Sony Ericsson Open: Saturday's tips - Federer states his intentions and Lisicki can march on

Events / Ben Caudell / 28 March 2009 / Leave a Comment

Ben Caudell gives us his tips for Saturday's matches....

Number two seed Roger Federer cruised into the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open yesterday with a straight sets victory over American Qualifier Kevin Kim 6-3 6-2. The Swiss legend announced his intentions to do well over the coming week stating after the match:

"I felt good," said Federer after his second round win. "I was moving well. I tried to get many balls back. I've never played him before... but I realized very quickly what his pattern was, especially on the serve.

"I feel like this is an important week for me to do well, especially now that I have matches again under my belt. I'm into the third round here, so I feel like things are going well for me again."

Federer will now face Nicolas Kiefer in the third round, he has a 11-3 career lead over the German veteran, who saved one match point in defeating Fabrice Santoro 5-7 7-6 6-2.

Nicole Vaidisova, one of our tips from yesterday crushed her opponent Alona Bondarenko 6-0 6-1. We backed her at [1.50] pre-match - a huge price considering the young Czech convincingly defeated her opponent last week at Indian wells and has a 3-0 head to head over the Ukrainian.

Today's Evening Selections

Sabin Lisicki (GER) v Iveta Benesova (CZE) - Lisicki is one of the new breed of talents hitting the WTA Tour at the moment. The twenty year old German is a favourite of mine, a player I fist backed as an unknown @12/1 against Lindsey Davenport in the Federation Cup. She duly won in straight sets and has since risen to 56 in the world rankings, posing a threat to any player ranked higher. Her first round win this week against another young starlet Petra Kvitova exemplifies the talent this player exudes. I expect nothing less than a straights sets win over the not so talented Czech, and at a tasty price of [1.66] to back, this surely is value for money.

Selection: Back Sabine Lisicki @ [166 ]to win match - Large bet

Karolina Sprem (CRO) v Dominika Cibulkoa (SVK) - Sprem and her current form will pose a threat to Dominiaka Cibulkova in tonight's match-up. The Croatian has won nine of her last ten matches including a 6-0 6-2 win over Marina Erakovic in this week's first round. Cibulkova, the younger of the two has experienced mixed fortunes recently. After reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing to Elena Dementieva, the Slovak has won four and lost two. With Sprem having already played three matches so far at this year's Open and this being Dominika's first match of the tournament, I expect Sprem to get off to a flying start, so back her at the beginning and lay off if she wins the first set.

Selection: Lay Dominika Cibulkova 2-0 @ 2.5