Tennis Picks August 2nd ATP Kitzbuhel

I don't have time to put up a long post on this occasion, but I do have 2 picks from this tournament and will be hoping I can come out with a profit:

Joao Souza vs Jerzy Janowicz


Filippo Volandri vs Marcel Granollers




MY PICKS: Joao Souza @ 1.83 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Filippo Volandri @ 2.88 BetFred (1 Unit)

Tennis Picks July 26th Umag and Gstaad

I am going to do the same thing I did last week and separate my picks from the European tournaments and the ones in the United States. With both Stanford and Los Angeles being on the West Coast, it means the schedule is released too late for me to make them in the evening in Britain, instead I will put them up at some point on my lunch tomorrow and that still leaves plenty of time to read them and make your minds up if you want to follow.

I was also keep separate running totals from the two continents and then add them together at the end of the week when updating the overall profit/loss on Sunday.

So on to the European picks for July 26th:

Double; Filippo Volandri vs Mate Pavcic and Fabio Fognini vs Rui Machado: I am going for an Italian double from the tournament at Umag as both players should be too strong and experienced for their opponents.

Filippo Volandri has always saved his best tennis for the clay courts and won a tournament in Italy on the surface last week and plays an opponent who has only just turned 18 and has played 2 previous matches on the Challenger tour in his career. It will be hard for Mate Pavcic with his inexperience against someone who can play well on the surface, even though he should get plenty of home support.

Fabio Fognini is a former Semi Finalist here, but he is not the most trustworthy player on the tour. He faces Rui Machado who comes into the contest having won a Challenger on clay last week in Poland, but he has struggled on the Main Tour so far.

Fognini has beaten Machado on clay in their only previous meeting and I think he should be good enough to do so again.


Steve Darcis vs Daniel Gimeno-Traver: This has been priced up with Steve Darcis as the underdog but I think he has a real chance of getting through. He won a Challenger event on clay a couple of weeks ago in Holland and he also reached the 3rd Round at the French Open after qualifying for the event.

Daniel Gimeno-Traver has struggled for wins this season and it can be tough for players to get out of a funk and start winning matches, especially when matches get tight. He has won just 3 of his last 11 matches, 1 of those thanks to a Marcel Granollers retirement, and he is just 5-11 on the clay courts this season.

Darcis also holds a 2-0 head to head record against Gimeno-Traver, both of those wins coming on clay courts although they last met in 2007. Darcis is yet to lose a set in those matches against the Spaniard and he may just have the edge tomorrow.


Victor Hanescu vs Jarkko Nieminen: I thought these two would have been priced up as a pick 'em match but was a little surprised to see Victor Hanescu down as the underdog.

Hanescu's best performances have come on the clay courts in the past and he did reach the Final in Nice just before the French Open. Add to that a Semi Final appearance in Casablanca and a 3rd Round appearance in Barcelona and it is clear that Hanescu remains more than capable of winning on the clay.

Jarkko Nieminen has a winning record on the clay this season and was only narrowly beaten in the 3rd Round in Hamburg last week to the eventual winner Gilles Simon. That shows the Finn is in good form, but I still think this match is perhaps priced up the wrong way.

Hanescu is 1-2 down in the head to head and all the meetings have come on clay- however, it was Hanescu who won the last match last year in Casablanca.

The previous meeting between the two before that one was also in Casablanca but back in 2005 and I think Hanescu is capable of doing the same as last year and beating Nieminen on clay.


MY PICKS: Double; Filippo Volandri and Fabio Fognini @ 2.03 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Steve Darcis @ 2.00 Ladbrokes (2 Units)
Victor Hanescu @ 2.20 William Hill (2 Units)

Tennis Picks July 14th

It was a much better day for me yesterday with Juan Monaco and Potito Starace both winning their matches, albeit making life much tougher for themselves than was likely required.

It has been tough picking in matches this week as a lot of the favourites have struggled. For example, in Stuttgart 6 of the 8 seeds fell before the 2nd Round and there are some big priced winners in that tournament.

That's not to say it is easy to pick these matches- some of the results could easily have gone another way if 1 or 2 points had landed differently, but the week has shown how tough it can be in the World of tennis to consistently pick winners.

I had felt my luck was all but out earlier in the week as players seemed to be crumbling without much notice in matches; the worst example was Igor Andreev losing a 3-0 lead in the final set against Diego Junqueira.

It didn't help my mood much to notice Junqueira won just 1 game against Robin Soderling tonight. That result just makes me wonder what Andreev was playing at in his match to blow a lead as badly as he did.


Now is not the time to complain though, not while one of my outright picks of the week is still alive and the loss from earlier in the week has been reduced somewhat.

On to the Days Picks:

Double- Juan Monaco vs Blaz Kavcic and Filippo Volandri vs Andreas Haider-Maurer: Juan Monaco had to dig deep to get through his match with Carlos Berlocq yesterday, but I am going to keep faith with the Argentine in a matchup he should be able to take advantage of.

Blaz Kavcic has not really had the wins on clay courts previously to suggest he can beat a player of Monaco's calibre, but he can up his level for short bursts.

If Monaco can stay with him while Kavcic is on a high level of play, he should be able to take advantage of his dips and win through.

Filippo Volandri is a clay courter, but has really struggled to maintain the form that saw him beat Roger Federer in Rome in 2007. However, he should hold the mental edge over Andreas Haider-Maurer since he has 2 wins over him, both in straight sets, on clay courts this season.

Haider-Maurer took advantage of a favourable draw against Mikhail Kukushkin, but this is a much stiffer test and one he has failed to pass twice. I dont expect the Austrian to make it third time lucky.


David Ferrer - 5.5 games vs Pere Riba-Madrid: I was a little concerned with David Ferrer's state of mind after all the mental efforts it took to lead Spain to a Davis Cup win over the USA on Sunday. He has also had to travel from Texas to Sweden, but the extra day of rest could be crucial to his ability in this match.

Pere Riba-Madrid has not had the same impact on the main tour as he has had on the Challenger circuit and I see Ferrer's consistency causing him problems during this match.

Ferrer is a player that will give it his all if he does take part in a tournament and I expect he will come through 6-4, 6-2.


Mikhail Youzhny - 3 games vs Juan Carlos Ferrero: Mikhail Youzhny was excellent in his comfortable win over Phillip Petzschner in the last Round and I expect he will come out on top against the classy Juan Carlos Ferrero here.

Ferrero usually reserves his best tennis for the clay, but a lack of matches could seriously undermine him against a tough opponent like Youzhny.

This will only be Ferrero's 7th match since the US Open last September and I just feel Youzhny can grind him down.

The Russian is 1-2 against Ferrero in the head to heads, but his sole win came in 4 sets at the French Open and I think he can remain the highest seed left in Stuttgart.


MY PICKS: Double- Juan Monaco and Filippo Volandri @ 2.25 William Hill (2 Units)
David Ferrer - 5.5 games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)
Mikhail Youzhny - 3 games @ 2.00 Pinnacle (2 Units)


WEEKLY UPDATE: - 2.61 Units