Despite lacking in defense, Andorra's pace and height may not be high, but when they have the worst defensive rating in the league, those numbers are still very poor. Girona plays at a decent pace and has enough talent in the offense this season, but their defense is also very weak. The offense should dominate here, not the defense. They have some good players in both offense and defense, good shooters.

Bayern made changes, changed trainers, but I don't know where the logic is in changing a trainer when you could add players to the team. Even more so when replacing a modern coach with an old school Pesicius, who players will certainly need to adapt to and it shouldn't be easy. This time, I don't expect a new trainer's effect, as I didn't see any problems with Herbert. Moreover, Bayern is facing Maccabi, who are in great shape and have good chances. As far as I understand, Spencer Dinwiddie is still in the USA, as I don't see any news about him returning to the team.

Milan on paper looked solid before the season, had caught good form, but in the last period did not compete in the games. But in the local league, they are doing well with solid Peru. I had already talked about Virtus in the last forecast when I mentioned that the team seems to be much worse than in the first half of the season. The team has also lost Edwards, Smailagicius, and Diarra has also dropped out.

Although the great Peru series ended with a loss to the Arsenal team, the form remained, and even at home games against Nottingham, who are fighting for survival, there is a great chance to return to the Peru series. At home, Aston Villa won 4 out of 5 times, and their record of 10 wins at home against Aston Villa shows a strong advantage, which I believe should once again be proven.

Although unable to fully compete with Benfica, Porto, or Sporting, Braga is still the 4th best team in Portugal. It is not worth trusting the average teams in the league against Braga, especially when their recent form has been very good. Braga will not have Horta, who is the team captain, but even without him, the team is significantly stronger and in good form, so they should celebrate a victory over Peru.

Gorō is an obvious outsider and receives a lot of criticism from everyone, but at home they have not yet been defeated by more than 32 points. They have only lost by a larger margin 3 times, but all of those were away games. Their biggest defeat was against Gorzow with a score of 102-47, but Gorzow's team was strengthened by the presence of Reid, who was the top scorer with 15.5 points, while newcomer Osborne has only scored 6 points in the 3 games played so far.

Sakkari Maria - a 30-year-old Greek, formerly a top player at WTA 3 in 2022, but after a serious injury in 2024 US Open, her results significantly decreased. Of course, she was able to play in the early stages of the tournaments, but her progress in Japan and Peru shows a desire to play and the last H2H win for the Greek was a long time ago, so there are good chances for Japan.
Osaka Naomi was also an elite WTA 1 player in 2019 and for a while didn't show much effort, but last season she showed a desire to play and her results improved, with her reaching the high WTA 16 ranking. Judging from last season's performance, Sakkari's chances here are very minimal.

Littler is the clear favorite remaining, the first seed in the world, but I wouldn't say that Searle is such an underdog here. Searle has never won against Littler before, but he is currently at the peak of his career and playing very well. He closes out over 50% of his doubles. He only lost 2 sets until the semifinals, Littler also did, but Searle played against much stronger opponents. I believe that Searle has a chance to surprise here and possibly win his first title, if not on the highest stage.

WTA Brisbane, hard court. Qualifications..

WTA Brisbane, hard court. Qualifications...

The scary form and a streak of losses with no chances of even reaching the group stage of the Eurocup show that the Ulm team must win at home. Lietkabelis, a very poor away team with only 1 win against Panionios, who defeats everyone. Although, as usual, the people of Panevėžys will put up a fight, the weak and constantly changing composition does not seem like a serious team, and even Čanakas himself can do nothing, so Ulm must celebrate the win at home.

In this season, both teams' offenses seem to have NBA-level players, with whom they have been scoring a lot of points. The Pao team has been affected by injuries, but enough time has passed for them to recover, and they are also given the favorite label for this match. The total points between the two teams seem to be relatively low, considering how they have been playing and how many points they have been scoring, so the over seems like a very logical option.

Although the newcomers to the European Cup, Neptūnas, are surprising in this tournament, with so many injuries it is very difficult for them. Venezia arrives and, even though the Italian club plays poorly on the road and is not in the best form, looking at their roster, they seem like a strong and clear favorite. So, Neptūnas' NBA style of basketball creates a unique challenge for everyone, but I think the Italians are more solid, and when they already beat a full-strength Neptūnas by 20 points at home, I believe we can expect the same from them in Klaipėda.

Even in first place after Portugal, Gil Vicente is a complete outsider against Sporting. In great form and only losing points against top teams or in the Champions League, Sporting has returned to their former dominant style. Their superb defense and strong offense dictate the conditions in every match, and I believe that Sporting, who easily defeats their opponents, is a very confident choice.