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The match between world and Olympic champions is one of the most interesting ones in World League this week. Both teams underwent massive changes since but I think that is only good for this bet. Poland will have the packed Ergo Arena in Gdansk supporting them, the motivation will be high because this is their first match since WC and Russia still gets the best out of them. Neither team played up unto now and that is another reason to believe in a close game. The Russian coach said that he will use the matches in Gdansk to try out some tactical ideas. 4 out of the last 6 games finished in 5th set. Three out of 4 previous ones went over this margin and over seems to be the logical choice. It's the first game, teams have underwent massive changes and that should result in a great battle and an over at this margin. Details

I expected the Dutch as the favorites here, which they realistically are. The Netherlands sent their A team to Switzerland while Russia came with their B team. The difference in how the players at these two teams work together is is huge. The Dutch used almost the exact same team at Grand Prix and World Championship while Russia spent 10 days and one match together. The match was against the Dominican Republic yesterday and they did it quite well but that's it. They are a good team but playing together fora a longer period of time is important in each sport and the Dutch have a massive upper hand in that respect. They are also more experienced internationally and I believe they will make a tactical progress now that Guidetti took over. He had this debut yesterday and won as expected. He used Sloetjes as the No.1 opposite instead of Peteresen, who was the first choice when Vermuhlen was in charge. That turned out to be a good move as Sloetjes finished as the player of the match. Guidetti has a great choice of players and his team played the first game of the day while the Russians played the last one. That means the Dutch should be a bit better rested but that is not the crucial reason for me to believe in the Netherlands. I would give them a 60% chance of winning this and only 40 for a chance of a Russian win. Last year the Netherlands had Russian under control last year in Italy (A Russian team) and this one is not that good to be able to beat a team that is, in my opinion, one of the top 10 teams in the world. Now that Guidetti took over they have a coach who is also one of the top coaches in the world. Details

I might be wrong, but I don't see why Eger would be so underestimated, and Jug valued at 1.45. If we'd put the names of both teams on paper, those 1.45 would hardly be realistic. Both teams showed good games this season, but also real bad ones. Eger played an even match against Pro Recco in Italy, and crushed Brescia there. Jug beat Szolnoki, and played even, etc. Now, Jug are coming to the quarterfinal after an exhausting series with Primorje in the Croatian championship final, and coach Kobešćak announced he's "hoping" his team will be ready. Eger, on the other hand, had ten days to get ready, they could have analyzed Jug's game to the tiniest detail, and I believe they practiced defense for the game Jug use in the offense. If the referees, like Caputi and Stavridis were in the fifth match against Primorje, don't call every contact during the swim in, then Jug won't have many solutions, and Eger's coach noticed that. Also, what Jug played in the last match was really bad offensively. It's like they didn't have a player more, the back players were too far off from the goal, etc. So, this game is 50-50, or maybe Jug have a minimum advantage. Eger have players who can match Jug - the centers Bed and Harai, the left handed Vapenski, the backs Szivos, Biros, Honyanszki, and Ćuk. Details

Mexicans are on average two years older than their African rivals. The Ivory Coast has a lot of 18 and 19-year-olds while no Mexican is younger than 20. Besides, the Africans do not have a great generation at their disposal but guys who have failed at African U-17 and U-20 Cup recently. Most of their players are not well known while Mexico has a lot of player who spend a lot more time on the pitch in the domestic championship than their African counterparts. This tournament is also not irrelevant for Mexico because the Olympic generation is preparing for the Pan American games in July. Details

Goffin is a Top 20 player who can break his opponents with his persistence and rallies, and resist well even to the best ones. He's been playing better ever since Miami, and you can see that in the matches he played - it is a big deal when you take a set from Ferrer or Nishikori. Goffin showed his real strength against Krajinović. Krajinović was hitting everything, but then lost it physically and psychologically, and Goffin easily beat him after that. Giraldo beat Young convincingly in the first round, but that was a match filled with oscillations, and it could have ended the other way around. The Columbian's form isn't that great, and beating Youzhny, Berankis and Čilić isn't that valuable considering what they played and what their form is. Goffin is stronger mentally and he's more consistent, so I think he won't have problems with Giraldo. He showed a lot more on the court and outside of the court in the last months, so he should win by at least eight games difference. Details

This is a copy/paste of the pick against Kvitova in the first round. Kvitova showed all of her weaknesses again. Even though she scored a lot of winners, what's more important is the bad things she showed. He let a lot of her serve go, and she said herself that it's hard to score an ace serve, but also the winner. Her movement was questionable, how she approached the balls, and the tactics she picked for the match. I'm aware that Espinosa had bad results this year, bur her game is getting better. We could see it in the last two tournaments, and she showed the same at the very beginning here. Like Erakovic, Espinosa can play firm, consistent match, and that means we can expect Kvitova to make lots of mistakes. She can also play deep, at odd angles, and open the court the right way. Kvitova did nothing to convince me that we can expect a drastic change in her game today. She's still got the same problems, and I'm sure Espinosa can use that and played at least an even match, which makes this margin a pass. Details

Cilic did badly last week. He was a bit unmotivated which is not surprsng since these kind of tournaments are the most important ones for him. Haase didn't do badly in the first round match at all but still didn't stand a chance. He had only one break-point while the Croat converted two in two sets. He was focused and aggressive. Arnabold seemed happy with achievement as soon as he reached main draw. And why wouldn't he when three of his matches finished in three sets and one match was played over the course of two days. He won a 52-game set back then to make history and then managed to make a comeback against Duckworth in the main draw. He spent 4 hours on the court in that match as well, saved a match point and later broke down the Australian, who later admitted to that being the worst defeat for him ever. Cilic is a Top 10 player who can, if nothing else, get his form at top level in the right moment. He served brilliantly and return it precisely the greatest problem with the Italian. He will probably not be a threat for Cilic's service games and there is also the huge overall difference in quality. Marin is Top 10 and the Italian a challenger-level player. On top of everything, fatigue will play an important role here. Arnaboldi played 186 games in matches here. He said himself that he is exhausted, which might not have been that obvious at some minor tournament but here it will be. Marin just played what was probably his best match this season. This can go even with one break each set but it should be much more convincing than that. Fatigue will help it, especially the mental kind. Best of all, I would bet on this even if I was expecting Cilic' mediocre performance. But he is clearly very good and would not be surprised even if the Italian finished with 5-6 games. Details

Riske won the second set against Errani not allowing her to get a single break point opportunity. She could have won the first set too even though she was down 4-0 (!). Errani's game is well known - she has bad serve, and played a very bad game in the opening two sets against Riske. She sometimes falls apart in some staages of the match. Carina has everything it takes to make this game complicated. She has the serve, she has the power and the game for clay court and has the tactics that can work well against Errani. Siniakova was a good test ahead of this match but she was quite aggressive, which Errani cannot be. Any kind of bet against Errani has value and my decision today is that Carina will get a set. Details