ATP Madrid Sunday Preview

The Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open is classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event held at the Manzanares Park Tennis Center, called also La Caja Magica, in Madrid, Spain. The conditions are a little bit tricky, Madrid is the highest capital in Europe and the altitude will make the air thinner so it will favor big servers but also the courts are built on the bend of a river and the air is supposed to be wet which will slow down a little bit and the balls will be harder. Also the main three courts have roof and the play will be much faster on these courts. The surface favors solid baseliners but also look for big servers to advance a few rounds. The defending champion is Rafael Nadal.

Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. Giraldo Santiago

Last year as a qualifier the ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov reached the second round but this time he came in poor form as he is yet to win a match in European clay. He lost to Davydenko in Barcelona after a solid match being a little bit injury but he claims to be fit heading to Madrid.

He will meet Giraldo who also was a qualifier last year and reached the second round but overall the Columbian came in slight better form reaching third round in Barcelona. Both players are solid serves and the one who will serve consistent will have the upper hand. Dolgopolov can mix up better on court and he should use more the drop shot here as Giraldo tends to play way behind the baseline. Both hit hard from the back of the court but little rallies are expected as both tends to go for their shots.

Wawrinka Stanislas vs. Garcia-Lopez Guillermo

The Mutua Madrilena will be open by the encounter between Stanislas Wawrinka and Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The Swiss didn’t managed to bring his solid tennis showed on hard courts to clay as his first match was a loss to Brown in Munich and he looked only partial ready for clay transition. His record isn’t impressive in Madrid, only twice he reached the third round.The Spaniard has more matches on clay this year with little success and also last year he reached the third round.

Both players are reeling on a solid serve and hard hitting from the back of the court with the Swiss being a little bit more stable on both wings, he opens well the court before goes for a winner and can mix up more with his backhand.

Almagro Nicolas vs. Tsonga Jo-Wilfried

Tsonga leads the head-to-head with 3-0, 2-0 on clay with both meetings last year but the Frenchman came in poor form and his match in Estoril was filled with errors and he was down on serve which is his main asset. Almagro improve a lot on clay and he played well in Barcelona to be favorite here. The high altitude favours the big serving play but the Spaniard showed consistency recently while still Tsonga is trying to recapture some form.

The Frenchman relies too much on serve while from the back of the court Almagro has the upper hand, the Spaniard is favorite to take this one and we see him as the likely winner.  

Monaco Juan vs. Golubev Andrey

This is a tricky match as both players are heading in poor form. The Argentine didn’t impress too much on his favorite surface, he is 1/3 recently wining only against Dimitrov in Barcelona.

While Golubes is 4/10 in the season and two wins are in Davis Cup and has lost six matches in a row, including first-round exits in Casablanca, Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, and Munich earlier this week.

The match is played late in the night and conditions are a little bit slower, the Argentine has a good record reaching third round last year while Golubev will make his debut in Madrid. Golubev will rely on his powerful serve and will try to finish the points quickly as in long rallies Monaco has the upper hand, Golubev will play aggressive but for that he needs some form and failed to show that recently while also Monaco to have the upper hand from the back of the court needs consistency.Monaco failed to impress on serve which looked attackable and will permit to Golubev to retrieve well, the player who will make less errors will take this one.

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