Hopman Cup: Argentina (0-0) vs France (0-0)
The Hopman Cup is a teams competition, where each country has a male and a female player. After a men's singles match and a women's singles match are played, a mixed doubles match is played between the two teams. The country with most wins, gets the tie.
Argentina: Juan Ignacio Chela & Gisela Dulko
France: Arnaud Clement & Tatiana Golovin
Matches played in Perth, Australia. The surface is indoor hard.
Match #2: Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) vs Arnaud Clement (FRA) - Match starts at Sunday, 10:30 GMT
Juan Ignacio Chela had a career year last season and I'm sure he will want to do even better this season. And honestly, I believe he has enough talent to do it. He finished the season in the Top 20 for the first time in his career, thanks to consistent results during the whole season, in different surfaces. He has also proved something that I knew a long time ago: he isn't a claycourter and he is a very dangerous player on fast surfaces too, just like the one the Hopman Cup possesses. The first match of the season is always hard for a player, but he has one advantage over his opponent: the weather won't bother him. Just like in Australia, it's also Summer in Argentina and high temperatures is something that Chela has been living with in the past few weeks. He is also known for performing well in high temperatures (just look at his results in the South American clay tournaments in the middle of the Summer) and especially on this side of the planet, where he possesses a 15-8 record since 2005, with semi finals in Auckland and Adelaide and a fourth round presence in the Australian Open.
Even though Argentinian players are known for being rather short, this isn't the case with Chela, who is pretty tall and he is capable of putting some nice serves. Even though this height difference, Chela is a typical Argentinian player with a good movement on court and a versatile game, ready to outgrind his opponents in any side of the court. Also just like a typical Latin player, he plays his best while representing his country, so even though this is just an exhibition tournament, make sure he will give his best to give the win to his country. Chela has already participated in an exhibition tournament (Copa Argentina), where he defeated Agustin Calleri in straight sets, before losing to David Nalbandian, so he won't be that rusty.
Now, onto Arnaud Clement. The veteran French player is a sub in here for the injured Gael Monfils, so taking part in here wasn't exactly on his plans. He was expected to have another week of vacations, as he didn't sign up for any tournament this week, but with Monfils' injury, he was invited to participate in here and he accepted. Clement is the typical French player, ready to play at any kind of surface. But just like the typical French player, he gets annoyed by high temperatures. Even though this tournament is played in an indoor court, it's still very hot and there isn't an air conditioning good enough to make the court cold enough in the middle of the Australian Summer. In fact, the French player is just 5-9 in matches played in this Continent since 2005 (qualifying matches not included, as the competition is pretty weak).
The matchup is an easy one to study, as both players use a similar style. They are talented baseliners, but Chela is clearly the one with more ability to return serve and to survive in a long match. He is also the one who will be more motivated to win in here, as Golovin (FRA) should beat Dulko early on (ARG), so Chela will need to win in here to prevent a French win, even before the mixed doubles begins. He is also more adapted to the hot conditions in here and this tournament was on his schedule a long time ago, unlike Clement who has only entered this tournament in the last minute.
I predict that Chela will be able to beat Clement and save Argentina from a 0-2 loss in here. It may take a third set, but the Argentinian should be too fit and consistent for the French player, who is just coming now from his vacations. Take Chela in here.
Play 1* unit on Juan Ignacio Chela to win @ -125
