Australian Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 17 January 2010 /

Ben Caudell opens up a fortnight of Aussie Open tips with a look at one game in either singles tournament

Jie Zheng (CHI) v Shuai Peng (CHI)
I am going to open up my Australian Open daily tips with a match between the second- and third-ranked Chinese players. There's little to split Zheng and Peng on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles rankings, where they stand 35th and 46th respectively. I have chosen this match simply because I believe there is value in backing the younger of the two players, Peng. In my book this match should be priced up close to even money for both players but Peng can be backed at [3.0]

Both Zheng and Peng know each others games inside out having trained together for Federation Cup matches and at junior levels. On the WTA Tour these two have played each other on three occasions and Peng leads the head-to-head series 2-1. Significantly, all three matches were played on hard courts. Their most recent match however was earlier this month in which Zheng destroyed Peng 6-2 6-1, the standard of tennis played that day was awful with both players struggling to find any kind of form. But that lone straightforward win for Zheng over her compatriot is the reason why she is so short in the match odds, Grand Slam matches are however a different ball-game and the pressure will be on both to reach the next round.

Peng finished the end of last season with some decent results, she managed to reach the semi-finals of the Guangzhou International tournament in China but had to retire against Shahar Peer. At the Beijing Open the 24-year-old played magnificently. On her way in reaching the quarter finals Peng managed to defeat Yaroslava Shvedova, Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova before losing to Nadia Petrova in three sets.

I expect this to be a lot closer than their most recent match with plenty of value in backing Shuai Peng pre-match

Selection: Back Shuai Peng @ [3.0] to win match

Marc Gicquel (FRA) v Simone Bolelli (ITA)
Today's match between veteran Marc Gicquel and the Italian Simon Bolelli should prove to be a walk in the park for the Frenchman. Gicquel is one of the oldest players to play at this year's Australian Open but is showing no signs of hanging up his racket any time soon. The French stalwart has won seven of his last eight matches when priced as favourite, he has won three of four first round matches in Grand Slam tournaments of 2009 and has played five matches already this year (3-2) in Australia so is acclimatised to the both the weather and playing surface.

Bolelli on the other hand is yet to play In Australia and is in a terrible patch of form coming in to this years Australian Open, he is currently 1-9 losing in the first round of his last eight tournaments, has lost four of his last five in five-set matches and four of his last five priced as the underdog, amazingly his last win was way back in August 2009 against Andreas Beck in New Haven!

Although Bolelli showed some signs of his true potential against Rafael Nadal in Doha, the Italian is still ruined mentally. He has struggled to find any kind of consistency, often hitting out at balls for no reason other than pure frustration. Gicquel has a wise old head on his shoulders and will take advantage of any signs that Bolelli may implode. Gicquel won their most recent match 7-5 6-3 just under a year ago when Bolelli was in better form so I expect this match to go the same way, a straight sets win for the veteran.

Selection: Back Marc Giquel @ [1.55] to win match
Back Giquel 3-0 @ [4.0]

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