ATP Kitzbuhel - Thursday Preview

Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Albert Montanes

World No. 43 Philipp Kohlschreiber leads Albert Montanes 1-0 in the series, having won their only meeting via retirement at the 2011 tournament in Hamburg.

Kohlschreiber began the week with a straight-set victory over former World No. 1 Thomas Muster. The 27-year-old German is bidding for his fourth quarterfinal of the season. World No. 50 Albert Montanes defeated fellow Spaniard Javier Marti in the opening round, 6-3, 6-2. The 30-year-old veteran looks to make his first quarter since late April, when he reached the last eight in Belgrade.

Pablo Andujar vs. Albert Ramos

Eighth seed Pablo Andujar holds a 4-1 edge against countryman Albert Ramos entering into the round of 16. Thursday marks their first Tour-level meeting.

Andujar survived a difficult first round, where he rallied to a three-set victory over Lukas Rosol, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. The 25-year-old will attempt to secure his 21st win of the season Thursday afternoon.

World No. 74 Albert Ramos held on to dismiss Igor Andreev in the first round, 6-0, 6-7(2), 6-4. The 23-year-old remains on course to win his 10th Tour-level match of the year.  

Joao Souza vs. Diego Junqueira

Souza try a place in the top 100 against an opponent far less complicated than the Croatian Ivan Ljubicic. The third seed in Kitzbuhel withdrew from the tournament and will be replaced by a lucky-loser, in the case of Argentina Diego Junqueira.

The Croat, who also will not play in Montreal, withdrew with personal reasons. Beans are one win away from entering the top 100 world ranking and has a good opportunity against a player that knows well how is playing. Junqueira lost in the last round of qualifications to Antonio Veic after he won against Bellotti and Grinter. They know each other well and is the third meeting this year with each winning a match but the head-to-head is overall lead by the Argentine with 5-3, all on clay.

Junqueira was in good form in Umag but the surface suited better as was slower while here the Brazilian has the upper hand as conditions are on faster side and Souza has more sting behind the serve. Junqueira is a deep baseliner and will try to dictate from the back of the court putting a lot of balls back in, Souza has the better serve and he needs to mix up better on court to use the drop shot and bring the Argentine at the net to pass him and needs to finish the points quickly and not stay in long rallies.

Souza needs to hit with the forehand to be more aggressive and being only one match away to enter in Top 100 we expect him to be much motivated.

Antonio Veic vs. Marcel Granollers

Antonio Veic ended Austrians hope for a local player in higher stages of the tournament after he defeated Haider-Maurer in first round.

The Austrian wasn’t at his best complaining by hip injury but was a competitive match with a lot of ups and downs and only a few points made the difference, points that were won by Veic.

The Croat was solid behind the serve and he hit with a lot of power, his ground stroke found the target and overall was the better player on court and he could finish even easier. Granollers kept the good form of results with a much easier win over Volandri.

The Italian started with a break but since then he started to make a lot of errors spreading them all over the court and handed the match to the Spaniard who overall served well.

Granollers then played in doubles and lost in a tight match and still the level of his fitness is questionable. Veic isn’t without chances here, he needs to keep his points short and force on Granollers’ serve, the Spaniard didn’t impress too much benefiting by a low resistance on court.

Robin Haase vs. Feliciano Lopez

Haase advanced in the second round after his opponent Starace Potito threw up the towel in the second set. Even that he retired it was Haase who lead the match, he was solid behind the serve missing only 2 points.

The match will be dictate by serve as both players have a powerful serve, Haase played well in Umag losing a tight match to Cilic and kept the form against Starace while Lopez is coming after a good period but the busy schedule might catch him.

Both will rely on serve and finish the points quickly and there will not be long exchanges, tie-breaks should be seen here, and the outcome will be decided by a point here and there.

Haase has a good record against left hander, he beat Berrer, Zverev, Guccione or Llodra even that were on faster grounds, we see a tight match with the outcome decided by a point here and there.