Daily Trader tennis - By: Herbert Berger

Location: Paris, France

The quality of the Paris event has been diluted somewhat due to a number of higher profile players either choosing not to take part or withdrawing with injury. Last year’s finalist Kim Clijsters and winner Petra Kvitova chose not to play the event and seeds Jankovic, Kanepi and Lisicki withdrew due to injury.

This still leaves top seeds Sharapova, Bartoli and Li in the draw and Australian Open finalist Sharapova has an excellent chance of at least reaching the final, if she is anywhere near her best, as there is little in the way of serious opposition in her half of the draw now Jankovic, Lisicki and Kanepi have withdrawn. She played in the Fed Cup for Russia indoors at the weekend and won her only match 6-2 6-1, which suggests she is in good form. This match, as well as the competitive indoor practice, should set her up nicely for a shot at this week’s title and she also has the motivation of overtaking Kvitova at number two in the world rankings if she wins the title.

Advice (Chris)
WTA Premier Open GDF Suez - Outright
Back Maria Sharapova @ 2.9 for 1*

I’ve studied all of the first round matches at both this week’s tournaments and there are not too many that interest me, mainly due to the quality of the matches, some of the players having to travel straight from the Fed Cup and different time zones and form or injury concerns. However, there are a couple of players who have been playing well enough to suggest they can be backed with confidence at present and they may also benefit from their opponents suffering from some of the aforementioned problems, which should give them an additional advantage today. Their individual prices are not attractive enough to bet on individually but we can double them up to return a better profit.

Tournament: WTA Premier Open GDF Suez
Date: 07/02/2012
Location: Paris, France
Time: 15.00/16.00 GMT

Julia Goerges vs. Shahar Peer/Polona Hercog vs. Chanelle Scheepers
Both Goerges and Scheepers come in to their respective matches in better form than their opponents and they also having winning form against them. Goerges defeated Peer on clay in straight sets last year and she comes straight from playing indoors in the Fed Cup in Germany where she pushed world number two Petra Kvitova to 10-8 in the third set. She has form indoors winning 60% of her last ten and 64% of her last fifty matches and a good record as a favourite in her current price range winning her last four matches in a row, compared to Peer who has lost eight of her last nine as an underdog.

Scheepers won two of her three matches on hard courts against clay court specialist Hercog, including one last March in three sets and her one loss came on Hercog’s best surface clay, which was a tight 3 set match (6-7 7-6 6-3) last April.

Hercog is out of form at present losing 8 of her last 10 matches and five in a row indoors, two of which came against lower ranked players in the Fed Cup against Japan at the weekend. She travelled back from Japan this weekend so may suffer from jet lag, and she is also carrying minor leg and neck injuries, both of which flared up in her Fed Cup matches at the weekend.

About the Author

daily trader, betting

Sports trading and betting analysis. At the Daily Trader we bring you latest news and views

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Herbert-Berger/226675

Additional Articles From - Home | Recreation & sport | Table tennis