Lleyton Hewitt -450
Yen Hsun Lu -350
Marin Cilic -450
No disrespect to Seppi because he's certainly no pushover (especially on this surface), but Hewitt is a different human when he plays in Australia and still has the ability to beat the best when he's on his game. Hewitt won the tournament in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago, and has beaten Murray, Federer and Nishikori in his last 3 matches. Seppi is currently on a four game losing streak and I expect Hewitt to make it five with a close-faught, but relatively comfortable win here.
Yen-Hsun Lu has a convincing lead in the head-to-head series with Jimmy Wang, sporting a 5-0 record, without dropping a set in the process. Lu is the higher ranked player and is showing the better form early this year, beating Ferrer on the way to an impressive runner-up finish in Auckland. I expect Lu to win this one comfortably (3-0 or 3-1).
Cilic leads the overall head-to-head series with Gronollers 5-1 (3-1 on hardcourts), and is undoubtedly the more talented player of the two. It was a frustrating, injury plagued 2013 season for Cilic and he will be determined to come back strong this year, starting with a deep run in the Australian Open. Cilic has reached at least the fourth round in four of his last five outings at this tournament, including a semi-final appearance in 2010. Granollers is capable of beating high ranked opponents when his game all comes together, but for me it doesn't 'click' for him often enough. He is inconsistant, erratic at times, and will come up short here against an opponent desperate to climb back up the rankings to where he belongs.
Best of luck! Lets cash it!
Yen Hsun Lu -350
Marin Cilic -450
No disrespect to Seppi because he's certainly no pushover (especially on this surface), but Hewitt is a different human when he plays in Australia and still has the ability to beat the best when he's on his game. Hewitt won the tournament in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago, and has beaten Murray, Federer and Nishikori in his last 3 matches. Seppi is currently on a four game losing streak and I expect Hewitt to make it five with a close-faught, but relatively comfortable win here.
Yen-Hsun Lu has a convincing lead in the head-to-head series with Jimmy Wang, sporting a 5-0 record, without dropping a set in the process. Lu is the higher ranked player and is showing the better form early this year, beating Ferrer on the way to an impressive runner-up finish in Auckland. I expect Lu to win this one comfortably (3-0 or 3-1).
Cilic leads the overall head-to-head series with Gronollers 5-1 (3-1 on hardcourts), and is undoubtedly the more talented player of the two. It was a frustrating, injury plagued 2013 season for Cilic and he will be determined to come back strong this year, starting with a deep run in the Australian Open. Cilic has reached at least the fourth round in four of his last five outings at this tournament, including a semi-final appearance in 2010. Granollers is capable of beating high ranked opponents when his game all comes together, but for me it doesn't 'click' for him often enough. He is inconsistant, erratic at times, and will come up short here against an opponent desperate to climb back up the rankings to where he belongs.
Best of luck! Lets cash it!
