Tennis
2009-06-26 - Ferando Verdasco vs Albert Montanes
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco showed his real fighting credit in the last round to come through against Kristof Vliegen. After his relative stroll in round 1 against James Ward, this match was a much stiffer test but it showed the new found belief that Verdasco has in his own game.
Verdasco won 75% of the points behind his own serve in the 4 set win, 3 of the sets ending in tie-breaks. He did not face 1 break point in the match and had 65% first serves.
This was a tough mental battle for Verdasco, and he only managed to win 28% of the points behind the Vliegen serve, taking 1 of the 5 break point opportunities that he was afforded. Vliegen is known for having a tough serve, especially when it is on like it was on Wednesday.
Verdasco hit 33 winners in the match and made 24 unforced errors. He would like to remove the 7 double faults he had in the match but that could be down to the average 2nd serve speed of 100mph.
Albert Montanes
Albert Montanes is a flashback to the clay court specialists of yesteryear that would simply turn up to Wimbledon for their 1st round defeat and pay cheque before getting back on the red dirt and moving to North America for the hard court swing.
However, this year Montanes has managed to get through 2 rounds here after beating Grega Zemlja and Guillermo Canas for the loss of just 1 set.
The Spaniard came into this tournament with a 2-7 record at Wimbledon and this is the only time he will play on a grass court in a year.
The match with Canas in the last round came down to missed opportunies for the Argentine who squandered 14 break point opportunites on his way to 3 breaks of serve. Montanes himself managed to take 6 of the 10 break point chances he was offered up.
Head to Head
These 2 players have met twice before, however the last time they met was back in 2007.
Verdasco holds a 2-0 lead over Montanes, and is yet to drop a set in the 2 matches. The last time they played was on an indoor hard court, with Verdasco winning 6-1 6-1.
The previous meeting was on a clay court with Verdasco winning 7-6, 6-3.
Prediction
Fernando Verdasco showed a lot of class and mental toughness to come through his battle with Vliegen in the last round. I feel he will have an altogether easier day at the office with this match and will feel confident of reaching the 4th round.
Albert Montanes has surpassed his previous best at this tournament and will feel he has nothing to lose in the match. It will be interesting to see how he copes with the new and improved Verdasco after he was comfortably beaten the last time the 2 met.
I cannot see anything but an easy Verdasco win in this match. He has all the tools to take away Montanes' game and I think he will stroll through to the 4th round.
Verdasco to win 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
The Pick :
Fernando Verdasco
