ATP Stuttgart – Men’s Friday Preview

Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Marcel Granollers

Playing just his seventh match of the season, Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero battled from behind to defeat the only remaining seed at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, Mikhail Youzhny.“I came from a long injury, so I wanted to play some matches, didn’t matter the result. Of course it’s very nice to win. After these two matches, I get into the tournament, I get a little bit of the rhythm that I need to play good tennis,” said Ferrero. He was a little bit unlucky not to take the first set but since then he controlled the match wining his game easier behind solid serve and was focused on court. Granollers won in straight sets against Riba but struggled on court, Riba was off on serve but still managed to break the Spaniard twice. H2h is 2-0 for Ferrero and if he will play at the same level he will have the upper hand as even that the surface is on fast side then Ferrero looks in good form and he seems that he found his rhythm.

Cedrik-Marcel Stebe vs. Pablo Andujar

German Cedrick-Marcel Stebe managed to qualify in his first quarter-final after a break festival against Fognini. There were 11 breaks from 28 opportunities and a lot of errors on court. Still the player who managed to raise his level of play and who looked steadier on court was the German who benefit by a poor performance of the Italian on court. Andujar is coming after he ousted the defending champion and once more his serve didn’t entered but was steadier enough on court. The Spaniard needs to land more of the first serve in and win free points behind the serve. H2h is 1-0 for Stebe with a meeting last year on clay and the German isn’t without chances as he could benefit by another player who will make errors on court. Overall Andujar has the better serve and plays more aggressive charging the net and finishing the points quickly but he needs to be accurate and be patient on court as the German overall didn’t impress against Fognini.

Lukasz Kubot vs. Santiago Giraldo

Giraldo had leaked a set to Jeremy Chardy before rain suspended. Resuming one day later, the Colombian was the better player and triumphed wining the remaining two sets. Chardy had his chances to finish the match in the second set, after he missed his opportunities his game fell apart and Giraldo cruised through out the match. Kubot also needed three sets to beat Garcia-Lopez, has been a fierce battle, which lasted two hours and twenty minutes. The Polish player never gave up the fight and he served much consistently. Kubot needs to keep the same strategy against Giraldo, he needs to direct more balls on backhand opponent as the Columbian will try to be decisive on forehand wing. Both players served well until now and another tough match is expected here, Giraldo hit more flat then Kubot but the Polish can mix up better on court making serve and volley and if he will be accurate on retrieving he will have the upper hand, tough match but Kubot looks a little bit more stable.