Thursday tennis action

Fighting back after an awful day - Kiefer went close, managed to trade out for a nice position, but it still didn't cover the rest. The scoreboard says 0-5.

Women

1pt Cirstea to beat Cornet 2.6

This is a play against the French headcase mostly - her R1 match had 16 breaks in 22 games, that's woeful. Cirstea is good enough, although her form hasn't been brilliant.

2pts Wickmayer to beat Stosur 2.2

Have been following the Belgian for several wks now and profitably too. On a great run and with stronger clay experience than the Aussie.

1pt Kutuzova to beat Martinez Sanchez 2.75

Another I've had some wins on this year, solid player well suited against the flair of the Spaniard and has a strong 10-4 record against lefties.

1pt M.Gonzalez to beat Seppi 3.0

Good R1 win over Fish, backing up last wk's form, while Seppi won less than 1/3 of his 2nd serves in R1, a licence to tee off.

UPDATE

Better results today, 2-2, +0.6. Kutuzova blew a one-set lead unfortunately.

Comments

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

Wimbledon preview - women

Unfortunately this year I don't have the time to write comprehensive Slam previews anymore so I'll sum this one up pretty quickly - it's all about Serena. 1 - Serena Williams. In incredible form. Since bombing out in R1 of the French Open last year, she has lost just three times - to Kerber (Cincinnati QF), to Stephens (Aus Open QF) and to Azarenka (Doha final). She has won three of the last four Wimbledon finals plus the Olympic gold last year where she dropped just 17 games in six rounds, against opponents which included four former world #1s. All that considered though, I can't have her at 1/2 (1.50) on Betfair. She just has to be opposed. I can't put a finger on who is going to beat her, but I have to side with her prospective opponents. If you want a smokey to put some small change on, try Maria Kirilenko. Her record in the Slam isn't so great but it has been improving - a best result of R4 last year beaten by finalist Radwanska 7-5 in the third, and

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