[EaglesPhan36]

Rode some of the Frenchies to wins in the early rounds in Spain. Time to fade one.

Ljubicic +105 (Simon)
The Croat has a 2-0 mark vs. Simon and beat him on the hard courts in March of this year. I have always been surprised when looking at Ljubicic's clay court form because he plays better on it than I would expect. He's won 14 of his last 20 matches on dirt and has beaten the likes of Tsonga, Del Potro & Davydenko (French Open) in that span. Simon is a solid player, we know this. But inconsistency has plagued him in 2009. He did win a couple of clay court tourneys in the midst of his breakout 2008 season, but this year, he's 4-3 in clay matches with three wins over Fognini. If the Big Croat hums that first serve for points, he has a definite shot here at plus odds and the advantage of knowing he can beat Simon. Look at the serve percentages in the 1st set in this one and you should know who is going to win quickly. I don't foresee a 3 set battle here. Either Ivan is on and takes Simon out in straights or Ivan's serve is not and Simon wins in straights.


If you wanna lay down a bomb for tomorrow, try Vesnina over Jankovic. Vesnina has been playing strong on the clay court circuit.

[cuteboy86hi]

Going small on simon here.The recent form and h2h does tip ljubicic but i'm just thinking that a world no. 7 would want to improve on that 0-2 record.Just thinking that his desire would be slightly more than ljubicic's.

[meganie]

With ya Eagles, Simon has shown that he has issues against big servers, see Tsonga, Ljubicic, Llodra, Ancic,...
Watched both of their 2nd round matches, Ljubicic has impressed me more so far.

[EaglesPhan36]

Match time are delayed due to the withdraws of Davydenko & Kohlschreiber. Think they are trying to stretch these matches out now (Monaco/Verdasco & Ljubicic/Simon). Nadal/Kohly was originally at 1pm ET with Roddick/Davydenko to follow. So I think we might get the Monaco/Verdasco match here at Noon ET to kick start things and then roll from there.

It appears that maybe they're just going to go ahead and wait until 1pm ET to start.

[EaglesPhan36]

Simon match started first. Currently in-play. Simon leads 4-2.

[cuteboy86hi]

simon got the break in 2nd ?

[EaglesPhan36]

Yeah, he's whipping his ass. Ljubicic is serving like a poon today and can't touch Simon's serve.

[meganie]

That was probably Simon's first really good match in the whole clay season and of course it has to be against the guy I was backing.

Yeah, he's whipping his ass. Ljubicic is serving like a poon today and can't touch Simon's serve.

Considering his serve is his best shot today...says about everything about this performance.

Edit: Wow, that was a big time choke by Simon...Gifted him the break back.

[fsfalcons]

you can watch the rest of the match on http://www.football366.com/ it is pretty good quality

[meganie]

Wow, can't believe my luck...and can't believe that the guy who was considered the most clutch player last fall just choked the set away.

[EaglesPhan36]

Simon is definitely not on the same level as he was late in 2008. He was the guy I was most interested in watching play here early in 2009 to see if his rise was a fluke or not. I think he needs solid runs 4th Round/Quarters at Wimbledon & The U.S. Open to prove 2008 wasn't just one hot streak.

And I will totally take getting a 3rd set here! Thought we were done.

[meganie]

And Simon starts making ues now...If Lubo wins I'll stop gambling for a while, cause no way in hell can you ever get that lucky two times in a row again with Roddick yesterday.

[cuteboy86hi]

didn;t close the 2nd
now paying the price

[EaglesPhan36]

Amazing turnaround, now up 3-0 in the 3rd. This one was a lot more improbable than Roddick's yesterday. I mean down 4-2 in the 2nd and showing little life and he wins it, 6-4. Roddick at least we knew we had a shot in the tie break if his serve got rolling. It was nerve racking, but always a possibility.

[meganie]

Well, betfair price for Ljubicic was up to +100 at some point, could've made a fortune with that.

So basically Ljubicic had a 1% chance of winning (think that was when Simon had double break point at 4-1).

His serving is working now, think he takes it.

[cuteboy86hi]

who throws away a match like this

[meganie]

Amazing turnaround, now up 3-0 in the 3rd. This one was a lot more improbable than Roddick's yesterday. I mean down 4-2 in the 2nd and showing little life and he wins it, 6-4. Roddick at least we knew we had a shot in the tie break if his serve got rolling. It was nerve racking, but always a possibility.

But you can't deny that Roddick played like sh*t in the first and Haas was hitting pretty much every ball for a winner. I was near backing Haas after the first, thank god, I didn't do it.

["Sic"]

**** yea...thanx for the pick eagles....I knew it had to hit..Its all about the most interesting man in the world...I will be sending you a dos equis via fedex

[EaglesPhan36]

But you can't deny that Roddick played like sh*t in the first and Haas was hitting pretty much every ball for a winner. I was near backing Haas after the first, thank god, I didn't do it.

Oh no doubt, but I honestly thought Roddick would struggle - not that bad min you - in his first competitive set on clay. So the 2nd set did not surprise me as much as Ljubicic turning this one around. But hey, two winners is all that matters!

[EaglesPhan36]

**** yea...thanx for the pick eagles....I knew it had to hit..Its all about the most interesting man in the world...I will be sending you a dos equis via fedex

LoL. Stay thirsty my friend.

[yisman]

I cannot believe Simon blew it. I was sure he'd take this.

Simon and Roddick were my best bets. Now I get 0-1 because that pussy Davydenko retired hours before the match was to begin.

[cuteboy86hi]

I cannot believe Simon blew it. I was sure he'd take this.

Simon and Roddick were my best bets. Now I get 0-1 because that pussy Davydenko retired hours before the match was to begin.

Yes nothing wrong with our pick.He was all set.Stupid guy lost his head in between the match.This kind of turnaround is unavoidable.