I needed a few days break from the blog after a run of bad form during the middle of the week in Queens and Halle. Since then, things picked up a bit with Murray prevailing over Cilic in the Queens final, and with a great day at the Aegon International in Eastbourne today. I had Kyle Edmund to beat Kenny de Schepper @ 5/1 and had Albert Ramos to beat James Blake @ 2/1. So, I am feeling refreshed and back on track for the countdown to Wimbledon. Sometimes, when you inevitably hit a barren run, it is best to take a step back and ease off for a few days! I certainly needed it this time and am now looking forward to analysing some of the matches coming up this week.
I won't recommend an outright winner for 's-Hertogenbosch or Eastbourne as I think the week leading up to a Slam is too dodgy. The real tennis this week will come from the outside courts @ Wimbledon where the qualifiers are under way. From an Irish point of view, things got off to a disappointed start today as James McGee lost in straights to Capedeville of Chile. Here are a look at some of the main matches I am interested in tomorrow:
Roger-Vasselin v Lu: I think Yen Hsun Lu is worth a bet @ almost 2/1 here. Grass is his best surface in my opinion. He has had some good runs at Wimbledon and this match is close to a 50/50 toss up so 2.94 on the exchanges for the man from Chinese-Taipei represents good value for a natural grass courter.
Mika Llodra v Benoit Paire: I am a huge Llodra fan and I think grass is possibly his best surface, if not a close second to indoor hard. However, his game is a horrible match-up to Paire for some reason. Perhaps it is that Paire's quality backhand negates the Llodra lefty serve. He certainly seems to get a good read on those Llodra bombs. There is no love lost between these two, after what happened at their last match in Miami. They met twice with Paire winning in Montpellier in the SF there and Llodra gaining revenge in a heated exchange in March. Llodra accused Paire of not showing him enough respect and called him "a little shit" by all accounts which made Paire fly off the handle. So tomorrow could be interesting! I think Paire will be up for it and that could be key. I am happy to take the world number 25 @ 2.30 to beat the world number 52.
Ferrer v Malisse: If both of these guys show up tomorrow, David Ferrer will win. But if Malisse shows up like he did against Del Potro in Queens last week and if Ferrer is slightly off his game in his transition match to grass, then the Belgian has a real chance. Malisse is a class act on grass. He is an unbelievable talent. He is good value tomorrow @ 5.50 to beat Ferrer, whose worst surface is grass. It is worth a small punt in the hope that Malisse plays lights-out, but only that.
Troicki v Klizan: this is another one of those 50/50 encounters where Klizan can be had @ 5/2. These have met only once, on the grass courts of Wimbledon last year where Troicki won in 5 tight sets, so this really will be a close one. Klizan certainly is capable of winning and represents good value @ 5/2 with osme of the leading bookmakers.
These are very few if any men's qualifying matches tomorrow and very few odds up at the moment so we will plough ahead with the above for now. Keep in touch with the blog - I will update daily now until the end of The Championships. Until this time tomorrow, good luck! :)
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