Finals

Well, just finals in Auckland, Hobart and Sydney are away from the start of Australian Open 2012. Qualifications are already available to trade today on BetFair, but I think they won't be liquid enough so I won't be even bothered to give them a try.  I hope players won't be changing their "faces" like they used to in this pre-Australian open tournaments, when they were good one day and completely changed in less then 24 hours. I want to see some consistancy in order to be able to trust the players. I believe motivation shouldn't be the factor on Grand Slam anymore, so I hope for two good weeks.

Obviously todays most interesting final to trade is one against Benneteau vs Nieminen. Nieminen had a nice number of games under his belt, coming to this final as qualifier, so he could be a little bit tired, he will also play some hours after this match doubles finals vs brothers Bryan. His 2nd serve speed (sometimes even 1st) is really worrying, as he was serving in 2nd set yesterday serves around 100 km/h, which is total rubbish. He must be happy that Istomin was too fatigued to exploit this lower then WTA serves from Nieminen. Head-2-head stats are strongly to Nieminen side (4-0). Benneteau had a nice flight here, still without a lost set, his motivation will be high, as he will definitely want to earn his first ATP title in his career (he had a couple of finals). His experience shouldn't be the questioned at all, he can have a bit weary legs, but same thing with Nieminen. I expect them they should be evens at rallies, with more UE's from Nieminen, and better serving from Benneteau. Benneteau is also amazing at the net, so everything points towards Benneteau winning this game. It definitely won't be an easy match, but Nieminen was broken too many times in this tournament, and too many breaks vs Benneteau could prove fatal very fast. Odds at 1.85 for Benneteau are very saucy, so half-stake from the start could be a proper start, getting out for small red if things don't go my way and adding full-stake on higher stake. If Nieminen goes ahead I really don't believe he will be firmly ahead throughout the whole match. I believe in 2 tight sets for Benneteau or even 3 setter.

In Auckland we have a strong underdog Olivier Rochus vs David Ferrer. Rochus plays tennis of his life-time and I'll think he'll at least try to oppose Ferrer tonight. Cheap lay at 1.08 couldn't hurt anyone as Ferrer was quite unsure at some moments in this tournament. In the end I think Ferrer will win it thou, as he is too much of a fighter for Rochus, who struggled against Paire who is a fighter and all-around player as Ferrer. It might be close, Rochus has beaten Ferrer 2 in his carrer, but I'll be hoping for better start from Rochus then switch to Ferrer on higher odds. Ferrer to win in two straight sets.

I'll be short about Wickmayer vs Barthel. If Wickmayers shots will be working she'll win it, but I'll not be easy and we will have some ups and down, so a good trading game. Wickmayer will be trading definitely higher then she started. Wickmayer in 3 sets.