Tennis 11-18/6/2007 (ATP Halle & Queens, WTA Birmingham & Barcelona Clay)

[Wittmann 44]

Cant believe Nadals just been beat 7-0 in a tie break

I'd say he didn't fancy getting rained off any more

GL with Bagy Martens. This is a bit of a grudge match as there was some bad feeling between the two at the Munich match. The German crowd got on Baggy’s back when he disputed some line calls. He should win this on grass.

I'd fancy Berdych in the other SF in Halle but price looks short. 2-0 on the h to h and I think he's the better player. Nieminen was behind in nearly every stat today before Gicquel folded when serving at 4-5 against Gicqeul. A laboured win over Pavel isn't great either.

Tursonov-Roddick

Roddick in the mixed form he is in right now looks far too short at 1.38 against a player who has beaten him once and taken him to a 3 setter with 3 tie breaks in the other game. Tursonov has had 2 tough matches against Gonzalez and Mathieu . He won the first game in both but then being taken to a semi. Roddick laboured against Bogdanovich and Cilic looked for a while like he would take a set before the pressure got to him.Roddick won this 3 years from 2003-2005 and must fancy his chances if he beats Tursonov but the Russian seems to have the bit between his teeth and is worth chancing tomorrow.

Lay Roddick @ 1.38 (1 Unit Risked)

Mahut had a 3-0 h to h over Clement but putting out Djokovic and big Ivo is fairly impressive so I'm leaving that alone.

Hope Gallovits comes in. Big ask in her first ATP final but looks the value again.

[Wittmann 44]

Have taken 1.50 units on Bagy as he goes out to 1.67 on Betfair. I watched the game against Blake lkast night and the yank was poor once his serve started going. He didn't seem interested after he lkost the first set. Baggy with the grudge factor here won't need motivation. A win at Halle will bumpn himj two spots and put him right behind Ferrer.

1.5 Units Bagdatis @ 1.67

I'm going to join the RCGills led Gallovits bandwagon as well. Price looks off given what she has done this week. Its a big task against a far more experiencedplayer but worth chancing at the price.

1 Unit Gallovits @ 2.70

[Ori]

Originally Posted by Wittmann 44

I'm going to join the RCGills led Gallovits bandwagon as well. Price looks off given what she has done this week. Its a big task against a far more experiencedplayer but worth chancing at the price.

1 Unit Gallovits @ 2.70

forgive me my ignorancy, but she's playing today ?

[prinze]

Need no stats as all have been covered. Two games of interest to me today. Mahut has been impressive this far and I will be sticking with him to win, and not to drop a set. The other game of interest is Tursunov and Roddick. These looks a to be a hard fought game for Roddick and therefore will be sticking with the over 23.5 BOL to all

[prinze]

Originally Posted by Ori

forgive me my ignorancy, but she's playing today ?

Not too sure but Bet365 has it scheduled at 1430 GMT but odds are blanked out.

[rcgills]

Yes, it's today at 15:30 CET I think, Ori.

I'd almost given up on Birmingham, as I think the organisers and players may have, but they've started playing now. Still got 2 third round games, all QF, SF and final to play, best they can hope for is to get it finished on Monday, worst case scenario they might have to abandon it if it rains much more.

Anyway, one bet I do fancy if they get as far as making it onto court is to lay Jankovic winning 2-0 against Bondarenko. Jankovic made very hard work of getting past Kirilenko in the last round, while Bondarenko made very short work of Vania King. Weather interruptions, which we will almost certainly have, generally tend to upset player's rhythms, and can often be more beneficial to the underdog (or at least that's the impression I've always had, although I've no stats whatsoever to back that up).

Lay Jankovic 2-0 @ 1.76, liability 2pts

Nothing for me on the men's games today - did have a bet I fancied in the Berdych v Nieminen game, but didn't realise they started so early, and so missed it (and it won (although only just) - under 23.5 games ).

GL all today

[asto85]

Ive taken the 2.25 for Shaughnessy to take it in two ( reckon the other one drinks too much!)---- she might have a 50 gallon drum on hand today RC!!

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by asto85

Ive taken the 2.25 for Shaughnessy to take it in two ( reckon the other one drinks too much!)---- she might have a 50 gallon drum on hand today RC!!

She doesn't drink it all though, Asto, she just sits there swigging from it. Still, good luck to you anyway

[rcgills]

Nicolas Mahut v Arnaud Clement
Played-Mahut leads 1-0
A new French finalist, and only the second in the history of the Artois Championships, is assured after the 25-year-old Mahut, 106th in the world and 29-year-old Clement, 43rd, came through an astonishing day in the tournament yesterday, both winning two matches to go into the semi-final. Mahut put out fifth seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in the first upset and followed that with an even more emphatic win over the world No 2 and top seed Rafael Nadal.

