Tuesday:
Parlay: (5 units)
Juan Ignacio Chela -280 over Albert Portas
Chela is a strong clay player and his stats back that up. 22-11 on clay last year (2004) and 1-4 this year... it's not the appropiate stat for his clay talents. More a play against Portas, he had 30-15 clay record in 2001 but since: 6-14 (2002), 9-15 (2003) and 5-15 (2004), you gotta be kidding me... his loses of late include: Tenconi, Hernandez, Behrend, Mayer, Blanco, not the quality of players that Chela is. Portas has the capability of throwing a miracle in there now and then, he even beat Chela in 2001 6-1, 6-2. That will be no reflection here. Chela has been bad so far this year on the surface and he has nowhere to go but up. Solid play here.
Xavier Malisse -230 over Thomas Johansson
Johansson is more of a hardcourt player to me and is nothing better than a .500 player on clay, this could be a close game but I don't see Johansson doing much with the sure footed Malisse. His game revolves around speed and quickness he will surely show more improvements in the next few years to come on this surface, I think his game suits it. 2-1, 7-6, 4-5, 5-5, these are his clay records over the last 4 years. What's astounding is that Johansson has played a total of 4 clay court matches over the last 3 years and it's safe to say he doesn't see his future on the surface. Johansson beat the out of form Koubek and his other match this year was a loss against Lisnard. Edge here surely goes to Malisse for me. Johansson is waiting for the grass season I'm certain
GL!
B