It has been a few days since the last tennis tournaments were completed and the start of the main tournament at Indian Wells, but finally the First Round of the Masters begins and the First Round of the WTA event are completed.
My outright picks of the week can be found here
There may be quite a few matches taking place today, but these are the few picks that I like the best:
Ernests Gulbis - 2 games v Feliciano Lopez: Ernests Gulbis has showed plenty of form and ability over the last three weeks and I do think he will be good enough to beat Feliciano Lopez as long as all the tennis hasn't caught up with the Latvian.
He came through qualifiers to win the tournament at Delray Beach last week and that wasn't enough to get him a Wildcard into Indian Wells so he has come through a couple of qualifiers here too. While that proves the focus is still there for Gulbis, I think it is a lot of tennis being played by someone who might not be used to making the business end of tournaments and winning a lot of matches in a short period of time.
Confidence has to be high though, and that could be enough for him to see of Feliciano Lopez who is almost certainly on the way down the Rankings. Lopez did reach the Semi Final in Memphis recently, but the slower conditions in Indian Wells should favour his opponent and I think Gulbis will continue the fine form he has shown.
Ryan Harrison - 2.5 games v Go Soeda: While the first pick is a player in fine form, the second is one that is trying to find his feet after a disappointing start to the 2013 season. Many thought Ryan Harrison could make a real breakthrough on the Tour this season, but he has struggled over the last month or so with First Round exits in San Jose, Memphis and Delray Beach.
It isn't just the early exits that would be a concern, but the fact that Harrison lost to players he should be beating and Go Soeda will fall into that category.
Soeda has also made an early exit in tournaments over the last month or so since winning a Challenger event in Hawaii, but he is generally found wanting at this level. On normal form, Harrison would likely win this one by the same straights sets he did in their only previous match at Winston Salem back in August.
However, I'll take him to cover the games here in what could be a closer match than anticipated but one the American will find a way to get through.
MY PICKS: Ernests Gulbis - 2 Games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Ryan Harrison - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Pinnacle (2 Units)
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