3 Plays for tonight:
WTA Sydney - Daniela Hantuchova vs Virginie Razzano
Expect
Hantuchova to be able to control the points quite easily, something
that will put her a very comfortable position for today's match. She is
still quite inconsistent, however she showed great signs on her first
two matches in Brisbane and at least she will have her serve to make
her easily hold some service games. On the other side, Razzano is
struggling a lot on her serve and on her baseline consistency and as
she lacks any major weapon, she is really dependent on her consistency
which was lost in the middle of her current run of bad results. The
French player is surely playing worse than she was when she defeated
Hantuchova on the last three matches between the two and so, I expect
Hantuchova to use her superior baseline power to get a comfortable win
today.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Daniela Hantuchova ML @ -130 on 5Dimes
WTA Hobart - Alona Bondarenko vs Sybille Bammer
WTA Sydney - Elena Dementieva vs Francesca Schiavone
Sybille Bammer is in the middle of a slump (0-5 L5, with no sets
won) and she is lacking confidence, she really struggles in avoid being
an error machine. Now imagine against one of the quickest players on
the circuit what will happen. Bammer will go for broke a lot during
this match and together with her lack of confidence and Alona's great
counter punching game, expect Alona to lead Bammer to self destruction,
like she did on the two matches already played between these two.
Expect Alona to start her 2010 season with a good win today.
Elena Dementieva looked quite solid on her last two matches on
Hopman Cup and she looks now ready to try to defend the Sydney title
that she won last season. She is a great hardcourt specialist and
honestly I don't expect her to struggle against Schiavone today. The
Italian player did a good job in Auckland last season by reaching semi
finals, but with just one day to rest and travel from New Zealand and
Australia, this surely isn't an easy spot for Schiavone, who already
has in Dementieva a tough matchup. The Russian player will be more
fresh and she is obviously the better player in here and so, I expect
her to have an easy win today.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Alona Bondarenko ML x Elena Dementieva ML @ -108 on 5Dimes
ATP Brisbane - Andy Roddick vs Radek Stepanek
Even though on paper Andy Roddick seems to be the obvious favorite
for this match, the previous matches between these two players say that
their matches tend to be really close. Roddick struggles in reading
Stepanek's serve most of the times, while Roddick obviously holds serve
almost every time with his huge and reliable first serve. They have
faced each other four times in the past three seasons on hardcourt
surfaces and these matches ended with 28, 22, 32 and 24 games being
played. The truth is that both players tend to hold serve quite easily
against each other and so, the sets tend to be decided on tie-breaks or
with a late break (like a 7-5). Not only two of these four matches went
to a third set, as all of them had a set with 12 or 13 games. I expect
the same to happen in here and I wouldn't be surprised if this match
goes to a third set. Even if it doesn't go to a third set, I expect at
least one tie-break to be played in here. With a 7-6 6-4 type of result
being the line in here, we surely have some value on the over and
that's why I'm taking it in here.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Over 23.5 Games @ -110 on The Greek