Tennis Picks 2013 (July 16th)

The opening day of the week produced a positive 3-1 success rate from the picks made and Tuesday is loaded with plenty of matches from the various tournaments being played this week.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that there will be a lot of options and the following are the picks for July 16th:

Federico Delbonis v Julian Reister: Federico Delbonis qualified for the main tournament in Hamburg and I feel he will be able to take out one of the home players in Julian Reister.

Both players have enjoyed plenty of success at the Challenger level when it comes to clay court tournaments, but it is Delbonis that has been able to convert some of that form onto the main Tour level in the past.

Neither player can claim to be used to the main Tour level, but Delbonis has won a couple of matches here so the conditions will not hold too many fears for him. The Argentine also beat Reister comfortably at the French Open, although the latter did have to qualify for that tournament and he could have been tired at the time.

Going against a home player in a tight match as this one might not be the wisest idea, but I do think Delbonis is the more comfortable clay court player and I think he will come through as the underdog.

Robin Haase - 2.5 games v Diego Sebastian Schwartzman: Another qualifier may not have as much success as Federico Delbonis as far as I am concerned and that is Diego Sebastian Schwartzman who takes on Robin Haase.

Robin Haase is one of the most erratic players on the Tour and he can't be totally trusted as he is capable of throwing in a terrible match at any point. However, he has reached the Final in the last two Challenger events he has played on the clay and he also has a couple of Quarter Finals on the main Tour under his belt.

It was also around this time twelve months ago that Haase won a title on the clay courts and he will feel he has the beating on Schwartzman who is 1-4 on the main Tour on clay. Schwartzman has won a couple of qualifying matches here so he should be able to gain some confidence from that, but a lot of his success has come against players ranked much lower than Haase.

Like I said, Haase isn't the most trustworthy player on the Tour, but he should be a little too good in this one and come through 75, 64.


Xavier Malisse v Alejandro Falla: The home crowd will be 100% behind Alejandro Falla in this one, but I don't believe it will be enough for him to overcome some of the injury problems he has had over the last couple of months.

Those injuries has seen Falla retire in two of his last three matches and he has lost five straight matches, all of which doesn't bode well against a capable opponent like Xavier Malisse.

However, you can't always trust you are going to get the best of Malisse these days and his erratic play fluctuates badly within matches. This will be his first match since being beaten in the First Round at Wimbledon and he also had a poor time on the clay courts, although that was more expected.

Malisse does have a couple of Quarter Final appearances earlier this season and the hard courts do favour his game. If Falla had been in better form or not shown any injury problems, the home support could have carried him here- but with those doubts and this being a pick 'em contest, I would back Malisse to make it through to the Second Round.

MY PICKS: Federico Delbonis @ 2.00 Boyle Sports (2 Units)

Robin Haase - 2.5 Games @ 1.92 Bet 365 (2 Units)
Xavier Malisse @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 3-1, + 3.44 Units (8 Units Staked, + 43% Yield)