We have reached the Quarter Finals in the tournaments on the ATP side of the Tour and the Semi Finals in the WTA event in Oeiras as another week of the clay court season draws to a close.
May should be a fascinating month with the three big tournaments that are scheduled for the next few weeks, especially knowing all the big names will be back in action with motivation at a high.
Tommy Haas - 3.5 games v Andreas Seppi: I was interested to see how Tommy Haas reacted to his time away from the court, especially with rumours about a shoulder issue, but he looked good in his comeback match.
Haas beat Alejandro Falla fairly comfortably, but I expect it will be that much tougher against Andreas Seppi who came through his Second Round match far easier than I thought he would. That might have been down to Albert Ramos heading to Madrid earlier for the qualifiers, but it was still a good, solid win for Seppi.
The Italian has a serve that can be vulnerable and Haas is going to have the home support to perhaps get on the front foot in this match.
It will be interesting to see if Haas can produce top tennis in back to back days after his lay off, but he should be good enough in a normal situation and come through 64, 64.
Daniel Gimeno-Traver v Marcel Granollers: I have backed Daniel Gimeno-Traver twice already this week and I think he can be backed, for a small interest, to beat his compatriot Marcel Granollers in this Quarter Final in Portugal.
I believe Gimeno-Traver is the better clay court player of the two and Marcel Granollers had been on a poor run of form which won't have done his confidence a lot of good, although he did have an important win in the Second Round against Albert Montanes.
However, you can't ignore the recent poor form of Granollers and the run of wins that Gimeno-Traver has had to get to this Quarter Final and a small interest in him winning another has to be the call.
Victor Hanescu v Gastao Elias: A home tournament means Gastao Elias has the chance to really pick up some big Ranking points and he has done well to move through to the Quarter Final, but now faces an opponent that is very happy on the clay courts.
With a serve like Hanescu has, I would have expected it to translate onto the faster courts, but it seems he likes getting his feet under him when it comes to groundstroke battles and that comes on the slower clay courts.
Elias mainly plays on the Challenger circuit and Hanescu has been a regular winner at that level on the clay courts and I can see his serve causing enough problems to pressure the home player.
If Hanescu is serving well, Elias may push too much on his own serve with the pressure of trying to keep up on the scoreboard and I like the Romanian to eventually come through.
MY PICKS: Tommy Haas - 3.5 Games @ 1.95 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Daniel Gimeno-Traver @ 2.33 Pinnacle (1 Unit)
Victor Hanescu @ 1.73 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Weekly Update: 4-4, - 1.1 Units (16 Units Staked, - 6.88% Yield)
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