ATP Madrid Wednesday Preview

Jurgen Melzer vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver

Jurgen Melzer is up against Daniel Gimeno-Traver in round two of the Mutua Madrid Open. Jurgen Melzer has made a decent start to 2011 but is yet to claim his first title of the season. Despite being the world No. 8 he’s considered to be something of a long shot to win this season’s Mutua Madrid Open, though it would be no surprise to see him progress to the latter stages. Having received a bye in round one, the Austrian will begin his campaign with a second round clash against Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Gimeno-Traver has made a poor start to the season, and has only won 2 of his 12 matches to date. The world No. 61 needs to take urgent action to prevent a slide down the rankings, and a win here could be of great help. The Spaniard enters this match as the outsider, and will not have to deal with the weight of expectation. There’s a possibility that this will improve his chances.

Melzer claimed victory in both of his previous matches against Gimeno-Traver, and looks set to make it three in a row. The left-hander has beaten Gimeno-Traver once previously on clay, back in 2009 at ATP Bastad. Whilst it seems unfair to write Gimeno-Traver off, he’s been in poor form this year, and hasn’t done much to suggest that he can win this match.

Andy Murray vs. Gilles Simon

Andy Murray will meet Gilles Simon on Wednesday in what could turn out to be a close-fought second round contest in the Mutua Madrid Open. Andy Murray seemed to fall apart after losing the final of this year’s Australian Open to Novak Djokovic, but is showing signs of a revival.

The world No. 4 reached the semi-finals nearly 2 weeks ago in Monte Carlo, and could be a major contender for this season’s Mutua Madrid Open. Whilst many people have bemoaned the Scot’s recent form, it seems likely that many will start tipping him as an outsider for Roland Garros if he can achieve consistency on clay. His next match will be a second round tie against Gilles Simon.

Simon is the world No. 20, and already has an ATP World Tour title to his name this year , the ATP Sydney. The pacey Frenchman has an athletic style that isn’t dissimilar to Murray’s, and Wednesday’s match could turn into a battle of wills.

 

Simon has won 18 matches this season, and appears to be a real threat. Murray will need to be sharp here. That said, history is on Murray’s side. Britain’s No. 1 is on a five-match winning streak against Simon, and has an overall record of 5-1 against him (2-1 on clay).To add to this, Murray eliminated Simon in this year's Monte Carlo Open, and this should give him confidence. This could develop into a lengthy matchup, but Murray appears to have the edge.

Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Marin Cilic

Del Potro and Cilic will meet for the fourth time in their careers at the Madrid Masters on Wednesday. Juan Martin Del Potro and Marin Cilic are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in what looks to be an interesting match from the 2011 Madrid Masters. The two players have met 3 times before but never on clay with Del Potro leading their series 2-1.

Cilic was the last person that Del Potro faced in early 2010 before the Argentine went on his long absence with his wrist problem. That was in the fourth round of the 2010 Australian Open and Cilic won the match in 5 sets. But Del Potro, now ranked 32nd, is a much better player than Cilic, who is currently ranked 19th.

Del Potro's ranking would be much higher if not for all the time missed and based on how he has done through the first third of 2011, the Argentine looks good to make it back to the top 10 before the end of the ATP season. Del Potro has 2 titles this year so far, one from Delray Beach and a more recent one from ATP Estoril (clay).

Cilic has not done much on clay this season as he made the quarters in Munich (l. to Davydenko) and he made the round of 16 in Monte Carlo (l. to Federer). The highest ranked player that Cilic beat on clay this season was Filippo Volandri, a player who was ranked 76th when he lost to Cilic in Monte Carlo earlier this season.

It's hard to find a time when Cilic actually beat someone as good as Del Potro on the clay court surface and that puts the match on the Argentine's racket. The winner will likely face Rafael Nadal provided that he can best Marcos Baghdatis in their match and most would surely predict a Rafa win there. Del Potro does enter his match against Cilic having played a lot of matches recently and that might set him up for a loss due to fatigue.

Robin Soderling vs. Santiago Giraldo

World No. 5 Robin Soderling will take on Santiago Giraldo in round two of the Mutua Madrid Open. Robin Soderling made a great start to the season, but hasn’t made an immediate impact on his return to the clay. With three ATP World Tour titles to his name already this season, the two-time French Open runner-up will be trying to pick up the pace here in Madrid as the clay season builds up towards its climax. His next match will be a second round clash against Santiago Giraldo.

Giraldo has a very respectable 17-11 season record, and on current form seems to be close to breaking into the top fifty. The twenty-three year-old has a solid return game, and should be able to make this contest a tricky one for Soderling. Giraldo made the final of the ATP Santiago Open back in Fedbruary, and shouldn’t be written off despite being the underdog.

Soderling and Giraldo have yet to face each other in ATP World Tour competition, and it will be intriguing to see how the action pans out on court. Soderling is being backed to win this one by the vast majority of critics, but it looks like he might have to work hard to grind out a positive result.

