in Tennis Free Picks

This week's Gaz de France Open may not be a major Grand Slam tournament, but the Tier II event with a purse of $600,000 does feature several of the top women on the Sony Ericcson WTA Tour. One thing about tennis wagering, particularly when betting on the early rounds, is that you can almost count on the consistency of the tour's top players breaking through to the quarter and semi-final rounds.

Here are my selections on several of the upcoming Gaz de France tournament matches over the next two days.

01:00 PM EST
Emilie Loit +750

If you can spare the $1800, take Henin, who should be in a great frame of mind after her recent divorce, to win this match almost with her eyes closed.

02:15 PM EST
Katarina Srebotnik +250

Speaking of the frame of mind thing, I really enjoy watching Svetlana Kuznetsova play when she is focused on winning. The former U.S. Open Grand Slam champion is undeniably talented and if she can ever learn to harness her immense talent, Kuznetsova will enter the class of the world's elite players. Nevertheless, Kuznetsova will win this match easily.

09:15 AM EST 
Camille Pin +375

Dinara Safina is a player that I believe will make a major move up the world rankings this year. Not only is the sister of ATP player Marat Safin an excellent player that is rapidly improving, but she could teach her brother a thing or two about keeping her composure. Take Safina to win here easily.

Nathalie Dechy +425

Mauresmo is the defending champ and should totally annihilate Dechy, especially after her early departure at last month's Australian Open.

Federer might be winning everything these days, but with online sports betting in the to earn cold, hard cash!

Eric Williams is a sports columnist for the Philadelphia Sunday Sun, and Sr. NBA analyst for basketball.com as well as a nationally syndicated freelance writer for both print and online publications. To contact Eric, e-mail eklass66@yahoo.com.