As I mentioned yesterday, the weather in Paris was supposed to take a turn for the worse and that was the situation for much of Tuesday. With a couple of lengthy delays. the schedule is already behind as there are still a number of First Round matches to be completed on Wednesday, while the forecast for Thursday suggests we will see limited action on that day too.
Most of the action that did take place on Tuesday saw the big names book their place in the Second Round and Tomas Berdych remains the biggest name to exit the tournament in either the Men's or Women's draw.
The picks went 1-0 yesterday as only Tommy Haas' match was completed, while Bernard Tomic's retirement while two sets and a break of serve behind meant that pick of Victor Hanescu covering the spread was void. Lucie Hradecka's match against Ashleigh Barty was one of the games that was cancelled thanks to the rain delays.
Ana Ivanovic - 6.5 games v Mathilde Johansson: Ana Ivanovic is one of those players that can be frustratingly inconsistent at times, but she has certainly been playing better tennis in 2013 than she has produced in the last couple of seasons.
Playing a home player will be tough, but Ivanovic is one of the faces of the WTA Tour so will surely get a lot of respect and backing herself. She can be a little erratic behind serve, which would be a real concern when trying to cover a spread such as this, but Ivanovic should also have plenty of opportunities to break serve herself.
I expect Ivanovic to find her success after what could be a tough opening set and she should be able to see off Mathilde Johansson with a 63 62 scoreline.
Roger Federer - 9.5 games v Somdev Devvarman: This is certainly a very big spread to cover and we have seen both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic fail to cover big spreads already in the tournament. However, Roger Federer is facing an opponent that has a lot of matches under his belt and is also someone who plays with a rhythm that will give the former World Number 1 chances to win a little easier than his two main rivals for the title.
Somdev Devvarman is still on the long road back after injuries saw him fall out of the top 100 in the World Rankings and he has worked hard to win three qualifying matches and then in the First Round here. That will help improve his Ranking, but Devvarman is not someone that looks like he has a lot of weapons to hurt Federer in this match.
The Indian player doesn't try and get out of his comfort zone to give himself a chance of winning against the players that may be higher than him in the Ranking and playing one way against Roger Federer will likely see him lose fairly comfortably.
If there is the threat of rain in the air, Federer could be looking for a fast start and there is every chance he wins this 61, 63, 64.
Angelique Kerber - 5.5 games v Jana Cepelova: The experience of Angelique Kerber should be enough for her to force Jana Cepelova into enough mistakes in this match to allow the German to move through fairly comfortably.
Kerber had an impressive win in the First Round against Mona Barthel and she is certainly capable of backing that up. Her defensive abilities should force Cepelova into one too many mistakes. However, it should be a competitive match for a while and I wouldn't be surprised if Kerber does have to win a couple of battles to ensure she gets over the line and cover this spread.
I can see the first set being a close 64 win for Kerber before the German is able to get away in the second for a 62 win and the cover.
MY PICKS: Ana Ivanovic - 6.5 Games @ 2.05 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Roger Federer - 9.5 Games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Angelique Kerber - 5,5 Games @ 1.83 Ladbrokes (2 Units)
Lucie Hradecka - 3.5 Games @ 1.92 Pinnacle (2 Units) Advised Yesterday and delayed due to rain
French Open Update: 3-4, - 2.20 Units (14 Units Staked, - 15.71% Yield)
No comments:
Post a Comment