ATP Kitzbuhel – Monday Preview

Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Thomas Muster

Fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber returns to action following a round of 16 finish in Hamburg. The 27-year-old German is 22-18 for the season, entering into his fourth Kitzbuhel effort. He put together his best showing in 2006, when he advanced to the quarterfinal. World No. 1003 Thomas Muster is bidding for his first Tour-level victory this season. The 43-year-old Austrian is a former title winner, having completed a championship run in 1993.

Pere Riba vs. Victor Hanescu

Hanescu played in Gstaad where he failed to impress behind the serve against Nieminen, if his serve will not enter he will be under big problems. He likes these high altitude venues as his serve makes a real impact even that surface is on slow side.

Usually the Spaniard tends to lose to powerful baseliners. The Romanian will have an impact on serve, he has a powerful serve to win free points behind the serve while Riba will look to win through his defense but Hanescu can resist in long rallies too. 

Daniel Gimeno-Traver vs. Dominic Thiem

Runner-up of French Open Boys will make his debut in ATP level being granted a WC invitation for main draw.

The Austrian played last year in Challenger level in Kitzbuhel and beat Sidorenko in first round. The Dutchman is a solid baseliner and covers the court very well, he will put a lot of fight and will try to give a real challenge but he lucks power in his shots and will count more on Spaniard errors then on his winners, even that he can go on both wings after them.

Gimeno-Traver has a win here and there and looked overall good in Gstaad but he isn’t an aggressive player to finish up the match quickly and despite his youth we will go for over games with a small stake.

Andreas Seppi vs. Denis Istomin

Sixth seed Andreas Seppi lead Denis Istomin 1-0 in the series, after winning their first encounter earlier this season in Sydney.

Seppi is 15-14 for the season, following a quarterfinal finish in Umag. The Italian won consecutive matches before falling to eventual finalist Marin Cilic, 1-6, 3-6. Seppi is set to contest his sixth Kitzbuhel tournament, where he made the quarterfinal in 2007.

World No. 80 Denis Istomin looks to regroup after a second-round loss to Mikhail Youzhny in Gstaad. The 24-year-old will attempt to record his 10th ATP World Tour victory of the season Monday afternoon.

Igor Andreev vs. Albert Ramos

Spaniard Albert Ramos is playing solid on clay recently, after he played the final in Turin he qualified and reached second round in Hamburg and is coming after a quarter-final in Umag.

Andreev is only 1/2 here, instead of Gstaad where he had a good record and is coming after a poor match against Granollers where in first set he barely landed one serve.

Both are tough baseliners and like to dictate from the back of the court but if Ramos is in good form then Andreev has a win here and there. Ramos served well in Umag, he has clean shots on both wings and isn’t a grinder as he goes for his shots when he sees an opportunity especially with his forehand.

Pablo Andujar vs. Lukas Rosol

Both players rely on serve and on this altitude a lot of free points will be seen. The Czech is playing solidly on the surface and is coming after two tight loses to Almagro in Hamburg and Benneteau in Gstaad.

The Spaniard reached the final in Stuttgart but since then he failed to impress and looked a little bit sluggish on court losing clearly to Bachinger.

Both have a powerful serve and both hit with a lot of power and the outcome will come to the player who’ll make less errors on court, both will try to use the power to push each other way behind the baseline while they will charge the net from time to time.

Albert Montanes vs. Javier Marti

Slowly Spaniard Javier Marti climbs up the rankings, he qualified for Roland Garros and his rankings not always permit to enter in Challengers but he puts a lot of fight on court and has a semi-final in Pereira and a quarter-final in Blumenau.

Marti is a powerful player with compact shots on both wings, he founds some interesting angles in his shots, resist well in long rallies, powerful serve but not the best retriever and tends to lose to powerful hitters as Leonardo Mayer, Naso, Veic, Goffin, Gabashvili, Korolev or De Schepper on clay. Montanes withdrew in Hamburg with neck pain and he didn’t impress on clay this year.

He still has the experience on his side, he has better retrieving skills but Marti has a solid serve of his own and even that Montanes is favorite to advance easily we see Marti to put some fight in some slowest conditions due to the night session.