With matches taking place on 2 continents again this week, I will once again divide the tennis picks into two sections and then combine the profit/loss at the end of the week.
I didn't really have any fancies from the tournament in Austria, either outright or on day 1, and so I gave it a miss. The tournaments in Washington and San Diego consist of bigger fields meaning we are given more opportunities at this early stage and I have got a few picks for later today:
Double: Ekaterina Makarova vs Alexa Glatch and Elena Baltacha vs Melanie Oudin: Both of these favourites are not the most reliable players on the tour, but I do expect them to have too much for their young American opponents tonight.
Ekaterina Makarova is ranked at Number 42 in the World, but it says something about the WTA Tour that she only has a 27-35 record on the main tour over the last 2 seasons. However, I have picked her to come through as the majority of her success has come on the hard courts this season and it took the likes of Marion Bartoli and Victoria Azarenka to stop her earlier runs in Miami and Indian Wells respectively.
Alexa Glatch is another of the young American players trying to break through but her best performances have come in the levels below the main tour matches and she was beaten in the qualifiers at Stanford last week.
The other part of my double is picking the British Number 1, Elena Baltacha, to come through. I am not a fan of picking the British players (except Andy Murray) as they just dont seem to be able to compete with the top players in the game. However, Baltacha has improved her tennis over the last couple of years and must be able to dispose of a completely out of sorts Melanie Oudin.
Oudin made her breakthrough for the general public at the US Open when she reached the Quarter Final while beating Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova along the way. Since then she has struggled with her performances and this season has been incredibly tough for her.
She has a 7-20 record on the main tour and has lost 6 of her last 7 matches and it has got me wondering if she is mentally in a good place. Oudin also struggled at this time of the season last year when she finished with a 3-6 record during the hard court Summer swing.
Personally I would not want to watch this match as I can imagine there are a lot of breaks of serves and I think the quality of tennis may be a little disappointing.
Double; Donald Young vs Artem Sitak and Rajeev Ram vs Matthew Ebden: As I said for the pick above, these two favourites cannot be relied upon when it comes down to the crunch but they face opponents that they should be able to take advantage of.
Donald Young was a child prodigy, being so good that John McEnroe offered to be his coach before he had even turned professional- to say his career has been a disappointment so far is an understatement.
I am actually backing him to beat Artem Sitak as he has a 2-0 head to head record against him, both wins coming on the hard courts, and his opponent has barely played on the lower level tours this season.
Sitak's recent defeats to Wayne Odesnik and Tim Smyczek show what is to be expected and I still think Young is a bit better than those players so should be able to come through.
Rajeev Ram relies on his serve to come through matches and he might just be able to confirm the form over Matthew Ebden after recently beating him in the qualifiers for Atlanta and then reaching the Quarter Finals.
I actually saw Ebden play up close and personal at Queens this year and he has a decent game although he is a little inconsistent off the ground. If he serves well he can cause problems, but he can lose concentration and will give up chances that Ram may take capitalise on.
Marinko Matosevic vs Richard Berankis: This is a pick more against Berankis than it is backing Matosevic.
Berankis has had a back injury that forced him to miss the middle part of the season and has lost both matches since returning although against tough opponents Nicolas Mahut and Ryan Harrison.
Matosevic has already got a couple of qualifying wins under his belt here in Washington and that means he could have more of an edge being familiar with the conditions. The Australian failed to qualify for Los Angeles last week, but a win over Igor Kunitsyn in Atlanta shows he is playing fairly well.
Berankis beat Matosevic in straight sets at the Australian Open, but I will have a small interest that the head to head is levelled up here as Berankis returns from an injury.
Michael Russell vs Ivo Karlovic: I am backing yet another underdog here for the sole reason that I want to back against the favourite.
Ivo Karlovic still has a couple of runs in tournaments left in him, but it is clear in my mind that he has lost half a step on the court which makes his serve-volley game a little more erratic than it used to be. He still serves from a tree, but I think he is half a step short on returns making it easier for his opponents to get a second shot after the initial volley.
He did reach the Quarter Final in Miami this year, but he has lost in the 1st Round in 10 of the 15 tournaments he has entered. Karlovic has gone 1-6 since losing in the Semi Final in Houston in April.
Michael Russell is definitely come towards the end of his career, but he will enjoy the home support here and is still capable of spring a surprise as shown by his win over Dmitry Tursunov last week. The hard courts remain Russell's favourite surface so I do think he has a genuine chance to cause a mini-shock here.
They share a 1-1 head to head record, but it was Michael Russell who won their most recent meeting on the indoor hard courts of Memphis earlier this season.
MY PICKS: Double; Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Baltacha @ 2.21 William Hill (1 Unit)
Double; Donald Young and Rajeev Ram @ 2.01 Pinnacle (1 Unit)
Marinko Matosevic @ 2.10 BetFred (1 Unit)
Michael Russell @ 2.10 Stan James (1 Unit)
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