Flavio Cipolla vs. Michael Llodra

Continuing his solid form showed recently and in qualifications, Italian Flavio Cipolla ousted Roddick in first round. He started slowly but sawing that Roddick is a little bit dazed on court and also with a lot of nerves, Cipolla started to believe and put a lot of pressure on American serve. Roddick wasn’t at his best, especially on serve, but the Italian was solid on court.

Llodra beat another American to advance further, Sam Querrey, who also this year is in poor form and plays without confidence as neither the Frenchman impressed too much. Cipolla has a poor record against left hander, he is 0/2 in ATP and 10/17 in Challenger level and already lost twice to the Frenchman, once last year in Rome.

The Italian can stay close, he should play with long and high balls on Llodra’s backhand as is prone to errors on this wing but the Frenchman served much better in first round and he has the upper hand on serve. Cipolla will enter with a lot of morale and we don’t see an easy match for the Frenchman who still didn’t impress too much recently.

Tomas Berdych vs. Marcel Granollers

Seventh seed Tomas Berdych will open against local Granollers in first round in Madrid. The Czech retired from Barcelona, some said because of flu some because of an intestinal illness, which is also officially confirmed. He is only 1/1 in Madrid and he needs some matches under his belt prior to Roland Garros.

The conditions are on fast side, they will play on the second arena which has roof, but if he will not be at his best then the Spaniard can be a tricky player as he can play some aggressive tennis. He beat Davydenko in first round, the Russian struggled to found some motivation after he won in Munich and his return were poor, and the fast conditions will help his serve and forehand combination.

The match will depend how quickly the Czech will found his rhythm on serve and from the back of the court as Granollers is a hard nut to crack when you aren’t in top form, the first impression is just watch and see where Berdych’s form is.

Kevin Anderson vs. Novak Djokovic

The Serb is yet to lose a match this year and he will enter in Madrid as one of the main contenders for the title. He already met Anderson in Miami this year and the Serb won in straight sets.

The South African won against a poor Rochus in first round who looked that he has business in other part, he has a solid serve to keep close and make things interesting as the surface is on fast side and conditions are a little bit indoors but is hard to go against the Serb who pushed Nadal in semi-finals back in 2009 here.

Xavier Malisse vs. Yen-Hsun Lu

Yen-Hsun Lu managed to win his biggest achieve of his career so far when he ousted Verdasco in first round. And that on his least favorite surface being also his first win on clay. But that happened with a lot of help from the Spaniard who even that he created some chances he spread too many balls outside and was in a hurry on court which lead to errors and then to nerves but also impress Lu with his strategy on court.

Malisse won against qualifier Hanescu, he had only a let down when he lost his serve and the set but he bounced back and fired 12 aces to win the match.

Lu hasn’t weapons on court and didn’t hit with a lot of power but he puts a lot of balls back in and creates good angles to be dangerous on court.

Malisse has the upper hand on serve and he can remain solid from the back of the court and if will not play same sluggish tennis on court like Verdasco he should take this one in two sets.

Rafael Nadal Rafael vs. Marcos Baghdatis

Rafael Nadal will begin his bid for a third Mutua Madrid Open crown, as he faces Marcos Baghdatis in the second round.

It will be also the first meeting on clay and overall the Cypriot didn’t impress too much, his serve is very attackable on this surface even that he conditions are indoors, he stays too defensive and can be punished with by a drop shot or a short cross court which Falla failed to do that.

Nadal usually starts the tournaments in demanding form as he doesn’t want to spend too much time on court.

Roger Federer vs. Feliciano Lopez

The Swiss star is not unhappy with his form in 2011, but did admit to making some mistakes with his strategy when losing to Austrian Jurgen Melzer in last month’s Monte Carlo quarterfinals.

Roger is feeling good about this week’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, stating that he has been working hard in the “gym getting ready” for the Spanish tournament, as well as the “tough stretch ahead until Wimbledon”.

Facing Lopez in first round will also help to improve his game, the conditions are on fast side and plays indoors which suits better to Federer whose slice will stay low and will force the Spaniard in a lot of errors. Despite Lopez being in good form recently on clay Federer has more chances to win here.

Mayer Florian vs. Bellucci Thomas

Florian Mayer from Germany is 30th in ATP ranking. He played very well in ATP tournament in Munich where he qualified to the final and lost against Nikolay Davydenko. This German tennis player is in good form and lost only against the best tennis players like Novak Djokovic and Thomas Berdych this year.

Thomas Belluci from Italy is 36th in ATP ranking. He hasn't shown anything special this year. His biggest achievements were semi-finals in Acapulco and quarter-finals in Estoril where he was defeated by Pablo Cuevas.

It will be a difficult game for Florian Mayer, but I he has a chance in defeating Thomas Belluci for the first time in history.

---