JARMILA GROTH (-138) - - - Groth has had a great start to the hard court season thus far. A good showing in Istanbul beating Groenefeld. Lapushchenkova and Dushevina eventually losing to Pavlyuchenkova who we all know is in top form. Jarmila cruised through qualifying in Montreal all in easy straight sets. Groth is 21-8 on hard court this year and has the power in her game to negate anything Bondarenko can throw at her.
2 UNITS - - -
DINARA SAFINA (+120) - - - If Ivanovic can do it...so can Safina. On her website she has stated she is much more confident in her game now, she says it is not the mess it once was. I believe you Dinara. I will take a stab at these odds. Dinara has not been as bad as most think. Her last two tournaments saw her get ousted by the eventual finalist and title winner. Radwanska in San Diego and Clijsters in Cincinnati. With age, does come wisdom. Petkovic has only played 60+ games on this surface compared to Dinara's 200+. It is not out of the question Dinara finds her lost form. I'll bank on it.
1 UNIT - - -
STANISLAS WAWRINKA (-188) - - - To Spaniards like Almagro, the red dust of the clay court can be compared to what Tony Montana of Scarface thinks of cocaine. Almagro is a clay court king, that is it. On the hard stuff Almagro doesn't even have a career winning record, 39-40 to be exact. Wawa started off the hard court season against Nalbandian...ouch. Nalby ended up winning Washington. Then Wawa coasts in the 1st round of Toronto then faces Nadal in a good game. A 1st set that belonged to Stanislas but he let get away, he had a chance to put out the world #1 early but came up just short. Almagro opened up in Toronto barely getting past Marchenko and then losing to Llodra in straight sets. Stanislas is the play here.
2 UNITS - - -
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MAK'S MULTIPLES
YANINA WICKMAYER
KLARA ZAKOPOLOVA
3 UNITS - - -
Wick is just too good. 54-19 in the last year, 32-11 on hard courts. She had a good run in Cinci beating Arn, Dulko and Li, getting to the quarter final and losing a hard fought 3 set battle to Pavlyuchenkova. Wick has won 15 in a row priced as a moderate underdog. Olga has little to no chance here. Zakopolova really really impressed me in Copenhagen, she fought very hard to get to the final there eventually losing to a very in form dangerous Caroline Wozniacki. She did beat Li, CIrstea and Malek fairly easily on the way to the final. She also just defeated her opponent Dubois a few months ago on hard 6-4 and 6-1. Really love this multi with two strong women.
THIEMO DE BAKKER
SHAHAR PEER
1 UNIT - - -
I saw De Bakker play live and was just really really impressed with the guy. I promised myself I would back him and that is what I am doing, something about the way he plays I really like. Peer is just too good on hard courts. Understand double K can be dangerous at times but Peer is a hard court queen at 37-14 compared to Kanepi's dreadful 4-12 record in the past year. Kanepi lost in qualifying to a 344th ranked player.....um...will take my chances on Peer here.