ATP Munich – Saturday Preview

Florian Mayer vs. Philipp Petzschner

Florian Mayer will face Philip Petzschner in what promises to be a thrilling semi-final at the BMW Open on Saturday. The fans here in Munich should be excited about the prospect of a German player being in the final of this week’s BMW Open, as Philipp Petzschner and Florian Mayer are facing off for the right to compete in Sunday’s final. Mayer entered the tournament as the fifth seed, and is perhaps the pick of the German players in this competition. He emerged from a tight three-setter against Grigor Dimitrov to earn his place in the final four.

Petzschner has defied the odds to get this far, though he shouldn’t be written off as a title contender. He managed to eliminate Mikhail Youzhny, the No. 1 seed, earlier in the week. To add to this, the world No. 76 already has an ATP World Tour title to his name, which isn’t something that can be said of Mayer. If he continues his current run of form, Petzschner might just make the final.

Mayer has had the upper hand against Petzschner in the past, and currently holds a 2-0 head to head lead against him. The pairing last met at last year’s Australian Open, where Mayer produced a momentous comeback to steal a five set victory from the jaws of defeat. Saturday’s match could prove to be just as exciting, and should be well worth keeping an eye on.

Nikolay Davydenko vs. Radek Stepanek

Nikolay Davydenko faces a tough semi-final against Radek Stepanek on Saturday in the BMW Open.
Nikolay Davydenko and Radek Stepanek will face each other for the tenth time on Saturday, in the semi-finals of the BMW Open. This has been a good week for both players, as they were both aiming to improve on fairly average season records. Davydenko enters the match as the favourite, and he’ll be well aware that he needs to win these kinds of matches in order to work his way back into the top 20.
Stepanek is currently the world No. 67, but has plenty of experience at this level. The 32 year old may well be the underdog, but a fifth career ATP World Tour title certainly isn’t beyond his reach. Even so, he could well be in for a struggle here against Davydenko, who on top form is one of the most formidable players on the tour.
Davydenko has a 5-4 head to head record against Stepanek going into this match, and won the two most recent matches between the pairing. On clay, Davydenko has a 2-1 record against Stepanek, and this might give the Russian a slight psychological edge. Even so, Stepanek has proven himself to be capable of beating Davydenko in the past, and this could develop into a very close match.