I hardly bet against Kvitova cos we are speaking about young quality player who is proving herself on tour. She's been having interesting season by now, among others she defeated V.Williams, Szavay, Peer, etc. Reason why i'm going against her is following tournament in Stanford (USA). She suppose to play qualifications on Saturday. Question is if she is having enough motive to continue with playing on clay when series of harcourt tournaments in USA are waiting for her. Besides that, Cirstea is solid opponent, runner-up from last season. Don't see this as an easy match but if Kvitova will be with her mind in US already than Cirstea should have an edge.


Budapest (2007) Runner-up

Still long way to go but after four days, two players left good visional impression to me - Azarenka and Jankovic. Also Safina is doing okey but having so many and some tought matches in Paris might worn her out sooner or later. Doubt she could make simillar run once again.



In 3rd round she has Wozniacki, than Erakovic/Tanasugarn. Those players are all beatable. Than in QF, most possibly Venus will be waiting. Venus hasn't impress me yet but afterall she is defending champion (she had same slow start last season) and she will be Jelena's first real test. H2h from this season is 2-1 for Jelena. Upper side of draw is pretty interesting - IMO Azarenka and Safina have the most chances for reaching SF. I'm not confident in Dementieva, not at all. Two pretty average performances by now. Don't know if she is tired or something, but that's not real Lena D. So yeah, it will be tough but still i see Jelena as one of the players who might reach the final and those odds are simply too high. Can't see any difference between her and Williams sisters who are prices around 3.

Looking at other side od draw ... Radwanska might be a good bet, for once i'm not afraid of Ivanovic, simply can't see it winning second grand slam tournament trophy in a row. Other girls are looking pretty average (although things can change dramatically in following days). All in All i see Jelena as one of favourites, IMO there are more chances to take this tournament than odds suggest.

I simply have to make a little punt on Zheng cos i believe she could make an upset especially if Ana won't play up to her standards. It's hard to play two Grandslam tournaments in such a short time especially if you won't previous one. Was close to be eliminated by Dechy (had 2 MP). Quite a lot of struggling from Ana's side even serve was not working as it should. Zheng is another doggy player working hard from baseline and just as Dechy she could make some problems.

This is one of the matches where i don't see many breaks if both will be serving up to their standards. Petrova is almost unbreakable while also Santangelo is doing quite well since returning on a tour (after foot injury). I was expecting over/under line around 20 so current one is pretty attractive. IMO Petrova will win this and even if she will make only break per set than result should be, let say in worst case scenario, 6:3 6:4 which still means over.

I like what i see on RG and Wimbledon from Zheng's side so i definitely won't gonna change a winning horse, being suprisingly good on serve and hardly being beaten from baseline. I'm aware of Baltacha who recently defeated miss Kerber. Haven't see any action from previous week but assuming to results achived in Birmingham or Hertogenbosch i though Kerber is back to bussines. But to be honest i was quite visionaly disappointed with her performance. She wasn't dangerous on her own servis at all (servis mainly has no pace) which won't happens at Zheng's case.



Baltacha is smacking those balls like crazy and with such a style she is hitting some nice winners/points but also making plenty UE. So if you know how to keep ball in the court and not making many UE (and waiting for Baltacha to do them cos sonner or later she will start making it), just like Kerber did, than you have edge over her. Of course Kerber had everything in her hands but unfortunately she chocked after serving for a match. If i make comparation between Zheng and Kerber i could only say Zheng is at least one class better at the moment.

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IMO not a bad idea backing Harkleroad in this particular case. Amelie retired previous week in Eastbourne having problems with her thigh. MRI confirmed she has groin tear. As she said she won't risk anything if pain appear again, than backing Harkleroad has some sense. So bet depends on Mauresmo's condition and Ashley as a pretty solid player might take advantage out of this if Maresmo won't be completly ready. 5dimes as one set bookie is offering 2.80 on this.

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Zheng was pleasant relevation of RG 08 and i will continue betting on her. I don't see such a big difference between those two. Despite being relative small, she fixed her own servis and we already know what kind of menace she could be when we are taking baseline performance into consideration. Can match Cibulkova's one. And another thing which might speak into Zheng's favour is Cibulkova's recent injury which forced her to pull out of Barcelona's tournament and besides she hasn't have any spectacular result on grass till now (same as Zheng). All in all i see Zheng making troubles once again.

Hard to resist not taking those odds offering for Sugiyama's win. I just don't see Wickmayer as a such favourite. Of course we are talking about player who recently reached final in Birmingham but afterall that's only one tournament and Wimbledon is just another story. Let see who were defeated: Fedossova, Mattek, South, overrated Dellacqua and Michaella who was in big slump till tournament in her homeland.

Sugiyama with only one grass tournament behind her back but was, like always, stubborn against Michaella. Simply i woudn't write off her chances just like that. Afterall we are talking about experienced player with hard-die attitude who hardly give up just like that. Can't see any difference in her approach for following match. All respect to Wickmayer but i simply won't be surpised if she will be out after 1st round. One good tournament simply can't put her in situation to be such a favourite considering odds on market.

One thing which might count as an advantage for Morita might be succesfully passed qualifications. She was having succesful weekend by beating Jidkova and Lepchenko. Definitely a good thing for her after having some dreadfull previous weeks when she was beaten by South and Hendler (Bangalore & Miami). So going trough qualification might be a good thing but on other hand those two matches against Jidkova and Lepchenko were close affair and last one durated more than three hours. So it might happens Morita will issue some fitness problems with playing third match in three days.

Dechy is looking OK at the moment. I can't argue with her performances. Being out from Miami pretty soon (from singles, doubles) give her enough time for training on green clay. Besides that she is defending 3rd round so motive should be here.

I've being punked twice from Zakopalova's side so obvious i have been overestimating her abilities. It seem she is still having ups and too many downs in her game. Everything was looking good against Byckova, having lead 7:6 *2:0 ... but than everything went downhill. Managed to win afterall but this time with such a performance especially on secod servis i highly doubt she could pass solid Dominguez Lino. I believe Spaniard should have edge over Klara, she is claycourter achiving solid results on that surface. I don't see her giving up in any kind of moments so Klara will really need to be constant trough the whole match to win this. But how things are currently looking, i doubt Klara is able to show consistency trough the whole match.