ATP Rome Thursday Preview

Florian Mayer vs. Juan-Ignacio Chela

Florian Mayer will face Juan-Ignacio Chela on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals of this year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Florian Mayer has been in impressive form this season, and remains on course to break into the top twenty. The German has excelled on clay in recent weeks, and got the better of eighth seed Jurgen Melzer on Wednesday to book his place in round three. Mayer’s victory came as a result of a retirement, but his first set performance was encouraging nonetheless.

Mayer will take on Juan-Ignacio Chela in round three, in a match that is shaping up to be an exciting one. Chela has also been on song here in Rome, and he looks like a formidable opponent after wins against John Isner and Gilles Simon. The world No. 42 will enter this contest as the underdog once again, but he stands a fair chance of causing an upset.

Mayer has a 3-1 head to head record against Chela, and is aiming for a fourth consecutive win against the Argentine on Thursday. Mayer and Chela have a 1-1 record on clay courts, though the pairing haven’t faced each other in a clay court match since 2006. The winner of this match will face either Andy Murray or Potito Starace in the quarter-finals.

Andy Murray vs. Potito Starace

World No. 4 Andy Murray will take on Potito Starace in round three of this year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Andy Murray seems to have rediscovered his confidence after a dismal few months, and appears to be in with an outside chance of contending for this year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The fourth seed was granted a bye in round one, and navigated his way into round three with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win against Xavier Malisse. He will now face Potito Starace for a place in the quarter-finals. Starace isn’t the favourite here, though he’s paid little respect to the form book this week. The plucky Italian beat Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets in round one, before securing another straight sets victory, this time against fifteenth seed Viktor Troicki, in round two. It looks like the world No. 44 is capable of causing Murray a few problems on Thursday.

Murray goes into this match with a 1-0 head to head record against Starace. The Scot defeated Starace in 2009 in the French Open. This match went into four sets, and it’s clear that Starace has the capacity to test the world No. 4. Despite this, it looks like Murray is playing consistently again, and he should fancy his chances of making the last eight.

Rafael Nadal vs. Feliciano Lopez

Rafael Nadal was a relieved man after avoiding a shock defeat against local player Paolo Lorenzi.

"I played very badly. I felt slow and I felt I was hitting the ball short all the time but still, I finished the match better", summed well Nadal after the match.

The Spaniard was also a little bit lucky as the Italian remained without steam in decider but he anticipated well Spaniard’s game while Nadal looked a little bit sluggish.

He will meet now Lopez and Nadal knows well his game and we expect another attitude on court as the match against Lorenzi should give him a good morale. Lopez continued his solid run on clay recently with a win over Kohslchreiber, a very patient game for Lopez in the first set while in the second and the beginning of the third was always behind making a flood of errors but he regrouped well and managed to go through. Lopez tested well Federer last week in Madrid, the weather will be hot and things will be faster and if Lopez will manage to land a high percentage of first serve in he has a chance. He fired 12 aces and only two double faults and can benefit by the sluggish Nadal’s game.

Tomas Berdych vs. Jarrko Nieminen

Tomas Berdych will meet Jarrko Nieminen in the third round of this season’s Intenazionali BNL d’Italia. Tomas Berdych is currently the world No. 7, and could be a dark horse in this week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia. He was granted a bye in the first round, and began his campaign superbly earlier in the week with a second round drubbing of Juan Monaco (6-2, 6-2). Things are about to get tougher for the Czech though, as he is set to face Roger Federer or Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals if he can get the better of Jarrko Nieminen on Thursday.

Nieminen will also have ambitions of making the last eight, but the odds are stacked against him here. The Finn is the world No. 59, and hasn’t exactly been in red hot form this season. He’s lost more matches than he’s won this year, and isn’t really expected to eliminate Berdych on Thursday. He’s beaten Berdych before though, so this could still be a challenging match for the seventh seed.

Berdych enters this contest with a 4-1 head to head record against Nieminen, but lost the most recent matchup between the pairing. There has only been one previous clay court encounter between Berdych and Nieminen, and this occurred back in 2007. Berdych won this match, and has shown great improvement as a player in recent years. Berdych should be aiming to close out Thursday’s match with minimum fuss.

Mardy Fish vs. Marin Cilic

American Mardy Fish has come through another tough match to advance to the third round in Foro Italico. The match lasted almost three hours and after Fish struggled in first round against Giraldo, he looked more solid behind the serve firing 10 aces with only one double fault and wining a lot of points behind the serve.

Also Ljubicic lost the steam in decider, Fish make his own serve much easily in decider. Sixth-seeded David Ferrer withdrew before his match against Marin Cilic due to a fever and the Croat played with Carlos Berlocq. He saw the opportunity and won in straight sets, but once more he failed to impress as landed only 49% percentage of first serve in.

The Croat is the better player on the ground while Fish has the serve on his side, the American after he won in singles he went and played in doubles and won, the American showed some grueling tennis on court and can take this one as still Cilic isn’t sharp as was in the past.

Roger Federer opened his campaign at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with a comfortable victory against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

He controlled the match and never looked in danger against a Tsonga who also sprayed some forehands outside but the Swiss looked in good physical conditions and sharper then in Madrid.

He will not have an easy task against Gasquet, the Frenchman won easily against Montanes and Andreev. He hasn’t a high percentage of first serve in but he controlled the match with good retrieving and he open up the court creating good angles on court. Gasquet looks that he found some rhythm but Federer looks sharp on court, his serve entered well.

Robin Soderling vs. Nicolas Almagro

Robin Soderling and Nicolas Almagro will meet on Thursday for an all-star third round clash at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

World No. 5 Robin Soderling is amongst the contenders for this week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia title. The Swede is more than adept on clay, and is a two-time French Open runner-up. Even so, he struggled against Fernando Verdasco in round two, eventually snatching a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory from the jaws of defeat.

There will be no opportunity for Soderling to take it easy, as he’s due to face Nicolas Almagro on Thursday in round three. Almagro is amongst the Tour’s best when it comes to clay court tennis, and can also count himself amongst the contenders for the trophy. The Spaniard was in incredible form during this year’s Golden Swing, and shouldn’t be written off under any circumstances.

Soderling currently holds a 4-3 head to head lead against Almagro, but this doesn’t necessarily make him the favourite. Almagro has won 3 of his 4 matches against Soderling on clay, and it seems like the world No. 10 is arguably the likelier of the pairing to earn a berth in the next round here.

Novak Djokovic vs. Stanislas Wawrinka

World No. 2 Novak Djokovic will take on Stanislas Wawrinka on Thursday in the third round of the Internaionali BNL d’Italia.
Novak Djokovic got his ATP Rome campaign off to a winning start by cruising to a straight sets victory over Lukasz Kubot in round two. The Serb wasted no time in securing his 6-0, 6-3 success, and is showing no signs of let up after winning 33 consecutive matches this season. Despite this, his unbeaten streak could be at risk on Thursday, as he is set to face Stanislas Wawrinka in round three.
Wawrinka is currently the world No. 14, and holds an 18-7 record for 2011. The Swiss No. 2 is a real threat, though Djokovic has beaten all-comers this season, including Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Wawrinka will need to be on top form on Thursday, but he’s one of the few players on the tour that could realistically rise to the challenge and stop Djokovic in his tracks.
Djokovic has an 8-2 head to head record against Wawrinka, and hasn’t lost to him since 2006. The second seed has won his last seven matches against Wawrinka, though two of his three wins against him on clay were three-setters. This promises to be a great match, and we could be set for a classic if Wawrinka is at his best.