31/12/07 Full Card:
WTA Gold Coast: Julia Schruff (GER) vs Lourdes Dominguez Lino (SPA) - Today, 00:30 GMT
Julia Schruff had an amazing run in the qualifying round, where she won her three matches without dropping a set. She will have a huge advantage over the Spanish player, as she has already three matches on her belt in here and three wins in straight sets in a row will give her a lot of confidence. She dropped a lot of places in the rankings last season, but she uses to have good results in Oceania and in fact she is 11-6 in this continent since 2006. She is a regular hardcourt player, with a consistent game and with some years of experience in the women's main tour.
But Schruff's great shape isn't exactly the main reason of this pick. In fact the main reason is Dominguez Lino's horrible performances outside clay. She is 10-29 outside clay since 2006 and 19 of these 21 defeats were in straight sets. Her moonballing style simply doesn't work on hardcourt and she is ready to take another beatdown at the hands of the confident Schruff.
Schruff is playing extremely well this week and she has easily defeated tougher competition than the rusty moonballer Lino already in here. Take Schruff to win in straight sets.
Play 1* unit on Julia Schruff to win 2-0 @ +137
WTA Auckland: Emilie Loit (FRA) vs Ashley Harkleroad (USA) - Today, 01:00 GMT
Emilie Loit is one of the most consistent and experienced players in the circuit. She prefers technique over power and she is capable of producing a good number of upsets, thanks to that. We are talking about a player who is capable of causing a lot of problems to Top 10 players and who uses to dominate the players that have a lower ranking than her. For example, she is the number 43 of the world right now and last season, she had a record of 19-9 against players outside the Top 50 (Harkleroad is the number 67 right now). The French player reached quarter finals in here last season, including a winner over the now Top 10 Marion Bartoli, in straight sets. As her style doesn't require a lot of power, she isn't error-prone and even on her first match of the season she is capable of performing well, without committing a lot of unforced errors. She is also quite good in her first round matches, as she went 6-3 in 1st round matches in WTA tournaments played on hardcourt last season.
Ashley Harkleroad had a wonderful end of the season in 2007, but those results came in challengers, not in WTA tournaments, where the main players are. She has actually gone 7-14 in matches played in WTA tournaments last season and even though she went 20-8 on hardcourt last season, she lost 7 of the 12 matches she has played last season on WTA tournaments played on hardcourt. She is young and still very inconsistent and she will have problems with Loit's tricky and error-free style of the French player.
If there are players you really want to avoid in your first match of the season, one of them is clearly Emilie Loit. She has the perfect movement on court and when she is at 100% (just like now), she can run forever and return an amazing number of balls to the other side of the court. The American Harkleroad won't have the necessary patience to win the long points against the tricky Loit and the French player will end up winning this one.
Play 1* unit on Emilie Loit to win @ +135
ATP Doha: Thomas Johansson (SWE) vs Igor Andreev (RUS) - Today, 11:30 GMT
Thomas Johansson is one of the most consistent and experienced players in the circuit. He is also one of few active players who can say that he has won a Grand Slam, the Australian Open. This is just one of the things that prove that the Swedish player is extremely good at the beginning of the season and one of the players you really need to pay attention in the first months of the season. He has a massive serve that makes him almost unbreakable on the fast surfaces like this one and his experience gives him the upperhand in the tie-breaks, where he has a success rate of 63% in the last twelve months.
Igor Andreev is an extremely talented player, but he hasn't done much outside clay since his comeback after suffering a knee injury. He uses a ballbashing style of play, something that causes problems to him, as he is error-prone and when you don't have match practice on your legs, you just tend to send balls to the space. His serve is very inconsistent and he can easily get broken against a player like Johansson, who isn't a great returner, but who has the experience necessary to take advantage of his opponent's errors. Unlike Johansson, Andreev isn't a good tie-break player, having a success rate below 50% in the last year.
Even though Andreev has an higher ranking than Johansson, he shouldn't be the favorite in here. The Russian player is prone to commit mistakes during his matches and Johansson is too experienced to not take advantage of them. The Swedish player should prevail in here.
Play 1* unit on Thomas Johansson to win @ +120
ATP Chennai: Xavier Malisse (BEL) vs Gilles Muller (LUX) - Today, 11:30 GMT
It's payback time! Xavier Malisse lost his last match of the season against Gilles Muller on his own country. That should have been one of the most painful defeats for Malisse in the last months. The Belgian player cameback from an injury layoff at the end of the season and he was never capable to return to his amazing shape that he had in early 2007 and that helped him in conquering two ATP tournaments, including this one. He had two months to recover and now he should be ready to defend his title with some decent tennis for his level. We are talking about one of the most talented and experienced players on hardcourt and a player who works hard to avoid any kind of defeat. He has a very complete game, supported by a very good serve that makes him almost unbreakable.
Gilles Muller became known where he defeated Andy Roddick at the US Open a couple of years ago, but he went nowhere after that. He dropped out of Top 100 last season and he is still just the number 117 of the world. He improved his ranking in some challengers, but this is the big league and he hasn't been capable of performing well in ATP tournaments since 2005. He also hates high temperatures and at the time of his match, the sun will be shining and the temperatures should be around 30ºC. That's not good news for Muller.
Malisse hasn't forgotten about the defeat at the hands of Muller and he wants to get revenge today. The difference of quality between these two players is huge and I expect Malisse to come to the court ready to start his title defense, playing some good tennis. Take Malisse minus the games in here.
Play 1* unit on Xaiver Malisse (-3 Games) @ -125
Small plays:
Play 0,5* units on Paul Capdeville to defeat Jurgen Melzer @ +175
Play 0,5* units on Diego Hartfield to defeat Filippo Volandri @ +100
Good luck!
