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Boston beat the best team of the east yesterday, the Rangers. With the injured players back, and that win, their self-confidence is pretty high. They had six defeats in a row until yesterday, but it's not that they played badly. The Bruins are leading a dead race against Ottawa for the playoffs, and this is their chance against a team far from the playoffs, to get two new points, confirm yesterday's win, and keep the advantage over Ottawa who are playing a tough match against Florida who are breathing down their necks. Carolina's got two consecutive wins, one against Pittsburgh who're having problems with their roster, and against the Devils in a duel between the teams who'll watch the playoffs from home this year. If Boston want to play and not watch, they have to win, because their schedule is tough. Carolina aren't really motivated, and had a series of 11 defeats before the last two wins. Carolina will start the second goalie Khudobin today, since this is their second day in a row playing, so they're tired. Rask will tend the goal for Boston, and that's an advantage against Carolina. To keep it short, Boston are a strong team and we can't imagine them not being in the playoffs. They'll definitely get there before Ottawa. Boston had problems with their roster, and if not for that, they'd be 10 points ahead of where they're now, at least. Boston have the quality to stay in for the playoff, and Carolina are one of the weakest teams of the league who lost their chance for the playoffs a long time ago. Details

Monteiro is a player with a relatively bad ranking, but that doesn't mean he's a bad player. He was crushing it in the challenger qualifiers in 2013, and got 12 wins in a span of two-three months. He was getting better, which should have culminated in 2014, if not for an injury. He played last season, but just wasn't up to it physically. Now, in 2015, he showed why he made us all think he's a good player in 2013. He lost in the third round of his first challenger qualifiers, but that was against Hernandez who plays the best tennis of his career. He played ATP qualifiers later, and lost to Ghem who had over 30 challenger wins last year, De Bakker who kills it in tournaments like those, and Maxim Gonzalez, where Monteiro managed to take a set. Those three defeats in a row were a bit expected, but he left a good impression in each one. He almost got to the main lot of the fourth ATP tournament , but got eliminated in the third round in three sets, against Bagnis, and defeated Pella and Quinzi before that. Like I said, the Brazilian is worth a lot more than his current ranking. He's got a typical clay streak in his game, and can make any opponent get tired here. His serves and hits can punish shallow game and passivity. He'll be a Top 200 player this year or the next. He's a better player than his opponent today, younger, with a brighter future, better game, and since this is played on clay, he's a favorite.
O'brien is a futures player, and I don't think he's got a bright future. He never got to Top 500, and only has 2-4 on this level. His ratio of wins and defeats is negative even in the futures, and that says it all. He easily got eliminated in the qualifications of both challengers he played, and got defeated in the first round of the futures, as well. A disastrous beginning of the season, but realistic, considering his abilities. Just this description of O'brien is enough for this bet, but what tops it all is that he's not even a clay player. He's got 0-2 on clay on this level, 2-5 on the futures. Monteiro loves clay, O'brien concrete, and in a state like this, in these conditions, I'd be really surprised if O'brien took a set here. He couldn't against players much weaker than Monteiro. Details

I couldn't have imagined the margins or the handicaps set up like this for this match. Yeah, Bellis did connect two wins here, justified being invited, and she's got a bright future ahead. But, she's still growing, and still needs to maker her name in the tennis scene. Serena played a good match against Niculescu here, even though Niculescu didn't make many mistakes. Bellis can be expected to make lots. Serena's still got room to improve her game, it was obvious to anyone who's watched her play. This is Serena's yard, seven titles from this tournament, and names much bigger than Bellis's didn't fare well against Serena. Bellis could play her game in the first two matches, especially against Diyas. But she'll be closer to line referees than the baseline today. Bellis's serve isn't strong, and Serena will shot those with ease. Not to mention the difference in quality, and the hits. Bellis will also probably be under the impression here, both of the center court and Serena. I think Serena will dominate from the beginning, she doesn't give it easy to anyone, even her sister, she said so herself. Details

From one match to the other the Azarenian is rising in quality and she showed against Jankovic that she is on a good path to reach the level she once was on. Creativity, firmness and safety in each aspect of her game were abundant in the match against Jankovic. Pennetta played well, but she's not close to Azareian's game. She mostly plays one or two good tournaments a year, and the rest are mediocre. Indian Wells was that one good tournament, where she achieved more than was expected. In Miami her game quality and interest fell, and Pironkova's tennis is not something that could jeopardize her. Even if she plays mediocre, because of that she won. Considering that Azarenka is currently better in each game segment, that she's in rising shape and that her appetite is growing. Pennetta is mildly going downward and her interests and quality are also going down. I expect Azarenka's convincing win with minimum of seven games of difference. Details

Although Cedevita are announcing this match as a preparation for Buducnost, I think that this pair, this handicap, deserves a middle stake. Alkar are arriving without a true play (Bilic out), wing Gaurina who is also the second shot after Vitali. They're coming finally without Slavko Modric, their signature man. Three players from the first five, and we have information that the rest good ones are half-baked. Zitka has problems with his knee, Perajica with his back, Modrica with the back... Which means Alkar will stay on Vitalij from the important ones. OK, they have Krstanovic, Boban brothers, Kanaet, Bilandzic and Svalina, but none of them are older than 22. The last two are kids. They have to go through a lot to be able to deal with Cedevita. Repesa will rotate? That only means he will be able to keep a higher pace during the whole game, and Alkar's shorter rotation will hardly be able to keep up with that. Besides, Zganec, Arapovic, Mazalin and the rest will be carriers of the game in Alkar. So much about it that Cedevita's roation will be weaker. As a friend said, anything below 30 is good for Alkar... Milacic is also aware of that so he announced defeat in advance. They're off to lose with the least possible score difference, he said. Last season it was 43, Alkar had Modric and Gaurina, and Repesa also rotated.
Keep in mind, you can find a more favorable margin (24.5). Details

