ATP Cincinnati, Round 1.
Radek Stepanek(#29) and John Isner(#27) are two players with very similar records and trends in 2011. The year to date record shows overall 23W/ 17L in ATP main events for both players, while on hard court, Radek Stepanek features 18W/ 6L while John Isner has 18W/ 8L. Isner has the advantage of his height and monster serve that brought him not less than 549 aces this season, while Stepanek only served 136 aces. Where the american suffers is the return record and this can be easily seen from his numerous sets ending in tie-breaks. The head to head record is 1 to 1, last victory belonging to Isner in 5 sets at the Australian Open in 2011. The bookmakers give Isner as the favorite and I tend to disagree. He certainly has the option of winning, however, looking at their past matches, I cannot but observe that Radek Stepanek has beaten players like Gael Monfils (#8) which Isner did
not manage to. I believe Radek Stepanek is good value, even though my personal favorite this year is still John Isner.
Prediction: Radek Stepanek to win @2.25 (3/5) - Paddy Power.
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