Del Potro Dominant In Clay Opener; Tomic, Cilic, Haas On Court Friday In Munich
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Before we get the to Madrid draw which I believe comes on Friday, there are some good matches on tap tomorrow. In Estoril, Juan Martin Del Potro clashes with diminutive dirtballer Albert Montanes.
Del Potro hasn’t lit it up at the biggest events this season, so Estoril, where won last year, should be right up his alley. And in his clay opener today he destroyed Rui Machado 6-1, 6-0.
“I like to play on clay, I prefer hard courts obviously, but I have been working hard at home, before I came here,” said Del Potro. “This tournament is very important to my clay-court season and for my confidence ahead of Masters 1000 tournaments and Roland Garros.”
I’d like to see Delpo do well this week and then collect one or two big wins at Madrid/Rome. That would set him up for a possible deep run at Roland Garros.
Lurking for Delpo could be Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals and Richard Gasquet in the title match, otherwise it’s a fairly weak field.
Speaking of weak fields, without hometown hero Novak Djokovic and his fellow countryman Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki, there’s little star power in Serbia this week. David Nalbandian is there in the quarters tomorrow against Ryan Harrison’s conqueror Souza.
In Munich, JW Tsonga fell to upset by the hand of aging German Tommy Haas. The 34-year-old Haas now plays Friday against Marcos Baghdatis. Marin Cilic faces Mikhail Youzhny in another good one, and Bernard Tomic continues his clay introduction against Feliciano Lopez.
“It’s great. I can’t remember the last time I beat a Top 10 player,” said Haas on Wednesday after beating Tsonga. “These are the things you work for. I really didn’t expect to play this well. I took my chances when I had them and it feels great to have such a nice victory once again.”
FRIDAY ESTORIL SCHEDULE
CENTRAL start 10:25 am
[1] R VINCI (ITA) vs [6] K KANEPI (EST) – WTA
C SUAREZ NAVARRO (ESP) vs [Q] K KNAPP (ITA) – WTA
Not Before 1:50 PM
[Q] D MUNOZ-DE LA NAVA (ESP) vs [2] R GASQUET (FRA) – ATP
Not Before 3:45 PM
[1] J DEL POTRO (ARG) vs [7] A MONTANES (ESP) – ATP
[1] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED) or T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR) vs R Gasquet (FRA) / E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) – ATP
FRIDAY MUNICH SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT start 11:20 am
[3] M CILIC (CRO) vs [6] M YOUZHNY (RUS)
[WC] T HAAS (GER) vs [8] M BAGHDATIS (CYP)
Not Before 2:00 PM
[Q] M MATOSEVIC (AUS) vs [4] P KOHLSCHREIBER (GER)
[5] B TOMIC (AUS) vs [2] F LOPEZ (ESP)
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