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MARKET COMPARISONS: WINNER
1ST ROUND: 3RD QUARTER | 4TH QUARTER (MONDAY)
1ST ROUND: 1ST QUARTER | 2ND QUARTER (TUESDAY)
2ND ROUND: BOTTOM HALF (WEDNESDAY) | TOP HALF (THURSDAY)

DAILY ANALYSIS ARCHIVE: CURRENT | 1ST ROUND MONDAY

PLAYS:

Jose Acasuso 2.25 ARG vs. Jan Vacek 1.61 CZE
- Both failed to qualify in Auckland. The young Argentinean performed well on the dirt last year but is unproven on the rebound ace, where as Jan Vacek is proven on the surface and despite a loss to Bjorkman in Doha, should have far too much for Acasuso.
6 units Vacek at 1.61 (William Hill) -6

Ota Fukarek 1.83 CZE vs. Alexandre Simoni 2.18 BRA
- The Czech has a tight loss to Calatrava to his name and had some very good challenge tour form last year where as Simoni has not had a great preparation with a loss to Carvalho in a hardcourt challenge event in Brazil. Fukarek does look over the odds.
5 units Fukarek at 1.83 (Bet365) -5

Jan-Michael Gambill 1.84 USA (19) vs. Wayne Ferreira 2.10 RSA
- H-H 2-0. The South African loves playing in Melbourne and always lifts a cog or two for the AUS Open. He had a win over Clement in Sydney then a three set loss to eventual finalist Chela. Gambill is gaining a reputation as a major dud with some below par performances in the majors and has not been past the 1st round here in the last four years. A loss to Clavet in Auckland and some ordinary play in the Hopman Cup is hardly an ideal lead-up.
5 units Ferreira at 2.10 (Centrebet) +5.5

David Nalbandian 1.44 ARG vs. Daniel Vacek 3.3 CZE
- The young Nalbandian is one to watch. He had a hardcourt tournament win on the challenge tour last year and was a semi finalist on a number of other occasions. Wins against Phau and Clavet in Auckland will do his confidence no harm whatsoever. Vacek has a loss to Kafelnikov in Doha to his name in '02 and will find this tough.
8 units Nalbandian at 1.44 (Bet365) +3.52

Agustin Calleri 3.50 ARG vs. Carlos Moya 1.40 ESP (17)
- Calleri had some very solid form on the dirt (challenge tour) in South America late last year with two wins and two semis from his last four tournaments and does look a genuine chance to upset Moya. The Spaniard went down to the in form H-T Lee last week in Sydney but looks to have slipped from where he was this time last year when making the quarters in Melbourne.
3 units Calleri at 3.50 (SportingOdds) -3

Irakli Labadze 1.85 GEO (LL) vs. Byron Black 1.90 ZIM
- With Agassi on a plane back to Vegas Labadze gets another chance after the #1 seed went down to Kim in the final round of qualifying. Byron Black also made it through the qualies but has been struggling of late with a loss to Karlovic in the 1st round of Chennai.
5 units Labadze at 1.85 (Centrebet) -5

Marcelo Rios 1.10 CHI vs. Jaymon Crabb 6.50 AUS
- This should be a formality for the Chilean who will have far too much for the wildcard Aussie.

Roger Federer 1.17 SUI (11) vs. Michael Chang 5.00 USA  
- Chang took a set off Safin in Auckland last week but will really struggle against the Sydney champion. Include in multi's.

Mariano Zabaleta 5.00 ARG vs. Andy Roddick 1.17 USA (13) 
- A-Rod to have too much class in this one.

Marat Safin 1.17 RUS (9) vs. Anthony Dupuis 4.50 FRA 
- Always a little weary of taking the short price on the volatile Russian. He looked a bit rusty when going down to Bjorkman in Auckland, but this does look like a comfortable 1st round encounter. 

Andrei Stoliarov 4.50 RUS vs. Tommy Haas 1.17 GER (7) 
- The Russian went down to Srichaphan in Chennai after defeating doubles specialist Paes. Haas will appreciate the match play from Kooyong last week and should wrap this one up comfortably.

Nicolas Escude 1.10 FRA (30) vs. Todd Reid 6.50 AUS
- The Frenchman to have far too much for another Aussie wildcard. Take the 1/10 if you get!

10 units at 2.27 (Bet365) +12.7

OTHER MATCHES - SELECTIONS IN BOLD (Best early prices):

Lleyton Hewitt 1.14 AUS (1) vs. Alberto Martin 7.00 ESP
- The time has come for Hewitt, and he could hardly have predicted such a difficult first round match up to test his fitness. Martin beat Vinciguerra, Chela and Enqvist in Adelaide before going down to Henman in three sets and then not disgraced with loss to Escude in Sydney. Hewitt has had a far from ideal preparation of a practise match with Todd Martin after being sidelined with chicken pox. All reports are that he has been practising well, but this is a danger game. Avoid. 

Fernando Meligeni 3.55 BRA vs. Michel Kratochvil 1.40 SUI
- On the dirt you would have to favour the streaky Brazilian, but Kratochvil is capable on this surface with a semi final appearance in Auckland last week providing evidence of this.

