Tennis Picks

Juan Martin del Potro is back and he is healthy..for now. His ranking has faltered because of his time off due to injury. He is hungry to bring his ranking back to where it was before the layoff and even further. He knocked off the rust against a decent Jesse Levine, who is no pushover, in straights.

Feliciano Lopez is his opponent, and to del Potro's delight, he returns Lopez's serve very well for some reason. Lopez has not won a set against him, and if he continues to stay healthy*, del Potro should pull out the win. Bookies and the public are still hot off Lopez's performance in Dubai, which is a superfast surface, tailor-made for him. Different surface, different result here.

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This is a revenge match from last year at this same time. Djokovic has improved greatly in confidence from last year, since his Grand Slam win in Australia. The head to head record is a testament to Nadal's competitiveness which can never be ignored.
However, Nadal has had very close matches with both Tsonga and Blake, both of whom could have won. Djokovic is becoming the best player on hard and Nole does not envision losing here as a part of his plan to become number 1. Here he has a perfect opportunity to gain points from Nadal by denying him the finals and prevent him from defending his title, and a chance at Federer if Federer advances to the finals as well. Options exist for odds at an outright win (around 1.60), as well as winning 2-0 (3.50) and 2-1 (2.25).

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Baselinepicker - Focused on Tennis Picks

Zvonareva's lack of titles concerns me here. As good a player as she is, she does not have many titles and her mental deficiencies have been noted. She can beat anyone, but often loses to those who she should not.
While Dellacqua is not as accomplished, she is mentally tougher and is on a roll.

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Baselinepicker - Focused on Tennis Picks

While all would prefer to wager on the possibility of a tiebreak during this match, a win for Murray is not bad either. Murray wants to be involved in the conversation with Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, who, despite Murray's titles this year, are still getting all the talk. He constantly wants to evaluate himself against the top players and Karlovic is in his way. The scare Murray faced against Melzer should only solidify his resolve to get a handle on this match as early as possible.
Being able to handle Karlovic on indoor hard in the past is also an indicator that he can handle Karlovic on a slower surface. You might also consider a cover for Karlovic as the match looks to be a tight one.

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Would not be surprised with a cover here for Garrigues and maybe even a win. She has had a solid week and could give Jankovic some problems returning every ball.

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With all his talent, why does Ancic find titles so hard to come by? The answer lies in his winning percentage on 2nd serves. He almost always leaves room to be attacked here in all of his matches, and you would be hard pressed to find a decent opponent that doesn't outdo him in this category. I will go against the consensus that he should beat Ferrero here based on the long ago history between the two, with Ferrero not having dropped a set to Ancic in 3 matches.
While it should not be easy, Ferrero deserves a wager here.

These players are heading fast in opposite directions, with Lopez's match play decreasing for 3 back to back matches. The only thing Tipsy has to prove is his consistency over longer periods of time. I'm hoping he begins to do that here.