Posted on 2/6/2008 7:14:00 PM

WTA Tennis Betting – Gaz De France Tennis Odds

By Nila Amerova

Paris, France. – At the close of the first round of the Gaz De France, two of the top eight seeds were upset – defending champion [5] Nadia Petrova (a -400 favorite at BetUS) and [8]Alona Bondarenko. Sixth seed Amelie Mauresmo and seventh seed Agnes Szavay survived the first day of action. With more exciting tennis to bet on in the second round, here are some free tennis picks to get you started.

Tennis Line: Eleni Daniilidou +300 Amelie Mauresmo -500

Match Time: 06:00 AM EST Thursday, February 07, 2008.

Tennis Prediction: Amelie Mauresmo has not had a great start to her 2008 season. Despite reaching the quarterfinal of the Gold

Coast, Mauresmo’s shaky performance in the season’s first Grand Slam—the Australian Open, lends her a huge question mark for the year. In her second round match in Melbourne, Mauresmo needed ten match points —yes ten— before she defeated No.85 Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia; but with numerous opportunities to close out the match floundered by a nervous looking Mauresmo, the tenth match point that finally gave her the victory came off the racquet of Shvedova, when she netted the ball. The victory was nothing short of unsatisfactory.

Mauresmo’s nerves came back to haunt her in the third round, but this time her opponent – Australian Casey Delacqua was not as accommodating, launching a comeback from a set down and upsetting the former Australian Open champion Mauresmo in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Mauresmo enters this match up with a 3-1 lead over Eleni Daniilidou, the last victory earned in Zurich on carpet in 2007. However, taking into consideration Mauresmo’s under par start to the season, she is not the sure play in this match up, and should her nerves rear their ugly head at the Gaz De France—her home event – Mauresmo, the bookies -500 favorite, could be ripe for the upset.

Tennis Free Picks: Daniilidou in three sets.

Tennis Line: Marion Bartoli -250 Dominika Cibulkova +185

Match Time: 05:00 AM Eastern Time Thursday, February 07, 2008

Tennis Prediction: No.9 Marion Bartoli meets Dominika Cibulkova for the first time. Bartoli, following her impressive run at Wimbledon last year, shot up the rankings (from No. 19 to No.11). Expectations soared, particularly after her semifinal victory over World No.1 Justine Henin in the semifinal, but since her Cinderella run at Wimbledon, her tournament performance suffered a decline. Admittedly, the pressures bore heavily on the Frenchwoman, and she followed Wimbledon with a R16 exit at the US Open. In non-major tournaments in 2007, her best result came in Luxembourg (September) and Linz (October) where she reached the semifinal round at both events. Amidst the two semifinal runs, Bartoli suffered disappointing losses and early exits.

Nevertheless, owing to her ranking, Bartoli was awarded the alternative berth at the year-end Tour Championships, and when Serena Williams pulled out after playing her first round robin match, Bartoli was called up to take her stead. Bartoli did not advance into the final four; in fact, she did not have an opportunity, as she was forced to play one round robin match less than the rest of the players and therefore, could not garner the requisite combination of win/loss ratio’s or points to advance.

Since Bartoli’s run at Wimbledon, considerable time to adjust to the pressures has passed and the year’s first Grand Slam event – the Australian Open—was largely considered the benchmark for Bartoli’s promise in 2008. With a first round exit to Sofia Arvidsson in Melbourne, the measure of Bartoli’s 2008 season would not appear to be promising.

At this non-major event in Paris, a home event at that for Bartoli, the odds makers’ favourite at -250 is a sound bet. By all indications, she should advance into the quarterfinal round.

She is only 18 years-old, but has proven to be an underdog worth watching. At +185, she is worth the risk. Bartoli has been shaky this season and with her struggles with pressure, a home crowd expecting Bartoli to win may be too much strain on her quirky game. Cibulkova on the other hand has nothing to lose.

Tennis Free Picks: Cibulkova in straight sets.

Nila Amerova is a freelance sports writer and regular contributor to the BetUS.com Locker Room.