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Jul

30

ATP Gstaad, Umag and Los Angeles – Friday Preview

July 30, 2010 | Comments Off

TennisAllianz Suisse Open:

Two Top 20 stars are among the line-up on Friday as all four quarter-finals take to the clay courts of Gstaad.

First up on Centre Court is an all-unseeded match-up between Igor Andreev and Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Andreev has had tremendous success at this tournament before, going 16-5 (and reaching the semi-finals or better in four of his previous five appearances). Gimeno-Traver is playing here for the second time and fell first round in his only previous appearance. Andreev won the pair’s only previous meeting in straight sets.

Next up is a first-time meeting between top seed Mikhail Youzhny and qualifier Yuri Schukin. World No. 14 Youzhny is playing here for the fifth time, and has equaled his best previous showing, a quarter-final finish in 2008; Schukin is playing here for the first time. No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro faces Jeremy Chardy next. World No. 18 Almagro is playing here for the first time and has been pushed to three sets in both of his early round matches, but he is 2-0 against Chardy, and does have a phenomenal 25-11 mark on clay this year. Chardy is strong on these courts though, this being his third appearance here – and his third quarter-final.

Last up is No. 4 seed Albert Montanes against No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet. Montanes is ranked higher, in fact he reached a new career-high of No. 23 this week; but Gasquet has almost everything else on his side in this match-up, first of all winning all three of their previous meetings (one on the ATP World Tour, two on the Challenger circuit) and a much better record at this event (Montanes is playing his first quarter-final in three tries here, while Gasquet is now 9-1 here, his two previous tries here being winning the title in 2006 and reaching the quarters in 2007).

Studena Croatia Open Umag:

For just the third time in Umag’s tournament history, there was a complete rain-out, as all Thursday matches were pushed to Friday (the first two rain-outs came on quarter-final Fridays in 1993 and 2001). The four second round matches from Thursday plus all four quarter-finals will hopefully be completed on Friday.

The second round line-up is highlighted by No. 2 seed Jurgen Melzer against Jan Hajek. Melzer has had his best season to date and last week he reached his first ATP World Tour final of the year at in Hamburg. Melzer has reached the semi-finals in his only two previous attempts here as well, in 2002 and 2009. Hajek’s ranking wouldn’t indicate an upset brewing (he is 63 spots below Melzer at No. 78), but he did beat his opponent’s young brother, Gerald, in the first round here.

Also on the schedule is No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubicic against wild card Ivan Dodig. Ljubicic will try to snap out of a four-match losing streak, having gone winless since a 10-8 fifth set second round win at Roland Garros. But Ljubicic is comfortable on these courts, playing here for the 11th time (his best showing was the semi-finals in 1999). He and Dodig will be playing for the first time.

Two all-unseeded match-ups are also on the menu, pitting Olivier Rochus against Andreas Seppi (Seppi won their prior meeting, albeit by retirement) and Bjorn Phau against Potito Starace (Starace won their prior meeting). The two quarter-finals already set include No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko against Juan Ignacio Chela, a head-to-head Chela dominates, 5-1 – but they haven’t met in four years. The other known quarter-final match is No. 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero against No. 6 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov. This is a first time meeting but there is one major difference – Ferrero, 30, is playing here for the fourth time and this is his third time to reach the quarter-finals (he even made the final last year); Dolgopolov, 21, is playing here for the very first time.

Farmers Classic:

Five of the top six seeds are into the quarter-finals of the Farmers Classic presented by Mercedes-Benz on Friday, led by top seed and wild card entry Andy Murray of Scotland, No. 2 and defending champion Sam Querrey and No. 3 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. The other seeds are No. 4 Feliciano Lopez of Spain and No. 6 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia. The other unseeded quarter-finalists are former World No. 5 Rainer Schuettler of Germany, former World No. 4 James Blake, a wild card entry and the lowest-ranked player remaining at No. 117, and Colombian Alejandro Falla.

In the opening match, Querrey takes a 2-1 lead against Schuettler, who is the oldest player in the singles draw at 34. This is their third meeting of the season and the German prevailed in their lone hard court contest in the first round at the Australian Open.

In the second match, Baghdatis looks to improve on his 2-0 mark against Tipsarevic. Baghdatis is trying to reach his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final or better this season and Tipsarevic his third semi-final or better.

In the third match, Blake holds a 2-1 edge on Lopez with the Spaniard winning their last meeting in the quarter-finals of Basel in October 2008. In the evening match, World No. 4 Murray tries to advance to his third semi-final or better this year against Falla, who is appearing in his second ATP World Tour quarter-final. Murray’s best results have come in Grand Slam tournaments with a runner-up at the Australian Open (l. to Federer) and semi-final at Wimbledon (l. to Nadal).


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