I love predicting upsets in tennis matches and I'm stoked that the AO is upon us.

So I propose that day by day I will call the matches where I think big upsets will happen and explain my thinking.

I hope other people read the thread and let me know what they think and ideally make upset calls of their own. No points at stake, just pride.

I'd love to hear from you and may the force be with you!

So here I go with upsets of day 1:

1) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat Andy Murray.

Way to tick off the home crowd with my first call. I believe that over 5 sets the Gallic flair and athleticism of Tsonga (aka Dave Lister) will trouble the super-talented scot. Mind you Andy always proves me wrong.

2) Kanepi to beat Molic (aka Mollusc).

Kanepi had a brilliant junior career and when she's hot she's hot. unfortunately when she's not, she's not so this is a bit of a punt.

3) Paszek to beat Jankovic. I watched Tamira play Davenport recently and even though she lost, I was really impressed by her attitude and the level of her play. And as a side-note, she has the best boobs on the WTA.

4) Koubek to beat Moya. you never know what you're going to get from stefan. he's very talented and can turn over almost anyone when he's up for it. and he resembles the honey monster.

5) Obziler to beat Dementieva. Elena may be the most talented off the ground player in the world but she is constantly slipping on banana skins.

6) Benneteau to beat Wawrinka. 2 very unpredictable guys but julien had some great results last week and stan's confidence may have been dented by the manner of his recent loss to Andy Murray.

7) Baker to beat Karlovic. Here's one to please the british fans. on the face of it you would say "no chance" but jamie has qualified by right for the main draw and in ivo's only match this year, he lost in straight sets to the lamentable Christophe Rochus.

8) Osterloh to beat Schnyder. patty's always good for an early tumble. don't get me wrong, she's one of the cleverest players on the tour but she does lose early in the Grand Slams.

9) Vesnina to beat Vakulenko. Who the hell knows what vak will produce? brilliant in one match, awful in the next, a gambler of a player and one prone to upset losses.

10) Garcia-Lopez to beat Chela. don't know what it is but something feels wrong chela and i think he'll lose to the spaniard.

right that's you lot for today. I hope someone reads this, lol.

I like your upset threads Flame - apart from when you are right with a player I dont want you to be right on!

the Tsonga - Murray match is the one I am most worried you will score on - I think Murray could go really far - in fact, I found I didnt want to bet against him in the predicts thing so have him going to the end! - but this is the match I worried about most - a first round set of nerves for Andy and, like you say, some brilliant flair from Tsonga - which we know he is capable of - and its game over :wacko:

Lets hope you are wrong on this one eh? ;)

I've moved this to the AO forum, just 'cos when the predictions contests proper start i think this will end up getting missed, and I'd like as many people as possible to see it - 'cos like Flame said, it's great fun predicting upsets :ok:

If anyone has any objections i'll move it back :ok:

:admin:

no objections on my part Dinky.

and that's right Pebs, we both know what Tsonga is capable of. He played an outstanding match to end the Grand Slam career of a certain Tim Henman, afterall.

but andy murray is the real deal and well able to handle himself. should be a great encounter.

Mens - potential upsets not definites!

1) Tsonga v Murray.

Murray has the toughest opener of the top seeds, it's a potential upset all over but I think Murray will find a way.

2) Benneteau v Wawrinka. Benneteau is not an easy draw, can turn ti on when he wants to. Very unpredciatble players. I still feel Wawrinka will win though.

3) Andreev v Pavel

Well Andreev is the fave on paper, but he has had some bad moments on court and IMO doesn't progress as far in slams as his talent and phsyique would indicate. Pavel is knocking on but very experinced with nothing to lose. I'm a tad worred, not overly but a tad!

4) Garcia-Lopez v Chela - like Flame i just got a feelling.
:shrug:

TBh I don't spot too many potential upsets with seeds, but there are soem close matches with non seeds that coudl go either way and be an upset in terms of the highest ranked exits, such as Clement and Scheuttler beign a close call.

I don't think Koubek will beat Moya in Moya's current form, and I don't think Baker will beat Karlovic.

Women

My big pick is Sugiyama to beat Zvonereva - this could go either way, both women are not the best players in the draw but Sugiyama is consistent and a fighter.

I wonder about Golovin v Cohen Aloro - not sure why, Golovin can be ropey.

