TENNIS BETTING PREVIEW - FRENCH OPEN ROLAND GARROS - FERNANDO VERDASCO VS CARSTEN BALL

Tennis

2010-01-19 - Fernando Verdasco vs Carsten Ball

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Fernando Verdasco v Carsten Ball
Tennis: Australia, Australian Open Men 2010
Tuesday, 19th January 2010 - Start 00:00

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Preview

Fernando Verdasco returns to the scene of his most impressive tournament 12 months ago as he bids to have a real shot at the title as a contender and not the shock Semi Finalist as he was this time last year. The Spaniard is now ranked in the World top 10 and will be hoping to 'catch fire' as he did last season.

Verdasco has now recovered from the disappointment of not representing Spain in the Davis Cup Final by preparing for the Australian Open with a win at the Kooyang Classic. It was at that tournament last season that he showed signs of what was to come in the following 2 weeks. He has already beaten some of his rivals this season with wins over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic and Fernando Gonzalez and all in straight sets.

The Spaniard had the best season of his career last year and many point to his winning the final Rubber in the Davis Cup Final of 2008 as being the springboard to his success. He finished with a 28-9 record on the hard courts, winning more matches on the surface than he had in the previous 2 seasons.

Last season was his breakthrough in Grand Slam events with his run to the Semi Final here in Australia but he had failed to go beyond the 2nd round previously.

Carsten Ball is a young Australian who will be hoping to pick up his biggest win of his career here in the 1st round. He is ranked outside of the top 100 in the World, but has a booming serve which will cause problems.

Ball has played in both Brisbane and Sydney to get up to speed for this tournament and ended with a 1-2 record. However, both losses were close and against talent like Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick.

The Australian made a bit of a breakthrough last season on the hard courts, ending the season with a 5-3 record on the main tour and also reaching a Final on the surface. The majority of his time was still played in Qualification matches and on the Challenger tour and he will be hoping to make the next step beginning here in Australia.

This is his second year playing in the main draw and he will be hoping to improve on his 3 set defeat to Michael Berrer last season.

Head to Head

The two players are yet to meet in a match.

Prediction

Fernando Verdasco looked very good at the Kooyang Classic and seems to be in prime form to have another decent run here in Australia. This will be a tough start for him against a fellow left-handed server and he will face games where it is hard to break serve.

Carsten Ball would have hoped for an easier start to the tournament but knows he can stay with the big boys thanks to his serve. The problem for him is that it will be hard to break the Verdasco serve if he continues with his high 1st serve percentage.

I think Verdasco gets through this round without too many concerns but I also think he will only get a couple of chances per set to break serve. For that reason, I will take the Australian to cover the handicap.

Fernando Verdasco 7-6, 6-3, 6-4

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

Fernando Verdasco WIN