Friday, January 12, 2007

ATP TOUR ..........




We have two ATP finals tonight/ tomorrow morning, taking place in Australia.


First up, the Heineken Open in Auckland, where Tommy Robredo faces David Ferrer, in an all Spanish match up.


This is the first hardcourt final appearance for both, a little surprising in Robredo's case, as he grew up playing on the surface, only switching to his beloved clay, at the ripe old age of 14.


Having just employed a new coach in "Pepo" Clavet, brother of Francisco and most recently helping Fernando Verdasco, he will be delighted that the arrangement is paying instant dividends.


Clavet also worked with Alex Corretja, who had a lot of success on the faster surfaces, pretty sure that this is why he has been employed.Robredo knows that he must play well on all surfaces, if he is to retain his top 10 ranking.


Tommy dropped just 6 points on serve in his semi final win and is my confident selection to start the new year with a bang! He can boast 2006 hard court victories over Blake, Murray, Safin, Gasquet and Ljubicic, therefore, Ferrer should hold no fears for him.


In the Medibank International in Sydney, we have a classy looking encounter between James Blake and Carlos Moya.


Unbelievably the two will meet again in the Australian Open FIRST ROUND, in a couple of days time. Moya leads the h2h 5-3, most of which have gone the distance, he has a 15-8 record in Sydney, losing in two previous final appearances, to Tim Henman and Lleyton Hewitt.


They actually met here in 2003, with Moya winning in 3. There are sure to be plenty of break points and I feel it will go to a decider.


Blake has won the last two meetings, both in 2006 and should have "more in the tank", having had a walkover in the semis. Moya came here from India and freely admits to be feeling the effects. The American to nudge it.




5 points Robredo to beat Ferrer 1.74 exchanges.


2 points Blake to beat Moya 2-1 sets 4.30 exchanges.




Good Luck.

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