ATP Hamburg - Thursday Preview

Cilic had to work very hard for his second round victory over world number 187 Bastian Knittel on Wednesday and at one point the 12th seed looked in serious danger of going out. Cilic eventually prevailed 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in three hours, aided by 16 aces.

However the Croatian looks vulnerable and wildcard Kamke will fancy his chances on centre court in front of a home crowd. The 2010 ATP Newcomer of the Year has not found things easy on the main tour this season but after reaching a first ATP semi-final in Newport a couple of weeks ago, Kamke has hit form and he totally outplayed Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round on Tuesday. It was a shock result no one saw coming. Chela was expected to possibly make the semi-finals but was caught a little rusty as Kamke sealed a 6-1, 6-4 win.

“I feel very well here. It’s my home. I live here, I practise here year-round,” Kamke said. “I just like the people watching here. I just get along with everyone very well and in front of your home crowd, to play good and to give a good performance is unbelievable."

Jarkko Nieminen vs. Gilles Simon

Gilles Simon cruised past Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky in a routine win in Hamburg, setting up a meeting with Jarkko Nieminen.

Simon only needed one hour and two minutes to advance, breaking serve seven times in the comfortable win while Nieminen had a tougher match against Dolgopolov with both players struggling to take control of the decider.

The Finn will come with a huge morale after he was 2 breaks down in decider and Dolgopolov missing the opportunities. Also they met last year in Hamburg and the Finn won in 3 contested sets.

Both players like to dictate from the back of the court and a lot of long rallies are expected, neither is a powerful server to win free points behind the serve and both are good retrievers. I’d say a tricky match, but Nieminen looks better and confident on court.

Mikhail Youzhny vs. Julian Reister

Mikhail Youzhny seeks to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since February when he takes on Julian Reister in Hamburg.

Youzhny ended a dire record in Hamburg on Tuesday, winning his first match at the tournament since 2005 by sealing a scrappy 7-5, 7-6(7) win over Argentina's Carlos Berlocq.

Youzhny has been struggling for form recently, losing a fairly one-sided match to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Stuttgart last week and he has not made an ATP quarter-final since February. It's been a tough time for the Russian and he will be looking forward to returning to faster surfaces later in the season.

He could do with picking up some points over the next few weeks though to alleviate some of the pressure he will be under at the US Open where he's defending semi-final points from last year.

The Russian would usually be strong favourite against wildcard and world number 155 Julian Reister but he struggles in the conditions at this event and the German players always raise their games in front of a home crowd. Reister stunned 14th seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets earlier this week.

Fernando Verdasco vs. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe

Cedric-Marcel Stebe managed to surprise once more the Russian Davydenko. Stebe was the more aggressive player and he dictated the pace wining a lot of long exchanges.

"There is now a completely different level that I play. I still can not believe it," said the German.

He will meet Verdasco who managed a win over Andujar, if the first set was one dimensional then the second was more off a struggle and benefit by Andujar poor serving and powerless. Interesting meeting, both are left hander and both are tough from the back of the court but Stebe is coming with a high morale and has nothing to lose while Verdasco still is searching his form. Stebe is without experience agaisnt left hander players, he is 1/3 in ATP and 0/3 in Futures but he doesn’t intimidate of who is playing other side of the net and stuck of his game.

Gael Monfils vs. Radek Stepanek

Top seed Gael Monfils faces Radek Stepanek in the match of the day in Hamburg. Monfils made a solid start to the tournament seeing off Spain's Albert Ramos 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the last sixteen. The top seed's serving was the benchmark of his success, he played very aggressively behind his first serve and won 75% of the points when it went in.

However he faces a stiffer test against the very experienced 32 year old Stepanek who has scored wins over the likes of Roger Federer on this surface. The Czech produced a masterclass in making your chances count as he saw off 13th seed Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-5.

Monfils leads 4-2 on their head-to-head but is fully aware of the threat and Stepanek poses. "It's always difficult to play Radek because he plays very flat, makes a lot of drop shots [and] loves to drive the ball down the line. I know I have to play a certain game. I need to focus on my return because I think he's a great server. I expect a tough match," he said.

Most of their previous matches have come on hard courts with Monfils winning 6-3, 6-3 when they met in Tokyo last autumn. Stepanek's results have also been patchy this year and he was thoroughly outclassed 6-1, 6-3 in Stuttgart last week by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Florian Mayer vs. Juan Monaco

Mayer clearly dominated his Turkish opponent, Marsel Ilhan, however let the qualifier back into the game due to having big problems with his serve.

The German had some pressure on his shoulder coming after his disappointing loss in Davis Cup and having a semi-final to defend. Despite that he won 72% points behind the serve he landed only 49% of first serve in and he needs to improve his serve when he will face Monaco.

The Argentine looked impressive against Tipsarevic, he controlled the match under big serve and powerful baseline display giving little spaces to the Serb. H2h is 4-1 for the German, 3-1 on clay with the most recent meeting in Dusseldorf this year taken by Mayer while the other meetings are way behind.

The German is favorite to advance due his home advantage but his serve didn’t entered and he also suffered in aggressiveness compartment, if Monaco will resist and will put a lot of balls back into play he will have the upper hand. Mayer needs to mix up on court a lot but Monaco showed great consistency from the back of the court against a powerful hitter catching a lot of balls.

Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Nicolas Almagro

Kohlschreiber increased the tally of German wins by one more advancing with a win over Albert Montanes. But the Spaniard wasn’t at his best. Towards the end of the first set, Montanes took an injury time in order to get treatment on his neck, but finally he withdrew after five games in the second set.

The German now wants to go into quarter-finals for the first time when he meets Almagro. H2h is 3-2 for the German, 2-1 on clay but the most recent meeting is back in 2009.

The Spaniard advanced after he beat qualifier Rosol, but failed to impress. He was a little bit late at the balls and his serve not always worked and won mainly due to his better experience on the ground and a poor second serve of the Czech.

Kohlschreiber won against 2 tough opponents, Golubev and Montanes and despite the Spaniard withdrew was the German who controlled well the match. Both are tough baseliners which can resist well in long rallies but also are shot makers, overall Almagro has more sting on serve but landed only 48% against Rosol and tends to lose against players which doesn’t give too much pace, tough match which can go easily either way.

Jurgen Melzer vs. Fabio Fognini

Jurgen Melzer won his revenge for defeat earlier this year to Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory in round 2. The Austrian's singles form has taken a hit recently and he has been struggling to combine success on the doubles court with consistent individual performances.

He won the Stuttgart title last week as his partnership with Philipp Petzschner continues to put the pair near the top of the doubles rankings but they crashed out in the first round this week. It's a result which may prove to be a blessing on disguise as Melzer seeks to concentrate on defending his points from making the Hamburg final last year.

It's a tricky section of the draw for Melzer, fellow left-hander Fernando Verdasco may await in the quarters with Nicolas Almagro a potential semi-final opponent, should he get that far.

However if Melzer can get some confidence and wins under his belt then he should fear no one on this surface. Anyone who witnessed his win over Roger Federer in Monte-Carlo this year would agree that he can be one of the most fluent shot-makers in the game.

Fognini is a tricky opponent, a feisty player with a useful forehand. However Melzer has beaten him once before, winning 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 when they met in Auckland last year.