ATP Rome Wednesday Preview

Novak Djokovic vs. Lukasz Kubot

Djokovic and Kubot will meet in the second round from Rome on Wednesday as the Serbian opens his title campaign. Novak Djokovic will meet, and almost certainly defeat, Lukasz Kubot in the second round of the 2011 Rome Masters on Wednesday. Djokovic, fresh off of his title at the 2011 Madrid Masters, remains undefeated in the calendar year and he now has six titles in this ATP season alone.

Kubot, currently ranked 141st, is not the type of player that can come close to stopping a top player who is playing his best and all will be expecting a straight sets Djokovic victory on Wednesday.

While Djokovic is too experienced to look past his current opponent the Serbian looks great to face either Stanislas Wawrinka or Filippo Volandri in the third round as Kubot, who is 0-2 against Djokovic in their careers, simply doesn't have the weapons to cope with the best player in the world right now. This is the first match on center court on Wednesday with a starting time of noon (CET).

Juan Ignacio Chela vs. Gilles Simon

Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela sent John Isner to a hasty singles exit in first round at the Italian Open. It was Chela who served much better then the American while Isner was poor on second delivery and struggled on confidence and rhythm.

Gilles Simon beat another American to advance, Andy Roddick, in also straight sets. Solid match made the Frenchman in some windy conditions, he was solid from the back of the court wining a lot of rallies. They have only one meeting back in 2007 on hard courts won by the Argentine. Both players likes to lead from the back of the court, if Chela benefit by a low Isner then Simon was solid on court against Roddick, the Frenchman has the better defense and has good retrieving skills, the weather is expected to be sunny today which will fast up things on court.

Sam Querrey vs. Nicolas Almagro

Almagro kicked off his campaign at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia with a solid first round against Bolelli. The Italian looked poor in first set and even that he raised his game in the second set wasn’t enough to stop the Spaniard.

Sam Querrey won the opening set much difficult needing a tie-break and looked in control of the match when Anderson twisted his ankle and withdrew. The head-to-head is 2-0 for the American but both meetings on hard courts. Querrey struggled a little bit on serve saving 7 break points, in fact both players struggled to hold their serve while Almagro displayed a solid tennis against Bolelli who won a Challenger recently.

The American has the serve on his side but the Spaniard is in good form, he has good retrieving skills to exploit any weakness on American’s serve and if he will play quickly and will keep his errors low he should take this one in two sets.

Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Filippo Volandri

Positive debut for Filippo Volandri against De Bakker in the first round of men's Internazionali BNL d'Italia. Solid match by Volandri with his backhand working well and changing the pace very good.He looked confident on court and the recent run built his confidence. He will meet Wawrinka who beat Fognini in his first match here.

The Swiss was generally more competitive in the first set but he missed in the key moments and lost the opening set. Fognini began to spray errors from all over the court and Wawrinka had to do little more than keep the ball in the court. Scenario that happened in decider too. The Swiss wasn’t at his best and needs more matches to smooth his game as still some confidence miss in shots.

Volandri looks more confident and always plays a level above in Foro Italico, Fognini pushed the Swiss in the first set and if Volandri will do the same he has a chance for an upset here, still we aren’t impress by the Swiss play.

Mardy Fish vs. Ivan Ljubicic

In a day marked by strong winds and swirling clay, American Mardy Fish came back from one set down against Colombian Santiago Giraldo. When the American started to serve better he easily won the games but overall was more of a struggle and Giraldo must feel a little bit unlucky not to advance further.

He will meet Ljubicic who was impressed against Cipolla, the Croat was solid in first set where he was 100% on both, first and second, serves. Second set was tighter but still was a solid dominance by the Croat. H2h is 4/1 for the Croat with the last meeting won last year in French Open.

Fish struggled to advance further and his serve not always clicked while Ljubicic looked more solid and his serve was tougher, also the Croat can mix up better on court and has more experience on clay. 

