ATP – Estoril Thursday Preview

  Anderson Kevin vs. Hanescu Victor

Romanian Victor Hanescu ended quickly the local favorite hopes to go deep this year in Estoril with a solid match. Machado tried too much and a lot of balls went outside while the Romanian kept his own game, he didn’t made anything special on court and easily advanced. He will meet for the third time Anderson, second time on clay, and the Romanian won both meetings.

The South African advanced with a win over De Bakker which was on his first match after injury. Both players are solid behind the serve, the surface is slower then in Barcelona when they met recently which will give an advantage for Romanian here. But things are tricky for Hanescu as he is in qualifications for Madrid while with another win here will play with the winner between Gil and Verdasco.

Raonic Milos vs. Sousa Joao

Joao Sousa won in all Portuguese wildcard battle with Gastao Elias. After the first two sets were shared, Sousa was handed the match when well in control in the third, as Elias had to retire because of injury, he had a lot of physical problems and was forced to retire.

He will meet now Raonic who even that plays on one of the most slower clay this week he made a solid match blasting powerful forehands all over the court, but when his serve didn’t entered he was in trouble. "That will be tough for many reasons: the player, the atmosphere, the home crowd, which can all only help Sousa", said Raonic. 

The Canadian has the serve on his side but Sousa puts a lot of fight on court and can be a tricky player especially as he is pushed behind by a noisy crowd.

Berlocq Carlos vs. Simon Gilles

Expcted to see Simon resting this week after his recent injury. The ankle injury which afflicted his performance against Andy Murray in Monte Carlo will affect his performance here too.

"There's nothing much you can do for a sprained ankle. It's just bad luck. I'm playing well. But it would be nice to be able to play for longer periods without having to stop for an injury," said Simon. He leads the head-to-head with 2-0 against Berlocq and Simon want a better ranking for French Open.

Berlocq controlled the match against Gimeno-Traver serving well and being solid on the ground. The Argentine continues his recent runs and he isn’t without chances against a player who still not push too much on this slow track with his ankle being doubtful.  

Gil Frederico vs. Verdasco Fernando

Since reaching the San Jose final in February, Fernando Verdasco is 1-5 and has fallen outside the Top 10 and struggled with a shoulder injury. This week, the Spaniard hopes to turn things around on the clay of Estoril. He failed to defend his points in Barcelona as the organizers didn’t gave him a WC and he will be more concentrated to do well here, but with Madrid just the corner and facing a local player he might not push too much.

Gil continued his recent form with a solid win over qualifier Cipolla who was also in solid form. A lot in this match will depend by Verdasco’s shape, Gil is in great form and playing at home he will play a level above. We expect to see Gil putting a lot of fight on court.

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