Dancevic is a great talent as I stated many times on this blog. He has a great serve and showed this once again in his first round match against Roitman where he hit 11 aces, didn't get broken and won convincingly. He is 18-13 on grass and 8-4 last year, with only narrow losses to Roddick (2-1), Stepenanek (3-0, tight sets) and Melzer (2-1). Today he is playing Tursunov who he has already beaten in 2003 on clay. The Russian lacks rhythm on grass after his bye in round 1 and he only had early exits since the Houston challenger. He was decent last year on grass with a good record of 6-3 but only one "name" beatenL: Ivan Ljubicic. He lost to Murray, Henman and Nieminen.

I see no reason here why Dancevic couldn't cause a small upset. He is the better surface, has the better form and has a great chance here!

Ginepri is really being overrated here. The American is 14-12 on grass since 2003 and has a negative record over last 2 years. He lost 8 in a row before this week and even his performances on his best surface, hardcourt, have been mediocre. Last year he beat only Goldstein and Tipsarevic and lost against Blake, Santoro and Fish. He beat "nobody" Bloomfield in round 1. Florent Serra on the other hand lacks experience on grass. He is only 6-4 since 2003 but he is a very allround player. He beat Schuettler, Robredo and Ferrero on grass last year and lost only to Hernych and Dlouhy. The Frenchman had a very surprising win over Amer Delic in round 1 and his play can be compared to Ginepri's. Serra's form is a lot better and this match is a lot closer than odds suggest. Great value!

Chris Guccione has all the potential to be a very good player on grass. The youngster has a record of 18-15 currently and has taken an immense step in 2007. He recently lost only to on fire Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a tiebreak in the third set and beat Seppi, who is pretty good on grass as well, in an impressive round 1 win here. He hit 11 aces and lost only 3 out of 39 first serve points. His second serve was unimpressive with 38% however. He is playing Clement, a player who he has beaten already in Adelaide earlier this year (to make H2H 1-1). The Frenchman is having a terrible year with just one semi final and far too many early exits. He is struggling on every surface this year and was also having a hard time against Navarro-Pastor yesterday with a 7-6(2) 6-4 win. The Spanish player used serve volley a lot and when the pressure is on Clement he isn't always on his best. He is a great athlete and a fast player but his qualities aren't that visible on a grass court. His grass season last year was terrible with straight set losses to Nalbandian, Lee and Santoro and only wins over Pless and Puerta.

Guccione should clinch hit, his serve will just be too much for veteran Clement. Good luck!

I made the mistake to bet against Monfils today and won't make the same mistake again. The Frenchman has a great tactic on grass, seemed very patient and really built up his points with a good sliced backhand and of course his incredible forehand to finish it up. He annihilated Andreev in under 50 minutes and hit 14 aces in this short period, of which 4 in one game. He lost only 2 points on his first serve and was simply amazing. Monfils had a terrible start of the year but since Portschach he seems to be in the form of his life.

I've watched Mirnyi's entire match as well and just managed to stay awake. He beat Verdasco with ease, simply by doing his thing: Serve & Volley or Chip & Charge. Monfils is a player who can handle this with ease with his great passing shots. It surprised me how bad Mirnyi''s build up shots were and it was completely Verdasco's inability which provided him with an easy victory. Miryi's second serve is terrible and even though he isn't hitting as many double faults as he did a couple of weeks ago his 43% second serve points won says it all. Big bet for me on Monfils, good luck!!

Andreev has been in great form. He can be considered the revelation on clay in Roland Garros with his 1/4 final spot and he is a player who can perform on any surface. Except for indoor hardcourt he has a positive balance on all surfaces and he is 8-6 on grass. He didn't play in 2006 due to an injury but in 2005 he reached the third round at Wimbledon as an highlight. The year before he only lost to Hewitt, Ancic and Gonzalez (in 5) and even beat Agassi and Gasquet.
Monfils is 5-5 on clay and was good on clay as well. On grass his good serve (just like Andreev's) will surely be important but I think he is too sloppy to beat Andreev. Andreev beat him in 2005 and 2006 on hardcourt(indoor) and carpet in relatively easy matches:
44/2006 ATP Paris (FRA) Carpet Igor Andreev Gael Monfils 7-5 6-4 First
6/2005 ATP Marseille (FRA) I_Hard Igor Andreev Gael Monfils 6-3 6-2 First

Great dog here, good luck!

