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