Betdistrict.com
Samuel Groth and Kevin Anderson will square off in the last match of the day at ATP Memphis, counting for the second round.
Sam Groth took a long time to build a solid baseline game to go with his huge form, but he finally emerged as a threat on the tour last year and is in the best moment of his career right now. Big Sam reached the third round at the Australian Open in his last tournament and is expected to break into the Top 50 sooner rather than later. Here in Memphis he had an easy 6-4 6-3 win over Yen Hsun Lu in the first round, but struggled with his serve in the first set and has been broken 2 times in the match – pretty surprising.
Anderson had a bye in the first round, being the 2nd seed and he will look to start the tournament strong. Anderson is playing his best tennis right now and reached the 4th round at the Australian Open a couple of weeks ago, defeating Richard Gasquet along the way.
Bet on Groth vs. Anderson and claim your 100% welcome bonus at Bet365.com now!
Kevin Anderson leads the Head 2 Head 1-0, but the only meeting (an easy win) was back in 2008, when Groth was nowhere near his current level. Still, despite the Head 2 Head not saying much, it`s safe to say that Anderson should generally get the better of Groth given the fact that he is much more stable from the baseline.
I like Anderson to win this, normally Groth does not have the weapons to trouble the South African – big Sam can`t touch his serve and will be generally the second best in rallies. However, it`s the first match of the tournament, so we don`t know how Anderson will play and thus the odds are too low. Instead, I like the ‘tiebreak in the first set’ bet. Anderson started all of his three tournaments this year with a tiebreak, so apparently he likes to start cautious, keeping his serve and trying to get a read of his opponents. Big Sam can surely hold his serve for long stretches and he will be keen to improve his serving performance after being broken 2 times by Lu (he actually started doing it in the second set vs. Lu, when he did not lose a point on the first serve.
In these circumstances and with both guys being huge servers, I will take the risk and bet on a first set tiebreak to happen – after all, it really seems like the logical outcome and the odds are super tasty. Prediction: Sam Groth – Kevin Anderson 6-7 7-6 3-6.
Pick: First set tiebreak – Yes
Odds: 2.75 @ Bet365
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 12.25
Event date: 12 February
