ATP Bastad - Men's Wednesday Preview

Mikhail Kukushkin vs. Andreas Haider-Maurer 

Both players are for the first time in Bastad, the Austrian is coming after the grass season and didn’t play on clay citing an ankle injury while Kukushkin is coming from Davis Cup where he lost both matches on clay. Overall Haider-Maurer played consistently on the surface this year while the Kazakhstan player isn’t on his favorite surface, the Austrian will have the edge on serve and he likes to charge the net forcing Kukushkin to play quickly which will drive him into errors.

Kukushkin has only three wins this year on clay, he beat Querrey and Lindell at Dusseldorf and out of form Brands at French Open, he relies on his defense and will try to force the Austrian to play an extra shot, the match stays in Austrian racquet but his level of fitness is a little bit unknown.    

 

Andrey Golubev vs. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 

Remains only one week for Golubev to end his losing strike as he has a lot of points to defend in Hamburg where he won the title last year. He was completely overpowered by Monaco in Davis Cup putting pressure only partially. He hasn’t the best first round as the Spaniard has a lot of experience and a lot of balls will come down back on court and Golubev needs to be better in his controlled aggression, also needs to be decisive on serve. Ramirez-Hidalgo played good in Turin Challenger where he reached the semi-finals being points away of final and looked in good form, from time to time he shows sparks of his solid tennis. One of the last weak up calls for Golubev, he needs a couple of wins prior to Hamburg .   

Carlos Berlocq vs. Juan Monaco

2009 runner-up, Juan Monaco returns to Bastad after Davis Cup action where he was in demanding form wining his both matches against Golubev and Kukushkin. This year Monaco played better in Latin America on clay then Europe while Berlocq inverse. Berlocq won the Turin Challenger and looks in good form. They know each other game well but the last meeting between them is back in 2008, Berlocq withdrew back them. Still the first chance has it Monaco, he has the better defense and even that Berlocq showed good aggression with a lot of net action involved he tends to struggle against tough baseliner as he hasn’t the power to hit through their defense. Monaco is favorite to advance further but Berlocq is in good form and has the game to remain competitive.    

Jonathan Dasnieres De Veigy vs. Potito Starace 

Qualifier Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy defeated Swedish wild card Andreas Vinciguerra in three sets in first round at Bastad. The Swede wasn’t close of his best and only partial managed to put some pressure, he tried too much and a lot of balls went outside especially on second serve, still a solid match made by the Frenchman who resisted well at the crowd pressure. He will meet Starace who won in straight sets over Reister, wasn’t an easy match for the Italian, he needed some time to adjust to the surface and the German played well but Starace was the steadier player from the back of the court. The Italian has the upper hand here, the Frenchman has a powerful serve and hit with a lot of power but he benefit by an out of form Vinciguerra while Starace played well recently.

Tomas Berdych vs. Teymuraz Gabashvili 

In three appearances at Bastad, Tomas Berdych has two finals, back in 2005 and 2008 but failed to win the title. He played well on the surface with two quarter-finals at Madrid and Rome Masters and a semi-final in Nice. He will meet Gabashvili who need more then two hours to beat Yani, the Russian struggled on serve, especially on second set, but in the first and decider he played accurate and consistent. Gabashvili has lost 6 of last 7 when opponent is a top 10 player, last time when he did that was on clay at Roland Garros when he surprised Roddick but the Russian is far of that form. Berdych is favorite to advance further, he will need some time to adjust to the pace .    

Robin Soderling vs. Diego Junqueira 

In the last two years Robin Soderling reached the final in Bastad wining the title two years ago. He is Nr.1 seeded this year but things don’t look easier for him. He didn’t play in Davis Cup preferring to rest his shoulder from Wimbledon even that his training sessions looked good. Also he has a new coach, Fredrik Rosengren hoping that having a Swede coach will have the same success as with Norman. It will be interesting to see what Rosengren will bring new in his game. He will meet Junqueira in first round who kept the good form from qualifications to beat Andreev in tough three sets. The Argentine served better and kept his composure in key moments but in some moments the match could go either way. Junquiera is a deep baseliner and the Swede has the better serve to win free points and will blast winner all over the court while the Argentine hasn’t a powerful weapon to trouble the Swede here, Soderling looked good in training sessions in Bastad.

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