Spots in the World Tour Finals in both the ATP and WTA Tournaments are being confirmed as we get down to the final few weeks of the 2018 Tennis season.
The WTA Finals are actually played this month and we are down to three unconfirmed places in the tournament in Singapore which will be decided in the next three weeks. A couple of those players will be looking to cement their place in Singapore with a strong showing the events to be played during this week, but the next two weeks is when the real points can be won which is when all of those players will be in action.
Extra places could open up in the WTA Finals if the likes of Simona Halep are not able to recover from injuries and instead decide to sit out and make sure they are healthy for the start of the 2019 season. Those extra places could make things much more interesting for those on the cusp of reaching the WTA Finals and should make it an interesting final lap in the Race to Singapore.
The biggest tournament being played this week is the Shanghai Masters which is the penultimate Masters event on the ATP Tour. The likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are in action this week and it is a tournament with plenty of points available which is of interest to those players looking to reach the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
It is a tough tournament with some speedy conditions in Shanghai, but I am looking to build on last week which was much better than the previous two weeks.
Tuesday looks to be a difficult day to make Tennis Picks with the completion of the First Round and the start of the Second Round here.
Benoit Paire - 2.5 games v Pablo Carreno Busta: There hasn't been a lot of competitive tennis played by Pablo Carreno Busta since his retirement at the US Open, but the one match played in that time saw him beaten by Benoit Paire in straight sets in the Davis Cup.
You have to have some questions about the fitness of the Spaniard going into this First Round match in Shanghai and he has to face the same opponent who beat him the last time he took to the court. There is much to like about how Carreno Busta has been able to play on the hard courts over the last thirteen months, but I do wonder if he has the tank to outlast Paire in this First Round match.
It is never easy to trust Paire who has the habit of making some stunningly poor shot selections during matches. However Paire has put together some solid performances since going out of the US Open at the hands of Roger Federer and he has produced some good numbers which suggest Paire will be feeling good about his chances to beat Carreno Busta for the second time in the last month.
Paire has won two Qualifiers to get into the main draw in Shanghai- the win over Joao Sousa in the Second Qualifying Round was particularly impressive although I would like to see the Frenchman get more out of his game on the hard courts.
The Carreno Busta numbers have been stronger than Paire's on the hard courts in 2018, but I am going to oppose the Spaniard with some doubts about his fitness going into the final month of the 2018 season. He was beaten pretty handily by Paire in the Davis Cup match last month and Paire's consecutive wins in the Qualifiers should stand him in good stead to win this match as long as the Frenchman can keep his head in the match.
Alex De Minaur - 2.5 games v Vasek Pospisil: The conditions in Shanghai seem to be faster than the majority of the hard court events we will see in the year and that could be a saving grace for Vasek Pospisil. The Canadian has been through some tough moments since his breakthrough year on the Tour and the majority of his successes in the 2018 season have come on the Challenger circuit.
Wins in two Qualifiers will have given Pospisil some confidence to take into the main draw, but his numbers on the hard courts have been very poor when playing in main ATP Tour matches. You can't ignore the obvious power behind the serve that Pospisil has, but his return game has not been at a level he would like and the numbers are someway down on both serve and return in main ATP Tour matches compared with his overall numbers in 2018.
Pospisil has been good enough to get back inside the top 100 of the World Rankings, but he is playing an opponent who got the better of him with some ease when they met on the hard courts in Washington a couple of months ago.
Alex De Minaur won that match in three sets, but he would have made his own life much easier if he had been more efficient when it came to the break points he created. The young Australian has been in very good form in 2018 and looks to have recovered from a blip in the middle of the season as he looks for a strong end to the season which could see De Minuar Seeded when it comes to the first Grand Slam of the season in January.
2018 has proven to be an overall improvement on the hard courts for De Minaur whose numbers have been much better on serve and return. He will be keen to prevent Pospisil from getting into this match by serving as well as he did in Washington, and doing that should mean De Minaur is in a position to win this match in fairly routine fashion.
The Australian has been playing some decent tennis in the last three weeks and I think De Minuar is able to win this match and cover the number with the superior return game compared with Pospisil likely proving to be the difference.
MY PICKS: Benoit Paire - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Alex De Minaur - 2.5 Games @ 1.83 Boyle Sports (2 Units)
Monica Puig - 1.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet365 (2 Units)
Season 2018: + 23.10 Units (1597 Units Staked, + 1.45% Yield)
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