EP36's Tennis Talk

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-19-10, 10:33 PM

LATE NIGHT WTA PLAY

KIM-BALTACHA OVER 20 [+105]
Just getting my feet wet for the week here. Baltacha has the talent, but she's shown some poor results against lower ranked players at time on hard courts. Kim is the home standing Korean in this tournament who is 0-5 all-time at this event. She got some work in last week in the Far East on this surface, while the Brit has to hit the ground running with her last action at the US Open.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 07:39 AM

VOLANDRI -150
Not much time for a write-up here. Volandri though is almost exclusively a clay court guy and although he has been playing lower tier tournaments, he should have an edge on Kubot who has been in miserable form since the Spring. He's won their last two head-2-head meetings over the past two seasons on this surface in relatively easy fashion.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 08:25 AM

Originally posted by EaglesPhan36

LATE NIGHT WTA PLAY KIM-BALTACHA OVER 20 [+105] Just getting my feet wet for the week here. Baltacha has the talent, but she's shown some poor results against lower ranked players at time on hard courts. Kim is the home standing Korean in this tournament who is 0-5 all-time at this event. She got some work in last week in the Far East on this surface, while the Brit has to hit the ground running with her last action at the US Open.

This one was ridiculous. Baltacha won the 1st set 6-3. Went to sleep with Kim up 3-1 in the 2nd set and she only won one more game to end at 19.

**HeeeHAWWWW** · 09-20-10, 08:51 AM

Looks like a nice win on Volandri - I was put off by his fixing in umag.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 09:04 AM

Yeah the Bucharest matches I'd say are all a little risky this week because of the surface at this point in the season, that's why I'm looking for guys who have been playing on clay as having an edge hopefully over the others who swung onto the hard courts. Fading Kubot has been good though. He has been horrible since February.

**HeeeHAWWWW** · 09-20-10, 09:17 AM

Yeah, Kubot stinks, just looks utterly out of energy. Volandri was moving him around like a puppet on a string.

Volandri is a total mystery to me. He has so much class on clay, so much craft and understanding of how to exploit the angles. Yet.... he's utterly hopeless most of the time. Maybe he's just one of those that doesn't train properly, happy with the money from challengers.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 10:54 AM

CHALLENGER PLAY: GHEDIN -125
Bogota, Colombia tournament on clay. Pereira draws against Ghedin. Pereira while younger [19] and still carving his niche in the sport has been playing almost exclusively on clay lately whereas Ghedin is coming in here off a string of hard court matches. He's lost his only two clay court matches this year, but the caviat is that he made the finals of this event last year. Pereira for me based on his results seems a little too green at this stage of his career and Ghedin's experience, especially at this event could prove to be the deciding factor. This is certainly a degenerate's special.

**ji03** · 09-20-10, 11:15 AM

Nice hit on Volandri. That was easy.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 11:47 AM

Thanks. I had the under tabbed first, which also would have worked. Raining in Colombia. Hopefully they get a window to play at some point. Can't wait to check my Challenger pulse this week.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 03:56 PM

Ghedin won 6-4, 6-1. Degeneration!

**Stacocakes** · 09-20-10, 04:41 PM

Nice work with Volandri Eagles. Keep it up

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 09:15 PM

LATE NIGHT PARLAY: PAVLYUCHENKOVA + DIMITROV [-115]
The Russian Pavlyuchenkova draws Rodionova on an outdoor hard surface. Way back in January, Rodionova beat Pavlyuchenkova in straights. Fast forward to now and you find the Russian in drastically different form. She's had a great summer with a 14-5 mark on hard courts. Rodionova hasn't had much success in main draws on hard courts with a 4-5 mark. The Russian looks to be a potential future Top 10 player if she can repeat the success she has had in 2010. She should look to finish strong and show Rodionova exactly how far she's come in 8 months. Dimitrov is playing in Bangkok at the Challenger level for the 2nd straight tournament and is the in-form Challenger player right now with 10 straight wins and two titles in a row, one on clay and one on hard courts. He draws Dodig who we last saw retiring at the US Open due to cramping issues. May not be the best place for someone who doesn't apparently enjoy heat and humidity as Bangkok looks to be in the low 90s today with a chance of rain and muggy conditions. Dimitrov gets the edge for me due to form and already playing an entire week in similar conditions. He's one of the young guys to watch on the ATP level in the future and right now, he's playing very well. Both matches set for 11pm ET starts barring weather delays.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 09:17 PM

Scratch Pavlyuchenkova from that parlay. Seoul tournament looks like it's going to get washed out. Looking for a replacement to pair with Dimitrov ...

