02/01/08 Full Card
ATP Adelaide - Michael Llodra (FRA) vs Evgueni Korolev (RUS) - Today, 08:30 GMT
Michael Llodra is one of the few French players who really likes to play in Oceania. He is 14-8 since 2004 in this continent and he has reached the final of this tournament back in 2004. I'm not saying this is going to happen again this year (but who knows?), but in fact there are two facts that we know from Llodra's results in this area of the world: the first is that he loves to play with high temperatures and the second one is that he can play close to his best on the first month of the season. Llodra easily got rid of his countrymate and 4th seed in here, Gilles Simon and now he has an open draw until the semi finals. It's not like his opponents will be easy, but at least he won't face a seeded player until the semi finals, at least. He possesses a good serve & volley game and that's pretty effective in this type of surface. He is also very experienced and that usually helps in the tie-breaks. If he's capable of serving on a reasonable level, he won't have problems in holding serve. I can't say the same about Evgeny Korolev.
The talented Russian player is capable of playing some world class tennis, but he's also still very inconsistent, especially on his serve. He was the luckiest player in this tournament in the first round, as his opponent Mario Ancic withdrew and he faced an Australian lucky loser instead. Even against Alun Jones, Korolev had some problems and he almost lost the second set. Llodra is a hard opponent for Korolev because of two reasons: the first one is that Llodra is left-handed. Korolev is 0-4 against Top 100 left handed players outside clay on his career. The second one is that Llodra is a serve & volley player and that's a style of play that makes Korolev struggle. He lost last season against Radek Stepanek, Raemon Sluiter, Ivan Navarro and Ivo Karlovic, all players that just like Llodra, like to serve & volley.
Although this will be a close matchup, if Llodra serves on a good level (just like he did against Simon), he will get this one. Korolev will need his serve to stay in the match and his serve is too inconsistent to help him in doing that. The experienced French player should get this one.
Play 1* unit on Michael Llodra to win @ -108
ATP Doha - Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR) vs Agustin Calleri (ARG) - Today, 15:30 GMT
After going 0-6 in hardcourt matches in the beginning of 2007, Hyung-Taik Lee regrouped and made a run of 13-7 in hardcourt matches in the rest of last year's season. The Korean is a world class player and he is playing his best tennis ever right now. That's funny as Lee is already 32 years old and has a career in the circuit of more than 10 years. He easily got rid of the always dangerous Max Mirnyi in the first round by 6:3 6:2 and that's not surprising, as Lee is a world class returner and he is one of the few players that can return big serves without any kind of problems. He looks always fit and it's like there is no off-season for him. He is playing this week at the same level he ended last season and that's good news for him and bad news for Calleri.
As I predicted, Calleri sent Robredo packing yesterday, but today things will be way tougher for him. Lee is a better returner than Robredo and he is also smarter and more fit than the Spanish player right now. Calleri was capable of outpowering Robredo, but that won't be possible with Lee, who is extremely quick and who can open the angles extremely well, making Calleri run more and never allowing the Argentinian player to shoot a forehand stroke in the way he likes to do it. Calleri is also known for big letdowns after big wins. For example, after he destroyed Hewitt at last year's US Open, he lost in the next round to Juan Monaco, when he was the big favorite to win the match. Also when he defeated world number five David Ferrer in Basel last year, he has also lost in the following round. The Argentinian never seems to be capable of playing well two days in a row and if that happens today, this tournament will be over for him.
Lee is a very smart and experienced player, while Calleri is known for being inconsistent, especially after a big win. Unlike Robredo, Lee is capable of handling Calleri's power and unless the Argentinian pulls out another amazing performance, he is going down today. Take the Korean Lee to win in here.
Play 1* unit on Hyung-Taik Lee to win @ +110
Small plays:
Play 0,5* units on Dinara Safina vs Flavia Pennetta Over 20,5 Games @ -112
Good luck!