French Open Betting / Ben Caudell / 01 June 2010 /

The Czech is yet to drop a set and could be about to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final - Ben Caudell certainly thinks so. Meanwhile, there will be no love lost in an all-Russian affair in the women's draw.

Tomas Berdych (CZE) v Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)

Tomas Berdych is vying for a place in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time. If the Birdman cannot get motivated for today's match with nemesis Mikhail Youzhny then he has serious problems. With the chance to play Roger Federer in the penultimate round, I predict another accomplished performance from the Czech, who has been outstanding so far at this year's French Open and throughout 2010.

Tomas Berdych is yet to drop a set at Roland Garros from four matches; he has become a more intelligent tennis player, structuring his points more meticulously and finally looks to have sorted the mental side of his game out. The confidence Berdych exudes at the moment is partly due to how he has matured over the last few months. He's serving as well as he ever has done, consistently winning over 70% of first serves and over 50% of second serve points won and against Andy Murray in the previous round he achieved an unbelievable 92% of first serve points won.

Both players will know each others' games inside out; they have met 11 times on the ATP Tour and Youzhny leads the head-to-head series 6-5. The most recent match was played at the end of last year in Tokyo which Youzhny won in straight sets, two of the head-to-heads have been on clay and they share one win apiece.

Youzhny and Berdych come into today's match with similar form; both are 9-1 in all matches and on clay. Youzhny has one tournament win on the dirt this year, the Munich Open, Berdych won three of three matches in the Dusseldorf World Team cup, dispatching John Isner, Carsten Ball and Nicolas Almagro.

I haven't been overly impressed with Youzhny's so far, he's dropped sets due to lack of concentration and has been less than convincing. Berdych is on a roll at the moment and if he can sustain this momentum he will make it through to a much deserved Grand Slam semi-final first.

Recommended bet: Back Tomas Berdych @ [1.54] to win match
Back Berdych -4.5 Games @ [2.2]

Elena Dementieva (RUS) v Nadia Petrova (RUS)

Nadia Petrova, who in my opinion has what it takes to win this years French Open, faces fellow compatriot Elena Dementieva for the 11th time in their WTA careers. Dementieva leads the head-to-head series 7-3 and has won the last four including one retirement. The last three matches have gone to three sets and I can see the same happening here.

This will be a match of contrasts between Petrova the server and Dementieva the returner. Petrova has one of the best serves in the game, she has recorded stats of 73.8 % of first serve points won at this event compared with only 59% for Dementieva who often struggles to hold serve. Dementieva, who has one of the worst services in the game, relies far too much on breaking her opponent and if she struggles to do this against Petrova, there will be only one winner; this will be the lower ranked of the two, Petrova.

Recommended bet: Back Nadia Petrova @ [1.61] to win match

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: