ATP NICE FRIDAY PREVIEW

Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. Victor Hanescu  

Top seed David Ferrer was stunned by Ukranian Alexandr Dolgopolov in three sets in the quarterfinals of the Nice Open.

Dolgopolov came here to gain some practice prior to Roland Garros after he was sidelined with injury and couldn’t train and he managed to beat Volandri, Riba and Ferrer. He didn’t impress too much, he was sharp on retrieving and his serve was on and off during the match, he also made 42 unforced errors but he managed to capitalize on the background of a poor match of Ferrer, in normal circumstances the Spaniard won’t lose the match. Hanescu benefit by 2 withdrawals so far, Roddick and Haase and beat only lucky loser Russell here. He was solid on serve against the Dutchman losing only 3 points behind first serve and overall looks better on serve compartment then the Ukrainian these days. They have 2 meetings, the most recent one won by Dolgopolov on hard while the Romanian won on clay back in 2007.

Not an easy match, Hanescu is coming fresher and is an opportunist who doesn’t give free points while still Dolgopolov makes too many errors on court, Hanescu takes the ball earlier and the Ukrainian will need to keep the ball in play and force him into errors but still has some lucks on his game.

Nicolas Almagro vs. Tomas Berdych

Tomas Berdych advanced to the semi-finals after he won in straight sets over Ernests Gulbis. It was a solid match made by the Czech who controlled the match, he converted only 4 break points from 14, he was solid on his serve but also benefit by good retrieving on the poor second serve of the Latvian. H2h is 3-1 for Berdych with all meetings on clay, the most recent one last year.

Almagro advanced also in straight sets against Andujar but he saved six break points and was a little bit off in the second set, he served well but he needs a higher percentage of first serve against the Czech who serves better these days.

Most probable the winner of this match will win the tournament, the Spaniard played consistently on clay this year but recently he suffered in concentration department, he lost the opening set against Berlocq in Nice, and he spread some errors on court while Berdych looked more compact.