Tennis
2010-01-20 - Andy Roddick vs Thomaz Bellucci
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Preview
Andy Roddick came through his first round encounter with Thiemo de Bakker in straight sets and was comfortable from the get go. In fact, the most trouble Roddick faced all day was when he ran into a linesman who didnt get out of his way and the American fell flat on the floor.
Roddick managed to get in 64% of his first serves but he will be hoping to improve on that as he goes through this tournament. He served well enough to win 73% of the points behind the serve. He had only 7 aces throughout the contest and also ended with 18 winners and 23 unforced errors.
One area where the American is going to have to improve is the number of break point opportunities he allowed de Bakker.
Thomaz Bellucci is a young Brazilian who came through the first round in 4 sets. His match was rain-interrupted and he had to come back the day after it begun to complete the victory. Bellucci served well enough in the match, winning 66% of the points behind his serve but he will have to do better against the number 6 seed.
Preparation for this tournament was strange for the Brazilian as he lost a close match to Tomas Berdych in Brisbane before being completely outclassed by Philip Kohlschreiber in Auckland where he could not hold his serve for love nor money.
Both of these players will look to dominate behind their own serves and there may be an issue for Roddick in the early stages as Bellucci is a left hander. It will be interesting to see if Bellucci can hold his game together under the intense pressure the Roddick serve can provide on both returning and serving games. The Brazilian will be all too aware that a break of serve could be extremely costly at any time.
Head to Head
They have yet to meet in competition.
Prediction
I have no doubt at all that Andy Roddick will come through and take his place in the 3rd round of the tournament. He was solid if unspectacular in the 1st round and that is the requirement in the early stages of any Grand Slam. He will be hoping for another straight-forward victory here.
Thomaz Bellucci is going to find this tough and will need to stay with Roddick as long as possible to have any chance of recording an upset. He cannot afford to do the same as de Bakker in round 1 and lose the first set comfortably as playing catch up against the Roddick serve is never easy.
I see Roddick winning this 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
The Pick :
Andy Roddick 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
BEST BETTING TIP :
Andy Roddick WIN
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Andy Roddick -7.5 games @ 2.0 (Bet365)
