ATP Hamburg – Wednesday Preview

Gael Monfils vs. Albert Ramos

Gael Monfils look to bounce back from a disappointing Mercedes Cup campaign in Hamburg this week.

Monfils reached a career high of number seven earlier this month on the back of a superb French Open which saw him defeat David Ferrer on the way to the quarters. However away from the buzz of the French crowds, Monfils seems unable to reproduce the same feats, losing disappointingly early at Wimbledon.

Inconsistency also remains the problem for the Frenchman and his plan to pick up some cheap points on the clay this month hit a stumbling block in Stuttgart when he was ousted by the experienced Victor Hanescu in round one. There initially seemed to be few problems as Monfils coasted through the first set 6-2 but then rain began to fall and the match was postponed. Monfils lost his concentration and on the resumption it was a much tougher slog with Hanescu saving match points to prevail 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.

He will hope to avoid the same fate against qualifier Ramos, a left-hander ranked 83 in the world.  He's in form having done well in a number of clay-court challengers and he eased past France's Adrian Mannarino earlier this week.

It's not an easy opener but Monfils should have the class to progress and if he can raise his game he should not have any problems before the quarter-finals where Gilles Simon may await.

Marin Cilic vs. Bastian Knittel

Marin Cilic begins his Hamburg campaign against qualifier Bastian Knittel.

Cilic is floundering slightly at the moment and one wonders whether the 22 year old is in need of a change of direction. It would maybe be better to reassess at the end of the season but for all the flashes of promise, the tall Croatian has proved infuriating for his fans at times this season. He showed glimpses of what he can do during the clay-court swing, dominating David Ferrer in Rome but then he was beaten by Roger Federer, Juan Martin Del Potro and Rafa Nadal with consummate ease. No shame in that but it was the manner of the defeats which was most concerning, Cilic did not manage more than four games against either Del Potro or Nadal.

First round exits at the French Open and Wimbledon have left the Croatian needing to pick it up over the summer. He should have little problem initially against qualifier Knittel who outplayed his countryman Ivan Dodig in the opening round.
However sterner tests await, including in-form wildcard Tobias Kamke who crushed seventh seed Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round, and later on possibly Mikhail Youzhny.

However no of the big guns in the top half of the draw have been playing particularly well recently and if Cilic can play to his potential, he could definitely make the final here. However that is currently a big 'if.'

Radek Stepanek vs. Andreas Seppi

Radek Stepanek started with a convincing win in Hamburg against local player Andreas Beck, he served well, he kept the points short and when he saw an opportunity he raised his level, when he made the break and in second set tie-break. His retrieves suffered as also the German made a solid match behind the serve.

The Italian was poor on serve last week in Sttutgart while here has a semi-final to defend from last year. The match will not be played on the centre court and things will be slower on court favoring the Italian but they met in Prostejov Challenger this year on clay and Stepanek won in 2 sets.

The Czech has the serve on his side while the Italian will rely on his baseline display trying to play with long and deep balls and not let Stepanek to impose his rhythm.

Fernando Verdasco vs. Pablo Andujar

Fernando Verdasco could do with a deep run as he takes on Pablo Andujar in Hamburg on Wednesday.

Verdasco may be ranked 22 in the world but it's a measure of how his star has fallen in the past twelve months that no one is even talking about him as a potential winner of this once prestigious event. He has not even been scheduled on centre court in the order of play.

True, the top eight seeds are all in the top 25 but a year ago Verdasco would have been favourite for the title. Now no one is quite sure whether he'll get past the third round.

It is far from certain that the 27 year old left-hander will get past the rapidly improving Andujar in this intriguing second round clash. Andujar reached the Stuttgart final at the weekend, an impressive bit of opportunism after a spate of early upsets saw all top eight seeds crash out before the quarter-final stage.

So Andujar comes into this with both form and confidence. He also knows how to beat Verdasco having landed a rather surprising upset in the first round of the Miami Masters - 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Verdasco has done little since making the Estoril final at the start of May and unless he has a good US Open he looks set for a tumble down the rankings.

Florian Mayer vs. Marsel Ilhan

Mayer usually plays well in Germany and looks as one of the main contenders for the title but all will stay in his mind approach. After he was 2 sets up against Gasquet and served for match in Davis Cup he was disappointed in Stuttgart first round losing to Del Bonis. Last year the German reached the semi-finals.

He will meet Ilhan who won against Petzschner who missed a lot in key moments and his serve didn’t helped him, overall Petzschner served better when he didn’t wanted while he flattered in key moments.

