ATP Eastbourne – Men’s Wednesday Preview

Igor Kunitsyn vs. Illya Marchenko  

Both players benefit by their weak first round opponent to advance further with wins over Pablo Andujar and respectively Federico Gil.

The Ukrainian is a lucky loser as he lost in the last round of qualifications but he has the upper hand as he played more matches here and is more used with the conditions.

The weather is expected to be cloudy with short rain, conditions will be slower which will favor the Ukrainian a little bit more. They met last year in Queens and the Russian bounced back to win in three sets. The Russian is a defensive baseliner who forces the opponent in long exchanges but can take his chances in offensive as he has an explosive forehand, good retrieving skill, powerful ground strokes. Some long exchanges are waited here as also Marchenko is a grinder who doesn’t give cheap points, is a tough baseliner with solid baseline display. Kunitsyn is a small favorite having more experience on grass but Marchenko looks in better form, he has more matches here.

Donald Young vs. Andreas Seppi

American Donald Young kept his good form from qualifications and beat local hope, Daniel Cox, in straight sets. Young was partially contested, he faced only three break points but he didn’t lost his serve while he looked solid behind his own serve.

Seppi instead lost his serve once to give the opening set but after that he cruised through out the match but his returns on first serve were poor while he took advantage of the poor second serve of the German. It will be the first meeting between them and both will see this as a good opportunity to grab some points and advance in quarter-finals. The Italian still doesn’t look too sharp on court and he will not have same comfort on serve like in first round, Young has four matches here and when he has some wins under his belt he is a dangerous player.

Not the easiest match, Young has the better serve to win free points while he isn’t without chances on the ground, he needs to advance a lot to the net for volleys as overall the Italian looks better from the back of the court, we see Seppi a little bit steadier on court in a tough match.

Grigor Dimitrov vs. Kevin Anderson  

Sixteen aces and only 3 points lost on first serve and three on the second were enough for the South African Kevin Anderson to advance in second round in Eastbourne. He didn’t face a break point and he didn’t push too much against local player Slabinsky who also was solid behind his own serve. A few exchanges will be expected here too as also Dimitrov has a powerful serve but he struggled to found his rhythm against Evans and his serve doesn’t look too sharp, he fired 11 aces but also 6 double faults.

Anderson has the serve on his side and, he will win a lot of free points while Dimitrov will need to win his points on court, the South African player stays solid in long rallies too as he has a wide reach and catches a lot of balls, he will have the upper hand in tie-break too.

Julien Benneteau vs. Somdev Devvarman

Having a quarter-final here and with Wimbledon just around the corner, the Frenchman Julien Benneteau showed a solid display in his straight sets win over Sweeting. His serve was sharp and his ground game helped when he failed on serve, he could finish even easier if he was a little bit steadier in key moments.

Devvarman beat a careless Garcia-Lopez for his only second win on the surface in his career, but even so the Spaniard created ten break points and converted only one.

The Frenchman needs points and form prior to Wimbledon and will see this one as a good opportunity to advance further, he has the better serve and he has a better ground game then the Indian on the surface.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Radek Stepanek

Arrived at Eastbourne last night at seven, Tsonga began the match very well by closing the first set in forty minutes while the second set was more contested. Solid first round match for the Frenchman who 24 hours ago was playing the final in Queens against Murray. After another 24 hours will be on court against Stepanek and the motivations is questionable.

Istomin was in poor form and made a lot of mistakes, he spread a lot of ball outside but if he had win the second set then things could be different.

Stepanek slide in the rankings but he made a good match against Nadal in Queens, until the Spaniard went to the lockeroom, and he has the game to beat an uninterested Frenchman who has better opportunities in Wimbledon.

Olivier Rochus vs. Carlos Berlocq

Lleyton Hewitt was forced to retire during his first round match against Olivier Rochus due to a recurrence of a foot injury.

The Belgian will meet now the Argentine Carlos Berlocq who managed to beat uninterested Dolgopolov for his second win of his career on grass. The Ukrainian was off on serve, especially on the second which was predictable and made some errors on court which allowed to the Argentine to take the lead.

Rochus has the better grass court game with a lot of slices and angles in his shots, good retrieving skills and despite that the Argentine showed some aggressive tennis advancing to the net.

Kei Nishikori vs. Rainer Schuettler

With the performance here, the German Rainer Schuettler will be back in top 100 again. He is in good form on grass and he made a solid match against Stakhovsky facing only one break point and being solid on serve and retrieving.

He will meet Nishikori who didn’t impress too much in his win over Kirilov, the Japanese made his usual game but he didn’t excel.

The German has a lot of experience and seems that he found his game at returns here, with his good angles in his shots the Japanese can move him from side to side and tired down but Schuettler is a good counter-punching and the surface permit to be more decisive. He played well in Eastbourne so far.