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  • Rome round two: Fourth quarter preview

    5/7/08 4:49 AM | Cheryl Murray
    - James Blake and Andy Murray take to the court on Wednesday as each looks to make strides on the surface that troubles them most.

    James Blake vs. Andreas Seppi

    Number eight seed James Blake is not exactly known for his clay court acumen. He decided to play in Barcelona last week at the last moment and lost in the second round (he had a bye in the first round) to Denis Gremelmayr of Germany. He completely skipped playing Monte Carlo along with American Davis Cup teammate Andy Roddick. Italy's Andreas Seppi is ranked 46 in the word, but he is a more accomplished clay court player and will be playing in front of the hometown crowd. Blake and Seppi have met twice and have split wins. Both of their meetings occurred on hardcourts. Expect Blake to book another early flight - Seppi in two.

    Andy Murray vs. Stanislas Wawrinka

    Andy Murray comes into this second round match off a strange and eventful first round match with Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro, who eventually had to retire in the third set with a chronic back injury. Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka had an equally strange, but much less interesting first round match against Marat Safin, in which the players exchanged a staggering number of service breaks before Wawrinka finally pulled himself together to win in three.

    Neither Murray nor Wawrinka played impressively; this match will most likely come down to which player has the better clay court form. Murray has traditionally struggled on the dirt and to compound the problem, he missed half of the 2007 clay season with a terrible wrist injury that also kept him from competing in Wimbledon. Wawrinka has less issue with his actual clay form and more with keeping focused in difficult matches. If the Swiss man can keep mentally strong, he should be able to beat Murray. Wawrinka in three.

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Comments

"Expect Blake to book another early flight - Seppi in two."

oops. :)

sheila , 5/7/08 5:31 PM


Yeah, as bad as Blake is on clay, Seppi just isn't very good on anything. Blake utterly destroyed Seppi in Miami.


Waw over Murray is a solid pick though.

RickyDimon , 5/7/08 6:37 PM


On any given day, Blake can lose to ANYONE on clay. It wouldn't have been a big shock to anyone if Blake had lost, right?

cherylmurray , 5/7/08 9:10 PM


Blake is incredibly inconsistent and prone to get negative in a heartbeat. This was a fair prediction.

Hey sheila, instead of getting pleasure out of posting like a retard, go get some fresh air, and try to drop a dress size or two. It will cut down on your bitterness about life, and soften your need to be right about a writer's predictions. Keep it up, and you may one day find a man to date you...:)

GlitterattiGirl , 5/7/08 9:47 PM


It wouldn't have been a shock, I just didn't dare touch Seppi in that match.

Then again, I wouldn't have touched Blake if I were a betting man, either :-)

RickyDimon , 5/7/08 9:56 PM



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