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In the top half of the draw of the ABNN AMRO Tournament, the No.1 seed Nikolay Davydenko, and No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubicic prepare to face off against Florian Mayer and Phillip Kohlschreiber respectively for a spot in the semifinals. With the matchups in place, let us break down the  odds for these head-to-heads.

Rotterdam, Netherlands
February 19-25, 2007
Indoor Hard
Prize Purse: $925,000

Prediction:  No. 3 seed and World No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic seems to be finally coming into his own. Following a rough start to his 2007 campaign, the heavily favored Ljubicic has finally reached a quarterfinal round of a tournament. Facing World No. 48 Florian Mayer for a second time in his career, Ljubicic perhaps is somewhat comforted by the knowledge that he leads 1-0 in their head-to heads, owing to a victory on hardcourt in Vienna, 2006. At -600, he appears to be the sure bet in on this line.

 

On the other hand Florian Mayer, at +350, offers a tempting value for the tennis bettor should he bank on his underdog status and orchestrate the upset, for a $100 bet would more than triple any wager.

However, if stats are an indication, Mayer’s 2006 record of 13-8 on clay, 9-10 on hard and 3-2 on grass reveals not only that hardcourt is not his best surface, but that he has still a long way to go before he is favored particular in a matchup with a higher ranked player. Moreover, when compared to Ljubicic’s 2006 record of 36-12 on hard, 15-6 on clay, 7-0 on carpet, 3-2 on grass and 20-5 indoor then Mayer’s prospects seem even less likely.

Without a doubt, Mayer will bring his best against Ljubicic, however, so long as Ljubicic maintains his newly regained focus, he should be able to overcome Mayer’s assault.

Pick: Ljubicic in three sets

Prediction: The No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko, heavily favored against No. 58 Phillip Kohlschreiber, trails 0-1 in their head-to-heads, owing to a loss in 2006 on grass. However, despite the fact that Davydenko has been beaten once before by Kohlschreiber, at the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO in Netherlands the expectation is that Davydenko will even up the score and advance to the semifinal round.

Of course, the allure of the upset is tempting, particularly when an underdog’s price tag can potentially triple one’s wager, the sure bet in this match up is Davydenko.

Pick: Davydenko in straight sets.

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

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