Tennis
2009-06-29 - Dinara Safina vs Amelie Mauresmo
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Tennis: England, Wimbledon Women
Monday, 29th June 2009 - Start 14:30
Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina has moved through the opening week here at Wimbledon with minimum fuss as would be expected by the Number 1 seed, but she has the same tendencies as her brother Marat in not liking the surface and this will be a big test for her.
Safina is yet to drop a set in the tournament but matches have been closer in the set scores than it was for her at Roland Garros recently.
The Russian Number 1 won 66% of the points behind her own serve in her last round win, which is much to do with the nature of the 2nd set that she won 6-1. Safina allowed for 4 break point chances for her opponent but did not see her serve broken.
She did win 48% of the points off her opponent's serve and managed to break 4 times from the 8 opportunities she created.
Amelie Mauresmo
Amelie Mauresmo is a former Wimbledon winner and is going to be a real tough encounter for Safina. She has the pedigree on this surface and she has won her last 2 rounds in straight sets. Her first round encounter was a little tougher in that it went to 3 sets but she came through that 6-2 in the 3rd.
Mauresmo has not progressed beyond this stage of the tournament since she won Wimbledon in 2006.
The French star won 64% of the points behind her serve in her last match against the higher ranked Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta did have 10 chances to break serve but Mauresmo showed a lot of courage to only lose 1 break.
Mauresmo won 38% of the points off the Pennetta serve but took the chances that came her way which can be indicated from her 3 breaks of serve from 6 opportunities she created.
Head to Head
This is the 7th meeting between the players with Mauresmo holding a 4-2 advantage. Safina won their last meeting last season, but Mauresmo had won 3 in a row before that.
Most of the matches took place 2 years or further back when Mauresmo was at a higher level than Safina.
Prediction
Dinara Safina has some of the tools to be effective on this surface but really struggles with her movement as her brother did. It will be interesting to see how she handles the occasion mentally when she gets behind in a match.
Amelie Mauresmo is a solid grass court player and is a tough challenge for any player on the surface. She has also started this tournament in the right way and should have the fans support behind her.
I think this is going to be one of the shocks of 4th round Monday and I can see Mauresmo coming through. I would recommend Mauresmo to win and also Mauresmo on the handicap
The Pick :
Amelie Mauresmo
BEST BETTING TIP :
Amelie Mauresmo WIN
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Amelie Mauresmo +2.5 games 1.83 at Ladbrokes
