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6/9/08 1:45 PM | David Cox
Alex Bogdanovic vs Joseph Sirianni
This is a huge tournament for British wildcard Bogdanovic; having reached the 3rd round of this event last year he has a mountain of points to defend and an early loss could see him on the verge of slipping out of the top 300. He’s been rewarded with a kind opening draw against Aussie qualifier Joseph Sirianni who he’s beaten twice before, the last win coming in straight sets on the indoor hard courts of Cherbourg in February. Sirianni is actually ranked nearly 100 places higher than Bogdanovic at 165 but the Brit has been in the top 120 and is a much better player than his current ranking of 242 suggests, having beaten world No. 81 Mischa Zverev 6-2, 6-3 at Surbiton last week. He has been plagued by inconsistency and while he often raises his game against the much higher ranked players, he struggles to put away the lower-ranked ones. Sirianni’s progress through qualifying was far from straightforward, winning his last two matches in final set tiebreaks.
Prediction: Bogdanovic in 3
Ernests Gulbis vs Kristof Vliegen
Fresh from making the French Open quarters, Gulbis will be looking to improve on a dreadful grass season last year - he lost in the first round of Queen's (7-6, 7-6 to Kendrick), Hertogenbosch and Wimbledon. He has the game to make an impact on the surface with those all important weapons - a big serve and solid volleys, though he will need to get into the net a lot more than usual. Gulbis has a good draw to get him started against Belgian world No. 85 Vliegen, ranked five places lower than Gulbis (until Monday as Gulbis surged to No. 51) who’s more of a clay—courter. They played in the Mons challenger final last autumn, which Gulbis won 7-5, 6-3.
Prediction: Gulbis in 2
Sebastian Grosjean vs Rik De Voest
Grosjean is no longer the force which took him to the world’s top 5, the Wimbledon semi-finals and two Queens finals but he still remains a threat especially on this surface. A deadly accurate serve especially out wide, superb lateral movement, and his shot-making on the run were his trademarks and although he missed most of the clay-court season with injury it shouldn’t take him long to adjust to the grass and Andy Murray won’t be relishing a possible meeting in round two. De Voest is ranked 73 places lower at 130 and had to come through qualifying but his big-serving game made progress relatively straightforward dropping just one set.
Prediction: Grosjean in 2
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Did you know that... Gustavo Kuerten was ranked 66th in the world when he won the French Open in 1997.
sstay, Sep 8, 2008 9:32 AM
mara2, Sep 8, 2008 7:00 AM
RafaNadalGirl20, Sep 8, 2008 6:50 AM
BernieEliza, Sep 8, 2008 5:47 AM
BernieEliza, Sep 8, 2008 5:42 AM
kaitepai, Sep 8, 2008 6:04 AM
DdV, Sep 7, 2008 5:43 PM
DdV, Sep 7, 2008 5:36 PM
Did you know that... Both Rafael Nadal and Björn Borg won 16 titles as teenagers.
sstay, Sep 8, 2008 9:32 AM
mara2, Sep 8, 2008 7:00 AM
RafaNadalGirl20, Sep 8, 2008 6:50 AM
BernieEliza, Sep 8, 2008 5:47 AM
BernieEliza, Sep 8, 2008 5:42 AM
kaitepai, Sep 8, 2008 6:04 AM
DdV, Sep 7, 2008 5:43 PM
DdV, Sep 7, 2008 5:36 PM