Ilhan will enter with a lot of morale but head-to-head is 2-0 for Mayer, even that the meetings are a few years back, and the German has the upper hand with his unorthodox style of play.

Albert Montanes vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber  

Kohlschreiber fulfilled his role as the favourite against the title holder, Andrey Golubev, and made it to the second round in two sets. Especially, in the important moments, Kohlschreiber was able to play his quality game. He dominated the rallies and looked in good form as the match was closer then the score indicates.

He will meet now Montanes who doesn’t look in his best form, he lost to Andujar after he looked that he will dominate the match.

The German resisted well against shot maker Golubev returning and defending well and if he will play at the same level he will have the upper hand but the German never past the second round in Hamburg losing to Bellucci and Cuevas.

The pressure will be now on Kohlschreiber’s shoulders, the Spaniard has a powerful serve and if he will resist in long rallies he will advance in the next round.  

Jurgen Melzer vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver

Last year's Hamburg finalist Jurgen Melzer is in action against Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

It's notoriously hard to predict the events of July with most of the world's top 30 just going through the motions ahead of the more important stuff to come next month. This week's German Tennis Championships is no exception. There's plenty of points at stake but most of the top seeds in Hamburg are struggling for form at the moment and we could well see another surprise champion like Andrey Golubev last year.

Melzer enjoyed a good run at Hamburg in 2010, losing to Golubev in the final. The Austrian was loving the red stuff this time last year having just made his maiden Grand Slam semi-final but twelve months ago things could not be more different.

Still ranked just outside the top ten, Melzer is in no danger of cracking it any time soon and last week he was comprehensively out-hustled by Columbian journeyman Santiago Giraldo in the opening round.

Melzer seems far happier on the doubles court at the moment where he's been racking up the titles with Philipp Petzschner. They picked up their second of the year in Stuttgart last week but crashed out early in Hamburg. The defeat may help Melzer focus on the singles draw this week.

Melzer leads Gimeno-Traver 2-1 on the head-to-head but he lost in straight sets to the Spaniard at the Madrid Masters earlier this year. However we reckon the Austrian will stop the rot this week and take his revenge.

Juan Monaco vs. Janko Tipsarevic

Juan Monaco posted a sound victory over his opponent, the qualifier Simone Bolelli in just 2 sets. He is under injury clouds but the Italian was poor on court but also the Argentine served well and played an aggressive tennis, Monaco looked that he was a little bit in a hurry as in a long match he might suffer in fitness level.

Tipsarevic is coming after Davis Cup ties and that gives him always a boot of morale. Both players have a powerful serve and both players are tough baseliners hitting with a lot of power from the back of the court.

The Argentine has the upper hand as his defense looks stronger but the Serb is always dangerous, he generate the power to hit through Argentinean’s defense.

Nikolay Davydenko vs. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe

Nikolay Davydenko looks for revenge in Hamburg against Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.  

Stebe caused a huge upset on Tuesday, stunning one of the pre-tournament favourites in the opening round. Juan Carlos Ferrero secured the 16th title of his career at the weekend in Stuttgart but was sent packing 6-3, 6-2 by the 20 year old German.  

Stebe has come from nowhere in the past couple of weeks on the clay courts of Germany, reaching the Stuttgart quarters last week as a wildcard. He stunned Davydenko in round one 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 and in this form he will fancy his chances again on a very similar court.  

Davydenko used to win these kind of middling clay-court tournaments for fun earlier in his career but the Russian's tennis has not been the same since a wrist injury stopped him in his tracks early in 2010. He's been very patchy this year, winning the Munich title in May but since then he has lost five of his last six matches.  
It's time for Davydenko to arrest his slide so look for him to pull out a typically gritty three set win today.

Lukas Rosol vs. Nicolas Almagro

Czech Lukas Rosol entered as a lucky loser, but he might new that he will enter in the main draw as Chardy withdrew. He continued his good run with an easy 2 sets win over Starace who after a solid first set went down in the second.

Rosol used well his powerful serve and forehand to keep Starace off balance, he kept his points short and that gave him the upper hand on retrieving.

Almagro has one of the last chances to grab some points on his favorite surface before hard courts, he lost to Ferrer in Bastad but looked overall in good condition.

He has no points to defend here and has a good chance to make a deep run. He has a solid serve of his own and if he will keep the ball in play he will force Rosol to be more decisive than he is used to be, the Spaniard has good angles in his shots and will keep Rosol under pressure.