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Sergiy Stakhovsky and Marinko Matosevic will square off in the ATP Sydney quarterfinals, both looking to start the tennis season on a high with a semifinal showing.
Stakhovsky started the new season the same way he ended the last one: poorly. Sergiy lost in the first qualifying round at Chennai to Kudryavtsev, but recovered surprisingly well here in Sidney to play some of his best tennis in a long time and record some wonderful results. The ukrainean cruised in the qualies against some solid players like De Scheeper, Dancevic or Laaskonen, and he maintained the same level on the main draw, demolishing Carlos Berlocq and Julien Benneteau. Stakhovsky is yet to lose a set in his five matches so far, he improved from match to match and is looking great right now – with his serve working at full throttle. This is a very, very dangerous player when he`s in his best form.
Matosevic is also in his second tournament this year, after a good showing at Chennai (quarterfinals, lost to Federer). The australian got through to his second QF of the year here at Sydney by defeating Florian Mayer (3 sets) and Andreas Seppi (2 sets). After a good year last season, Marinko is proving he has consistency and can put together longer strings of good results. Matosevic is playing really solid tennis right now.
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Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle. |
The H2H is tied at 1-1. The most recent meeting was in late 2012 on hard, with Matosevic ending up a winner in three sets. No player is favored by the matchup, the two guys are pretty similar with strong first serves and an affinity towards the net at certain points in a match.
This should be very close. We have two in-form players, with similar playing styles and with strong first serves. It`s really hard to separate the two at the moment and the over 22,5 games line seems more than tempting. I reckon this encounter will be decided in 3 sets (like the last one between the two), but the line is low enough for the over bet to be a winner at results like 7-6 6-4 or 7-5 7-5. Expect few breaks of serve (both serve well and are average returners), maybe 1 tiebreak and a very tight battle here. Regarding the moneyline result, one could argue that Matosevic is in much better long-term form, but on the other hand Stak can produce world class tennis in his best days, and if he will keep his level of play he has the first chance to win this in my opinion. All in all, I`m going with the over 22,5 games bet. My pick would be something like Sergiy Stakhovsky – Marinko Matosevic 7-6 4-6 6-3.
Pick: over 22,5 games
Odds: 1.93 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 6.51
Event date: 9 January
Editor Facts
- Rostick`s last 14 tips saw 10 won, 1 void and 3 lost
