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  • First Round Preview: Second Quarter of the Draw

    3/13/08 1:07 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - All off the seeded players get byes into the second round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, but that doesn’t mean the first round is without intrigue. The opening stage of the tournament is still loaded with talent, and that’s apparent in the second quarter of the draw.

    Ernests Gulbis vs. Oscar Hernandez
    Gulbis got off to a dismal start in 2008, but the talented 19-year-old from Latvia showed signs of turning things around last week in Las Vegas. He survived a tough three-set test from Nicolas Massu in the first round and then decimated Peter Luczak 6-2, 6-1 before resorting back to his early-season form in a bad loss to Robby Ginepri. Gulbis proved at last season’s U.S. Open that he can contend with almost anyone when he plays to his potential, and anything close to his peak should be too much for Oscar Hernandez at the Pacific Life Open. The Spaniard looked lost in thee hard-court tournaments earlier in 2008 and he has not ventured away from his preferred clay surface since the Australian Open. Gulbis should take advantage of the hard courts and power his way past Hernandez.

    John Isner vs. Simone Bolelli
    While 2007 for Isner was all about what was, this season the story is what might have been. The 6’9 American owns a decent 3-4 match record, including a quarterfinal appearance in San Jose, but he’s already lost two matches that both went to third-set tiebreakers and saw him blow match points. It’s a proven fact, however, that Isner is normally rock-solid in pressure circumstances, as he took the tennis world by storm last summer with a run to the final of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C. All five wins en route to the title match came in third-set tiebreakers. Bolelli is relatively unproven and little-known, but he is coming off a semifinal showing in Zagreb last month and should be able to give Isner trouble. Expect at least one or two tiebreakers when these two meet.

    Max Mirnyi vs. Jose Acasuso
    Mirnyi has plummeted all the way down to No. 206 in the world rankings and it’s looking more and more like he will soon become exclusively a doubles player. But don’t tell the Beast that. After a woeful start to 2007, Mirnyi qualified for the Pacific Life Open main draw by upsetting Teimuraz Gabashvili and then ousting Mathieu Montcourt. Clearly his focus this season will be on doubles with new partner Jaime Murray (they have already won one title, in Delray Beach), but so far this week it looks like he could make some rare—albeit brief—noise in singles. Acasuso will be making his first appearance on hard courts since the Australian Open, having toiled on the clay of South America over the past month. The Argentine was runner-up in Buenos Aires (to David Nalbandian) and reached the semifinals in Acapulco, but how will he adjust to the faster surface of Indian Wells? Acasuso has to be favored in this one, but Mirnyi should be able to make it extremely interesting on hard courts.

    In other second-quarter matches, Las Vegas champion Sam Querrey should be able to serve his way through Luis Horna, in-form Gilles Simon is favored over Carlos Berlocq, Mardy Fish meets struggling Florian Mayer, and veteran Thomas Johansson could have a tough one with Yen-Hsun Lu.

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