Tennis Picks 2014 (May 24th)

The French Open draw was made on Friday and I will have a full breakdown of the event before the Grand Slam gets underway on Sunday. For now, I am concentrating on the Finals of this week's tournaments that are to be completed on Saturday and allow the players to make their way to Paris with some momentum behind them.

Of course, the majority of the players left on Saturday won't be expected to have a deep run in Paris over the next two weeks, but the added confidence they have earned this week may make them surprise packages against the more established names on the Tour.


After the disappointment of Thursday, Friday proved to be a much better day with the luck ending up going with me rather than against me. That was proven by Ivo Karlovic's win in his Semi Final in Dusseldorf despite winning fewer points than Jiri Vesely and also means the week has at least recovered from the terrible Thursday action.


Ernests Gulbis - 3.5 games v Federico Delbonis: Both players have come through to the Final with little trouble in the Semi Final, but overall you would have to say that Federico Delbonis has had the better week in terms of results and ease of moving through the draw.

That won't matter to Ernests Gulbis who will look to keep the pressure on his opponent with a big serve that can produce a lot of easy points. The easy power that the Latvian can generate off the ground should also give Delbonis plenty to think about, although you have to credit the young Argentine for reaching another Tour Final on the clay courts.

The lefty serve will cause some problems for Gulbis, particularly early in the match, but I think the latter will still get involved in more service games and eventually that pressure will help him breakthrough.

At the end of the match, I would be expecting Gulbis to be lifting the title after a 64, 64 win.


Monica Puig - 3.5 games v Silvia Soler-Espinosa: I have a lot of respect for what Silvia Soler-Espinosa has done this week considering she had to come through the qualifiers before heading all the way to the Final in Strasbourg, but her run should come to an end at the hands of Monica Puig.

The hard hitting South American is very comfortable on the clay courts and she has been very impressive all week and I think Puig has the confidence and ability to finish it off in the right manner and pick up the title.

I expect Puig's power to be one of the key differences between the two players and I also think three consecutive matches that have needed three sets to be completed may end up taking the toll on Soler-Espinosa. That is more fatiguing when considering matches have been played without rest for three or four days and it has already been a long week for the Spaniard.

There should be some breaks of serve, but I expect Puig to come through 64, 64.

MY PICKS: Ernests Gulbis - 3.5 Games @ 1.95 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Monica Puig - 3.5 Games @ 1.83 Pinnacle (2 Units)

Weekly Update: 7-7, - 0.50 Units (27 Units Staked, - 1.85% Yield)