! flipkens is basically a class above here!! osterloh is a steady player at challenger level but she's a veteran who's on her way out really and flipkens is just a far better player and it's not unreasonable to expect her to win in straights! flipkens is in good form...she beat baczinsky and wozniak (both out of form in fairness) in indian wells last week before finding dementieva too good! but 8 out of her 11 wins this season already have been in straights which is a good sign that she doesnt have mental lapses! and most of those victories were against players of higher quality than osterloh!(kvitova,bacsinsky,wozniak twice)osterloh's last 3 outings have all been straight sets losses to shenay peery, greta arn and melanie oudin! flipkens should take care of her with little fuss....but just a one-pointer!

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April betthanie mattek-sands to beat rodina at 4-7 3 points!! my bet of the day here!! i'll start with rodina.....she really struggled last year....found it difficult even to qualify for tier one events and had a string of rotten results ....shame as she has talent and looked a good prospect when gettin 2 d third round of wimbledon in 2008! this year has been pretty poor also....lost to vives last week(threw it away which wont do her confidence much good) was hammered by joanna larrson (a challenger player) and in the australian open first round she was double bagelled by martinez sanchez!!! she qualified for paris a few weeks ago but she only beat sfar(past it),korzeniak(don't know much about her) and kucova (very limited)! she hasn't one impressive result to her name this year if you really analyse it!! mattek was injured and got married last year and those are the main reasons for her low ranking but sje's a quality player and looks to be motivated and hungry for success this year! she was very impressive in beating cornet in france on clay in the fed cup!1 she played a controlled aggressive game and was tough on the big points!! she's also had some good results this year....beating shvedova last week in straights before finding peer to good (she doesn't have the movement to compete with the really top players who change directions so well)!! however, i feel she is simply mentally stronger and tougher on every point than the talented rodina who has a naturally aggressive game but it seems to be falling apart in the tighter moments in these matches and from what i've seen from her she's very inconsistent between points (hits and unforced error for every winner she hits and against someone as solid as mattek this can't be good enough)(though i'm exaggerating a little i admit) mattek is simply in better form and overall the better player and i expect her to come through this whether its easy or close.....i'm very confident she'll win against the mentally fragile rodina!!!

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April menendez-maceires to beat daniel smethurst at 8-11 paddypower 3 points! this is a challenger match taking place in jersey!! i really fancy menendez for a few reasons! daniel smethurst is a young brit who apparently has a lot of potential! he's reached the final of his last two challenger events in spain and most recently britain! however, the majority of the players he beat in those challengers are ranked outside the top 300 with james lemke and daniel evans( a promising brit himself) being the pick of the victories (not saying much) he got beaten in the finals by trojillo-soler and bautista-agut! neither of those players are worldbeaters themselves!! menendez himself is in decent form and playing at a higher challenger level than smethurst! in rabat two weeks ago he beat goffin,bolleli and andujar in straights before losing to in-form ramirez-hidalgo who went on to win the tournament hammering everyone else includiong granollers in the final! i saw that match and i was quite impressed with menendez....he has a very nice forehand and is pretty solid overall....perhaps his shot selection is not the best! last week he made a great comeback against junqueira before almost doing the same against robin haase before finally losing in 3 stes to haase! haase went on to become champion so thats a good sign for menendez! menendez can also play on hard also....at the start of the year he beat massu and zampieri in sao paulo before losing a tight match with ramon delgado who's a decent player! he also beat elbithe in aussie open qualifying before losing to matthew ebden 7-5 in the final set of the second round....ebden went on to qualify!! so his form is decent!! i think he's a very under-rated player and though i have not seen smethurst play my gut instinct is at this stage that menendez is a big step-up in class to what he has been playing and should be too good!

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Followed you on Duque-Marino Smeg. Got 5/6 at Paddy Powers. Cheers for that....:ok

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Capdeville won the first set against Mello aswell....6-2....:puke...guy is suddenly Federer on hard courts.

[ShanAce]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April got mello at 3's! come on lets see a third set!!

[ShanAce]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

got mello at 3's! come on lets see a third set!!

