Analysis for Bartoli-Peng (Zurich)

Head-to-head record 1:1

For the first today´s pick we chose the match between Shuai Peng of China and Marion Bartoli of France. Shuai Peng is a player of great talent and her tennis skills are outstanding. The only problem she has is lack of consistency. She is able to destroy a world-class player on one day and to be defeated by huge underdog on the next day. She has proofed that several times this year as she defeated players such as Hingis, Mauresmo or Schnyder but also lost to Obziler, Sromova or Vinci. She favours hard courts and her game is built upon hard-flat strokes generated by two hands on both sides. She hits the ball very cleanly, especially off her backhand. Her compact strokes allow her to change easily, and she likes to hit the ball down the line from both sides. Her weakness is her serve, with a ball toss that sometimes drifts too far to the left. Her movement is also not the quickest, and that can put her in defensive positions given limited reach when drawn out wide. But she performed really well in Zurich qualifiers and we believe she got back to the form she used to have and odds above 2.3 against Bartoli could be taken. Bartoli is a Wimbledon finalist who reached the top ten for the first time in her career and became the number one female French tennis player. She is well known for her unorthodox and intense style of play. She plays double-handed shots from both sides and is generally considered to be an aggressive and heavy-hitting player. Bartoli is also known for her unusual serve, in which she uses her wrist to generate speed. Also she usually does not bounce the ball before she serves. Her style of play could be most closely compared to Monika Seles who was her child hero. Her current form is questionable as she has lost to several low-ranked players since Wimbledon finals and we think that odds are still influenced by her stellar performance at Wimbledon. That is why we think Peng is worth trying in this clash.