5 Plays for tonight:
WTA Hobart - Sara Errani vs Melanie Oudin
Match to be played at 01:00 CET (00:00 GMT)
No doubt Oudin is the most known and talented player out of the
two, however the American player will struggle today against Errani.
The American player showed in the Hopman Cup that she is struggling to
handle the pressure after her US Open breakthrough last season and she
has lost 6 of her last 7 matches. She is committing a lot of errors,
she is showing no baseline consistency and that will be a too high
price to pay against Errani, a defensive player, who an incredible
baseline consistency, who can win a lot of matches just based on her
opponents errors. That's what I expect in here. Oudin will need to be
aggressive and construct the point, something she struggles at, while
Errani will simply take advantage of Oudin's errors and win this match.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Sara Errani ML @2.15 on BetUS
ATP Sydney - Richard Gasquet vs Feliciano Lopez
WTA Sydney - Aravane Rezai vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld
First match to be played at 01:00 CET (00:00 GMT)
Richard Gasquet had a really good season debut, as he reached quarter
finals, where he lost to the winner of the tournament Andy Roddick. The
French player showed a good level of tennis and I expect that to
continue today against Feli Lopez, one of the easiest matchups for
Gasquet in the circuit, as the 4-0 H2H record shows. Feli Lopez will
make his season debut today and I don't expect him to finally beat
Gasquet, who is a horrible matchup for him, as Gasquet loves a target
in the net. Gasquet is one week ahead in terms of match pratice than
Lopez and so, I expect the French player to confirm his favoritism on
court today by getting the win.
Talking about terrible matchups, that is also the case of Aravane Rezai
to Anna-Lena Groenefeld. The German player is a big girl and she really
struggles when a powerful ball striker makes run her a lot, as her
lateral movement is really poor. Rezai is already playing well, as it
was seen in Auckland last week, where she destroyed Julie Coin and
played a really good match against Dominika Cibulkova. Groenefeld had
to win three qualifying matches in three sets to make it to the main
draw and I really don't expect her to be able to cope with the powerful
groundstrokes of Rezai from both wings, especially when the French
player is also very quick, being able to use Groenefeld's pace to
counter punch when necessary. Rezai leads the H2H by 3-0 and I expect
it to be at 4-0 after this match.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Richard Gasquet ML x Aravane Rezai ML
ATP Auckland - Thomaz Bellucci vs Marco Chiudinelli
I wonder why Bellucci is playing on Auckland this week. The
Brazilian played in Brisbane last week, where he reached quarter
finals. Last Friday, he left Australia to come to New Zealand, just to
comeback to Australia to play the Australian Open next week. It's
bizarre and I wouldn't be surprised if Bellucci fails to play at his
best level today, as this move makes no sense at all, especially when
he would be into the main draw of Sydney quite easily. Besides the
horrible spot for Bellucci, he will also face a very tough opponents,
who is on the verge of entering the Top 50. Chiudinelli is a good
hardcourt player and he is coming from a decent performance in Doha,
where he lost to Davydenko in the second round. The Swiss has the
baseline game to make Bellucci struggle and there is no way Belucci
should have a spread of 3 games to cover in here. Take Chiudinelli plus
the games.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Marco Chiudinelli (+3 Games)
ATP Sydney - Frederico Gil vs Potito Starace
Last week, these two players faced each other in the main draw of Doha
and Starace easily won the match by 6-2 6-0. However, Gil basically
didn't show up in that match and he has already made sure that he means
business this week in Sydney, as he was amazingly convincing in the
qualifying of this tournament by defeated three decent players
(especially Taylor Dent) without dropping a single set. Potito Starace
is a claycourter with no business on fast surfaces and his win against
Gil in Doha was just because of Gil's no show because the Portuguese
has a lot more weapons than the Italian on a fast surfaces, as the
results of the two players on fast surfaces show. I expect Gil this
time to play at his regular level and if that happens, he will most
likely get the upperhand over a claycourter with little business on
hardcourt like Starace. Take Gil to win in here.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Frederico Gil ML
WTA Hobart - Sania Mirza vs Alicia Molik
I
took Molik to beat Makarova in the first round of Brisbane last week
and I got lucky because the truth is that a slumping Makarova was the
better player during most of the match and Molik's terrible backhand
and sloppy lateral movement made me sure that Molik should never be a
favorite to beat a Top 100 player, even if that player is slumping. But
the truth is that she will be facing Sania Mirza, who is actually a Top
60 player and who has won 4 of her last 6 matches. It makes no sense to
me. Mirza got slaughtered by Schiavone, who is a terrible matchup for
her due to the Italian's amazing defensive skills, but against Molik,
Mirza will just have to use her big forehand and that will give her a
lot of winners, as Molik's defensive game is basically non-existent.
The Australian may be a tough player to beat while facing Top 200
players, but Mirza is obviously much better than the players Molik
usually faces on the Australian ITF tournaments and the truth is that
Mirza is with her powerful baseline game should have no problems in
outplaying Molik from the baseline and getting the win in that way. Not
even the crowd can save Molik in here against a terrible matchup for
her. Take Mirza to win.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Sania Mirza ML