This week...

This week tournaments draws:
(Ladies first)

WTA Quebec City, hard indoor: http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/posting/2012/656/MDS.pdf
WTA Tashkent, hard (outdoor): http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/posting/2012/825/MDS.pdf

ATP Challengers:
Banja Luka, clay: http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/1607/mds.pdf
Todi, clay: http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/3627/mds.pdf
Petange, hard: http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/6592/mds.pdf

Starting from Todi, nearest to my last experience, I dare say [1] Lorenzi upsetted in the first round last week and [2]Volandri shouldn't have great problem to make their way up to the final.
Volandri was terrific last week and it's still a mistery how Montanes defeated him, though Montanes won the title beating also Robredo in the final.
Less to say about Lorenzi, who lost to Dustin Brown after being 5-2 up in both sets.
Possible dark horses:
[3]Ungur stylish clay-courter but as runner-up in Brasov I think he could pay for his efforts, a small bet against him yet in the first round is very tempting.
[4]Kuznetsov young talented, I'll keep an eye on him since I've never seen him playing.
[7]Giannessi, in the same quarter of Ungur, has a great chance to get at least a semifinal spot, while [8]Meffert  is on upset alert yet in the second round, were he could face Naso who's in a good period, the two of them met just last week with Naso winning in straight sets.

Banja Luka:
I little trust that part of the world, and I little trust [2]Phau.
My favors go to [1] Kavcic.
[7]Haider-Maurer on early upset alert after two titles in a row last two weeks.

Petange:
This is the most interesting Challenger of the week, with better ranked players preparing the asian hard-court season.
[1]Muller left-handed big server and also local player is the clear favored.
Great talents in the same half [2]Zopp and [3]Berankis.
But if Zopp has some easy round up to the semifinal, I don't consider Zeballos[6] a great danger;
Berankis got the worst draw, de Scheeper at the first round, Hernych at the second, Serra, Mathieu or the young talented Hebert in the quarterfinal.

Tashkent:
Hard first round for [1]Nicolescu facing Knapp, Mestre's ITF winner last week. The post-injury Knapp doesn't give her best on hardcourt and rarely plays on it though.
[6]Jovanovski as my dark horse here.

Quebec City:
Interesting tournament also this one, played on indoor carpet, including n.14 WTA Cibulkova as #1
and Wickmayer as #2, and also unseeded players of high level.
Many good first round as as also #1 and 2 had alredy lost from their opponent Flipkens and Riske rispectively.
[5]Oprandi on upset alert facing young Annika Beck, great results at Junior level.
On a very fast court ther could be a good result for Barthel[3], solid server, after a season below the expectations, Zahalavova-Strycova[6] in Barthel's quarter could have trouble to play her dropshots, and other spins.
Also expecting something from [7]Martic, avoiding a first round against Giorgi who withdrew, she'll now play a qualifier. Her quarter is the same of Cibulkova but if Petra plays as she can also Cibu's defense could suffer to hit back balls with not the same spin for two times in a row.

R Oprandi - Annika Beck: Beck 4 units @2.37 +5.48
Beck can hit the ball very hard and also serve fast, indoor she could do very well.
No wonder she's already 16/3 indoor this season and has recorded more matches than Oprandi on this surface.

Nielsen - Eysseric: Eysseric 1 unit @2.25 -1
Small bet as I do't know them, but Nielsen usually plays only in doubles and in effect they've got similar ranking thuogh Eysseric is much younger.

de Schepper - Berankis: de Schepper 1 unit @2.75 -1
Small bet because Kenny's a good server but Berankis is raising his level recently.

+3.48
Impressive stuff for Beck. 6-1 7-6(11) the score. For two times she went to serve for the match (on the 5-4, and 6-5) than had 6 match points before the good one in the tie-break, also Oprandi dropped a set point.
Beck looks solid on both side, better on the forehand as she also turn around the ball instead of hitting the backhand. She hammers from the baseline but lacks of winning strokes, so she has to make her opponents run from side or push her far back the baseline. A bit insecure when she's at the net, her wrist is not so still and soft to play volleys or dropshot, similar to Sharapova.   
Easy one fore Berankis, 6-4 6-2; while Eysseric went a set up but Nielsen came back and won, 3-6 6-4 6-1 .