Roddick v. Nalbandian; Monfils v. Soderling Friday
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We have some really good quarterfinal matches from both events on Friday. In Basel, Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian renew their rivalry. ADHEREL
Roddick holds the edge 3-2 including a memorable 2003 US Open semifinal win in which the American saved a matchpoint. Nalbandian, however, has won the last two but this is their first clash since 2006.
Roddick looked good today in a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andrei Golubev while Nalbandian needed three sets to beat the downward-spiraling Marin Cilic.
“I played well,” said Roddick. “I would like to have not got broken in the second set, but through my first two matches the level’s been real good for me and that’s a relief coming off an injury, kind of not been practicing a lot at home just because I was hurt. It’s a nice surprise. It’s nice to be in good form.”
Roger Federer will also be in action in his birth town of Basel. The Swiss favorite meets the quirky Radek Stepanek for an 11th time. Federer has won eight straight and 12 consecutive sets against the Czech.
If Roddick and Federer both win they would meet in the semifinals!
No. 2 seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic will – I think – be tested by qualifier Robin Haase of The Netherlands. And in the first quarterfinal of the day, Richard Gasquet meets Viktor Troicki for the first time.
Over in Valencia, the streaking Gael Monfils goes up against Robin Soderling. The Frenchman impressively blew out Stan Wawrinka today 6-2, 6-4. Soderling picked up his 50th match win of the season thanks to an easy victory of Daniel Gimeno-Traver. The Swede beat Monfils in their only meeting back in 2005.
Also tomorrow, local favorite David Ferrer faces Potito Starache, Nikolay Davydenko gets Gilles Simon and Juan Monaco tests lucky loser Marcel Gronollers.
So a pretty good day of tennis is in store for Friday. Tennis Channel in the US is schedule to have full live TV coverage of Basel starting at 9am ET.
FRIDAY BASEL SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT start 2:00 pm
V Troicki (SRB) vs R Gasquet (FRA)
Not Before 4:00 PM
[Q] R Haase (NED) vs [2] N Djokovic (SRB)
Not Before 6:00 PM
[4] A Roddick (USA) vs D Nalbandian (ARG)
Not Before 8:00 PM
[1] R Federer (SUI) vs [WC] R Stepanek (CZE)
A Golubev (KAZ) / D Istomin (UZB) vs [2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB)
FRIDAY VALENCIA SCHEDULE
AGORA start 1:00 pm
J Monaco (ARG) vs [LL] M Granollers (ESP)
Not Before 3:00 PM
G Simon (FRA) vs [6] N Davydenko (RUS)
[8] G Monfils (FRA) vs [2] R Soderling (SWE)
Not Before 8:00 PM
P Starace (ITA) vs [4] D Ferrer (ESP)
M Lopez (ESP) / D Marrero (ESP) vs [4] R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK)
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