Ben Mitchell $1.95 v Tsung-Hua Yang at Burnie

The bookies have Ben Mitchell priced as the underdog again today against Tsung-Hua Yang.

And I think he will win again. In fact on paper this looks like an even better bet than yesterday.

Yesterday Mitchell was solid on serve, displayed a strong serve volley game and gave Duckworth all sorts of problems holding his. He did choke in a pretty big way when it came to serving out the match at 5-2 in the third (2 or 3 double faults end on end) But he came back strong and confident to close it out in the next service game.

Tsung-Hua Yang has had a great run in Challengers, but almost always on Chinese soil, and is not nearing ATP level as Mitchell is imho.


 Benjamin Mitchell $1.95 (-105)  vs Tsung-Hua Yang at 5Dimes

Yuichi Sugita $1.38 v John-Patrick Smith Burnie Challenger Today

Japanese Tennis is on the rise and the change in their ATP rankings this week reflects that.

And with Japan's first ever World Group Davis Cup against Croatia looming in a week or so, I believe the pride in country and desperation to impress the team coach will carry over again, particularly for Yuichi Sugita.

Sugita must have been kicking himself after giving away a commanding lead in his semi-final against Ginepri, missing the chance to meet his countryman Soeda, and main rival for a starting Davis Cup spot, in the final. And even more so when Soeda took out the Honolulu Title the next day.

The sting of that result, and this being his last chance to show the team selectors he is a winner deserving of consideration, will drive Sugita to take this one over the part time Australian.

Yuichi Sugita $1.38 (-260)  vs John-Patrick Smith at 5Dimes

Also parlaying with Mitchell for odds of $3.12 (+212)

Ben Mitchell $2.25 v James Duckworth in Burnie Challenger

Australian James Duckworth made headlines during January, particularly in his home country, for stepping up to ATP level to beat Mahut in Brisbane and then Zopp in Melbourne to make the 2nd Round of the Australian Open.

The Duck drops back to his more familiar Challenger Tour stomping ground this week but I think the bookies are putting a little too much import on those ATP level matches.

Duckworth likes clay, or a slow court generally, and his historic performances on the Burnie track are much less than stellar.

By contrast this is Mitchell's ideal surface and reports suggest he is fired up to remind Duckworth he is not the only young Aussie on the cusp of making the jump to ATP level. (having recently beaten Kukushkin and Mayer during qualifying for the Sydney ATP event)



Benjamin Mitchell $2.25 (+125) vs James Duckworth at 5Dimes

19yo Ben Mitchell Is A Strapping Lad

New Top 100 Rankings after Australian Open. Tomic, Nishikori on the rise.

Two of the three current hot young guns on the tour, Bernard Tomic and Kei Nishikori made a nice jump in their rankings this week to 34th and 20th in the world respectively. Whilst the third, Milos Raonic, lost in the third round to Leyton Hewitt, failing to match his R16 performance last year, so drops 3 spots to 28th.

It has been a big week for Japanese tennis. With Nishikori's quarter final appearance being the furthest a Japanese player has progressed in a Grand Slam event for over 50 years, and now being the first to make the top 20 in that long as well. Along with the rising crop of Japanese players dominating the Honolulu Challenger Tour event with 3 of the 4 semi final positions and tournament win for Soeda. Hopes must be very high in the land of the rising sun for their Davis Cup team playing next week.

Juan Martin Del Potro moves into the top 10 for the first time since he returned from injury at the expense of Nicolas Almagro.

Other noteable big movers are Ivo Karlovic moving up 11 places into the top 50 at 46th, Mikhail Kukushkin up 28 spots to 64th, Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu up 14 places to 65th and Lukas Lacko moving into the top 100 with a 22 position rise to 97th, also passing 100th ranked Karol Beck to become Slovakia's top ranked male tennis player.


