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