Razzano v Harkleroad - Razzano is a player I really don't rate at all. Harkelroad is young and supposedly talented so maybe

Schiavone v Loit - Francesca can have a few nightmares!

And Flame is right abotu Vakulenko, that it a tough one!


Paszek -v Jankovic

Poor Jelena got the toughest draw here. Paszek has been robbed too really as I'd like to have seen both in th later rounds. If Jelena si injured she could easily lose, but my feelign si she'll pull through.


Kanepi to beat Molic - would not be a major upset ifi i happened as poor Alicia has had health problems and is struggling and nto the player she was.

Obziler to beat Dementieva - Dem is always vulnerable to anyone at anytime IMO. But I think she will beat Obziler surely.

I think Schnyder will beat Osterloh easily.

Yep, Tsonga ia very dangerous. He knocked Hewitt out at Queens and that takes some doing!

Great analysis and insight on all the matches, Superbrat. top drawer. agree with you about andreev. the most frustrating talent on the atp imo. even more so than thomas berdych.

but i think vera will splatter sugi, lol.

i really like sugiyama but she usually takes about 10 matches to groove her game each season and she's not getting any younger either. these factors render her very vulnerable early on in the season imo.

watch her kick vera's arse just to spite me now.

Women's I can only really see Paszek vs Jankovic and Bartoli vs Arvidsson as noteworthy potential shocks. Schiavone, Kirilenko, Zvonareva, Vakulenko and Mirza could realistically lose their matches too, I guess.

Plenty in the men's:

Malisse vs Tursunov. The Russian looks in good form but might suffer a letdown after his Sydney victory and fatigue could play a part too against an opponent who's always dangerous.

Haase vs Ljubicic. Haase can certainly win this but he probably won't. Ljubicic normally leaves it till the 3rd round before he folds.

Cilic vs Almagro - if anything, the Croat is favourite here. The Spaniard's no slouch on hard courts, but Cilic has the game to get past him. This one could well come down to how fast the Plexicushion surface plays.

Hewitt vs Darcis - more of a long shot this one (sorry Pebs! :P ) Not sure Darcis has the weapons to defeat Hewitt, but it'll be a close match and if Hewitt plays badly, it's not out of the question.

Gulbis vs Safin - OK, Safin losing is never a shock but this is pretty much 50-50 anyway.

Johansson vs Baghdatis. Depends which Baggy turns up. If it's the bad one, Johansson will be ruthless.

Kiefer vs Ferrero. Two players who've struggled badly with injuries, but Kiefer has a good record here and if both are fully fit, I'd give him the nod.

Tsonga vs Murray - unlikely. Murray doesn't tend to struggle with this type of player, but if Tsonga can hit and maintain good form, he can pull it off.

Baker vs Karlovic - another real long shot, but Karlovic is a massive choker at Slams and is unlikely to break Baker's serve too often, so it'll come down to the tiebreaks.

Wawrinka vs Bennetteau - anything could happen here, although Wawrinka should get through.

Llodra vs Davydenko - this one depends on whether No Weapons brings his Slam form or his regular ATP tournament form. If it's the former, he'll win in 3 sets. If the latter, he could well crash out amidst more fixing accusations.

Nieminen vs Dancevic - Nieminen is usually pretty reliable at beating the guys he should beat and should be fine here, especially over 5 sets, but Dancevic is dangerous.

Zverev vs Robredo - same as above. Zverev's a promising youngster and a bit of an unknown quantity, but if he has a hot streak like Gulbis did at last year's US Open, it could be goodbye and good riddance to Tommy boy.

Moya vs Koubek - Moya will probably win this since he appears to be in good form but Koubek can be almost unplayale at times - expect Moya to grind him down eventually.

Troicki vs Nadal - Huge long shot, but it might be worth a cheeky punt. Troicki's no slouch on this surface, will be hard to break and if Rafa has slight injury problems, you never know.

im not sure about Momo winning a match here

:lmaao:

In all seriousness I am a little worried for this match but hopefully Andy will be firing on all cylinders and walk away a 3-0 victor

Thanks. I spotted Andreev a few year sback and saw a top 15 player by now easily. I mean what a specimen the guy is. But something keeps going wrong. And Berdych - god he is so annoying! To me he is sure fire semi material and sure fire semi exit material. Needs some balls and belief, he's got the goods but not the bottle. Frustrating. :angry:

Well I wasn't saying for sure, but if Vera had a bad day and stuff. I've onyl just checked and realised Sugiyama is about 33! I though she was much younger.

