Tennis
2010-02-21 - ATP Memphis vs Region Morgan Keenan
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Tennis, United States
Preview
This is the second ATP 500 event of the season and the first to take place on the American hard courts here in Memphis. It is another indoor event following on from San Jose.
The top 2 seeds here are Andy Roddick and Fernando Verdasco, the two finalists last week in San Jose and they lead a fairly strongly matched field here in Memphis. Roddick is the top seed and Verdasco is the number 2 seed.
Andy Roddick usually performs well at this time of the year in America before moving on to Dubai for the big tournament there. He is going to be faced with many players he saw last week with potential matches against Sam Querrey and Tomas Berdych in his way to reach the Final here. Roddick beat Querrey in 3 tights sets last week and managed to scrape through in 2 tie breaks against Berdych.
Another potential danger man in this section is Radek Stepanek, although the Czech man has not been in the best of form this season since reaching the Final in Brisbane. He was a disappointing loser in the 1st round last week but did reach the Final in this tournament last season.
This will once again leave Tomas Berdych as the main threat to Andy Roddick's chances of making the Final here. He should get through the first 2 rounds here with little fuss, facing Ryan Sweeting of the USA first and another American, either Wayne Odesnik or Michael Russell, in round 2 before most likely facing Stepanek.
Berdych has a good record against Andy Roddick, although he has lost their last 2 meetings in tight matches. He has the game to trouble the American and they do have close contests, so there is a real chance that Berdych can go all the way here this season.
Fernando Verdasco heads up the bottom half of the draw and there does not seem to be so many threats to him as there are to Andy Roddick in the top half.
John Isner is scheduled to meet him in the Semi Final although the big serving American is going to have a tough match in the Quarter Final with his most likely opponent being Ivo Karlovic. The other seeds in the bottom half have both had their own struggles at the moment and I cant trust them to win through their matches.
Tommy Haas showed little in terms of motivation last week in his loss to Denis Istomin and Phillip Kohlschreiber has not been in the best of form this season.
Prediction
These smaller events are tough to predict, with players pulling out if they feel the slightest injury simply because the 2 big Masters events in America are coming up next month. It is also hard for any player to put together 2 weeks of good tennis, which highlights the effort it takes to win a Grand Slam tournament.
Tomas Berdych really enjoys playing indoor hard court tennis and it seems to bring the best out of his game. He has been close to beating Roddick twice already this season and I am going to back him here to be third time lucky.
The bottom half of the draw looks like one that might spring a surprise but I cant be too sure with the form and fitness of some of those players and it is possible that Verdasco reaches his 2nd consecutive Final.
My pick in the outright here will be Tomas Berdych
The Pick :
Tomas Berdych to win tournament
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Tomas Berdych to win the tournament