Rank, Name & Nationality     Points     Week Change
1 Djokovic, Novak (SRB)     13,630    0
2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP)     10,435    0
3 Federer, Roger (SUI)     8,010    0
4 Murray, Andy (GBR)     6,900    0
5 Ferrer, David (ESP)     4,565    0
6 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA)     4,425    0
7 Berdych, Tomas (CZE)     3,700    0
8 Fish, Mardy (USA)     2,965    0
9 Tipsarevic, Janko (SRB)     2,700    0
10 Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG)     2,630    1
11 Almagro, Nicolas (ESP)     2,380    -1
12 Simon, Gilles (FRA)     2,005    2
13 Monfils, Gael (FRA)     1,970    2
14 Soderling, Robin (SWE)     1,940    -2
15 Lopez, Feliciano (ESP)     1,890    4
16 Gasquet, Richard (FRA)     1,855    2
17 Isner, John (USA)     1,800    0
18 Dolgopolov, Alexandr (UKR)     1,760    -5
19 Roddick, Andy (USA)     1,745    -3
20 Nishikori, Kei (JPN)     1,680    6
21 Mayer, Florian (GER)     1,585    0
22 Troicki, Viktor (SRB)     1,550    1
23 Cilic, Marin (CRO)     1,485    -3
24 Verdasco, Fernando (ESP)     1,380    0
25 Chela, Juan Ignacio (ARG)     1,350    4
26 Granollers, Marcel (ESP)     1,350    2
27 Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI)     1,345    -5
28 Raonic, Milos (CAN)     1,345    -3
29 Monaco, Juan (ARG)     1,300    -2
30 Anderson, Kevin (RSA)     1,270    2
31 Stepanek, Radek (CZE)     1,195    0
32 Ljubicic, Ivan (CRO)     1,190    -2
33 Kohlschreiber, Philipp (GER)     1,140    8
34 Tomic, Bernard (AUS)     1,138    4
35 Bogomolov Jr., Alex (RUS)     1,135    -1
36 Benneteau, Julien (FRA)     1,120    3
37 Bellucci, Thomaz (BRA)     1,060    0
38 Dodig, Ivan (CRO)     1,030    -2
39 Youzhny, Mikhail (RUS)     1,025    -4
40 Young, Donald (USA)     1,014    2
41 Melzer, Jurgen (AUT)     1,000    -8
42 Seppi, Andreas (ITA)     980    -2
43 Llodra, Michael (FRA)     960    3
44 Andujar, Pablo (ESP)     955    1
45 Baghdatis, Marcos (CYP)     940    -1
46 Karlovic, Ivo (CRO)     922    11
47 Ferrero, Juan Carlos (ESP)     920    1
48 Fognini, Fabio (ITA)     915    -1
49 Tursunov, Dmitry (RUS)     913    -6
50 Nieminen, Jarkko (FIN)     908    -1
51 Rochus, Olivier (BEL)     899    3
52 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS)     875    0
53 Montanes, Albert (ESP)     860    -3
54 Giraldo, Santiago (COL)     845    2
55 Berlocq, Carlos (ARG)     836    6
56 Petzschner, Philipp (GER)     815    7
57 Istomin, Denis (UZB)     802    3
58 Starace, Potito (ITA)     800    4
59 Blake, James (USA)     799    0
60 Muller, Gilles (LUX)     793    -5
61 Kubot, Lukasz (POL)     787    -3
62 Haase, Robin (NED)     781    -9
63 Falla, Alejandro (COL)     776    8
64 Kukushkin, Mikhail (KAZ)     768    28
65 Lu, Yen-Hsun (TPE)     741    14
66 Ramos, Albert (ESP)     724    1
67 Stakhovsky, Sergiy (UKR)     710    -2
68 Robredo, Tommy (ESP)     705    -17
69 Machado, Rui (POR)     698    1
70 Volandri, Filippo (ITA)     696    2
71 Gulbis, Ernests (LAT)     695    2
72 Stebe, Cedrik-Marcel (GER)     688    11
73 Sela, Dudi (ISR)     685    2
74 Malisse, Xavier (BEL)     680    -10
75 Cipolla, Flavio (ITA)     680    1
76 Sweeting, Ryan (USA)     676    -8
77 Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo (ESP)     675    -11
78 Mahut, Nicolas (FRA)     673    3
79 Mayer, Leonardo (ARG)     659    1
80 Kunitsyn, Igor (RUS)     657    -6
81 Rosol, Lukas (CZE)     656    -12
82 Chardy, Jeremy (FRA)     652    0
83 Dimitrov, Grigor (BUL)     641    -5
84 Darcis, Steve (BEL)     636    1
85 Ebden, Matthew (AUS)     635    9
86 Nalbandian, David (ARG)     630    1
87 Beck, Andreas (GER)     628    6
88 Soeda, Go (JPN)     625    11
89 Querrey, Sam (USA)     624    6
90 Devvarman, Somdev (IND)     614    -4
91 Kamke, Tobias (GER)     613    7
92 Riba, Pere (ESP)     612    -4
93 Bachinger, Matthias (GER)     602    -4
94 Paire, Benoit (FRA)     601    -10
95 Hanescu, Victor (ROU)     600    -5
96 Harrison, Ryan (USA)     596    -19
97 Lacko, Lukas (SVK)     596    22
98 Roger-Vasselin, Edouard (FRA)     592    3
99 Gil, Frederico (POR)     582    8
100 Beck, Karol (SVK)     576    0

Murray will be no match for Djokovic in Aus Open semi final today

Taking Djokovic to advance $1.40 (-250)