28 Jan Fightback

Amazing comeback from Penne/Dulko from a set and 1-4 down to win, saving some match points on the way. Quite a meltdown from Azarenka in the final set, and to a lesser extent Kirilenko. Sometimes an extreme will to win can seem to work against a player.

Tomorrow's final looks very keenly priced and I'll probably just watch. After that, there's no more until the Fed Cup next weekend. Some interesting ties, especially Aus vs Italy, Stosur and Groth vs Penne and Schiavone.

27 Jan How many million viewers on Saturday?

With Li Na making the final it could be the most watched women's tennis match ever! The sheer scale of China is hard to grasp - mind boggling numbers - and it will be in a nice timeslot for their tv audience.

Li Na's PR people are certainly doing a good job on her image and post-match interviews and press conferences. I don't buy the line that they've got better as her English improved. She studied at Uni in the USA for 2 years and she's been on the tour for 12 years. More likely now that her profile has skyrocketed her management company decided to invest in a tame scriptwriter to give her some nice one-liners.

I managed to spaff away some large chunks of green on the Li Na and Fed matches by fiddling about. And I was never green on the Bepa match. Very impressive the way Clijsters has stepped up the gears as required - the wily Slam competitor.


My sleep patterns have been all over the shop for weeks now, but I was awake enough to play a few footie matches last night, so still ended the day in profit, thankfully!

26 Jan Wet dream final

Both favs in the singles won, though both had minor splutters along the way. I had thought Rads had a chance vs Clijsters but although she fought back a bit 2nd set Clijsters was just good enough. Not sure Clijsters deserves to be fav for the sf, and so short too.


We also have a marketing dream doubles final, with Azarenka/Kirilenko vs Pennetta/Dulko, four of the hottest babes on the tour. As predicted, my bigging up of Srebotnik proved to be fatal for her!

25 Jan Doubles r us

There's seldom markets or live streams for the doubles, but Melbourne has seen several. Now that the number of matches has dropped off it was worth having a look at them, and it paid off handsomely.

I've always been a fan of Srebotnik - fantastic hands. Seems injury has curtailed her singles career and she now concentrates on doubles. Probably put the curse on her now by suggesting her partnership is worth following! They have got a tough matchup tonight vs Azarenka/Kirilenko.

Had a big early green on Petkovic, but stupidly didn't cash it in. Couldn't pull the trigger at any time during the Woz - Fran match. Woz has this nasty habit of comebacks and Fran had question marks over her due to her very long match 2 days ago. But at the same time, Fran was playing so very well.

Also got suckered into a small lay of Fed dammit.


Sad to see news about Rezai having a family member suspended by the WTA "because of a serious safety matter affecting her health and well being". People criticising a player for significantly poor performance would do well to remember there may often be a lot more to it than meets the eye. Let's hope it all gets resolved satisfactorily.

24 Jan Strange business, Grand Slam tennis betting!

A week ago there were 32 matches scheduled, tonight there's 2! Tennis betting has a certain rhythm to it, with lots of matches early in the week tapering off rapidly towards the weekend. This is magnified for Grand Slams where the second week has very little action - 120 matches in the first week, only 7 in the second. The danger is that, having got used to quite a few matches and probably a lot of punts, one tries to force the issue in week 2.

Didn't bother with the NFL in the end. Wasn't sure about any of the teams pre-match so decided to watch each game for a bit. In both games the favs got off to good starts and the markets collapsed. Not keen to pile in at short odds, but didn't fancy a lay either as both games looked pretty one-sided, so decided to leave them and stick to the tennis.

Had a couple wins on the early matches but then fell asleep and missed the Peng vs Arads match - not sure what I'd've done there. Woke up in time for Clijsters but wasn't tempted at the odds either way.


Not sure the next time Benesova and Pennetta will feature on here so better grab the chance to post bikini pics of them!

23 Jan You don't HAVE to bet

Seem to have been watching a lot of tennis without betting! But there were some very watchable matches.

Saturday's 8 matches all looked very keenly priced to me, if anything I liked the dogs in most of them. That's a recipe for disaster when betting on tennis as favs win so many matches, so I decided to sit out the day's play as I wasn't comfy backing the favs either. As it turned out, 3 of the 8 favs lost, so a level stakes bet on all the dogs would probably have made a small profit.

Benesova, Makarova and Kvitova accounted for Pav, Nads and Sam respectively. Kvitova looked most impressive, but she's going to have to go some to beat Bepa.

Lucie and Bepa played a fine match. How often have I seen Lucie play a big match vs a top girl but just come up short? Bepa's defence was incredible, as good as JJ at her best.


Sunday's matches also looked quite tough to me. Two of three favs lost, Pova and Kuz, with the fourth match being evens the pair.

Was disappointed how quickly Sevastova crumbled after racing to a 3-1 lead in the first set, and although she rallied a bit in the second, it was never in doubt. As for the silly Kuz vs Fran 4.5 hr slugfest .... ! In hindsight, trading the flipflops in that match could've made a fortune. In hindsight lol

Only got to see the tail end of Pova's match thanks to that match running on and on. Having bigged up Pova on here she goes and plays a stinker - has this ever happened before? Looks like that perf vs Goerges remains the exception not the rule, though to be fair Petko is playing very well at the moment. The Brisbane form is looking very good, with both finalists into the quarters, having rolled much higher ranked oppo to get there.

NFL Championship matches tonight.