I onyl looked at today's matches but Wise picked these and I must say when I scanned the draw my eyebrows went up too, except the Hewitt one.

Malisse vs Tursunov: I like Malisse, he is very inconsistent and a shame he never made a higher ranking,. He could upset Tursy and Tursy is easy to upset with his up and down form. If Tursy isn't 100% I sense a 5 set upset here.

Haase vs Ljubicic: Haase is an unknown quatity but he's a strong youngster to watch. Ljubi has been ou tof sorts and fairly crap lately and I alsmost went for thsi as my seeded exit on the other comp. If Ljubi doesn't die in round 1 he might inround 2 to Gorsjean.

Cilic vs Almagro - the Croat is the favourite; Almogro ha snever go tpast round 1 and Cilic is hungry and if the surface i fast he'll hammer Almagro. .

Hewitt vs Darcis - no way! now watch Dulci beat Hewitt :rolleyes:

Gulbis vs Safin - thsi si such a tough call. Gulbis up and coming and strogn last year, Safin Jekyll and Hyde. But Safin better win cos he is my Wildcard. I feel I shoudl have had Cillic now :rolleyes:

Johansson vs Baghdatis: Wise is right, Bad Baghi will be taken advantage of by the canny ToJo. I think good Baghi will turn up though at least for this match.

Kiefer vs Ferrero: toughie, both experinced respected players, both knocking on, both with injury worries, both capable of a god roll if they get going. I'm going Kiefer on account of his AO record.

Good call on Pavel vs Andreev SB. I didn't think there was any chance of old man Pavel causing the upset there, but he's taken the first set.

And my Zverev vs Robredo call looks good too - Zverev currently up two sets to one, although he should be home and dry by now having squandered a break on three occasions in the last set.

Cheers :) He's taken it has he? Wow!

I wanted to go for Robredo as an early exit but I assumed he would be this bloke I never even heard of. Obviously I should have realised that my lack of confidence in Robredo was enough. Must say I hardly see him play but he seems to lose a lot of matches he ought to win :rolleyes:

:( turns out our fears werent so unfounded after all eh Flame..

I dont suppose you are too bothered though ;)

bothered? i'm delighted. it's happy days for old flamey, lol. :P

:lmaao:

dont hold back hun!

Just looking at the schedule for tomorrow there's a few upsets I could see:

Johansson to take out Baghdatis

Gulbis to take out Safin - might not officially be and upset, but it would upset me so i figure it counts :P

Kiefer to take out JCF

Haase to beat Ljubicic

Malisse to beat Tursunov :shrug:

Cilic to beat Almagro

not too bad Flame - 3/10, with a couple of close calls :ok:

SB predicted a couple right too - Pavel and Sugiyama :ok:

i had a feeling jj would scrape through in 3. but what an exciting and dramatic match. brilliant stuff.

also i like to apologise for my crass disregard for the feelings of murray fans. i know it's tough to take but he did have an awful awful draw and he'll bounce back.

3/10 with 3mps in another match. not bad. i'd like to get a 50/50 ratio going though.

great shout on the Sugiyama result, SuperBRAT. pity i put 200 quid on vera! that was my backer match!

that's what i get for being cocky about the murray situation, Pebs. karmic reallignment, old school.

i'll work out today's picks and post later.

chela lost! i got 4/10! that's practically respectable. i passed with a D minus.

ooh - i had Chela down as one of your 3 - who have i missed? Murray lost, Moya lost and Chela lost :unsure:

vakulenko (aka shake-n-vak)

No one called Moya and he is out! :yikes: Can't believe it, I had him getting to the quarters!

Correction - Moya was there, well done and sorry!

:hug:

it wasnt cocky hun... you actually thought he would prove you wrong - I am just as bad when it comes to Hewitt losing...

lets predict an early exit for him - would make my day :D

sorry hewitt fans

i called moya. told you stefan could put him out.

