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Saturday 18 June 2016

Tennis Picks 2016 (June 18th)

Roger Federer - 3.5 games v Alexander Zverev: He hasn't been at his best this week but Roger Federer is into another Semi Final in Halle and all this tennis has to be preparing him effectively for Wimbledon. He will want to go on and win the title here but this might be the first of a couple of youngsters that Federer will have to beat to do that.

The match with Alexander Zverev bridges the last generation with the next one upcoming and it looks a very interesting Semi Final. The home player served very well in his win over Marcos Baghdatis but I am still not convinced he is the most comfortable on a grass court and I will look for Federer to perhaps expose that.

The backhand slice is going to be an important shot for Federer who has to serve better than he did in his win over David Goffin if he is going to win this one. His movement has perhaps not been in top form either while Federer can't afford to allow too many returns of serve to fail to get Zverev to play.

I think he is the superior grass court player though and Federer can come through with a 76, 63 win to compete for another title in Halle.


Coco Vandeweghe - 2.5 games v Barbora Strycova: The rain in Birmingham has had a big affect on the tournament there through the week but finally the schedule is back on track. After a lot of double duty on Friday, the four Semi Finalists booked their places for the matches to be played on Saturday.

Coco Vandeweghe and Barbora Strycova make up one of the Semi Finals and both have had previous success on the grass courts which should make this a good match to watch. It was  only last week that Vandeweghe won the tournament in Hertogenbosch and I do wonder if all that tennis will eventually take a toll on her.

Overall her game fits perfectly on the grass with a big serve and forehand going through the surface and putting opponents under pressure. She is also able to hide her limited backhand on the surface and I can see Vandeweghe putting the Strycova serve under some immense pressure too.

I do have to respect Strycova who has won three impressive matches this week and who has had a strong run at Wimbledon in recent years. However I think Vandeweghe is the stronger player on this surface and can underline her potential dark horse status for Wimbledon with a 76, 64 win.


Caroline Garcia - 2.5 games v Kirsten Flipkens: This is perhaps not the Semi Final the organisers in Mallorca would have expected with Kirsten Flipkens owning wins over Garbine Muguruza and Monica Puig, while Caroline Garcia beat Ana Ivanovic. However that isn't to suggest it won't be a good Semi Final although I am leaning towards Garcia to come through.

There are times when Garcia really disappoints me as a player as she can lose focus and start throwing in a number of sloppy points in quick succession. That can see matches quickly slip from her grasp and the Frenchwoman is yet to really reach the heights that many tipped for her after watching her game.

It should be a big game for the grass courts as Garcia has a big serve and heavy groundstrokes, but Flipkens will be looking to extract errors from her game by making a lot of balls. That is difficult on the grass courts over a consistent period of time and Flipkens been a little disappointing more often than not in 2016.

I can't imagine this being as easy for Garcia as her win on the clay courts against Flipkens last month. The grass suits the variation Flipkens plays with as the ball keeps low on the surface but ultimately I think Garcia wins 63, 36, 63.

MY PICKS: Roger Federer - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Coco Vandeweghe - 2.5 Games @ 2.00 Ladbrokes (2 Units)
Carolina Garcia - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Paddy Power (2 Units)

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