Indian Wells Tennis Picks 2014 (March 9th)

It was a fairly horrific day yesterday for the picks as all four went down without any luck on their side. There were a couple of close calls with Ekaterina Makarova having a chance to serve out the match, but failing to do that, while Lleyton Hewitt had the better of the first set, but couldn't pick it up before going down in straight sets.

Andy Murray had a few chances to win his match in easier fashion than he did, but Julia Goerges started off terribly and only just played a little better in the second set but couldn't take her chances to perhaps push that into a third set.


Sometimes it is the way things go and you just have to hope the little bit of luck is on the right side going forward after a poor day.


Tomas Berdych - 4.5 games v Roberto Bautista-Agut: He is one of the form players on the Tour and while the first match in a new tournament can be hard to get a read on, Tomas Berdych should have a little too much about him for Roberto Bautista-Agut.

The problem for the Spaniard is that Berdych has been returning serve so well thanks to feeling the confidence behind his own serve.

That is an area where Berdych has been particularly good over the last few weeks and I think he will be happy with the conditions and force his way through to the Third Round with a 64, 63 win.


Marin Cilic - 5.5 games v Paolo Lorenzi: I backed the Italian to come through his First Round match, but I think the issue of having to come through qualifiers as well as three sets in the last Round might begin to take a toll on Paolo Lorenzi.

The fact he is playing one of the in-form players on the Tour in Marin Cilic is another problem, especially as Cilic has been serving well under the tutelage of Goran Ivanisevic.

Cilic's return game has always been under-rated too and I think he will find the breaks of serve to go through 64, 62.


I've had a few things to do today so the post is shorter than it would usually be, but I have added four other picks which you can see below.

MY PICKS: Tomas Berdych - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Marin Cilic - 5.5 Games @ 2.10 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Richard Gasquet - 5.5 Games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Ernests Gulbis - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Fernando Verdasco - 3.5 Games @ 1.90 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Grigor Dimitrov - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Ladbrokes (2 Units)

Indian Wells Update: 6-9, - 6.66 Units (30 Units Staked, - 22.2% Yield)