The first of the Quarter Finals are to be played at Roland Garros today and it should be a fascinating afternoon in store, especially when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Roger Federer take to the court at around 3pm British time.
The tournament has been a mini-success for me so far with the picks going 2-1 yesterday and both outright picks making it through to the last eight. With less than a week to go, I hope that run continues as we go forward.
Agnieszka Radwanska - 2.5 games v Sara Errani: It was one of the strange facts of the tournament that Agnieszka Radwanska had never made it through to the last eight at Roland Garros as the clay courts should be a place the Polish player feels comfortable, particularly with her solid defense helping her into the top 5 of the World Rankings.
Now she has to take on the runner up from twelve months ago as Sara Errani continues improving as a singles player to the extent that she is the current World Number 5. Errani is very comfortable on the clay courts too, but I just have a feeling that she could be beaten today as she seems to be carrying some sort of injury.
The Italian has shown plenty of guts to get through the Fourth Round match against Carla Suarez Navarro, but Radwanska will force her to stay on the court all day long if necessary and could grind down Errani's game.
Radwanska has also won 5 straight matches against Errani, including two last season, and the match up is one that I think she will enjoy. I expect this to be an entertaining appetiser to the main course of Tsonga-Federer and I think Radwanska gets through 75 64.
David Ferrer - 8.5 games v Tommy Robredo: Nicolas Almagro has to be kicking himself as he held a 76 63 42 lead over Tommy Robredo, but somehow proceeded to allow his compatriot to recover from two sets down, for the third consecutive match, in a winning effort.
There has to come a point when all that tennis catches up with a player, particularly one on the wrong side of 30 and I do think David Ferrer will be the man to finally end this run that Robredo has been on.
Ferrer is not going to make the errors that Almagro was perhaps guilty of and there is no doubt that this Spaniard is one of the fittest men on Tour. I am expecting Ferrer to force Robredo into some prolonged rallies and that will eventually wear down the player with this much tennis in his legs.
It might be a little close for a while, but I expect Ferrer to come through fairly comfortably in the end in what could be a 64 62 63 win.
Roger Federer - 3.5 games v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: There is no doubt that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is very capable of giving Roger Federer all he can handle, especially when his 'A' game is on, but the clay courts should favour the former World Number 1.
These two played an epic match at the Australian Open earlier this year at the same stage, but the hard courts and grass courts certainly give Tsonga a better opportunity to knock off Federer as far as I am concerned. Over the last few years, Federer has been the second best player on the clay courts behind Rafael Nadal and I think his match with Gilles Simon in the last Round was a blip in form after a fall seemed to disrupt Federer's game.
We might be beginning to see the fruits of the labour that Roger Rasheed's work with Tsonga is bearing, but I am expecting bigger things from the Frenchman over the next three months. He has been very comfortable reaching the Quarter Final here, but as I have mentioned, I don't think the clay courts are the best for Tsonga to take on Federer.
It is likely to go four sets, but I like Federer to come through 63, 64, 57, 76.
MY PICKS: Agnieszka Radwanska - 2.5 Games @ 1.95 Pinnacle (2 Units)
David Ferrer - 8.5 Games @ 1.90 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Roger Federer - 3.5 Games @ 2.10 Pinnacle (2 Units)
French Open Update: 15-10, + 8.58 Units (48 Units Staked, + 17.86% Yield)
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