It was a much better day for me yesterday with Juan Monaco and Potito Starace both winning their matches, albeit making life much tougher for themselves than was likely required.
It has been tough picking in matches this week as a lot of the favourites have struggled. For example, in Stuttgart 6 of the 8 seeds fell before the 2nd Round and there are some big priced winners in that tournament.
That's not to say it is easy to pick these matches- some of the results could easily have gone another way if 1 or 2 points had landed differently, but the week has shown how tough it can be in the World of tennis to consistently pick winners.
I had felt my luck was all but out earlier in the week as players seemed to be crumbling without much notice in matches; the worst example was Igor Andreev losing a 3-0 lead in the final set against Diego Junqueira.
It didn't help my mood much to notice Junqueira won just 1 game against Robin Soderling tonight. That result just makes me wonder what Andreev was playing at in his match to blow a lead as badly as he did.
Now is not the time to complain though, not while one of my outright picks of the week is still alive and the loss from earlier in the week has been reduced somewhat.
On to the Days Picks:
Double- Juan Monaco vs Blaz Kavcic and Filippo Volandri vs Andreas Haider-Maurer: Juan Monaco had to dig deep to get through his match with Carlos Berlocq yesterday, but I am going to keep faith with the Argentine in a matchup he should be able to take advantage of.
Blaz Kavcic has not really had the wins on clay courts previously to suggest he can beat a player of Monaco's calibre, but he can up his level for short bursts.
If Monaco can stay with him while Kavcic is on a high level of play, he should be able to take advantage of his dips and win through.
Filippo Volandri is a clay courter, but has really struggled to maintain the form that saw him beat Roger Federer in Rome in 2007. However, he should hold the mental edge over Andreas Haider-Maurer since he has 2 wins over him, both in straight sets, on clay courts this season.
Haider-Maurer took advantage of a favourable draw against Mikhail Kukushkin, but this is a much stiffer test and one he has failed to pass twice. I dont expect the Austrian to make it third time lucky.
David Ferrer - 5.5 games vs Pere Riba-Madrid: I was a little concerned with David Ferrer's state of mind after all the mental efforts it took to lead Spain to a Davis Cup win over the USA on Sunday. He has also had to travel from Texas to Sweden, but the extra day of rest could be crucial to his ability in this match.
Pere Riba-Madrid has not had the same impact on the main tour as he has had on the Challenger circuit and I see Ferrer's consistency causing him problems during this match.
Ferrer is a player that will give it his all if he does take part in a tournament and I expect he will come through 6-4, 6-2.
Mikhail Youzhny - 3 games vs Juan Carlos Ferrero: Mikhail Youzhny was excellent in his comfortable win over Phillip Petzschner in the last Round and I expect he will come out on top against the classy Juan Carlos Ferrero here.
Ferrero usually reserves his best tennis for the clay, but a lack of matches could seriously undermine him against a tough opponent like Youzhny.
This will only be Ferrero's 7th match since the US Open last September and I just feel Youzhny can grind him down.
The Russian is 1-2 against Ferrero in the head to heads, but his sole win came in 4 sets at the French Open and I think he can remain the highest seed left in Stuttgart.
MY PICKS: Double- Juan Monaco and Filippo Volandri @ 2.25 William Hill (2 Units)
David Ferrer - 5.5 games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Mikhail Youzhny - 3 games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
WEEKLY UPDATE: - 2.61 Units
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