It is another busy week on the calender and these will be my opening picks of the week. The last week was not the best as I started badly and never really recovered, while Juan Monaco could have at least limited the losses from the daily picks if he had not blown the Final in Stuttgart from what looked like a promising position.
I have only made the one outright pick this week and that can be seen here
The first day of the new tournaments always seem to take the layers a little longer to get their prices out so I will make any picks I want from those tournaments in Europe now and come back on the day to make any picks from the two events taking place in North America.
Carlos Berlocq v Gilles Simon: The defending Champion in Hamburg may be Gilles Simon, but this looks like a match that could see a big surprise as the Frenchman could very easily be bounced before the end of the first day of the tournament this season.
Carlos Berlocq won a couple of rounds last week in Umag to get through to the Quarter Final there and that may be a sign that the Argentine is getting back to the form that he was displaying earlier in the season during the clay court swing in South America.
During that run of form, Berlocq actually beat Simon twice in tournaments in Acapulco and Buenos Aires and he may just be able to surprise him again in this early stage.
Simon is a player that is capable of grinding out a result against Berlocq, there is no doubt about that, but moving from the grass courts to the clay courts can make players vulnerable in the early stages. Simon actually lost the first match he played on clay following Wimbledon last season and there is a chance that that could happen again here.
Gilles Muller v Marinko Matosevic: This is going to be the only other pick I am making today and it comes from the tournament in Atlanta.
Gilles Muller is a big serving left-hander, but he is having a downward season compared with 2011. However, he did have a successful time on the hard courts here in North America last Summer, reaching the Semi Final in this event and also the Fourth Round at the US Open.
He faces the Australian Marinko Matosevic who did reach the Final at Delray Beach earlier this season, but one that has not really had a lot of success on the Main Tour on the hard courts. He is just 5-14 outside of the performance at Delray Beach over the last three seasons and this looks like being a tough prospect for him against an opponent that can serve very big at times and make it tough to feel you are involved in a match.
A lot of layers have placed this as a pick 'em contest, but Muller looks worth chancing to make it through to the Second Round.
MY PICKS: Carlos Berlocq @ 2.50 William Hill (1 Unit)
Gilles Muller @ 1.95 Pinnacle (2 Units)
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