Tennis Picks Miami 2013 (March 21st)

It hasn't been the greatest start to the tournament here for me on a personal level, but hopefully things will get moving in the right direction in the coming days. Despite that, I am glad to see that I am still not having a terrible time and a small loss can be rectified as the tournament gains speed.


Yanina Wickmayer - 2.5 games v Ayumi Morita: Ayumi Morita came back from a big deficit to beat Heather Watson in the First Round, but I don't believe she will be as fortunate when she comes up against Yanina Wickmayer in the Second Round.

Wickmayer is very inconsistent, but will have a confidence boost from the fact she has beaten Morita in both previous matches, including for the loss of just three games in Doha a little over twelve months ago.

Both players have had their injury problems of late, but I think Wickmayer has enough in her tank to at least come through one Round here. My only concern is that the Belgian does tend to drift in sets and can fall to big losses in one set despite winning matches. However, I think she will have enough belief and talent to ensure she should cover, even if the match happens to go into a third set.


Venus Williams - 5.5 games v Kimiko Date-Krumm: There is little doubt, despite still being Number 18 in the World Rankings, that Venus Williams is not the player of yesteryear, although it is now very rare that she will face someone OLDER than her on the Main Tour.

I think that means Williams will still have the edge over her opponent, even though the elder of the famous tennis playing sisters is not the same dominant force she used to be.

However, Venus destroyed Kimiko Date-Krumm here in Miami last year and she is still capable on her day. On the other hand, Date-Krumm is beginning to slip massively down the Rankings and has lost a lot of matches over the last twelve months.

While Venus makes more errors these days and her serve isn't as potent as it used to be, I still think she is capable of coming through with a 6-4, 6-2 win.


Marion Bartoli - 1.5 games v Andrea Petkovic: Andrea Petkovic was a real character on the Main Tour and was beginning to find herself at the latter stages of big events on the WTA Tour until injury has forced her to take a backward step.

The German has played little tennis this year and I think the layers are over-estimating her chances of knocking off Marion Bartoli, even though Petkovic has won 3 of the last 4 matches between the players.

Bartoli has been playing some decent tennis and will force Petkovic to earn every point and I am not sure she will be able to do that on current match fitness. Only some of the bigger names in the Women's game have been able to knock Bartoli off so far in 2013, and I think the Frenchwoman will be too strong right now.


MY PICKS: Yanina Wickmayer - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Venus Williams - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Marion Bartoli - 1.5 Games @ 1.85 Pinnacle (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 3-3, - 0.30 Units (12 Units Staked, - 0.36% Yield)