**shari91** · 09-20-10, 09:19 PM

Best of luck this week EP.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 09:36 PM

Adding Mathieu, Parlay Now +120
Mathieu draws fellow Frenchman Mannarino. Won't be easy as these two met two years ago in this event with Mathieu prevailing in two tie breaking sets. Mathieu has played well at this event the past two seasons making the semis last year and the final the year prior. This is a bit of a gamble because Mannarino has played well on outdoor hard courts at the Challenger level in 2010 and Mathieu is still hit or miss, but comes in with a decent run at the US Open. He's only lost in the 1st round here once and Mannarino after his good run here in 2008, lost in the 1st round last year here. If Dimitrov takes care of business, this should afford a hedge out if you feel iffy and a guaranteed profit of some sort.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-20-10, 09:49 PM

TUESDAY DOUBLES PLAY: GASQUET/ROGER-VASSELIN +130
Like this one quite a bit with the two home standing Frenchies drawing Brunstrom & Kas. Brunstrom and Kas are both mainly doubles players, but neither is here with their regular partner and both had their best success in doubles on clay this year. On the indoor surface, the bigger serves of Gasquet and Roger-Vasselin should help equalize a little talent gap since the duo has not played together this year. However, Roger-Vasselin has had some solid success in doubles in 2010, including two doubles titles on indoor hard courts with Mahut as his partner. He also won a Challenger doubles title last week with Gilles Muller as his partner on an outdoor hard court. Playing in front of a home crowd and with their opponents not at their best on this quicker surface, the dogs have a shot at barking on Tuesday.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 12:23 AM

RAMOS-VINOLAS -165
The Spaniard draws Phau in Bucharest. Phau had some success on the Challenger level on dirt early in the summer, but is still about a 50% career winner on this surface. Ramos-Vinolas meanwhile is in solid form having won a Challenger on clay early in September and he made it through qualis here in Bucharest in pretty easy fashion. Since the beginning of August, Ramos-Vinolas is 15-2 on this surface with two titles and he generally plays most of his matches on dirt. I'm looking for him to continue his solid season on this surface in relative obscurity again.

**birdmanweezy** · 09-21-10, 12:55 AM

good luck EP

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 07:30 AM

Dimitrov wins as Dodig retires again in the 3rd set.

Mathieu will be up after the doubles match with Clement. Gasquet doubles follows that.

**cappinthepigs** · 09-21-10, 08:19 AM

Nice work EP!

**HeeeHAWWWW** · 09-21-10, 09:05 AM

Dodig does like his retirals :-)

Not convinced by Dimitrov yet, something about the movement.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 09:28 AM

CHALLENGER PLAY: A.GONZALEZ +105
Gonzalez draws Sousa. The two have met four times including once in July on clay where Gonzalez scored his first win over Sousa. I think this is a good spot to take the underdog despite him being in mediocre form as Sousa had to travel after playing in the Davis Cup playoffs in Portugal on Sunday. He lost the pivotal 5th rubber against the Boznians after Portugal went up 2-1, so confidence, fatigue and focus could factor in.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 10:12 AM

Mathieu wins. Parlay complete.

Doubles about to start. Ramos-Vinolas trying to rally in the 2nd after wiping Phau out easy in the 1st. Down a break at 3-5.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 10:33 AM

Ramos-Vinolas appears to be totally out of gas.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 10:49 AM

Originally posted by EaglesPhan36

Ramos-Vinolas is totally out of gas.

Fixed. Man what a quick smush job. 6-1 winner in the 1st, loses 4-6 in the 2nd and hasn't won a game in the 3rd. Eeesh. Doubles play looking poor too. Strong start to the day, but fading quick.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 11:27 AM

Doubles play wins going away in the super breaker. Gas-man can.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 11:42 AM

BROWN-SIMON OVER 20.5 [-128]
We know Dustin Brown is a one-trick pony. Big serve or he fizzles quick. This quick indoor surface SHOULD allow him for some easy service games if he can pump his 1st serve in. Simon has looked to be rounding back into shape here late in the summer after dealing with numerous injuries in the past year. These two played on dirt back in July and Brown pushed Simon to three sets. Simon has been solid on this suface throughout his career, so I expect him to compete well this week.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 12:51 PM

Downhill finish today. Brown isn't even getting in 50% of his 1st serves, Simon is chewing up his 2nd serve. Brown of course has zero return game. Oh well, slight loss for the day.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 05:01 PM

Good chance the WTA Seoul matches get washed out or heavily delayed again tonight/early tomorrrow FYI.

**WalkingLuckCharm** · 09-21-10, 07:14 PM

bad luck on Ramos-Vinolas yesterday .... you did quite well though so far. gj

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 07:47 PM

LATE NIGHT CHALLENGER PARLAY: DIMITROV + MELLO [+110]
Dimitrov as outlined yesterday remains one of the in-form players at this level on this surface right now. He draws the Aussie Ebden today. Ebden has one decent run on this surface in August in Brazil, but otherwise has been average on hard courts. Dimitrov may get caught with fatigue at some point this tournament, but I don't think it's today. Mello absolutely owns Alves, 8-0 head-2-head and he's been in super form this summer on South American hard courts. Mello beat Alves in their closest match in August in three sets on a hard surface and also did the feat in January on a hard surface. Alves hasn't been all that bad on Challenger hard courts, but it's got to be in his head about losing to Mello at this point. Streaks come & go, but I think Mello has a little more form on the surface.

**birdmanweezy** · 09-21-10, 09:12 PM

i took mello and marie sanchez....i dont have a good felling about dimitrov tonight for some reason? wheres the best place for challenger scores?

**JNic** · 09-21-10, 09:35 PM

go to livescorehunter.com or tennisbios.com
mello should cruise here, gl with your play ep

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 09:36 PM

livescorehunter.com

The Bangkok one supposedly will show scores at Bet365.com, but they were not showing last night. Might be some rain at that one too.

**EaglesPhan36** · 09-21-10, 10:41 PM

Alves retired up 4-2 in the 1st. Cancelled, so it's now all on Dimitrov for about half a unit.