QATAR OPEN

Eurosport are serving us up a real treat today, with the Doha tennis semi finals.

First up is a very intriguing match up between Robin Soderling and Ivan Ljubicic.

The 22yo Swedish player ended 2006 as his county's number one player for the first time and has taken great encouragement from that. Robin really worked on his fitness levels during the short Winter break and is looking for a major breakthrough this year.

Earlier this week he said "My goal this year is to reach the Top 10; it's gonna be difficult but not impossible. I think I have the game for it but I just need to be more consistent and not just play a good match here and there. I put in a lot of work in the off season and I feel totally ready."

He beat Marcos Baghdatis 3&2 yesterday and only dropped 4 points on his huge first serve.

Ljubicic advanced after a three hour battle with Mikhail Youzhny, during which he served 18 aces, think we can expect plenty of quick points today. He leads 2-1 in h2h meetings, all of which were on hardcourts, with 2 of the last 4 sets played, going to tie breaks.

Ivan has just changed his racquet from Babolat to Head, which is a little strange given the results he had last year, guess that money talks once again.

In an interview yesterday the Croatian superstar offered ..... "It's an important win because I am playing with a new racquet and you don't want to start having negative feelings and maybe think you should not have changed it. It gives me more power and control so it helps me play better from the baseline."I practiced with Soderling in Monte Carlo in December and he's going to be a very difficult opponent. I would have liked to play Baghdatis because he had beaten me twice in Australia and I wanted my revenge!"

I expect this to be close, infact anything else would be a major surprise. Get the impression that Soderling is looking forward to the battle ahead and that, reading between the lines, Ljubo is trying to convince himself that the racquet change was for the better. Have to side with the Swede and will split my stakes, with a little on the match to go to a 3rd set. This is currently available at a combined price of 2.40, which seems very good value.

Not going to get involved in the second semi, where Davydenko should be too strong for Andrew Murray, who has not hit top form yet, maybe Hogmanay has taken it's toll !

Nikolay is yet to drop a set here and leads the h2h 2-0, both matches coming last year on Murray's favoured US hard courts, so hard to see beyond the newly married Russian, for those who HAVE to place a bet.

3 points Soderling to beat Ljubicic 2.40 Betfair.

1.25 points Ljubicic to win 2-1 sets 4.30 Betfair.

Good Luck.