Jurgen Melzer vs. Florian Mayer

Despite losing to Ferrer in Barcelona and Gimeno-Traver in Madrid, the Austrian was overall pleased with his performance. He stated that he started to serve better and played with some verve but still he had feel some pain in his injury, but he is from a couple of days in Rome adjusting and claims that he is better physical shape.

He will meet in his first match in Foro Italico for the first time German Florian Mayer who managed to beat Golubev who is in abysmal form.

The German can be a tricky player if you don’t come up with your best tennis but the Austrian looked confident by his chance in Rome, he is a great defenseman but and a more than competent attacking force off the baseline and has the upper hand from the back of the court and if he will be decisive on serve he will have the upper hand.

Rafael Nadal vs. Paolo Lorenzi

Qualifying and beating Bellucci in first round putted the Italian Paolo Lorenzi in a second round match against Nadal. The Italian took benefit by an inexplicable low confidence on Bellucci who served for the first set but he then started to make too many errors.

It will be a good test for the Italian who will have the support of the crowd, Nadal will want to start with an easy win and not stay too much on court, he wasn’t bad against Djokovic but the Serbian plays his best tennis.

Lorenzi can be a tricky player as he has a solid baseline display and can resist in some long rallies and we see a tight first set. 

Viktor Troicki vs. Potito Starace

Potito Starace could not find a better way to make his season debut at the Foro Italico. The Italian appeared toned and visibly in confidence, and seems to have solved the problems with the racket that had affected their performance in recent weeks. Wasn’t an easy match, Dolgopolov tried even to serve and volley but the Italian was prepared and easily outplayed the Ukrainian.

“Troicki is a good player, it will be tough. But I feel very good, I hope to do a good performance”, said Starace about his next opponent.

The Serb advanced after he beat Davydenko who once more seems that he lost his way after he won the title in Munich. The Russian besides some grueling shots he was always short and handed the match to Troicki. Starace seems that is in good physical shape and plays with a lot of confidence on court, he has wins over powerful players on clay like Stakhovsky, Brands, Hanescu, Cuevas, Leonardo Mayer, Andujar only this year.

Feliciano Lopez vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber      

Spaniard Feliciano Lopez continued his good run with another serving display against Llodra. Both players went head to head in the first set where few exchanges were seen but was the Spaniard who made fewer errors. Break points started to appear in the second set when Llodra easily dropped his level of play.

He will have a difficult task against Kohlschreiber who came after a boosting win over Youzhny, the German saved 7 break points while he was accurate in converting 3 from 3. The Spaniard has the serve on his side and he looked solid on this aspect recently, he plays also with a lot of confidence but the German is the player who has more option on court and has good retrieving skills.

Tricky match, Lopez leads the head-to-head with 2-0 but both meetings are too far to make a point of view, the odds seems to look once more attractive on German.

Roger Federer vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Coming in Rome, Roger Federer stated that he wants the number one position in rankings. He didn’t feel disappointed after he lost the semi-final in Madrid and he claims that his shoulder is better and is return to action.

He will meet Tsonga who benefit by a sparing partner in first round against Baghdatis. The Frenchman was all over the court losing only four points behind the serve.

It will be the first meeting between them on clay, usually Federer plays well in the opening rounds of the tournaments recently having problems in decisive rounds, Tsonga will have a chance as long he will serve big.

Marin Cilic vs. David Ferrer

Marin Cilic won his all-Croatian battle with Ivo Karlovic when Karlovic was forced to retire with a back problem trailing being a set down. Hard to read any form on Cilic’s match when his opponent wasn’t at his best and wasn’t well tested.

Ferrer is in good form on clay losing only to Nadal and Djokovic and against the Serb he made a solid match pushing the Serb into a decider. He has a final to defend from last year where he lost to Nadal.

His defense worked well until now and he will force Cilic to play an extra shot, head-to-head is 4/0 for the Spaniard and seems that the Croat struggles to find a way to hit through Spaniard’s defense. But the opening round of a tournament is always tricky and we see a tighter match here.

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