01/01/08 Full Card
ATP Adelaide: Dudi Sela (ISR) vs Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) - Today, 08:30 GMT
Dudi Sela had an amazing end of the season in 2007, going 18-3 since the beginning of October. He is pretty versatile and extremely talented, being capable of playing well on every side of the court. He is now climbing places in the rankings in a fast pace and he will be at Top 50 soon. His versatile game (special mention for his backhand) gives him chances to beat any kind of opponent and if that wasn't enough, he is a true warrior on the court, being capable of recovering from huge disadvantages in some matches. He has a never surrender attitude that will give a big headache to Hewitt today, as he will have nothing to lose and a win over one of the best popular players in the circuit to gain.
Lleyton Hewitt is still a very good player, but he is not that good anymore. He finished last season out of Top 20 for the first time in many years and that's one of the things that prove that the Australian has played better before. Even though this is his hometown tournament, Hewitt feels the pressure too much in here and ends up playing in an awful way. One of things that proves that is that he is 1-5 ats (against the spread) in matches played in Adelaide and Sydney since 2006. He uses to have large spreads like this one and then he ends up losing or winning in a very close match. That's what I'm expecting to happen in here today.
Dudi Sela is one of the most talented youngsters in the tour and the weather won't bother him at all. He trained the whole off-season to become even better, while Hewitt has a family to take care during the off-season. The pressure on Hewitt's arms will be huge again on a night match and if Dudi Sela doesn't get nervous and plays a good match, then he will cover the spread. Take Sela plus the games in here.
Play 1* unit on Dudi Sela (+5 Games) @ -118
ATP Adelaide: Alejandro Falla (COL) vs Jose Acasuso (ARG) - Today, 08:30 GMT
Make no mistake with Falla! Even though he is South American, he is very good on fast surfaces. He has actually re-entered the Top 100 thanks to his results on tournaments played on fast surfaces and not thanks to tournaments played on clay. He is a good baseliner, with a good fighting spirit and a good dose of patience and cold blood to win close matches, like this one may be. Falla has defeated a good number of Top 10 players like season, like Ivan Ljubicic and Tommy Haas, so it won't be Acasuso that will make him nervous in his first match of the season. His style of play isn't error-prone, so expect a consistent performance from him today.
Jose Acasuso hates to play in Australia. He has lost the last five matches he has played in here and his last win in this country was in 2003 and it was thanks to the retirement of his opponent. He decided to enter this tournament to prepare the Australian Open better, but when he lacks match practice, he is extremely error-prone and he can't win a match to save his life. His ballbashing and lack of patience attitude will kill him today, as on the first match of the season, things never go very well and Acasuso will end up self-destroying himself, with the help of the tricky game of Falla.
Falla is the type of player that likes to take advantage of his opponent's errors and he has a good match to do it today. Acasuso struggles in this type of conditions and he is terrible when he lacks match practice. Take the Colombian Falla to win in here.
Play 1* unit on Alejandro Falla to win @ +104
ATP Doha: Agustin Calleri (ARG) vs Tommy Robredo (SPA) - Today, 13:00 GMT
Agustin Calleri is the type of player that is capable of the best and the worst on a tennis court. But if we look back to his results, it is more likely that we are going to see something close to his best tennis tomorrow. Calleri uses to play well in the beginning of the season and for example, he reached semi finals of the first tournament he has played last season, in Auckland. He has a very good serve and his powerful strokes are capable of destroying anyone in sight. Hewitt is yet to understand how the Argentinian squashed him at the US Open last year, for example. Calleri is a good hardcourt player and he has been working since early December to improve his ranking this season. He is 42th right now and he will want to get back to the Top 30 at least.
Tommy Robredo isn't exactly a player that performs well on first rounds of optional tournaments ouside clay. Since 2006 he has gone 6-9 ats in this type of matches. Robredo needs some rhythm and he hates to play against players like Calleri that are capable of outpower him. Also Robredo will be rusty just like everybody and so, his best weapon on court (movement) won't work that well and the Spanish will have problems in reaching to Calleri's powerful strokes today. Robredo is 5-8 SU against Argentinian players outside clay since 2004 and I wouldn't be surprised if this record turns into 5-9 today.
Calleri is capable of taking out good players like Robredo, especially when the Spanish won't move as well as he uses to move when he is at 100%. Even though I think Calleri is going to get this one, I'm playing it safe and just taking Calleri plus the games in here.
Play 1* unit on Agustin Calleri (+3,5) @ -112
Small Plays:
Play 0,5* units on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs Victor Hanescu Over 22,5 Games @ -118
Good luck!
