ATP Madrid Thursday Preview

Roger Federer vs. Xavier Malisse

Roger Federer and Xavier Malisse will meet for the 10th time in their careers on Thursday as they collide in the third round of the 2011 Madrid Masters.

Federer holds a significant 8-1 edge in their previous head to head meetings although Malisse won their only match that was played on clay. That match took place way back in 1999 however and the result there does not seem to provide much insight into Thursday's match.

What is interesting is how close Federer came to losing on Wednesday as the Swiss Maestro had to save a match point in the second round against Feliciano Lopez. While Federer did enough to get by, the close shave so early in the draw might imply that the world number three could have some trouble as the draw advances and as the competition gets tougher.

It's good to see Malisse playing strong tennis at this point in his career however he's not a great candidate to upset Federer on Thursday. The Belgian was not able to best either Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Montanes, or Fernando Verdasco on clay earlier this season and while all three of those players are tough clay courters, Federer is still better. Despite the close call against Lopez, Thursday's match between Federer and Malisse remains on the Swiss Maestro's racket with either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Robin Soderling waiting in the next round.

Robin Soderling vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Robin Soderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will meet on Thursday for an eagerly awaited third round matchup at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Robin Soderling made a confident start to the Mutua Madrid Open, beating Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-3 in round two. The Swede is the fifth seed here, and received a bye in round one. The two-time French Open runner-up could be a real contender to win this competition, but he’s been put up against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in what looks likely to be a difficult third round contest. Tsonga had injury troubles at the end of last season, and hasn’t quite been at his best this year. He’s still managed to build up a 13-8 record for 2011 though, which is pretty respectable. The world No. 22 will be eyeing up a return to the top ten, and a good run in this competition would stand him in good stead. That said, he needs to snap a four-match losing streak against Soderling in order to get to the next round.

Tsonga has never managed to defeat Soderling, and has only once taken a set from him. Encouragingly, this set was won in the final of this year’s ATP Rotterdam Open. This seems to suggest that Tsonga is starting to work out how to deal with Soderling, though whether or not he’ll be able to finally beat him is a different matter. This should be a close match, but Soderling appears to be the favourite.

Andy Murray vs. Thomaz Bellucci

Andy Murray will continue in Madrid with a third round clash against Thomaz Bellucci.

Murray got his Mutua Madrid Open campaign underway with a decent three set win against Gilles Simon. Whilst Simon threatened to cause an upset by leveling the tie at one-set all, Murray took control of the third set to clinch a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 win. This is an encouraging result for Murray, and it looks like he’s gotten his season back on track. He will now go on to face Thomaz Bellucci in round three.

Bellucci has been in reasonable form this season, and currently possesses a 12-10 record for 2011. The Brazilian enjoys playing on clay, and might pose something of a threat to the world No. 4. He went into this tournament as the world No. 36, and might be able to close in on the top twenty if he can maintain his run here.

This will be the first competitive meeting between Murray and Bellucci, and this match has the potential to be a fascinating one. Murray is considered to be the favourite, which is no surprise given his return to form. Bellucci appears to be in for an uphill struggle here, but is by no means a no-hoper.

Tomas Berdych vs. Juan Monaco

Tomas Berdych is set to face Juan Monaco in the third round of this year’s Mutua Madrid Open.

Tomas Berdych, a former semi-finallist in this event, managed to get through to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open by comfortably beating Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-0 earlier in the week. The seventh seed is capable of being a major threat on clay, though he’s not amongst the favourites to win this event. He will continue his bid for the title with a match against Juan Monaco of Argentina.

Monaco enters this tournament as the world No. 43 and is good enough to trouble Berdych. Even so, he’s clearly the underdog for Thursday’s match. He’s not been in great form this year though and currently holds a 9-11 match record for 2011. Berdych on the other hand has a 20-8 record, and this adds to his credentials as the favourite.

At ATP World Tour level, Berdych has a 2-0 head to head record against Monaco. He also beat the Argentine many years ago in the Braunschweig Challenger event. The 2 ATP level matches were close contests, and the Czech No. 1 couldn’t close out either match in straight sets. This third round match could be an intriguing one.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Novak Djokovic

Second seed Novak Djokovic kept alive his extraordinary 28-match winning streak this year by beating Kevin Anderson. He dropped 14 points on serve for victory in 1 hour and 41 minutes.

"Well I'm happy with today’s performance first, its obviously the first match in Madrid after two years, and conditions here are really fast and its hard to control the ball", said the Serb who will face another solid serve, Garcia-Lopez.

The Spaniard advanced with a win over De Bakker, the Dutchman played too much lately and was coming after injury time and the Spaniard controlled the match easily. H2h is 4-0 for the Serb with only one meeting being closer, Garcia-Lopez will hope to make at least a tight match but playing with Anderson, the Serb is used with powerful hitters.

Michael Llodra vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver

Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver surprised Melzer in the second round to advance further. The Austrian served to close the first set and things looked in control for him but the Spaniard played after that an all or nothing and managed to bounce back while the Austrian’s confidence went down. Also the Austrian was off on second serve and made some errors on court.

Also Llodra needed to bounce back after he lost a game against Cipolla, it was the only break point faced by the Frenchman who enjoys these fast tracks. Two different styles as Llodra likes to serve and advance to the net to finish the point while the Spaniard looks tougher from the back of the court and he already beat another left handed but still Llodra didn’t made errors on court like Melzer.

Gimeno-Traver still didn’t convinced too much and neither Llodra is in better form, a match that easily can go either way. 

Rafael Nadal vs. Juan Martin del Potro

Juan Martin del Potro continued his march in Madrid with a solid win over the Cilic.

The Argentine knew that he needs to be very aggressive and not stay too much in long rallies and with a break in the opening game made Cilic to crumble under pressure, the Croat started slowly to make a lot of errors on court and his confidence went too easily down. But remain the solid serve display of the Argentine who won 91% points behind first serve and booked a place to test himself against Nadal. Also with an early break the Spaniard started the match and never looked back, his forehand worked well putting off balance the Cypriot all the way.

The Argentine looked injury free and this might be the first test for the Spaniard on clay, Del Potro has the serve on his side to win cheap points and can match Nadal on forehand wing, the Argentine resisted well in long rallies but also he advanced to the net to finish the points quickly.

David Ferrer vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky

The sixth seeded David Ferrer conceded a tough win in his opening match of the 2011 Madrid Open. Wasn’t an easy match as the Spaniard struggled a little bit being down in the second set, he made only 24 winners in three sets.

“In the second set he played better had more confidence and I didn’t have good feelings again and couldn’t beat him on the court. But I was more calm in the third set and I did a bit better”, said Ferrer.

He will meet now the Ukrainian who beat Isner, Stakhovsky served better then Isner and also the American looked poorly on court.It will be the last match of the day and conditions are like indoors, a little bit faster and the Ukrainian likes that as his serve has more sting and will permit to advance more to the net. Still the match stays on Ferrer’s racquet, he also has a compact serve but he looks the better player from the back of the court and has good passing shots and lobs to force the Ukrainian to stay more on the baseline. Ferrer played well for the two sets and even that the match could be trickier.