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College Football Picks- Playoff First Round 2024 (Friday 20th December-Saturday 21st December)

The first twelve team College Football Playoff Bracket will begin on Friday with the First Round games being played across a couple of days....

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Tennis Picks 2013 (July 17th)

So what to make of the news that Martina Hingis is coming out of retirement? The former World Number 1 is playing in a doubles tournament in the next couple of weeks and has spoken about her desire to return to competition being inspired by performances in the World Team Tennis tournament taking place in the United States.

I am not sure how I feel about her coming back- I have nothing against her wanting to make a return, but the manner in which she retired in 2007, after failing a cocaine test, was just strange as far as I am concerned, especially as Hingis denied taking anything. She has also been coaching on the Tour, but perhaps she has been inspired by seeing Serena Williams remain at the top of the Rankings as well as players like Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci using their variation to remain competitive.

It will be interesting to see if Hingis returns to singles action as well as doubles, but I wouldn't expect her to be a threat to win a Grand Slam in her comeback if she does complete it all the way.


The tournaments around the world will be moving on to the Second Round for the most part on Wednesday and these are the picks from the action on Wednesday.


Fernando Verdasco - 3.5 games v Roberto Bautista-Agut: It will be interesting to see how Fernando Verdasco responds to his defeat in the Final at Bastad last week, but he has shown enough form to think he can take care of Roberto Bautista-Agut in this Second Round match.

Over the last month, Verdasco has won plenty of matches and that confidence could see him through this match. He will need to cut down on the double faults that eventually cost him the chance to win the title in Sweden last week, but he has the power to cause plenty of problems for Bautista-Agut in this one.

The latter had a decent week in Stuttgart last time out, but he might find he is overpowered in this one by his compatriot. Bautista-Agut will look to force Verdasco to play a lot of backhand shots in this one, but Verdasco has been in good enough form to find a way to get his big forehand into play and I expect that will prove to be the difference.

Hopefully Verdasco has left the errors back in Bastad and he can come through this one 64, 64.


Ernests Gulbis - 4.5 games v Jan Hajek: Jan Hajek has already won three matches this week in Hamburg to reach the Second Round of the tournament, but Ernests Gulbis could be a little too good for him in this match.

Hajek can't be underestimated as he has reached a Quarter Final on the clay courts earlier this season and also reached the Semi Final in Bastad at a similar time of the season last year.

However, his serve is not the best and Gulbis should be able to find plenty of opportunities to at least get involved in those games. I would also expect the Latvian to be a little more comfortable on his own serve, although the clay does make life slightly easier for the returner.

I just feel Gulbis should be suitably motivated with a potential chance to take on Roger Federer in the Third Round and I also think his game will match up well in this one and lead to a 64, 63 win.


Robin Haase + 3.5 games v Jerzy Janowicz: It might be foolish to take the games with Robin Haase in this Second Round match after he struggled so badly in the First Round on Tuesday, but that win may give him the confidence to at least make life difficult for Jerzy Janowicz.

The Polish player is making his first appearance since reaching the Semi Final at Wimbledon and it will be interesting to see if he can back up that result over the rest of the season. Janowicz is only 6-5 on the clay courts this season, although he has been beaten by better players than Haase and fans of the big man will point to his four set victory over Robin Haase at the French Open as a reason to why he can go through in this one.

My issue is that Janowicz is going to be feeling a different pressure these days now he has broken out at Wimbledon and while he has the personality to deal with that in my opinion, the first couple of months after a run like he had can be hard to replicate.

There is every chance that Haase could steal a set with a nothing to lose attitude and this does look too many games for Janowicz to be giving away on the slowest surface at this stage of his career.


Johanna Larsson - 5.5 games v Nina Bratchikova: Up until this week, Nina Bratchikova had lost all five matches she had played on the clay courts this season, at the main Tour level, and she is just 3-10 in the last two seasons.

It has been tough for Bratchikova on the surface and she has been comfortably beaten more often than not and it could be the case of more of the same on Wednesday as she takes on a home favourite in Johanna Larsson.

Larsson has hardly pulled up trees on the clay this season, but she played very well in the First Round and she has performed strongly in Bastad over the last couple of seasons.

As long as the Swede can keep control of her emotions, I would expect her to come through 62, 64.


MY PICKS: Fernando Verdasco - 3.5 Games @ 2.05 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Ernests Gulbis - 4.5 Games @ 1.85 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Robin Haase + 3.5 Games @ 2.17 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Johanna Larsson - 5.5 Games @ 2.01 Pinnacle (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 4-3, + 1.44 Units (14 Units Staked, + 10.29% Yield)

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