Ljubicic v Udomchoke 1 @ 1.25
Roddick v Stepanek 1 @ 1.22
Sluiter v Kohlschreiber 2 @ 1.33

Ljubicic is getting underestimated here. He had some bad luck on grass in the past but has the potential to be one of the best with his groundstrokes and powerful serve. Udomchoke beat Hernandez here which was no surprise (even though I hoped it would happen). Udomchoke has never beaten a top 100 player before on the surface, especially no one in the top 10 of the world and should have no chance here.
Roddick will be playing Stepanek, who had an easy win against weak Sanguinetti. Roddick is getting underestimated as well after a weak clay season but on grass the story is different. His record last years is 39-5 and this is a huge advantage over Stepanek's 16-8. Roddick had time to concentrate on this and stated that he will be looking to rise up to the challenge of Federer this year. Stepanek should be a walk in the park for him.
Last but not least is in form Kohlschreiber who was great on clay this year who showed with wins over Davydenko, Benneteau and Falla last year that he is good on grass as well. He showed in Munchen how good he can be in front of his homefans and leads the H2H against Sluiter 1-0. The Dutchman is a qualifier but hasn't beaten any names on this surface, where he is just mediocre, just as on any other surface. Good luck!

Gulbis v Kendrick 2 @ 1.44
Fish v Karlovic 2 @ 1.44

Gulbis has never played on grass and Kendrick has been in good form and really convinced in the quali's against Zverev, Muller and Giraldo. He was great on grass last year as well, even taking Nadal to 6-7(4) 3-6 7-6(2) 7-5 6-4 at Wimbledon. Gulbis is just mediocre and should have no chance here.

Fish is still overweight and out of form. He lost last 3 (out of 4) encounters with Karlovic and the giant has been showing good form reaching the final in Surbiton. Fish could trouble him a bit but at the key points Karlovic will show what he can do on grass. Good luck

Tsonga, J-W - Pless, K 1 @ 1.43
Cilic, M - Henman, T 2 @ 1.28
Dancevic, F - Roitman 1 @ 1.18

Total Odds:
2.16

Short analysis: All players who are a lot better on grass than their opponent and especially in the case of Tsonga are in better form. I know Tsonga is probably getting a bit tired after playing 8 matches in 7 days but his physique is great and the fact that he is still undefeaten on grass this year shows his form. Good luck!

Good odds here on Wawrinka. The Swiss player is a huge talent and loves playing on fast surfaces where his great serve plays the best. His comeback on clay wasn't that succesful but that isn't strange since it isn't his best surface and he really lacked rhythm. On grass however he should be able to provide us with a surprise or two. His serve (and volleying) and powerful groundstrokes are a great weapon and despite his negative record of 2-5 this should suit him nicely. He played on the surface for the first time last year, immidiately beating both Calleri and the bigger surprise: Ivo Karlovic at Wimbledon. Today he is facing another talent, Russian Korolev. The Russian had a good hardcourt season but has been performing with many ups and downs. He got injured in Estoril and hasn't played a match since then. He has only played one grass match in his life and lost it against Bopanna. Wawrinka has the weapons to beat Korolev here and I think he will, probably in straight sets. Good luck!

Baghdatis, M - Simon, G 1 @ 1.27
Berdych, T - Kiefer, N 1 @ 1.14
Koubek, S - Söderling, R 2 @ 1.13
Total Odds: 1.64

Analysis can be short here. Baghdatis is world class on clay. He did lose to Simon earlier this year when the Frenchman was in great form on indoor hardcourt in Marseille and won the event but on grass the story is different. Baghdatis is in the best physical shape of his life and reached consecutive semi finals in 's-Hertogenbosch and Wimbledon. Baghdatis form is better, he is the better overall player and is a lot better on grass. Should be easy.

Berdych is a big server and has a final spot to defend here in Halle. He leads the H2H with Kiefer 3-0 and since the German hasn't played a match since the French Open 2006 (when he retired against....Berdych..) I can't see him standing a chance here.

Last pick is Soderling, who actually trails the H2H 1-0. He has a QF spot to defend here and with his great serve and groundstrokes loves the grass as well. He is playing Koubek who has been in bad form AND hasn't played on grass in 2006 and 2005 and only once in 2004 which he lost. He dislikes the surfaces and Soders should have an easy one!

EDIT: MADE MISTAKE IN RETURNS: SHOULD BE 13.12 (5.12 Net Profit). Will correct this in another pick (-2.88)

Mahut's form isn't brilliant but that's no surprise because clay simply isn't his thing. He is a powerful player with, just as many other picks today, a great serve. He has a great 27-17 record on grass and this is great for a player like him (since 2003). He lost only to Henman, Soderling and Federer last year, all great grass players and beat great players as Malisse, Benneteau, Stepanek, Melzer and Vliegen. He is facing Kunitsyn who was unimpressive on his favourite surface hardcourt and on clay as well. He lost to Youzhny, Kendrick, Simon and Reynolds last year and his record is just unimpressive. I expect Mahut to take it with ease on this surface, 6-2 6-3.

H2H: 1-1
8/2006 CH Besancon (FRA) I_Hard Nicolas Mahut Igor Kunitsyn 3-6 6-3 6-3 Second
33/2002 CH Bronx (USA) Hard Igor Kunitsyn Nicolas Mahut 7-6(2) 3-6 7-6(2) First

EDIT: MADE MISTAKE IN RETURNS FROM ATP COMBO: SHOULD BE 13.12 (5.12 Net Profit). Will correct this here. Returns would have been 9.25 and are now 6.37.