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2/11/08 8:49 AM | Ricky Dimon
In addition to the premier matchup between Marin Cilic and third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, the bottom half of the Open 13 in Marseille features several blockbuster opening-round pairings.
(6) Marcos Baghdatis vs. Arnaud Clement
This is the third head-to-head meeting for Baghdatis and Clement and the series is split one to one. Both matches were contested on carpet and both went the full three sets. The Frenchman prevailed in Lyon, France back in 2006 and the Cypriot got revenge last season in Zagreb, Croatia in a third-set tiebreaker. Clement has been struggling in singles recently—he’s lost in the first round of his last four events, including to Rainer Schuettler at the Australian Open—but he and Michael Llodra have been getting it done as a doubles duo. They were runner-ups in Australia, so perhaps that success can translate over to singles for the 30-year-old Clement. Baghdatis scored a nice win over Marat Safin in the second round Down Under before losing an epic encounter with Hewitt that ended after 4:30 in the morning. The 22-year-old is the clear favorite in this match and should prevail in straight sets, but it could be tricky at times.
Feliciano Lopez vs. Ivo Karlovic
These two veterans have played each other six times already, with the score an even 3-3. They have only battled once since 2005 and that came last season on hard courts in Bangkok, Thailand. Karlovic prevailed in straight sets to end Lopez’s three-match winning streak in the head-to-head series. Five of their six meetings have come on hard courts, with Lopez holding a 3-2 edge in those matches. Not surprisingly, the 6’10’’ Karlovic took the one matchup on grass at Wimbledon in 2004. Both of these guys posses huge serves, although the Croat’s—arguably the best in tennis—is bigger and better. Lopez, however, obviously moves much better than Karlovic and his lethal serve-forehand combination makes the lefty Spaniard difficult to break. Expect very few breaks of serve, if any, in this contest and at least one tiebreaker is almost guaranteed. Karlovic has been playing a little bit better than his opponent recently, so look for him to win most of the big points and emerge victorious in a tight match.
(7) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Mario Ancic
Under normal circumstances this would be match better suited for the second week of a Grand Slam rather than the first round of an International Series event. The reality, however, is that Ancic has been dealing with myriad injuries that have prevented him from living up to his great potential. The 6’5’’ Croat has not played since last season’s Paris Masters Series event in October. Not only has Tsonga been playing a ton of since then, he’s been taking the tennis world by storm. The Frenchman stormed through the bottom half of the Australian Open draw before succumbing to Novak Djokovic in a hard-fought title match. Ancic and Tsonga have faced each other once and Tsonga came back from one set down to win in three. That took place more than three years ago, however, so it will have no bearing on this week’s match in Marseille. Ancic might be able to stay in this contest for a while thanks to his big serve, but his rust and Tsonga’s current form should eventually pave the way to a straight-set victory for the Frenchman.
Other intriguing opening-round matches in the bottom half of the draw include Robin Soderling against Jarkko Nieminen and Julien Benneteau versus Andrei Pavel.
Soderling has been absent so far in 2008 due to injury and his first match of the year will not be an easy one against Nieminen. The Finn will keep too many balls in play, get everything back, and will stay out on the court all day long with the Swede if necessary. Because of Soderling’s recent physical problems, however, it could be a short afternoon on the court.
Pavel just turned 34 and is clearly in the twilight of his career, but he put up a strong effort against Tsonga last week in the first-day singles portion of the Davis Cup match between Romania and France. This is the first head-to-head meeting between Pavel and Benneteau.
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