Tennis Picks August 23rd

As I said earlier this week when posting my outright picks, I will not be playing tennis picks every day as the US Open will be beginning next Monday and I am quite happy with the bank we have been building since the French Open.

However, I do trawl through the tennis matches every day to see if I can find an edge and try and make a little bit more profit.

Ryan Harrison and James Blake both moved into the 2nd Round with wins over Victor Hanescu and Mikhail Kukushkin respectively, but they fact tough opponents tonight. If both win, that will mean my outright picks go against one another in the next Round, but that was the hope when the picks were made.

On to the Picks:

Dmitry Tursunov - 3.5 games vs Steve Darcis: I can't help feeling that Tursunov has been underestimated a touch in this match and I actually expected him to be a much stronger favourite.

The Russian has move back up to Number 44 in the World following an injury ravaged 2010, and his big serve and groundstrokes should be ideal for the faster North American surfaces. In saying that, his progress up the rankings has not been as rapid simply because he remains a little inconsistent.

Steve Darcis, on the other hand, played his first hard court match of the Summer when beating Federico Gil in the 1st Round and this is an altogether different test.

In fact, Darcis' win in the 1st Round was his first match on a hard court at main tour level this year, and he has played just 6 matches in Challenger events on the surface too.

Last year he didn't even bother playing in a hard court match during this swing and I think Tursunov should be far too strong for him, winning 6-3, 6-4 as he did in their only previous meeting back in 2005.


Andrey Golubev vs Sergiy Stakhovsky: This is very much a pick against Stakhovsky who should not be a big favourite over anyone considering he has lost 4 of his last 5 matches, while Golubev has at least won a Round here and should have a better feel for the conditions.

Golubev has been awful on the main tour events in the last few months, but he picked up a win over Stanislas Wawrinka last week and must feel he can beat an opponent that has been struggling as much as Stakhovsky.

Golubev has won their only previous meeting, and I will pick him to come through here.


MY PICKS: Dmitry Tursunov - 3.5 games @ 1.99 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Andrey Golubev @ 2.48 Pinnacle (1 Unit)