ATP Gstaad – Tuesday Preview

Jarkko Nieminen vs. Victor Hanescu

Veteran Jarkko Nieminen has an interesting clash with Romania's Victor Hanescu at the Swiss Open on Tuesday.

Hanescu has been as frustratingly inconsistent as ever this year. He looked the part in Nice just before the French Open, scoring some decent wins en route to the final where he tested Nicolas Almagro. However in the big events he was never able to get going, losing first round in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.

These flashes of brilliance were illustrated perfectly in Stuttgart 2 weeks ago when he hit back from the death to take out world number seven Gael Monfils in round one before folding meekly in the following round to unknown qualifier Pavol Cervanek. Nieminen has tons of experience and Finland's top player remains dangerous on his day but he's unlikely to trouble the top 20 in the rankings again. He played well in Hamburg last week, defeating the young upstart Alex Dolgopolov before falling in three to eventual winner Gilles Simon.

Nieminen leads 2-1 on the head-to-head but he has not beaten Hanescu for 6 years while the Romanian won their most recent clash 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Casablanca last year.  

Feliciano Lopez vs. Michael Lammer

Feliciano Lopez hopes to continue his recent good form in Gstaad at the Swiss Open.

Lopez has never won a clay-court title in his career so far but over the next few weeks he could enjoy some of his best opportunities so far. He has a tough draw in Gstaad and is likely to face the in-form Nicolas Almagro in the quarters, a prolific winner on the clay this year.

However Lopez is in the form of his life after his quarter-final run at Wimbledon last month and the role he played in Spain's Davis Cup defeat of the USA earlier this month. He generally prefers the faster surfaces but he is certainly no mug on clay and his variety can be unsettling for some of the usual baseline bashing merchants.
Wildcard Michael Lammer is ranked 366 and has never been higher than 150 in the world. His place in the main draw owes more to the little strength in depth in Swiss tennis rather than any future prospects of making the big time.

Lammer can at least go into this match with the confidence of a winning streak behind him. He won a futures event in the small town of Fieberbrunn in Austria last week and it will no doubt be a bit of a culture shock going from competing in front of a few villagers and their dogs to entertaining the crowds on Centre Court in his homeland.  

Federico Gil vs. Joao Souza      

Brazilian Joao Souza came in Europe with one thought, to qualify in the tournament and go deep to break into Top 100.

His achieved his first goal, he beat Auradou and Laaksonen to enter in the main draw. He looked solid on court and didn’t lost his serve but he wasn’t pleased with his level saying that an extra day will help to sharp his game.

"I'm very happy to play one more ATP tournament, but I'm still not satisfied. Tomorrow I'll have a day to rest and train hard to improve", said the Brazilian after he qualified.

The Portuguese after a good run in Branschweig lost his tempo a little bit and lost to Arnaboldi in Poznan. Not an easy match for the Portuguese, Souza has a powerful serve and wins a lot of free points behind the serve and also knows what to expect from Gil as they trained a couple of times together.

"I trained with him several times. Gil is very fast and has great attitude on the court, but I know that I am able to beat him", said the Brazilian.

The surface tends to favor Souza who also is coming after 2 matches in qualifications and is accustomed with the conditions. 

Marcel Granollers vs. Stephane Bohli        

Marcel Granollers retired last week in Hamburg after he picked up an injury during his first match against Gimeno-Traver.

No further information about his condition. He will meet in first round WC local player Stephane Bohli.

The Swiss isn’t on his best on the surface, he likes to play on faster grounds where his serve is more effective. Also he is too impatient in long rallies, his shot hasn’t a right depth and any short ball will be punished by the Spaniard. He is only 3/2 on clay this year with a semi-final in Braunschweig but benefit by a kind draw and the surface was on fast side. Granollers has the game to take this one, he needs to stay solid in long rallies and let Bohli to be the aggressive player as the Swiss will make more unforced errors.

Julien Benneteau vs. Lukas Rosol  

The Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol is ranked No. 66 in the world, well above Benneteau’s No. 111, though the Frenchman has far more match experience on the ATP Tour.  

Rosol has climbed up the rankings largely on the strength of his activity on the Challenger circuit. The Czech man has played just 8 matches on the pro tour this year. Benneteau has a dismal 8-14 record on the Tour this season, with his best result coming on the grass courts of Eastbourne.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Santiago Giraldo

Santiago Giraldo will make his debut in Gstaad against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The Spaniard, after he lost in first round in Hamburg to Nieminen played in Bundesliga and beat Starace in straight sets.

Interesting meeting as will be the first encounter between them and overall little separates them on court. Garcia-Lopez has a solid serve, not powerful but well placed, good on retrieving, he even gets back a step-two to retrieving well and has a good variety in his game with a lot of angles and power on the ground.

Giraldo has a powerful serve and relies on his serve-forehand combination to win free points, both hit with a lot of power from the back of the court and both can stay solid in long rallies but overall the Spaniard looks in better form, he creates good angles and has a more stable backhand. 

Steve Darcis vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver

Spaniard Gimeno-Traver is returning in Gstaad where have good memories as last year he reached the semi-final losing a tight match to eventual champion Almagro.

He comes in poor form as after Wimbledon he managed to beat only Fischer and Granollers who retired.

Instead, his opponent Steve Darcis, comes in better form winning the title in Scheveningen and quarter-final in Sopot. H2h is 2-0 for the Belgian and overall the surface suits to his style, powerful serve and solid baseline display but also some rain is expected and conditions will be slower which tends to favor more the Spaniard, it will be harder to put winners away and will come down more to regularity from the back of the court. Tricky match as Darcis comes in better form.