Hamburg Quarterfinals

The time is passing quickly and we are now in the quarterfinals. Yesterday,
Cilic managed to come back and win the game with Tobias Kamke, while Kohlschreiber lost to Almagro. I think that today Cilic will face a much better opponent in Mikhail Youzhny and I don't think it will be enough to just wake up in the middle of the game and win with yet another comeback. Youzhny is a very determined player and Cilic is not Reister you might argue, however, I think his ambition will pay off against a letargic Cilic.
In the head to head stats, Youzhny leads 4 to 1, but mist importantly, I think that unless Cilic does something out of the ordinary, the Russian will advance to the next round. In the next game of the quarterfinals, Gael Monfils (#7) is favorite against Frenchman Gilles Simon.
The only confrontation between the two dates back in 2009, at the Australian Open where
Simon claimed victory in 3 sets. However, Monfils feels good on clay, this year advancing to the quarter finals of Roland Garros, where he lost to Roger Federer. Monfils is a surprising player, and he can loos to anybody ( see the last game with Hanescu ), or he can have a great day and win against anybody. There is a certain risk in backing Monfils here, but betting is not an exact science and after all its all about feeling.

Here are my picks of the day:

1. Mikhail Youzhny to win @1.50 (4/5)
2. Gael Monfils to win @1.53 (3/5)
3. Nicolas Almagro to win first set @1.44 (3/5)
4. Jurgen Melzer to win @2.20

ATP Hamburg, Round 3

The surprising Kinttel made it hard for Cilic to advance to the next round,
but eventually the Croatian made it and will now face German Tobias Kamke,
whom had two solid games here in Hamburg, beating Pere Riba and Juan Ignacio Chela. I think the Cilic must raise his level in order to win today, and I have no doubt he is capable of doing that, however, in my view, there is a decent probability that he will be beaten.
Russian Mikhail Youzhny (#17) takes on German Julian Reister (#155). Reister has beaten Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, a much better ranked player, however, I think Youzhny should prevail, and I will go for a win in the first set.

(Mikhail Youzhny)

The picks for this round (ww.bet365.com):

1. Tobias Kamke to win @2.10 (3/5)
2. Mikhail Youzhny to win first set @1.40 (3/5)
3. Philipp Kohlschreiber to win @2.10 (2/5)
4. Florian Mayer to win @1.72 (2/5)

ATP Hamburg Round 2

Today we are heading for round 2 in Hamburg, and I can't say we didn't have
a few surprises yesterday, but all in all, the picks I suggested turned out
to be profitable.
Radek Stepanek went past Andreas Beck, contrary to my prediction, even though it was not very easy for him, winning 7-5, 7-6. Today Stepanek takes on Italy's Adreas Seppi, whim he met twice so far and beaten. Their last encounter was in June 2011, in Prostejov, were Stepanek won 7:5, 6:4, and I envision a close match this time as well.
Another interesting game I think will be between Marin Cilic and Bastian Knittel. Knittel is a surprise so far, being an underdog and winning to games, one in the qualifying stage and one yesterday agains Ivan Dodig. Knittel has only one victory in an ATP main draw at Stuttgart, and I believe Cilic, in a normal day, should have no problem in advancing
to the quarter finals.

Here is a list of picks for today for Hamburg, Round 2 (bet365):

1. Radek Stepanek v Andreas Seppi, over 9.5 games first set @1.66 (3/5)
2. Jurgen Melzer to win @1.40 (4/5)
3. Marin Cilic to win 2-0 @1.61 (2/5)
4. Gael Monfils to win 2-0 @1.72 (2/5)
5. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe to win @2.25 (3/5)
6. Philipp Kohlschreiber to win @1.57 (4/5)

ATP Hamburg Round 1 (Day 2)

It's been a tough day for me and I could not post my picks for the ATP Hamburg Round 1 (Day 1) of this competition.
I came to a conclusion of my picks and I see a few games more balanced than the bookmakers consider. The one I think is open to a surprise is between Radek Stepanek and Andreas Beck and in my opinion the German does have a chance, even if Stepanek is the more experienced player, with some important victories in his carrer over higher ranked players. In my picks I am trying to count on victories of underdogs, since I think there is potential in these games for the favorites to loose.
In short, here are my picks (bookmaker bet 365):

1. Andreas Beck to win @2.37 (2/5)
2. Philipp Kohlschreiber to win 2-0 @1.61 (2/5)
3. Pablo Andujar to win @1.44 (4/5)
4. Juan Carlos Ferrero to win 2-0 @1.57 (4/5)
5. Daniel Gimeno-Traver to win @2.37 (2/5)
6. Marsel Ilhan to win @2.75 (2/5)
7. Juan Monaco to win @1.53 (4/5)

ATP Tournaments Next Week

We are stepping in a new week and have two ATP tournaments to cover in the pages of this blog.
First of them is ATP Hamburg (16-24 July), former event of the Master series, until 2009, now know as the Bet-At-Home Open, featuring players such as Gael Monfils (#7), Jurgen Melzer (#12), Nicolas Almagro (#14) and others from the top 100, promising interesting matches and a lot of action in this new event played on clay.
Since the year 2000, Roger Federer claimed 4 titles, in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007, but the last three years had Rafael Nadal (2008), Nikolay Davydenko (2009) and Andrey Golubev (2010)
claiming the Hamburg title.

The draws for the singles and doubles can be seen on this page:
http://bet-at-home-open.com/en/draws/

The second ATP Tour event is the Atlanta Tennis Championship (18-24 July), featuring players such as Mardy Fish (2010 winner), John Isner, Lleyton Hewitt, Kevin Anderson or Tommy Haas.

The main draw of the singles is here:
http://assets.usta.com/assets/669/15/MDS1.pdf

I think we have enough material to get through another week in tennis betting.
Good luck!