ATP Nice Thursday Preview

Victor Hanescu vs. Robin Haase

The Dutch Robin Haase scored a convinced win over Sergey Stakhvosky in second round in Nice Open. He continued to take advantage of his lucky loser spot by advancing to the quarter-finals.

Things were easier for him as the Ukrainian wasn’t solid behind the serve and Dutchman mission was much easier but also the Romanian didn’t impress. He was supposed to play against Roddick but he played with another American, Russell, and he easily won in straight sets, he was solid behind the serve, when his first serve entered he was dangerous but he failed on the second delivery.

Both players are big servers with powerful shots from the back of the court and both can resist well in long rallies, a plus for Romanian here. Overall Hanescu served better even that he missed in some moments behind the serve while Haase looked a little bit off.

Pablo Andujar vs. Nicolas Almagro

Third seed Nicolas Almagro survived an extended match with Carlos Berlocq. He rallied through to a three-set victory in 2 hours and 23 minutes against the Argentine, he was a little bit off in the opening set and he should close the match in 2 sets but the key moments were on Argentine’s side but since then Almagro didn’t looked back and faced only 3 break points in the last 2 sets. Andujar beat Benneteau who might had felt that he needs some time prior to French Open as he didn’t bother the Frenchman too much.

They met this year in Barcelona and Almagro won in hard 2 sets but overall isn’t an easy match as Andujar can play some aggressive tennis while on Almagro’s side is hard to found any motivations. 

David Ferrer vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov 

One of the most interesting meetings this round. David Ferrer will look to extend his perfect 3-0 record over Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarter-finals, in one of which should be one of the most interesting meetings.

Ferrer dropped just 9 points on serve and hit 6 aces to beat Andreas Seppi while Dolgopolov worked harder against Riba in almost two hours.

The match stays on Ferrer’s racquet, he has the better defense and even that Dolgopolov will try to mix up on court and not give any rhythm, Ferrer has a lot of experience and knows what to expect but all will stay on motivations side and overall Dolgopolov put more fight on court.

Ernests Gulbis vs. Tomas Berdych

Tomas Berdych advanced to the Open de Nice quarter-finals after winning in straight sets. Berdych was relatively untroubled, saving the only break point he faced and taking Mannarino's serve three times.

Gulbis needed 3 sets to advance and he suffered behind the serve but overall was the more compact and steadier player. H2h is 1-1 with first meeting on clay, the Czech made a solid match but he didn’t pushed too much while Gulbis even that he looks solid on court he was pushed in 2 sets.

Gulbis has the game to be dangerous but he still is in search of his form but he can remain close behind a solid serve.