I have three plays for today:

ATP Brisbane - Bobby Reynolds (USA) vs Kei Nishikori (JPN)

Bobby Reynolds has been one of the player who most places climbed in the past few months in the circuit. The American journeyman loves to play on hardcourt and that's mostly due to his style of play. Reynolds possesses a big serve, feels extremely comfortable on the forecourt, including the net, moves nicely on the court and hits very well from both wings. But what really improved on him in the last few months was the consistence. He improved so much that he was able to win a set against Roger Federer in Basel, in the past Autumn. His confidence is at sky rocket levels, as he is currently in a 8-match winning streak and cruised in the qualifying of this tournament, with a big win over Xavier Malisse yesterday in the final round. This win over Xavier Malisse (who had had little trouble in defeating the tough Simon Stadler and Peter Luczak in the previous rounds) showed how confident Reynolds is right now.

He will now face Kei Nishikori, one of the most talented players of his generation. However, the Japanese player is in a very tough spot. The worst thing it can happen for a player on his first match of the season is to face someone coming from the qualifying, with three wins already on their belt. While Nishikori will need to try to find his rhythm and he will obviously rusty, Reynolds will be confident and perfectly adapted to the conditions of the court. Nishikori possesses a massive forehand and he is already one of the best movers of the circuit, but he is still inconsistent and has regularly fitness problems, which will be a concern in here on the high temperatures of Australia and with his being the first match Nishikori will ever play on Professional level on this country.

Bobby Reynolds have already proved that he loves to play in Australia (he reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open coming from the qualifying in 2005, qualifying once again to the Australian Open in 2007 and took Andreas Seppi to 5 sets in the 1st round and last season, Reynolds took current Top 10 player Gilles Simon to 5 sets in the 1st round of the Australian Open). I expect Reynolds to bring his A game again and take advantage of Nishikori, who will be lacking rhythm and will commit more errors with his forehand than usual. Take Bobby Reynolds to win in here.

Regular Play on Bobby Reynolds ML @ +130


ATP Brisbane/ATP Doha - Juan Carlos Ferrero vs Florent Serra & Arnaud Clement vs Diego Junqueira

Juan Carlos Ferrero is always considered a past his prime player, but even though he isn't at the same level that took to the first place in the rankings, it doesn't mean he isn't a good player anymore. Ferrero has always been successful in this area of the globe (Australia and New Zealand) and for example last season, he reached the final of Auckland and the fourth round of the Australian Open. Ferrero possesses an underrated serve and he is mostly known for his great counter punching game, where his great mobility on the court allows him to reach almost every ball. However, Ferrero can also be a good aggressor from the baseline, with his extremely penetrative forehand, which he prepares beautifully with his good footwork. The Spanish player just struggles against powerful opponents, which put him on a very passive position, but that's certainly the case of his today's opponent, Florent Serra.

The French player has a decent serve, but he will need to serve lights out against one of the best returners in the world. Serra's main tactic is to stay solid and wait for the errors of his opponents, however that's very unlikely to happen in a big quantity in a match against one of the most solid baseliners in the circuit. Serra also possesses a decent forehand, but certainly not at the same level of Ferrero's forehand. He is also a decent mover on the court, but once again not at the same level of Ferrero and especially not with the same tenacity and fighting spirit of the Spanish player. Both players have similar styles and on a neutral surface, the better player should prevail easily and the player in here is Ferrero.


Every year, we have some South American player, who due to very good performances at challenger level on clay get finally access to play the main draws of the ATP tournaments. Obviously, there aren't tournaments on clay every single week and sometimes these players need to play some ATP tournaments outside clay. And what happens is a disaster for them and easy wins for their opponents. That's the case of Diego Junqueira. The Argentinian player had a great season, which put him inside the Top 80 in the rankings. However, the number of matches he has played outside clay at ATP level is... 0! Also his style of play doesn't match well in any other surface than clay. Junqueira has a poor serve and he clearly lacks power and depth on his ground strokes. He compensates that with a great mobility and defensive game on clay, but that's not possible to do on hardcourt.

His opponent today will be the veteran Arnaud Clement, who will obviously take the opportunity of getting these free points for his ranking. The French player has a decent serve, with variety, placement and consistence. He also likes to serve & volley, which will make him hold serve very easily against a player who will be a couple of meters behind the baseline. Also Junqueira's tactic is to wait for errors of his opponents and that's unlikely to happen against Clement, who has a very solid baseline game, with great variety on his shots, including a very good sliced backhand. The Frenchman has everything on his side for his match and anything but a really easy win for Clement in here will have to be considered as a surprise.

Regular Play Parlay on Juan Carlos Ferrero x Arnaud Clement @ +110


ATP Chennai - Andreas Beck (GER) vs Roko Karanusic (CRO)

Not the most attractive match of the week at first sight, but this is clearly a game with a lot of value. Andreas Beck has highly improved in the recent past and he is really close to enter the Top 100 for the first time on his career. Actually a win in here should be enough for him to achieve his goal. Beck possesses a great serve, with the 1st delivery giving him a lot of cheap points and the 2nd delivery being also very good and hard to attack while returning it. The German player likes to stay at the back of the court, where he hits some very decent ground strokes, which are extremely penetrative. His best shot is clearly his powerful double handed backhand, where he can really put his opponent struggling to return the balls back. Beck has also showed that he is not afraid of the big stages of the ATP tournaments and even Grand Slams, like his straight sets win over John Isner at the US Open last season or his great fight against Rafael Nadal in the first round of Wimbledon (4:6 4:6 6:7) can easily show.

His opponent today will be Roko Karanusic, who is basically the opposite of Beck. The Croatian clearly suffers from big stage fright and he is 3-20(!) on matches played on main draws of ATP tournaments against the current Top 105! The Croatian player has just an average serve and highly inconsistent, which can easily be attacked by the penetrative return shots of Beck. Another major problem of Karanusic is his terrible footwork and shot selection, which cause him to commit an unbelievable number of errors during a match. Against such a power hitter like Beck, Karanusic would need to defend and move well to return the big shots of Beck and that sounds extremely unlikely to happen in here.

Both players are basically at the same level in the rankings and that's the reason why the odds for this match are basically 50/50 for each player. However, Beck is climbing in the rankings right now and he should be able to climb another 20 or 30 places in the next few months, while Karanusic will continue to keep going up and down in the Top 100 limbo until the end of his career. The edge on the serve department of Beck should make the difference in here and that's why I'm taking the German player to win in here.

Regular Play on Andreas Beck ML @ -105