Tennis Picks March 9th (Indian Wells)

It was a mixed bag of results yesterday as Andreas Seppi came through in three sets with the cover, while Alberta Brianti lost in a third set tie-break when that would have been enough to cover the spread.

Even though this event is similar to a Grand Slam with the huge number of matches on offer, I think there are enough doubts in the early Rounds that I don't want to play too many matches.

However, these are my picks for today as the top Women join the mix in that tournament, while the Men complete their First Round.

Michael Llodra - 2.5 games v Ernests Gulbis: Now this will be considered a slightly risky pick considering the up and down form that both players regularly display, while the head to head is only 3-2 in favour of Michael Llodra.

The courts won't really favour Llodra's serve and volley game but I expect he will be able to put enough pressure on Gulbis that he can force the enigmatic Latvian to crack.

Gulbis has admitted that he needs to find more consistency or his tennis career could be over within the next couple of seasons, but he seems to check out of sets mentally and that is why he struggles to put a run together.

The spread is a tough one to read as one set going to Gulbis could put it in jeopardy, but I am going for Llodra as I think he will be a little more consistent on serve and I will hope Gulbis mentally blows up as he sometimes can.

Denis Istomin - 3.5 games Yen-Hsun Lu: Another tough match as Yen-Hsun Lu is always capable of playing on the hard courts and causing surprises and is also in good form following a win in Singapore last week in a Challenger event.

However, Denis Istomin has been playing well in North America over the last three weeks, including reaching the Final in San Jose and he has also beaten Lu in their only previous meeting, although that was at home around 5 years ago.

My issue is that Istomin can be a little flaky with his play and can go through periods of losing matches, but I think he should be good enough to take care of Lu as their careers are going in opposite directions at this moment in time.


MY PICKS: Michael Llodra - 2.5 games @ 2.05 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Denis Istomin - 3.5 games @ 2.00 Bet Victor (2 Units)


Weekly Update: 1-1, - 0.20 Units (4 Units Staked)