Karol Kucera 2.00 SVK vs. Sjeng Schalken 1.95 NED (27)
- H-H 3-3. Hard 1-1. Very tough match to pick. Kucera reached the semis in Doha first week of Jan before going down to Canas in three, but was then blown off the court 1 & 2 by Hyung-Taik Lee in the R16 Sydney. Schalken meanwhile has R16 losses to Philippoussis and Mantilla so far this year. Could go either way.

Nicolas Lapentti 1.37 ECU (23) vs. Axel Pretzsch 3.50 GER
- Lapentti had a very dissapointing loss to Ulihrach in Sydney while the German also lost to Hrbaty in 1st round Chennai. Pretzsch did win a challenge tour event on the hard court last year and might just take a set or two off the favourite in this one. Avoid.

Gaston Gaudio 1.67 ARG vs. Jack Brasington 2.30 USA
- Gaudio lost to Bjorkman in 1st rnd Auckland last week but had wins over Kafelnikov, Ferrero and Safin last year and is no donkey on the rebound ace. Brasington comes through qualifying with some very solid wins and looks to have the edge for mine.

Flavio Saretta 4.65 BRA vs. Arnaud Clement 1.25 FRA (15)
- Not the easiest opening encounter for the struggling Frenchman who made the semis here last year. The Brazilian has some match fitness on the hardcourt and must be given some chance.

Olivier Patience 2.05 FRA vs. Attila Savolt 1.80 HUN
- The Frenchman has the qualifiers under his belt which should be enough to get him past Savolt who struggles to win a match on the hardcourt on the challenge tour.

Paul-Henri Mathieu 3.50 FRA vs. Rainer Schuettler 1.36 GER
- Mathieu went through qualies in Adelaide and then defeated Andrew Ilie and took a set to love off Arazi so he does have some form coming into this. Schuettler had a QF win over Kafelnikov before going down to El Aynaoui in Doha and did reach the 4th round here last year but the 3.50 on the Frenchman does look overs.

Xavier Malisse 1.22 BEL (29) vs. Tomas Behrend 5.50 GER
- Expect the qualifier Behrend to find this very tough against the fragile but improving Malisse.

Andre Sa 5.00 BRA vs. Todd Martin 1.28 USA
- The Brazilian defeated the highly rated Blake in qualifying in Auckland before losing to Tabara in the 1st round and does not look the roughest coming up against the veteran Yank. Martin did have a win over Sampras in Adelaide and he might be good for another win in Melbourne, but I'll be avoiding this one.

Stefano Galvani 1.85 ITA vs. Jean-Francois Bachelot 2.40 FRA
- Both qualifiers here. Slight lean towards the Italian but with no confidence. 

Felix Mantilla 1.67 ESP vs. Albert Costa 2.40 ESP
- Mantilla has been in form recently, contesting the Doha final with El Aynaoui and then going down to the in form Novak in the quarters in Auckland. Costa however, is a past quarter-finalist here at Melb Park and is more than capable of a minor upset in this one.

Franco Squillari 4.00 ARG vs. Andrei Pavel 1.29 ROM (25)
- Pavel made the semis in Chennai before running into Srichaphan and went down to Rios in Sydney. He's a little inconsistent for mine, but should have more than enough to take care of the Argentinean who is more at home on the dirt.

Ivan Ljubicic 1.90 CRO vs. Bohdan Ulihrach 2.00 CZE
- Ljubicic had a tight loss to Rios in Sydney but withdrew from his match versus Arazi in Adelaide. Injury concern leaves a doubt, and does look to be a very tough match with the Czech who reached the 4th round here in '99. Avoid.

Raemon Sluiter 2.10 NED vs. Christophe Rochus 1.90 BEL
- Rochus  had a first round loss to Stepanek in Doha while Sluiter already has three games under his belt after coming thorough qualifying with a final round win over Wayne Black. Slight edge with Rochus.

Mikhail Youzhny 1.70 RUS vs. Michael Llodra 2.40 FRA
- Tough match-up. The up and coming Russian has losses to Davydenko and Ivanisevic in last two tourney's, while Llodra beat Ferreira in Adelaide and does look more than capable of the minor upset. 

Mardy Fish 3.00 USA vs. Fabrice Santoro 1.45 FRA (20)
- The American had a nice run through qualifying to make it to the main draw while Santoro went down to the in form Kucera in the first two tourney's of '02. Very tough.

Olivier Rochus 1.90 BEL vs. Alex Calatrava 2.10 ESP
- Qualifier Rochus lost to Johansson in Chennai while Calatrava got past Fukarek and Hrbaty in the same tourney. The Spainard really struggled late last year and might find this too tough.

Juan Ignacio Chela 1.40 ARG vs. Noam Okun 3.5 ISR
- The Argentiean was very impressive last week in Sydney with wins over Costa, Ferreira, Escude and Mirnyi before being totally outplayed by Federer in the final. He took Sampras to five sets here last year and should take care of the Israeli qualifier - I just hope he hasn't peaked to early.

Jarkko Nieminen 7.00 FIN vs. Pete Sampras 1.17 USA (8)
- The young Nieminen has 1st round losses to Schuettler and Ivanisevic this year but did have some very good wins on the hardcourt last year. Sampras is a shadow of his former self but did have some handy match practise last week at Kooyong, including a win over long term rival Agassi.

OUTRIGHT

Grosjean 3 units each/way at 19.00 (SportingOdds)
(Already holding Agassi 5 units to win at 6.50) -5

PAST PERFORMANCE:

+28.25 units