Tennis
2008-06-24 - Wimbledon- Day 2 vs
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Nicolas Mahut v Dmitry TursunovBoth players are solid grass court players but have never met each other before.
Mahut is an old school serve and volley player and will be hoping his serve is working if he wants to win this game. He has not had the best of years this season, but had a great grass court year last Summer, reaching 2 finals and also qualifying for Wimbledon before being knocked out in the 2nd round. This year he has reached the 3rd round at Queens although he was knocked out early in Nottingham.
Tursunov has also had a bad year in terms of results and has had early exits in both of the grass court tournaments he entered in the lead up to Wimbledon. He has progressed to at least the 3rd round here in each of the last 4 seasons and also has 2 4th round appearances.
I think Tursunov looks a big price in some quarters and I think his game matches up well to Mahut's. Tursunov will have to serve well if he is to hit these odds against.
Ivan Ljubicic v Jurgen Melzer
Ljubicic is beginning to fall down the rankings as his powers wane and he has not had a good season compared to previous years efforts. His grass court season has also started badly with 2 defeats in 3 matches. Generally Ljubicic has never had a good grass court career even though he won a weak fielded tournament on the surface 3 years ago.
His record at Wimbledon also fails to inspire confidence even though he has made the 3rd round on his last 2 visits to South West London. Before those last 2 efforts here, Ljubicic had a 2-6 record at Wimbledon since 2000.
Melzer has also had a pretty poor season but his serve volley tactics will suit this surface more than any other. He will also be buoyed after reaching the Quarter Finals in a tournament in Holland last week. Melzer did not play at Wimbledon last year and was knocked out in the 1st round the year before but he has reached the 3rd round here previously.
Interestingly, these 2 players have only met once before- here at Wimbledon in 2005 and Melzer came through in straight sets.
I feel Ljubicic has lost half a step this season and I really believe Melzer could push him hard here so his odds represent some value for me.
Guillermo Canas v Tommy Haas
Canas may be expected to be more of a clay court specialist but I feel he can perform better on grass. He has not had the greatest of seasons so far this year but will be given confidence from his Semi Final appearance last week in Holland on the same surface. He made the 3rd round at Wimbledon last year and has previously reached the 4th round here.
Tommy Haas has had a stop start season with injuries decimating it. He only made his comeback from his latest shoulder injury 2 weeks ago at Halle, a shoulder injury that had forced him to miss 6 weeks. At Halle, Haas made the 2nd round before losing to eventual finalist Philip Kohlschreiber, and it will be interesting to see how his body holds up in a best of 5 set match against a player like Canas.
Haas has a solid grass court game, making the Semi Finals in tournaments on the surface, but he has not progressed beyong the 4th round at Wimbledon. Last year he made this stage before pulling out with an injury. It is also interesting to note that he has lost 2 times in the 1st round in recent seasons, both times being forced to retire through injury.
Canas also holds a 4-1 head to head record over Haas, winning their last 4 head to head meetings, but it has to be said they last played 4 years ago.
I am not convinced with Haas' health and Canas can cause problems on grass. I cant understand why Canas is a big underdog so I will go for him here.
BEST BETTING TIP :
Tursunov win @ 2.0 (Bet365)Melzer win @ 2.63 (Pinnacle)
Canas win @ 2.55 (Pinnacle)
Marin Cilic, Arnaud Clement, Nikolay Davydenko, Richard Gasquet, Kevin Anderson Accumulator @ approx 4.9
