Tennis
2010-01-20 - James Blake vs Juan Martin Del Potr
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Tennis: Australia, Australian Open Men 2010
Wednesday, 20th January 2010 - Start 00:00 GMT
Preview
This should be the game of the day in the Men's tournament as 2 big hitting, explosive players meet in the 2nd round.
James Blake is coming to end of his time at the top of Men's tennis and has fallen to number 45 in the World, but he still possesses the powerful groundstrokes that had him in the top 20 not that long ago. He took on a new trainer last season as he looks to develop some of his other parts of the game which may prolong his career.
The American prepared for this tournament with 2 wins in Brisbane before he was beaten by Gael Monfils. He has never really performed to his full capabilities at Grand Slam events, finding himself in epic matches early in the tournaments. He still favours the hard courts, but his overall lack of success can be seen from the fact that he only won 3 more matches than he lost last season.
He won through comfortably enough in the 1st round with a straight set win over Arnaud Clement. He hit 40 winners in that match and won 73% of the points behind his serve. However, Clement's game is built for James Blake where as Juan Martin Del Potro's is not.
Juan Martin Del Potro moved up to number 4 in the World last week and is also the current US Open Champion. There has been a little concern with a wrist injury he is carrying but he looked strong his 1st round win.
The Argentine's preparation was 1 win over Ivan Ljubicic at the Kooyong Classic before he pulled out for precautionary reasons. He also elected not to defend his Auckland title and will be looking to defend his Quarter Final points from this tournament to ensure he stays in the top 4.
Del Potro was solid enough in his first match with Michael Russell but did go walkabout in the middle of the match and eventually came through in 4 sets. A couple of line calls went against him in the 3rd set which saw Del Potro give up serve twice and lose it 6-2 as he was busy arguing with the umpire than playing the match.
He has all the power in the World to counter James Blake and keep the American on the back foot. It should be a game full of winners as the person who gets the first big shot in will likely dictate the points. Where Del Potro stands alone in this match is in terms of consistency and I can see him hitting more winners during the course of the match.
Head to Head
They met once previously but we would have to go back 3 years when Blake managed to beat Del Potro in Las Vegas during the ill conceived Round Robin tournament days.
On that occasion, Blake was a set and a break of serve up before the Argentine retired with injury.
Prediction
James Blake will remain a dangerous opponent on this surface at this moment of his career but I think we will see him trouble the top players less and less. He can bring his A-game together for a set and a half these days, but once he falls off that level, he drops remarkably. He was always a shot maker, but the consistency is beginning to drop.
Juan Martin Del Potro hits the ball just about as hard as anybody and has really improved his game in the last 18 months. His serve is stronger, he is mentally very strong, and he knows he can beat the best players in the World on the biggest stages as shown with his consecutive wins over Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the Semi and Final of the US Open.
I can see this match being close for the first couple of sets and it will be interesting to watch before Del Potro should take control of the match.
Juan Martin Del Potro should go through 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
The Pick :
Juan Martin Del Potro 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
Juan Martin Del Potro WIN