It is an irony that Mahut will be faced with qualifying for Wimbledon, where he was junior champion in 2000, next week. If it was a black Friday for the high seeds it was a beautiful day for the French contingent for whom Sebastien Grosjean, twice runner up here, has been their lone flag carrier in finals at the Artois. France, numerically, is the second best placed country in Europe (behind Spain)with twelve players in the top 100 and Clement says it is all down to lots of courts and lots of coaches. Clement has fourteen wins and thirteen defeats this year but his victories this week have taken him to his best position in four appearances in the Artois. The last time he defeated a top ten player was in February last year when he beat Nadal in the semi-finals in Marseille en route to the title.

Clement has earned plenty of respect on the circuit and is vastly experienced with eleven successive appearances at the French Open and Wimbledon - he has twice been in the fourth round at Wimbledon. He was runner up to Andre Agassi in the Australian Open six years ago having beaten Roger Federer and Greg Rusedski, among others, on the way. All this says that without question Clement knows the business. Clement and Mahut play each other for the second time, the first on grass. Whoever wins, the accordionist who has provided such beautiful music at the Artois all week, can prepare a few French numbers.
Verdict: Mahut to keep winning

Dmitry Tursunov v Andy Roddick
Played--1-1
Dmitry Tursunov was the first player into the semi-finals of the Artois Championships this time and so established a career best at this tournament having been a quarter finalist last year. He had to deal with a couple of rain delays and being down 4-2 in the final set against Fernando Gonzalez before coming through to play Andy Roddick for the third time.

He has a straightforward approach to returning after rain delays. It was simply a matter of running everything down, he said, and putting the ball back in court. He still thinks grass is a weird surface but says that he has as good a chance on it as anybody. At seventh seed he remains optimistic about his prospects here having reached a semi-final for the first time this year. Tursunov, Moscow born and California based, was in the fourth round for the past two years so is no stranger to playing and winning on grass.

Roddick, second seed here, has a similarly optimistic stance and the proof is that he has won the Artois title three times and has twice been runner-up at Wimbledon. Here at The Queen's Club Roddick is the survivor who knows the most about playing on these courts and he is hugely confident about his game on grass. His career record here is 21 wins against two defeats. It is a fact that their previous two matches have been long ones. In 2005 Roddick won in three tie break sets and last year Tursunov won a Davis Cup match in five sets.
Verdict: Roddick to clinch a place in his fourth final

Bob and Mike Bryan v Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett
Played-Bryans lead 6-2
Paul Hanley from Australia and Kevin Ullyett from Zimbabwe are defending the doubles title in the Artois Championships and it was in the semi final round last year that they defeated the Bryan twins for one of the two victories they have gained against today's top seeded opposition. The 29-year-old Bryans, who have been in the world rankings since 1995, have won the Artois title three times and will be keen to regain another crown after falling at the quarter final stage of the French Open last week. Ullyett has won the Artois title before with his fellow Zimbabwean Wayne Black and he and Hanley are now third seeds.
Verdict--the Bryans to reach their fourth Artois Championship final

Previews from the official website The Artois Championships

[blatt1]

I'll try my luck today with Kohlschreiber and Tursunov. Might be a little out there but the odds on the opponents are way to low if you ask me.

[rcgills]

Welcome to TDP, Blatt, and good luck with those

[Hippy Dave]

Roddick should have way too much on grass for Tursunov.

Mahut is a serve-volleyer, 3-0 H2H v Clement. I'm going to ignore the fact that it's 2 French players (which IMO means they are unpredictable tennis players ) and back Mahut.

[rcgills]

On paper, you're right on Roddick, Dave, but he's not looked in great form this week. He very nearly lost to Bogdanovic, and wasn't overly impressive in what I saw of his match with Cilic either.

[Wittmann 44]

Jankovic is apparently suffering from some neck problems that required treatement before and after her 3 set win over Kirlenko.

Kirilneko took her to 3 on grass last year and this might be close agains.

Lay Jankovic @ 1.26 (1 Unit Risked)
0.5 Units Jankovic 2-1 @ 4.4

[rcgills]

Was reading on the WTAWorld forum that Hantuchova's priority here was to win that match against Daniilidou. Apparently that win just now means she's guaranteed to move into the top 10 in the rankings above Petrova, and she's also due to be playing on Monday in Holland in a tournament that, off the top of my head, I can't spell Hortogenbosch, or something along those lines Should point out that I have no idea how accurate the above information is, but that's what has been said on the WTAWorld forum.

Anyway, will wait to see the price for her QF against Bartoli. If the price is decent enough for Bartoli, I could be tempted there.