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  • Preview Marseille: Nicolas Mahut - Juan Carlos Ferrero

    2/13/08 3:48 PM | David Cox
    - It’s the classic clash of styles, the all-action net-rusher with the booming serve against the stylish baseliner.

    Nicolas Mahut vs Juan Carlos Ferrero (5)

    Mahut and Ferrero have only played once before, back in 2003 at the Paris indoors, Ferrero winning 7-6(7), 6-4 that day. However it’s hard to take too much from that result, back then Federer was yet to establish full dominance and Ferrero was among the top 3 on the planet, finally winning Roland Garros that year and making the US Open final. In contrast, Mahut was still grinding it out in challengers back then and had to rely on a wildcard to even get into the Paris qualifying that year

    Now Mahut is up to 44 in the rankings, after a couple of years loitering outside the top 100. The breakthrough came on the grass last year, he made the finals of Queens and Newport, claiming scalps like Rafael Nadal and Ivan Ljubicic along the way and thrilling crowds with his brand of attacking tennis. Ferrero is not the force he once was but after a dire 2005 he’s made it back to the top 15 and remains capable of troubling anyone on any surface.

    Both looked extremely impressive in rd1 yesterday, Ferrero outhitting a subdued Hyung-Taik Lee 6-4, 6-1 and Mahut easing past a Russian qualifier 6-3, 6-3. The Frenchman hasn’t had a great start to the year, losing early in Chennai and Sydney (albeit to Cilic and Hewitt) and crashing out of the Australian Open in rd2 to Davydenko. He was forced to step down to challengers for some match practise, having a confidence-boosting run to the semis in Bergamo last week before losing 7-5 in the 3rd to world no 53 Julien Benneteau. Ferrero in contrast, looked in fine shape last month, making the Auckland final and ousting Nalbandian on the way to rd4 in Melbourne

    Marseille hasn’t been a particularly happy hunting ground for either in the past, Mahut is yet to make it past round 2 here and Ferrero has only once made the quarters (2002).

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