:cashonly needed about 30mins to finish the 3rd set. Good call gooner. fingers crossed on koubek now

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Well played ShanAce.....Koubek did the business in 3. Few interesting ones today. Cirstea to beat De Brito @ 4/6......both girls are in horrble form but still think Cirstea is a class above De Brito. De Brito won 2 matches last week at IW beating Zakopolova and Rus before a straight sets loss to Dulgheru. But against Zakopolova there were over 20 breaks of serve in the match......Michelle has a really poor serve but her return makes her competitive on others serve. Easy to see why she is losing matches. Also has straight sets losses to Keothavong and Dzehalovich this year. Cirstea seems like she's just in a slump. She is 2w-8l for the last 10 which is poor but a closer look and she's losing to mostly highly ranked players....Oudin, Peng, Kleybanova, Schiavone, Errani. But she beat Kanepi is rd1 at IW before losing in 2 to Zheng where she led to take the second set. I think she's just lacking patience now that her form is poor....and that's nearly all you need to beat De Brito...keep the ball in play long enough and she'll make errors. Price is not fantastic considering her form but still a class above De Brito who is also in poor form. Both players probablysee it as a winnable match but would side with the better player who also showed some signs of a return to form. Molik to beat Harkleroad 2-0 @ 4/7(Bet 365) Usually wouldn't touch set betting at a price like this but it's as low as 2/7 at some places so have to have a punt. Harkleroad is back on tour for her first match since 2008..she was injured, ill and pregnant in this time(also posed for Playboy if ya wanna google that fellas...:lol). Always worth opposing players returning after long spells out......she's likely trying to get a feel of where her game and fitness is at. Molik on the other hand is playing very well. She was poor at the start of the year but since the Fed Cup she is 6w-3l...losing to Zheng, Kleybanova and Groenefeld. She got to the last 16 of IW beating Malek, Baltacha(one bagel for the in-form Brit), Medina-Garrigues before losing a 3rd set tie-break to Zheng. So her game is in order. She has been serving well which is the big positive for her and with the level she has been playing at, I think a straight sets win for her today. GL!

[WinningTipster]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Hi guys, Two picks for WTA Miami 1st round tomorrow: DATE TO D CHAKVETADZE @ 1.74 on pinnaclesports ERRANI TO D MALEK @ 1.37 on pinnaclesports Chakvetadze is struggling with her form ever since a robbery at her Moscow house 2 years ago - she has problems with consistency maintaining her level. From the other hand, Date is very consistent and mentally strong player and her game has very few unforced errors. Date defeated Chakvetadze 6-1 6-2 in Adelaide two moths ago. Errani is very consistent baseline clay court player and she started playing much better at hard court as well. Her form at Indian Wells was very good where she defeated Cibulkova and Kutuzozva and had match points against champion Jankovic. Malek will probably make to much unforced errors in this match. The H2H is 2:0 to Errani with two easy wins.

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Denis istomin to beat stephane bohli at 4-7 3 points! istomin has beaten chardy,berrer (in australian open) haas and kohlschreiber in san jose and pushed san jose champion verdasco all the way!! he's only lost one match in full since the australian open(loss to ouanna in marseille.....retired against lacko and recently reynolds in indian wells) however, he hammered bhambri in the first round of qualifying here which is a good sign and he always plays his best tennis in the big tournamenst....he has reached the 3rd round of his last 2 grand slams and should be motivated to do well in a big tournament like miami!! he has a big serve and big groundstrokes and is mentally tough in the tight moments.....wins a lot of tie-bnreaks!! his opponent bohli is mentally weak and prone to collapse and though he has some talent he's never been able to make any impact at this level and he's been around for a few years now.....has only ever qualified for two grand slams!! he beat the out of form phau in the first round qualifying but he has no particularly impressive result so far this year and has posted losses to gorcic,vinciguerra and kukushkin this year!! A motivated istomin would never lose this match!!

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April peter luczak to beat oscar hernandez 2-0 at 4-6 bet365! 1 point hernandez is in awful form at the moment and just seems very motivated and uninterested in general at the moment!! he's played 7 matches this year and lost 7 matches.....all in straight sets!!! he's been beaten by the likes of seppi,montanes,gonzalez kubot and his last 3 efforts look particularly poor....losing in straights to andujar in beuno aires(4-6,1-6....clay his favourite surface) and belluci (2-6,3-6) and just last week he was hammered by lu (6-1,6-2)!! when hernandez is losing to the likes of andujar in straights on clay what hope has he got on a faster surface like in miami! only winning 3 games against the diminutive lu is very poor indeed! luczak is no world-beater but he's done alright this season so far! though he's the closest thing australia will ever come to a clay-court specialist but his best results so far this year have come on hard in australia! he beat berdych and acasuso in sydney and was competitive against roddick in brisbane and nadal in melbourne! he also pushed monaco to 3 sets on clay in chile and his losses on the clay court season include two 3 setters to chela and a bad loss to gil! most recently he beat lowly ranked players yi and yang in the aog first round and lost a 3 setter to clement in indian wells last week! he's ordinary enough but at least he's been playing well....he's very solid off both wings and very comfortable on hard court(unlike oscar)....his main dowmnfall being his temperment.....tends to give up a lot especially if he loses close sets! yet i think he's solid enough to come through against an opponent woefully out of form who would struggle on this surface against most top 100 players even if he was on form!! luczak to win easy!