Honestly, I expected more evened out odds for today's meeting, and with it, a higher margin. Benfica didn't celebrate by accident with 3-0 in the first head to head, but if the Italians had taken the second set, we would've seen an entirely different match. To pass into the finals they need two sets, and they surely won't give up that easy. Ravenna didn't impress me in their latest matches. Even though they've beaten Zvezda with 3-0, they didn't win a single set with more than four points of difference, and I see the Portuguese as the stronger team. The pressure is definitely on the side of the hosts. Benfica have enough experience to save the advantage from the first head-to-head, and it all "smells" of a match with a higher number of points. Details

It might not sound fair towards the Belarus, but their opponents are as much to be thanked for for the Belarus getting to the final, as the Belarus themselves. Nexe played a horrible second half-time, and they could have jeopardized Meshkov if they kept focus and made fewer technical mistakes. The semifinal against Vardar looked more as if the Macedonians were just practicing, than it did like they played seriously. Meshkov used that, and went to the final. They don't stand a chance today, Veszprem are a different class, which they showed when they won 29-17 in Belarus. The Hungarians are really unhappy with their performance against Zagreb, they were leading by 4-5, and then depended on the last shot in the final moments. They can't have anything like that today, not with Manojlović who's not ready enough, and without Špiler. Anything except for the 7-8 goals difference would be a big surprise. Details

This match could provide us with an answer who will go into the third league, and who will remain in the second. Both Prat and Rincon have the same record (5-19), but the home team are on the last place because they lost the first head-to-head against Rincon in Malaga. The stake is pretty high for both teams. Because of a couple of reasons I would like to offer a couple of reasons why I would give the advantage to the away team. Prat are in a 6-game losing run, but what's more important for this meeting is the fact that they won't be able to count on their best player and shot Abalde today. Abalde, for instance, was their best shot with 16 points in the first head-to-head against Rincon. It's questionable whether his important wing center Marti will play. He missed the last match, he didn't practice over the week. Rincon in the last round ended the 11-run losing streak. They crushed the strong Parma with 20 points of difference, which proves their shape is rising. Under new coach Aurioleso they can see themselves moving from round to round with improvements. He gave all the ropes to the experienced duo Gullien and Sanchez (against Prat in the first match a total of 41 points), and they lately have the best numbers in the entire league. Recently they lost with only -8 against the best team of the second league, Ourenese. Before that only -7 against the second-placed Breogan, Lleida at -8... Prat are without Abalde with questionable Marti, and on paper they're the weaker team. At the very least this is a 50-50 match, and overly favorizing the hosts makes no sense to me. Details

Not much wisdom in this pair. Leo might still be a clay player in everyone's minds, but he played his best tournament this season on concrete. Of course, his serve and aggressiveness would help in any conditions. In his first match here, against Nieminen, he only gave his first break-ball when serving for the match. He lost his serve then, but got the win he deserved through a tie-break in straight sets. Besides that little mental mistake, Mayer showed a lot in his serve, and announced he'll base a lot on that. It's really important that his second serve was convincing, too. Anderson lost a set and a break against Query, and only got four return points till then. Nieminen invented the return for him, and the Finn didn't even get close to the Argentinian's serve in that one game. On the other hand, Anderson's got a much better serve than the Finn, and that's the serve Kevin based his career on, in combination with the forehand. I don't think he'll have many chances on the return here. Both players rely on their serves as their primary weapon, Anderson can vegetate on the return, Mayer be too aggressive and make mistakes, meaning - vegetate as well. I see two intense sets here in the worst case scenario, which means this bet would be a success. Both players should have a really bad day when it comes to serving to make this bet a loss, and I'll easily accept that supposed risk. Details

The third set decided the first match, and one ball. After that, Schwerin rushed to the win. Bursa were playing without Rivera Brans then, she got a hit in her head in the second set, and didn't come back afterwards. She's a very important player in Bursa, and she'll suck it up and play today. With her in, Bursa's chance are much better. They have to win in a handicap that will bring the "golden set". Bursa will try to get that supported by 5,000 fans, so Schwerin will be in hot water in Turkey today, something they're not used to. The Turkish fans' fanaticism is well known. Some of the away matches Schwerin played in the national championship show their weaknesses. Like the away duel against Aachen, who are not close to Bursa. They barely won that match in the fifth set, and lost to Stuttgart 3-1. Stuttgart aren't better than Bursa who will give it all out today, because this is the match of the season for them. Bursa played the first semifinal match pretty tired from the long trip. That won't be the case today, Schwerin will be tired from the trip today.
So, to conclude, Bursa have the home court advantage, support from their fans, Rivera back, and Birgul ready after being injured. They were an even opponent to Schwerin in the first match despite all the problems, and today, the situation is much better for Bursa. I expected the odds to the win to be a bit smaller. This one is played pretty early, at a time-slot that Bursa always play national championship games, while Schwerin are used to playing in the evening, which is only an extra plus for this bet. Details

Lugi are focusing on their defense, and tonight their one defensive player will definitely be missing (Engdahl), and captain Monti Danielsson, with whom she creates the middle block, almost surely won't perform because of influenza. Danielsson is also very important in the offense because she opens a lot of space for backs, and when she's out she's replaced by Ringdahl. The problem for the away team is that she's sick and her performance is questionable. For the experienced Skovde who will find their way around on the other side of the court, this is a situation they simply have to use. Key players are in very good shape, and I'm convinced they will win in front of their fans. Besides, Lugi's strategist Brljevic is already turning towards their second match, nowing that his team has one home game more in these series. Details