The last eight first round matches take the court at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel Wednesday. Top seed and local favorite Roger Federer won in three sets yesterday defeating Michael Berrer 61, 36, 63 to avoid consecutive losses following a Sunday setback in Madrid to David Nalbandian. Nalbandian will be in action today, joined by Thomas Berdych, James Blake, Guillermo Canas and Feli Lopez.
First on Center is the all-Argentine duel between No. 6 seed Guillermo Canas and Jose Acasuso. Canas has had an excellent season, rising 120 spots in the rankings since the beginning of the year (moving from No. 142 to a season-best No. 12 this week), his season highlights including capturing his seventh career ATP singles title at Costa do Sauipe and stunning back-to-back victories against World No. 1 Roger Federer at AMS events in Indian Wells and Miami (where he ended up going all the way to his second career AMS final). Acasuso has seen his ranking drop from inside the Top 30 to outside the Top 70 in July, but has since risen back inside the Top 60 (No. 58 as of this week). A run to the final of Sopot was his best result this year. He has had two victories over Top 20 players already this year, including one on hardcourts (over No. 17 Mikhail Youzhny at AMS Indian Wells).
Fifth seed Tomas Berdych is up next against Feliciano Lopez. Having spent two weeks inside the Top 10 last year (at No. 10), Berdych has spent 12 more inside the elite this year, including four at a career-high No. 9. The Czech has been in solid form since the fall season started, reaching the semifinals at Bangkok and Tokyo then pushing eventual AMS Madrid champion David Nalbandian to three sets in the Spanish capital last week. He will go up against a losing head-to-head record in his first match this week, taking on the in-form Lopez. Since an opening round loss at Bangkok, the big-hitting left-hander has reached the quarterfinals in his last three events, at International Series Gold events in Tokyo and Vienna and then last week at AMS Madrid (beating David Ferrer along the way). He has also won two of their three meetings (including this past summer in Stuttgart).
Fourth-seeded wild card James Blake takes on Oscar Hernandez next on Center. Blake enjoyed some impressive results in the first half of the year - winning Sydney, finishing runner-up at Delray Beach and reaching his first ATP clay court semifinal at Houston - but the highlight of his year was his summer hardcourt season, where he won 20 of 24 matches and his 10th career ATP singles title at New Haven, had runner-up finishes at Los Angeles and AMS Cincinnati and topped it off with a fourth round showing at the US Open. He cracked the Top 10 on March 20, 2006 (after reaching his first AMS final at Indian Wells) and hasn’t fallen out since, including seven weeks at his careerhigh ranking of No. 4 in the world. He will try to rebound from an opening round loss at AMS Madrid as he takes on Hernandez, who is 0-3 lifetime against Top 10 players, including losses to Tommy Robredo and Rafael Nadal this year (this is his first time playing a Top 10 player on hardcourts).
Last week’s star performer, David Nalbandian, is up next against Stanislas Wawrinka. In Madrid last week Nalbandian put together by far his best run of the year, winning his first AMS shield after a season that had seen him drop out of the Top 10 (and furthermore the Top 20) and reach a single quarterfinal in 15 events going in. But in the Spanish capital he came alive, upsetting Berdych en route to the quarters then systematically dispatching the Top 3 - No. 2 Nadal, No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 1 Federer - just the second player since 1994 to achieve the feat - to capture the trophy. This week he returned to the Top 20 (moving from No. 25 to No. 18) and hopes to continue his win streak here in Basel where he has reached the quarterfinals or better in all five of his prior attempts, including a title in 2002 (beating Federer along the way). He tries to end a three-match losing streak to Wawrinka, who recently made his second final of the year (at Vienna, where he beat Nalbandian along the way). He was also a semifinalist here a year ago (again, beating Nalbandian en route).
An unseeded battle between Marcos Baghdatis and Albert Montanes is up next. Baghdatis has had an incredibly consistent season, reaching the quarterfinals or better eight times, highlighted by winning his second career ATP singles title at Zagreb and finishing runner-up at Marseille and Halle (his first ATP grass court final). He made his Basel debut last year and made it all the way to the final before falling in four sets to Fernando Gonzalez. Montanes has been having his best year to date, highlighted by reaching his fourth career ATP singles final at Casablanca (finishing runner-up to Paul-Henri Mathieu) and reaching three more clay court semifinals. He also cracked the Top 50 on May 28 (after a quarterfinal run at Poertschach). He has only won two matches on hard, though.
The comeback of Nicolas Kiefer continues against Carlos Berlocq in the last match on Center. Kiefer missed over a year with a left wrist injury, hurting his wrist at Roland Garros in May 2006 and being out of action until June 2007, falling off the rankings for three weeks from June 18 and July 8 earlier this season. Since making his comeback during the grass court season he has moved all the way up to No. 64 on the strength of three semifinals (including just last week at AMS Madrid, after which he has surged from No. 112 to No. 64). In his first match in Basel since 1999 (falling in the semifinals that year to Karol Kucera), the German will play Berlocq, who has reached the quarters or better three times this year, but all on clay. The Argentine makes his career Basel debut. (ATP Digital Services)
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