ATP Tennis Matches: Chennai,Qatar
Betting Angle on Today's ATP Tennis matches: Chennai and Qatar Open
Jan 5, 2008
Thank goodness tennis is back and already some players have come in with renewed determination and some new names making waves before the first grandslam event of the year. It promises to be an exciting year of tennis and on evidence of the first week of play, there will be a lot of surprises and that is why bettors and punters should be careful in their selections.
The first final on the ATP calendar comes this afternoon in Doha, Qatar. The Exxon Mobil Open finishes today with Andy Murray taking on Stanislav Wawrinka in the finals. This is an unexpected final but nevertheless it will be an entertaining affair with the tennis capability of both players.
Andy Murray (GB) vs Stanislav Wawrinka (Switzerland)
Last year, Wawrinka had a breakthrough year and his run at the US Open summed up how well he has improved. The number 2 Swiss is a hard working player on the court and you can expect him to dig deep to stay in the match even when the run of play is against him. On the other side of the court will be Andy Murray whose off season changes to his coaching staff is one of the topics of discuss during the close of the 2007 calendar. It remains to be seen if his unconventional method of rotating coaches and support staff will pay off. Murray had a mixed 2007 but still ended the year with some positive tennis and has seemingly picked up from where he left off.
During this week in Doha, Murray has had more TV time than Wawrinka which is a shame as the Swiss has played some good matches along the way to reach the finals. What is worrying about Murray's journey to the finals is how relaxed he played sometimes during the week and that allowed his opponents a sniff of chance at beating him. Rainer Schuttler made him pay for his casual approach in the round of 16 when the German took the first set 6-1 and Thomas Johansson made a few costly mistakes enroute to losing the first set 7-6 to Murray. Both opponents were in their 30s and unable to capitalize on some basic errors and casual play from Murray. Against Wawrinka, his approach had better be different otherwise the Swiss will take yet another encounter from the Brit.
Wawrinka has met Murray twice and on both ocassions he was victorious. The last time was in 2006 earlier in the season when Murray was in form and pre-injury so there was no excuse other than he was beaten fair and square. This time he will not be underestimating the Swiss and will want to pull one back in the head to head. If Wawrinka should serve first, he will be difficult to peg back as he is a very good front runner which might affect the approach of Murray. Both players have done extremely well to get to the finals, Murray defeating Davydenko yet again in Doha and Wawrinka surviving the huge serving Croat, Ljubicic.
This will be a tough match and neither player will be giving up any easy points. The betting market suggests that Murray will win this easily but coming into this match 2-0 down in the head to head, there must be doubts in the back of his mind. This match should go to 3 sets, so total games of over 23 games is a good punt and the tennis bet of the day would be to take Stanislav Wawrinka to win +4.0 games handicap.
Chennai Open Semifinal
The other games today are in the Chennai Open semifinals and the only match that has a profit angle to it is the Youzhny vs Cilic match. Cilic the young Croat is making his way up the ATP ladder and he is well equppied to stay with Youzhny all the way in this one. The Russian had a disappointing end to 2007 after his team lost to the US in the finals of the Davis Cup bbut he is back now playing as well as ever and should win this one but will be a battle to the final ball. Cilic to win +4.5 games handicap.
