Tennis Picks April 20th (Monte Carlo)

There was some sad news for Novak Djokovic yesterday as his grandfather passed away- for a while there were some doubts as to whether the Serb would continue with this tournament, but I think he is going to and will dedicate the rest of the tournament to his grandfather.

He was not likely to enter any tournaments next week, but this is never an easy time for anyone going through this situation.

Both picks fell yesterday, but both Fernando Verdasco and Janko Tipsarevic had their chances in those matches and just couldn't take advantage of their positions.

We have now got to the Quarter Final stage of the tournament and it finally looks like we will get a couple of decent matches in what has been a disappointing Masters event if I am being honest.


Tomas Berdych + 3.5 games v Andy Murray: I can understand the layers making Andy Murray the favourite between these two players, but I think the games in hand makes Tomas Berdych the pick as he is more than capable of this surface and one of the players that I would favour against the British Number 1 on this surface.

I would normally take Berdych straight up to win on a clay court against Murray, but he has not been in great form recently and he has not played great here so far. However, I think he has full confidence in his own ability to beat Murray and I think this match could easily go the distance.

In that case, the extra games could come in handy regardless of who wins.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - 2.5 games v Gilles Simon: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has beaten Gilles Simon on four straight occasions and I think that is what will give him the edge against his compatriot in this Quarter Final match.

Tsonga was a little fortunate to win the first set against Fernando Verdasco in the last Round, although he did go on to win fairly comfortably in the end. He should still get enough free points if he serves well and I think that scoreboard pressure will eventually tell on Simon.

Tsonga has only lost two sets in the last ten they have competed in, and I think he will have more joy breaking the Simon serve in this one. It might be a tight first set that Simon even takes, but eventually Tsonga should be far too strong and able to cover this spread.


MY PICKS: Tomas Berdych + 3.5 games @ 2.00 Panbet (2 Units)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - 2.5 games @ 2.00 Ladbrokes (2 Units)


Weekly Update: + 2.44 Units (9 Units Staked)