Flame called Moya :ok: think Wise might have done too :unsure:

I'm pleased with Sugiyama but never thought she'd do ti in 2! Sorry about your bet Flame. Wish I'd stuck with Vera as my Early Exit in the comp. :rolleyes:

Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) v. Marion Bartoli (FRA)[10]

No idea why, just heard Arvidsson has improved and nto sure what Marion is playing like at the moment, she might be vulnerable in round 1 if rusty. :shrug:

Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) v. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)[21]

Alla is the very tall blonde Russian who put up a great fight against Sharapova at Wimby last year - I think it was Wimby! Her rankign has improved and Bondarenko isn't anythign special form what i knwo so I like this one a lot. :ok:

Nadia Petrova (RUS)[14] v. Nicole Pratt (AUS)

Assuming Petrova is having injury woes and is rusty, and if Nicole's home crowd get behind her who knows what might happen? Coudl also easily be a 2-0 batterign form Petrova though.

Kirilenko v Tu - technically Tu should not knock her out but I have nil faith in Kirilenko, I reckon she'll be gone sooner rather than later.

Na Li (CHN)[24] v. Severine Bremond (FRA) - well it's cheeky cos I expect Na Li in current form to trash Bremmond, but you never know. :shrug:


Just wondering .....

Dinara Safina RUS (16) v
Sabine Lisicki GER

Anyone know who Lisicki is? Safina woull surely thrash her but Safina liek her brother worries me a lot and is nto getting the results she should be.

well i was nearly right about Momo, tamely losing the first set on a tie break. Then she serves up a double bagel :yikes:

arviddson beat an in-form Dementieva a last week so you might be right there, although Bartoli can be just as big an enigma as Elena :wacko: i certainly wouldnt put money on a Bartoli or Dementieva match. As much as it hurts me to admit it, you are probably right about Petrova too :( shes had a lousy start to this season, and has quite a few points to defend here, and in the next few months. However, ive predicted both Nadia and Bartoli to win 2-1, more out of hope than judgement :lol:

i must admit SB, i was another who thought your Sugiyama call crazy!!! great stuff :bow:

umm, they haven't played in a couple of years, but dechy is capable of bothering top players. and certainly kuzzy, who has a 1-3 record v. the french woman.

also SB, i had vera out in that comp. does is still count when it was due to retirement??

ok for what it's worth, here are my upset picks for day 2:

1) Steve Darcis (aka Mr Darcy) to beat Lleyton Hewitt.

this is for you, Pebs. in my heart of hearts i have my grave doubts but if this comes off we'll look like geniuses.

2) Fernandez to beat Cornet. i don't know who fernandez is but cornetto sucks ass. this is the kind of considered analysis that gets results people.

3) krajicek to beat morigami. might seem odd to call this an upset but akiko is slight fav on betfair. both their forms suck atm but i think morigami sucks more.

4) massu to beat blake. you've got to lay old blakey don't you? he's the king of the surprise loss.

5) sirianni to beat tipsarevic. tipsy blows hot and cold and the old geezer had the run of his life recently.

6) tu to beat kiri. i know tu sucks but you have expect kiri to get beat. it's the law, people.

7) SMOOTH JIMMY'S LOCK OF THE WEEK: Wozniaki to beat Dulko. sexy gisela's on her way out imo.

8) Arvidsson to beat Bartoli. personally i don't rate the big Swede but you can't deny bart has struggled post wimbledon.

9) Isner to beat Santoro. i know fabrice is fantastic but John isner is a monster. you need a stake or silver bullets to take him down.

10) Govortsova to beat Pironkova. pironkova has struggled to live up to her early promise.

there are so many that i could have come up with a top 20 today but that's your lot.

btw i love the inverted logic of picking the ravishing bremond to beat li. too rich for my blood though!

Yay Sugiyama :ok:

Thanks, but I never socred in the comp cos Zvonereva retired! B*tch! :lol:

Tbh I am not really an expert at all, I never even see half these women play - but I do read up on newcomers and I have several women that just give me bad feelings and are upset material! :lol:

I am going for Petrova to win though and hope her back is OK. I think Bartoli, haven't really decided yet! You can't go for too many upsets in the comp though or you end up losing so I have to do somepercentage play!

Sadly not :( I was realyl chuffed, then had to go back and delete some points when I discovered it was a retirement. I had better state that in the rules. :)

Btw I agree re: Dechy, she is a decent player but I felt that Kuzzy was strong at the moment, however I did not know of their H2H! Quite a shock that was! So you might be right.

I thought Krajicek would be fave :shrug: Anyway I hope she wins cos Krajicek was my Wildcard :unsure:

:bigkiss:

please please please please please please!

hope you're wrong about Blake though!