ATP Umag – Friday Preview

Marin Cilic vs. Andreas Seppi

Cilic and Seppi will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers at the ATP level when they clash in the quarterfinals of the Studena Croatia Open on Friday. Seppi leads the head-to-head series 3-2, but Cilic won their only previous clay-court meeting 6-3, 7-6(6) five years ago in Gstaad. They most recently faced each other at the Shanghai Masters last fall, when Seppi rolled 6-2, 6-2. Both players are in solid albeit unspectacular form at the moment. Cilic is 26-14 for the season after a three-set win over Robin Haase on Thursday, but he has slid down the rankings to the No. 31 spot.

Seppi, who captured the Eastbourne title in June, ended a three-match losing streak with straight-set wins this week over Dusan Lajovic and Diego Junqueira. This all-seeded affair could go either way, but Cilic has a home-court advantage.

Potito Starace vs. Fabio Fognini

From all the Italians only Starace worked hard to book his place in quarter-finals bouncing back after a break down in decider and saving a match point.

Was a real battle from the back of the court as both tried to push each other way behind the baseline and have the upper hand, long rallies were seen and Starace looked more concentrate in key moments in the first set while a lapse in the beginning of the second set had cost him the set.

The Argentine raised his level and was two breaks up in decider but the Starace put a lot of fight to bounce back, a deserved win for him. Like in the match with Machado, Fognini started slowly but after he raised his level he easily took the first set, the second set was hard too despite the scoreline as both raised their game but Fognini didn’t looked anymore in trouble.

Interesting meeting, h2h is 1-0 for Fognini with a meeting last year on clay, he played better this year on clay and seems that both are in good form and a lot of rallies are expected. Starace will come with the upper hand after his comeback but Fognini is always a tricky player, he can make a poor match but also a compact one, his serve still not clicks but he is good in retrieving and in another tough match we see much fresher.

Carlos Berlocq vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero

Berlocq and Ferrero will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they battle for a semifinal spot in Umag on Friday. They split their two previous encounters; Berlocq scored a three-set grass-court win in 2007 before Ferrero cruised 6-3, 6-2 last year on the clay courts of Costa Do Sauipe. Ferrero is a considerable favorite once again on clay, plus he is the defending champion of this event. The 73rd-ranked Spaniard got through his opener this week when Maximo Gonzalez retired at 1-1 in the third set and he ousted third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. Ferrero, the Stuttgart winner earlier this month, is now 10-3 for his abbreviated, injury-plagued 2011 campaign.

Just as Ferrero got a retirement in round one, Berlocq has also been the beneficiary of some good fortune this week. After defeating Blaz Kavcic 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4, the 83rd-ranked Argentine got a walkover past Tommy Robredo. Berlocq, who won a clay-court Challenger in early July and advanced one round last week in Hamburg, has earned 11 of his 33 career ATP match victories in 2011. This should be a high-quality encounter on the slow stuff, with Ferrero coming out on top after 2 competitive sets.

Albert Ramos vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov

Number 2 seed Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov sailed past Italian Filippo Volandri winning in just under an hour at the ATP Studena Croatia Open in Umag.

The Ukrainian will play Albert Ramos of Spain in the quarter-finals. Dolgopolov suffered on serve, only 32% of first serve in, but he went for his shots easily making a lot of winners, the Italian wasn’t at his best being a little bit injured but still remains the solid performance of the Ukrainian.

Tricky match as hard to see the Ukrainian form while Ramos came after two solid wins. He made light work of Naso once more showing great form, solid serve and tough baseline display.

The Ukrainian has more sting on serve but served poor in the first match, he also can mix up on court putting off balance the Spaniard but Ramos looked more consistent from the back of the court with his defense working great.

Dolgopolov can resist in a cross court action, he needs to use the drop shots and slices more here as Ramos is a deep standing player and can keep him under pressure and if he will improve his serve he will have the upper hand.