The Overrule: WTA & ATP Madrid

By Sports Magician

A rare display of poor application helped send Serena Williams crashing out of Madrid yesterday. Our pre-tournament selection to win the event was beaten by Nadia Petrova in three sets and was left to rue the sixteen, yes, sixteen break points that she failed to covert - including going 0 for 11 on break point in the second set. It was a deserved defeat although judging from Serena’s reactions and gestures in the third set, she seemed to think the only reason she was losing was a case of bad luck.

That defeat paves the way for the in-form Jelena Jankovic to lift the title in Madrid. Jankovic produced a patchy display to beat Ana Ivanovic yesterday but started to go through the gears in the closing stages of the match. Jankovic also has a dream match-up today against Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, who she has beaten on all five occasions that they have met, including three meetings on clay. Garrigues’s tactics of loopy top spinned shots will not bother Jankovic in the slightest and will give the Serbian the chance to take the initiative in the rallies as and when she chooses. Garrigues has been awful this year for the most part and is 0-6 in her most recent meetings with players inside the world’s top 60 (losing four of those matches in straight sets).

Gael Monfils hasn’t made much noise this season but he can disappoint the Madrid crowd by beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Thursday. Monfils is 2-1 against Garcia-Lopez with their only meeting on clay going Monfils’s way in Casablanca two years ago. Monfils was the beneficiary of an early retirement yesterday, as was his Spanish opponent. Madrid is Gael’s first clay court tournament of the year and he is need of matches ahead of the French Open. Rafael Nadal will likely be waiting for him in the last eight in what should be an entertaining battle.

PICK: 5*JELENA JANKOVIC WIN MADRID @ 3.50 (PADDY POWER)

PICK: 5*(SET BETTING) JELENA JANKOVIC BEAT ANABEL MEDINA GARRIGUES 2-0 @ 1.67 (STAN JAMES)

PICK: 3*GAEL MONFILS BEAT GUILLERMO GARCIA-LOPEZ @ 1.67(PADDY POWER)

Sports Magician