WTA Gold Coast: Julia Schruff (GER) vs Lourdes Dominguez Lino (SPA) - Today, 00:30 GMT
Julia Schruff had an amazing run in the qualifying round, where she won her three matches without dropping a set. She will have a huge advantage over the Spanish player, as she has already three matches on her belt in here and three wins in straight sets in a row will give her a lot of confidence. She dropped a lot of places in the rankings last season, but she uses to have good results in Oceania and in fact she is 11-6 in this continent since 2006. She is a regular hardcourt player, with a consistent game and with some years of experience in the women's main tour.
But Schruff's great shape isn't exactly the main reason of this pick. In fact the main reason is Dominguez Lino's horrible performances outside clay. She is 10-29 outside clay since 2006 and 19 of these 21 defeats were in straight sets. Her moonballing style simply doesn't work on hardcourt and she is ready to take another beatdown at the hands of the confident Schruff.
Schruff is playing extremely well this week and she has easily defeated tougher competition than the rusty moonballer Lino already in here. Take Schruff to win in straight sets.
Play 1* unit on Julia Schruff to win 2-0 @ +137
WTA Auckland: Emilie Loit (FRA) vs Ashley Harkleroad (USA) - Today, 01:00 GMT
Emilie Loit is one of the most consistent and experienced players in the circuit. She prefers technique over power and she is capable of producing a good number of upsets, thanks to that. We are talking about a player who is capable of causing a lot of problems to Top 10 players and who uses to dominate the players that have a lower ranking than her. For example, she is the number 43 of the world right now and last season, she had a record of 19-9 against players outside the Top 50 (Harkleroad is the number 67 right now). The French player reached quarter finals in here last season, including a winner over the now Top 10 Marion Bartoli, in straight sets. As her style doesn't require a lot of power, she isn't error-prone and even on her first match of the season she is capable of performing well, without committing a lot of unforced errors. She is also quite good in her first round matches, as she went 6-3 in 1st round matches in WTA tournaments played on hardcourt last season.
Ashley Harkleroad had a wonderful end of the season in 2007, but those results came in challengers, not in WTA tournaments, where the main players are. She has actually gone 7-14 in matches played in WTA tournaments last season and even though she went 20-8 on hardcourt last season, she lost 7 of the 12 matches she has played last season on WTA tournaments played on hardcourt. She is young and still very inconsistent and she will have problems with Loit's tricky and error-free style of the French player.
If there are players you really want to avoid in your first match of the season, one of them is clearly Emilie Loit. She has the perfect movement on court and when she is at 100% (just like now), she can run forever and return an amazing number of balls to the other side of the court. The American Harkleroad won't have the necessary patience to win the long points against the tricky Loit and the French player will end up winning this one.
Play 1* unit on Emilie Loit to win @ +135
ATP Doha: Thomas Johansson (SWE) vs Igor Andreev (RUS) - Today, 11:30 GMT
Thomas Johansson is one of the most consistent and experienced players in the circuit. He is also one of few active players who can say that he has won a Grand Slam, the Australian Open. This is just one of the things that prove that the Swedish player is extremely good at the beginning of the season and one of the players you really need to pay attention in the first months of the season. He has a massive serve that makes him almost unbreakable on the fast surfaces like this one and his experience gives him the upperhand in the tie-breaks, where he has a success rate of 63% in the last twelve months.
Igor Andreev is an extremely talented player, but he hasn't done much outside clay since his comeback after suffering a knee injury. He uses a ballbashing style of play, something that causes problems to him, as he is error-prone and when you don't have match practice on your legs, you just tend to send balls to the space. His serve is very inconsistent and he can easily get broken against a player like Johansson, who isn't a great returner, but who has the experience necessary to take advantage of his opponent's errors. Unlike Johansson, Andreev isn't a good tie-break player, having a success rate below 50% in the last year.
Even though Andreev has an higher ranking than Johansson, he shouldn't be the favorite in here. The Russian player is prone to commit mistakes during his matches and Johansson is too experienced to not take advantage of them. The Swedish player should prevail in here.
Play 1* unit on Thomas Johansson to win @ +120
ATP Chennai: Xavier Malisse (BEL) vs Gilles Muller (LUX) - Today, 11:30 GMT
It's payback time! Xavier Malisse lost his last match of the season against Gilles Muller on his own country. That should have been one of the most painful defeats for Malisse in the last months. The Belgian player cameback from an injury layoff at the end of the season and he was never capable to return to his amazing shape that he had in early 2007 and that helped him in conquering two ATP tournaments, including this one. He had two months to recover and now he should be ready to defend his title with some decent tennis for his level. We are talking about one of the most talented and experienced players on hardcourt and a player who works hard to avoid any kind of defeat. He has a very complete game, supported by a very good serve that makes him almost unbreakable.
Gilles Muller became known where he defeated Andy Roddick at the US Open a couple of years ago, but he went nowhere after that. He dropped out of Top 100 last season and he is still just the number 117 of the world. He improved his ranking in some challengers, but this is the big league and he hasn't been capable of performing well in ATP tournaments since 2005. He also hates high temperatures and at the time of his match, the sun will be shining and the temperatures should be around 30ºC. That's not good news for Muller.
Malisse hasn't forgotten about the defeat at the hands of Muller and he wants to get revenge today. The difference of quality between these two players is huge and I expect Malisse to come to the court ready to start his title defense, playing some good tennis. Take Malisse minus the games in here.
Play 1* unit on Xaiver Malisse (-3 Games) @ -125
Small plays:
Play 0,5* units on Paul Capdeville to defeat Jurgen Melzer @ +175
Play 0,5* units on Diego Hartfield to defeat Filippo Volandri @ +100
Good luck!