Roland Garros 2010

[pokerfaKe]

There are 19 more days until the Roland Garros begins! I enjoy this tournament very much, and the clay is my favourite surface. The schedule with the arranged matches will be displayed on 17 th of May. I can't wait for it! After the schedule will be displayed, I will analyse my chances to make some profitable bets. I don't expect to win huge prizes, but a symbolic amount of money...and, of course, enjoy the exciting course of the matches.

[pokerfaKe]

18 more days...it is a pity that I haven't received any replies for this thread yet...aren't you, people, interested in this Grand Slam? 'Cause if you are, than please, let me know.

[ONEDUNME]

Not really.

[engineer]

Not sure what you've expected, pokerfake - it's more that two weeks till the RG and plenty of tournaments to be played in that period, so I don't know who'd bother with it yet.
Wait at least for the qualifiers to start.

My early thoughts - I'd be backing Soderling and looking for a decent chance to oppose Nadal.

[pokerfaKe]

2 more days until Day 1 at Roland Garros! I expect to see great show. The question is: Who do you think will win the title? I vote for Nadal..

[Pokoko]

Nadal for sure will have big motivation to win here. Last season obviously was injured, but he is fit this year.

[7HEGR1MR3AP3R]

Nadal is different gear if he keeps fit , thats the only doubt - mentally on clay he has feds number and though there are a few dangers floaters with Almagro,Verdasco,Ferrer etc, Nadals beaten them all so many times in the past and when it gets tight they fold. The 4/11 isnt brilliant by any stretch but he should win.

He`s nearly as good on clay as my old mate Thomas Muster , how I got 6/1 on him winning the french when I was about 13 and he`d won about 28 matches in a row still amazes me !!

THOMAS MUSTER

[7HEGR1MR3AP3R]

Reminds me of Nadal with the fact that you cant get the ball past him , and you have to win a point about 5 times before you actually win the point !

An example here vs the great Sampras !! How many times did sampras win this point, and yet somehow lose ?

You Tube

You Tube

[rcgills]

Couple of bets that stand out to me tomorrow.

Meusburger 2-0 v Feuerstein @ 1.72 (Bet365) 2.5pts

These two met twice last month, in Barcelona and Marbella (both on clay), Meusburger won all 4 sets played, one of them on a TB, the other three very comfortably (6-2, 6-1 and 6-1).

Falla tb Tipsarevic @ 2.48 (Betfair) 1.5pts

Best to take this one at a bookie that'll pay out in the event of a retirement. Tipsarevic has had a severely disrupted season, only one match on clay so far, which he lost to Chardy. Had to withdraw from his home tournament in Serbia, plus the Madrid masters and the World Team Cup with flu and then a virus. His participation at Roland Garros was in doubt until a few days ago.

Falla's no world beater, but has got a clay court final (albeit at Challenger level) to his name this year, and has beaten Tipsarevic before (H2H is 1-1, both on indoor hard court).

Also considering opposing Kuznetsova in some form (lay 2-0 maybe?), and possibly taking Patience to beat De Bakker.

[rcgills]

Falla seems to be cruising against Tipsarevic, 6-1 6-2 in the first 2 sets, and a break up at 3-1 in the 3rd.

Couple of outright bets I've got so far on the women's event, Dulgheru (1pt @ 100) and Errani (0.5pts @ 1000).

Dulgheru one of the most in-form claycourt players on the women's tour at the moment. Is seeded 31 here, up from a ranking of 201 this time last year. So far in 2010 on clay she's beaten the likes of Dementieva, Na Li and Safina, while taking sets off the likes of Clijsters, Stosur and Petrova.

Errani's certainly not having the best of seasons, but a price of 1000 seems a bit excessive for a player ranked 35th, and who on her day is a very capable claycourt player.

[rcgills]

Meusburger made hard work of it, especially in the first set, but eventually made it through in straight sets.

One outright bet for the mens event so far. Youzhny is in decent nick at the moment, won the Munich event at the beginning of the month and looks to have a fairly kind draw - looking at his potential opponents, there's no-one I think he's not capable of beating. 2nd round v Lacko or Yani shouldn't be a problem (famous last words ), probably Robredo or Troicki in round 3 are beatable. Tsonga is a potential last 16 opponent, although if he carries on playing the way he did today, I wouldn't rule out Garcia Lopez or De Bakker taking him out before then. If he can get through that, either Murray or Berdych look the most likely potential QF opponents. Murray is vulnerable, wouldn't even rule out a first round exit, with his tough draw against Gasquet, while Youzhny has a 6-4 career H2H lead against Berdych.

Given all of that, I'm happy to take a chance on him for 1pt at 230. Hopefully should get a bit of a run for my money before laying him off later in the tournament, so no reason why he shouldn't be able to make the quarters at least.

[7HEGR1MR3AP3R]

Database error for me yesterday !!

Just read your Muesberger post and tried to find the odds on VC bet, couldnt see them, so continued to read ,and then you posted she`d just won 2-0 Thats another RC special ive missed FFS - lol

[Chief77]

Great picking yesterday rc! You were spot on about Tipsy. Looked a shadow of his former self.

I'm gonna have a speculative bet on Dulko @220 in the womens singles. She beat Azarenka yesterday and plays Scheepers next. I'd expect her to win that and if she does she's possibly up against Dementieva who has been in poor form this season. Wouldn't surprise me to see her in the quarter finals. Maria Martinez Sanchez shock defeat yesterday also opens up her part of the draw.

Bit of a shock yesterday with Gulbis getting beaten (He retired in teh 3rd set with a torn hamstring and was 2-0 down at the time). Good article in the telegraph the other day about him. Bit of a character.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ten...and-games.html

[rcgills]

Will have to be quick here, some of these are off in 10 mins.

Parra Santonja (tb Nara)/Dulgheru (tb Hradecka)/Lopez (tb Reister) / Goerges (tb Czink) @ 2.42 (Betfair) 2pts

Parra a decent enough clay courter, should be too strong for the young Japanese girl, Dulgheru I've already mentioned earlier this week for the outright betting, Goerges' opponent Czink is having a shocking 2010, has lost 12 of her last 13, while Lopez, although he doesn't have the best of records at Roland Garros, should be too strong for Reister.

Garbin tb Barrois @ 2.2 (Sporting Odds) 1.5pts

Think Barrois is being overestimated on the back of her run to the final of Strasbourg last week. She didn't really have to beat anyone of note, and while Garbin isn't in great form, she's still a steady enough player on clay, think the value lies with her for this one.

Medina Garrigues 2-0 v Oudin @ 1.91 (Stan James) 2pts

The Spaniard in good form of late, tends to put away the weaker players comfortably, before struggling against the better players. Oudin has been poor on the European claycourts (she did better on the US clay), she's lost all 3 matches on European clay, all in straight sets, to Mattek, Zvonareva and Rybarikova, winning just 13 games in those 6 sets.

[rcgills]

One last one for now:

Malek tb Bacsinszky @ 3.4 (Bet365) 2pts

Never feel completely at ease trusting (or indeed spelling) Bacsinszky, and happy to oppose her here. H2H is 2-1 to Bac, all on clay, Bac's 2 wins in straight sets, with Malek beating her in 3 sets in 2009 in Barcelona. Malek not in great form this year, but one win in particular does stand out, beating Rezai in Marbella, who a month later went on to beat Henin, Jankovic and Venus on her way to the Madrid title. Malek overpriced in my opinion.