[DafsT]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

Sport	Tennis
Event	ATP Miami
Selection	Robin Soderling (Each-Way)
Strength	2/10
Date	04/04/2010
Bookmaker/Price	Boylesports @ 13.00 (Back)
Reasoning	After a stunning bet last time predicting the outcome of Indian Wells, I'm sure that someone must be reading this bet with interest! Well, Robin Soderling played very well in Indian Wells, and although he lost to Roddick quite convincingly, I expect him to have an even better run in Miami. He has an easier run-in, so hopefully he can give off the same return as Mr Ljubicic did last time out. Good luck! What do you think guys?

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April victor hanescu to beat alejandro falla 2-0 at 11-10 bet365 1 point! i am making this bet on the basis of fallas recent results which are horrible!! at indian wells he was hammered by serra (6-1,6-2) and about 5 days ago he was beaten by florian mayer (6-1,6-1)! to only win 2 games is very worrying.....there is obviously something wrong with falla at the moment that surely he can't rectify in the space of a couple of days!! and even if he does make a huge improvement there is still a good chance that hanescu will win in straights! he beat chela in indian wells last week and took a set off roger( though roger wasn't himself) but his game seems to be in good nick!! he seems to like the big tournaments and has had a good record in grand slams in recent years!! i also saw the only match these two have played in wimbledon and hanescu won in 4 but falla was a broken man by the end of it.....he was very frustrated with hanescus style of play and couldn't read the hanescu serve to save his life!! so all these reasons make 11-10 worthy of a small punt i believe at least

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

Sport	Tennis
Event	ATP Miami
Selection	Robin Soderling (Each-Way)
Strength	2/10
Date	04/04/2010
Bookmaker/Price	Boylesports @ 13.00 (Back)
Reasoning	After a stunning bet last time predicting the outcome of Indian Wells, I'm sure that someone must be reading this bet with interest! Well, Robin Soderling played very well in Indian Wells, and although he lost to Roddick quite convincingly, I expect him to have an even better run in Miami. He has an easier run-in, so hopefully he can give off the same return as Mr Ljubicic did last time out. Good luck! What do you think guys?

wow, mate i haven't been on this site since last tuesday so i have to give u my kudos and congratulations on tipping big ljubicic!! what price did ya get him at!! make sure ya book urself a holiday with the money!! as for soderling,ii reckon he's a good chance...but the price is about right for me considering the field!!but i wouldn't put u off backing him!!

[DafsT]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

wow' date=' mate i haven't been on this site since last tuesday so i have to give u my kudos and congratulations on tipping big ljubicic!! what price did ya get him at!! make sure ya book urself a holiday with the money!! as for soderling,ii reckon he's a good chance...but the price is about right for me considering the field!!but i wouldn't put u off backing him!![/quote'] 80/1! :notworthyto Ljubicic! I'll probably waste my money on Victor Hanescu to win tomorrow ;)

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

Cirstea to beat De Brito @ 4/6 Molik to beat Harkleroad 2-0 @ 4/7(Bet 365)

2xwin Doubled Molik up with Cirstea later to up the price of the first bet. Molik won 6-1`6-1 easily....real gift from the bookies that one.

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

2xwin Doubled Molik up with Cirstea later to up the price of the first bet. Molik won 6-1`6-1 easily....real gift from the bookies that one.

nice one again gooner!! have a feeling this is gonna be a good week!

[WinningTipster]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Hi guys, One more pick for Miami tournament 1st round: DE BAKKER TO D RAM @ 1.38 on betfair The odds on this one dropped from 1.5 to 1.37-1.38 in few hours as Ram has been struggling with his form winning just 14 games (!) in his last 3 matches. Ram has very erratic game and De Bakker has been at his best over the last year or so with good serve and very solid baseline game. The two met at Chennai this January (Ram's homeland India) and the result was 6-1 6-1 to de Bakker.

[WinningTipster]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Hi guys, One more pick for Miami tournament 1st round: OUDIN TO D KRAJICEK @ 1.6 on interwetten This is a good match-up for Oudin and her counterattacking style of game as Krajicek will attack every ball.

[Atko]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Plenty of matches today on the men's side to lure in the punter :tongue2 Eduardo Schwank vs Marc Gicquel Gicquel -1.5 games at 1.952 (Pinnacle) Two very contrasting players meet here. Schwank has the ability but he's by far and away a clay court player. He's not actually played on a hard court since Acapulco and I suspect even though conditions here can be on the slow side, he'll struggle on the Decoturf surface. Gicquel does his best work on hard court. He's got a decent enough serve and forehand and has a proven track record on quicker courts. They've met twice before, both on clay, both winning one. If Gicquel can beat him on clay, I expect him to do the business here. Among others, Mario Ancic, Denis Istomin and Taylor Dent also stand out as decent-priced selections.

