ATP Roma Sunday Preview

Albert Montanes vs. Richard Gasquet

The Internazionali BNL d'Italia will open with an interesting meeting between Spaniard Albert Montanes and Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Both players came here after they exit in first round in Madrid and overall the Spaniard isn’t on the same level as last year on red clay.

Also, neither has a good record here, Montanes is 4/5 while Gasquet is 4/4. But the Frenchman leads the head-to-head with 4-0 with all meetings on clay but this time looks that the match can go either way.

The surface is on fast side and Montanes has a solid serve of his own to win cheap points, the last meeting between them in Gstaad was close, the Frenchman lost a lot of rallies back then but the Spaniard was off on serve. Neither played showed a consistent form recently and even that Gasquet looks the handier player on court.  

Volandri Filippo vs. Thiemo De Bakker  

The Italian Filippo Volandri is coming on his favorite tournament in Rome Masters. He always performs well here playing a level above and this year is coming in good form.

“I come from a good time, the best in the last two years. I am playing very well and I like the conditions here. De Bakker is not a player to be taken lightly but I'm not complaining. My draw could have been a lot worse. Rome can give you a lot. I have a great incentive to do good things here as I have done in the past,”  said Volandri about his first match in Foro Italico. The Dutchman showed that is slowly back in form qualifying for Madrid, he putted a lot of fight on court and his serve worked well but Volandri has good retrieving skills and from the back of the court will handle well the Dutchman as in long rallies Volandri has the upper hand.

Florian Mayer vs. Andrey Golubev

They met just two weeks ago in Dubai when Mayer won comfortably 6-3 6-4. Although it would seem that this win would herald the new balance of power between the two of them, I beg to differ.

Golubev beat Berdych just last week in Davis Cup when Kazakhstan beat Czech Rep. 3-2. Golubev was the driving force of that team and I'm sure it was a huge confidence booster for him. That is why I think he is going to come into this match with full with positive energy and confidence. That is going to be a huge obstacle for Mayer to overcome, especially because he was substituted during Germany's Davis Cup tie with Petzchner in the final deciding match against Ivo Karlovic. That had to hurt a bit.

These two players are more or less the same in their physical ability, talent and development of their game. In my opinion the deciding factor is going to be the confidence of Glubev which I'm sure he'll manifest from the first point.

Juan Monaco vs. Andreas Seppi

The Italian Andres Seppi didn’t played since Miami and even that rumor stated that he will not play in Foro Italico he said that he is in good form and ready for action. He had a a microfracture at the foot and made magnetic resonance having problems with the training sessions.

He is without match practice even that has a winnable match against Monaco who isn’t on his best form. Still the Argentine has the upper hand as he has more matches under his belt.

Phillipp Kohlschreiber vs. Mikail Youzhny

One of the most interesting first rounds in Foro Italico. The German didn’t play in Madrid and will be very motivated in Rome, he wasn’t in his best shape in Munich and needed a week rest.

Overall the German is 2/2 here while the Russian is 4/7 managing only three times to win the opening round here. The Russian is in poor form wining only one match on clay, against Bachinger and that was more of a struggle.

He played well against Del Potro in Madrid but when he was broke he easily lost his concentration and spread a lot of balls outside. But the Argentine was in solid form and put a lot of power in his shots while here the German doesn’t look in his best form. Both players have a solid serve and are tough from the back of the court with solid shots on both wings, overall Youzhny has more variety in his shots and if he wasn’t to met Del Potro in Madrid then he might won a match there, the German isn’t in his best form.    

Fernando Verdasco vs. Milos Raonic

Is already the fourth meeting between them and all this year, the first ones were taken by Raonic while on clay in Estoril the Canadian withdrew after he lost the opening set claiming some back problems.

Verdasco continued his poor form with a pale tennis against Lu, the Spaniard spread a lot of balls outside losing a lot of rallies while Lu went for his shots when he saw an opportunity.This will be the key of the match, the Canadian has a powerful serve and when he will make a step on court he always goes for the decisive shots with his powerful forehand.

They had some argues as Verdasco said that he is favorite on fast courts because of his serve and nothing more while he will show the tennis on clay. The courts will be on fast side and that will help Raonic’s serve once more and overall is hard to back Verdasco after his pale tennis in Madrid.