ATP Umag – Wednesday Preview

Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Ivan Ljubicic

Defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero is up against third seed Ivan Ljubicic in Umag.

This is a fascinating round two match, easily good enough for the final here. Ljubicic is in front of his home fans and he would dearly love to win this event for the first time. He’s never won a title on clay but performed extremely well on the dirt earlier this year, beating Tsonga and Berdych en route to the Monte Carlo quarters and taking out Verdasco on the way to the last sixteen at Roland Garros. It took Rafael Nadal to knock him out in both events. Ferrero on the other hand, missed virtually all of the spring clay-court swing due to injury but he returned with a bang a couple of weeks ago, winning his 17th tour title in Stuttgart. He’s spent his career picking up these sort of trophies for fun and is defending his title this week.

Ljubicic leads 3-2 on the head-to-head but they have only played once in the past 6 years. Ferrero won their clash at the French Open in 2009 but it was an absolute epic, multiple twists and turns before the former champion got the job done 6-3 in the fifth.

Albert Ramos vs. Gianluca Naso

Albert Ramos of Spain beat eighth-seeded Ivan Dodig in the first round of the Croatia Open on Monday. Dodig appeared unable to move freely during the third set after the Croat complained of an ankle injury. But the Spaniard made a solid match until then, he served well and was solid from the back of the court resisting to the powerful game of the Croatian.

He will meet qualifier Naso who advanced after he beat young local player Mate Delic. The Italian landed only 42% of first serve in but won 100% points behind that. They met once, back in 2009 and the Italian imposed in 3 sets.

Both have the opportunity to advance in quarter-finals, Naso is 10/8 against left hander and has some wins over tough baseliners like Volandri, Vagnozzi, Balasz, Machado, he will rely on his serve and forehand, he will move even to hit with the forehand to be more aggressive but that will let some field uncovered. Ramos made a solid match against Dodig and if he will not suffer any let downs he should advance further.

Tommy Robredo vs. Carlos Berlocq

Robredo routed compatriot qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in first round, but hard to see any form as Ramirez made a poor match making a lot of errors. Still Robredo looked injury free and his serve worked well.

He will have a hard task against Berlocq who’s coming after 3 hours and 40 minutes of play against Kavcic, the match could finished early in the second set but the German was able to force a decider. Was a tough match, in decider almost all games went to deuce and both struggled on serve, both players putted a lot of fight on court.

It will be an interesting meeting as the Argentine is coming after a hard fight and his level of fitness might suffer in another tough match, also he missed a lot of opportunities including 2 match points and even that Robredo benefit by a poor Ramirez he can take this one if he is injury free.

Alex Dolgopolov vs. Filippo Volandri

Second seed Alex Dolgopolov begins his Umag campaign on Wednesday against Filippo Volandri.

It may be a tad unfair on Dolgopolov, after all he is only 22 but you get the feeling he’s spent the past six months coasting after his achievements in Australia at the start of the year. He was a delight to watch in Melbourne with his trickery and relentless aggression, defeating some very big names on the way to the final.

However the wins have dried up recently, he’s lost 4 matches in a row and it will be interesting to see how he responds. Clay is not his strongest surface (though he did reach the Costa Do Sauipe final in February) but as the second seed in Umag, he’s enjoyed a first round bye and could be sitting pretty until the semi-finals here.

Volandri has been top 30 in the past and enjoyed an emphatic 6-4, 6-0 win over a wildcard in round one but he’s stalled in recent years. He won last week’s Orbetello challenger in his home country last week but he has done little outside of challengers for the past few years.

Dolgopolov has won all 3 previous matches against the Italian, beating him 7-5, 6-3 in Nice a couple of months ago.