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  • Vina del Mar Preview - top half

    1/27/08 7:33 PM | Jonathan Morgan
    - Congratulations to Novak Djokovic for winning the Australian Open, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a fantastic fortnight. As the whole tennis world tries to adjust back to a reasonable sleep schedule, there is tennis to be played in Chile.

    Fernando Gonzalez vs. Paul Capdeville

    An all Chilean first round affair here. Gonzalez last year came to this tournament on the heels of an amazing Aussie Open finals run and crashed out in the QF stage. The two have met once before, on hard courts last year in Beijing. Gonzalez won it, 6-1, 6-2. Expect a similar trashing here.

    Agustin Calleri vs. Luis “Lucho” Horna

    Interesting matchup here. Horna could very well upset the 5 seed here in Calleri. In their past, Calleri has won the non clay matches, but Horna has won the last 2 on clay. Horna ended last year on a bit of a high, advancing in some Challengers in order to get his ranking up, and had 2 good wins in a Davis Cup rubber against Belarus on clay. He is also the defending champ in this event and beat both Canas and Nalbandian on clay last year. This one could go either way.

    Guillermo Coria vs. Pablo Cuevas

    The return of Coria. The former king of clay just a few years ago has gone through quite a bit of turmoil with injuries, lack of confidence, service problems (20+ double faults in one match). Last year he attempted to play 2 challengers and was unable to win a set, and retired in one of them. He hasnt won a match since summer 06 in Amersfoort where he retired to one Novak Djokovic (heard of him?) in the semis. Cuevas is a young Uruguayan player who spent most of lat year playing and doing very well in Challenger events. 3-4 years ago, Coria could win this type of matchup on clay blindfolded playing left handed. Now, we must all watch to see if this will be the springboard back to prominence for a former world #3 and Roland Garros runner-up.

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