[smegmaniac]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April just some thoughts for the early matches here.....i feel pivovarova is a very big price at 5-1 to beat carla suarez navarro with bet365! she's a promising youngster and took a set off dementieva in this very tournament last year!! carla suarez is one of my favourite female players and when she's on song she's a joy to watch but she's not the most consistent player in the world and has been known to throw the odd horror show here and there (lost in straights to antoniychuk in bogota) she can also be a very slow starter and tends to have concentration lapses so even backing pivovarova to win the first set at 7-2 looks value as pivovarova will be motivated to justify her wildcard entry!! i'm also thinking voele at 5-2 is looking too big.....she's very inconsistent and you just never know which voegele will turn up but she's got a pretty explosive a-game when she can cut down on all the unforced errors and there is no doubt in my mind that her A-game is good enough to beat cornet who just hasn't really cut it over the last 12 months and is very beatable these days!

[Cornell]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

Sport	Tennis
Event	Arnaud Clement - Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Selection	Garcia (-2) GH (Asian Handicap)
Strength	10/10
Date	24/03/2010
Bookmaker/Price	Pinnacle Sports @ 1.90 (Back)
Reasoning	At Indian Wells Guillermo Garcia-Lopez impressed a lot with his tennis, he has showed a good form there indeed while Arnaud Clement wasn't the same impressive as the spaniard. Miami is just the next american tournament after Indian Wells and have to say that the conditions are very similar, so form from the previous tournament should be still a alive factor here. I don't think the difference in class could be the main factor here, there is all about form of the moment as Garcia did impressed more than Clement at Indian Wells. More confidence should be on Garcia's side at the moment as he ahs eliminated difficult players like Cilic or Bellucci, Clement didn't looked so great as at Auckland for example when he was playing some amazing tennis. The games between these two players should be always difficult ones as both are closed to each other's level, Garcia a more powerful and better in attack player while clement with a lot of experience and great variety to change the angles. All in all, certain form and confidence should make the difference today as Garcia looked better from this point of view recently. Good Luck!

[Cornell]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April

Sport	Tennis
Event	Christophe Rochus - Daniel Koellerer
Selection	Koellerer (-1.5) GH (Asian Handicap)
Strength	10/10
Date	24/03/2010
Bookmaker/Price	10bet @ 1.90 (Back)
Reasoning	Christophe Rochus didn't impressed since a very long period as in 2010 he didn't won at least one game. Rochus is still with a open lower back injury and that surely could affect his tennis. Today he will play against the german man Daniel Koellerer who wasn't too impressivein the latest period but who has got surely much more confidence and a better form than Rochus. Recently at Indian Wells Koellerer defeated Ram in straight sets and lost to Ferrero, a difficult player, so he didn't looked so bad as Rochus did. From the class point of view these two players are closed to each other's level, Rochus can play better in defence as he can cover the court well while Koellerer can play better on his serve and when to attack as he possess a better and more powerful forehand. On clay Rochus should have an advantage against Koellerer, but on hard the german man should be the favourite, so I there is not only the advnatage of form recently but also the surface one. All in all, Rochus lacks confidence and form at the moment and playing on hard and not on clay Koellerer should be the favourite for this one. Good Luck!

[IAmGooner]

Re: Tennis: Miami :22 March - 4 April Stakhovsky x Giraldo Double @ 19/20 (W Hill) Stakhovsky plays clay-courter Hajek in round 1. Hajek is a typical clay-courter, good defensive skills....but has a losing record on hardcourt surfaces in his career. He has losses to Mertens, De Bakker, Giraldo on hard this year. Had a decent week last week in the Sunrise Challenger beating Grosjean(he is finished it seems) and Lacko(good win to be fair) before retiring against Simon a set down. Stakhovsky is not in great form himself but clearly has more tools for faster surfaces....better serve, groundstrokes and variety. Most of the players he loses to this year are accomplished HC players...though the loss to Stepanek last week is worrying as Radek is terrible this year. Overall though, he is a better HC player and it's a winnable match for him. Giraldo plays Daniel tomorrow. After checking h2h I couldn't believe it was 8-1 in favour of Daniel....but all were on clay and between 2005 and 2008. Giraldo has improved alot since then. On HC Giraldo is the better player. He's beaten Phau, Robredo and Becker this year on hard and reached the semi's of the Sunrise Challenger last week losing to Simon. Another positive is that he qualified here winning 2 matches against Gaudio(who is finished) and Delgado(tricky match, he played well against Verdasco a few weeks back). Daniel on the other hand is a lucky loser here after losing to Ilhan in straights and only has 1 win on hard court since July last year. He's an average player and looked unfit when I seen him a few weeks back in the clay swing. Giraldo is a grinder who can move him around, doesn't have a great serve but still clear advantages on this surface. GL!