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  • Monfils headlines Day 2 in Bangkok

    9/23/08 11:58 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - Gael Monfils will get Tuesday's night session at the Thailand Open started with a second-round clash against Robert Kendrick. Both first and second-round action will be in progress.

    Thomaz Bellucci vs. Simone Bolelli

    Bolelli is far more accomplished at the ATP level than Bellucci, but both men have emerged from relative obscurity in 2008. Coming into this year, Bolelli had won nine ATP matches in his entire career. In the past nine months he has won 24 matches (against 24 losses; a solid .500 record for the up-and-coming Italian). Bellucci, meanwhile, has made mincemeat of the Challenger circuit this season. The 20-year-old Brazilian won four tournaments on clay during the spring and summer before taking his game to the next level. Bellucci almost took the first set off Rafael Nadal in a first-round French Open clash and he won one round at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Still, he has won just four career ATP matches, so Bellucci is a decided underdog against Bolelli. Fast indoor hard courts will also help the Italian (even though he also thrives on clay), who could finish this in two sets.

    (4) Gael Monfils vs. Robert Kendrick

    Monfils has been wildly inconsistent throughout his professional career, but right now he is enjoying one of his hot streaks. The 22-year-old Frenchman reached the semifinals of the French Open, the semifinals in Nottingham, the quarterfinals of the Olympics, and the fourth round of the U.S. Open. The good news for Kendrick is that Mardy Fish crushed Monfils in New York, and Kendrick plays a similar game to Fish, albeit not close to as well. Kendrick is 6'3'' and he owns a huge serve, a rock-solid backhand, and a powerful but erratic forehand. He is capable of overpowering his opponent if he is firing on all cylinders, and that's the way to beat Monfils, who is arguably the fastest and most athletic player on tour. If Kendrick serves the way he is capable of serving, their first career meeting will at the very least be exciting. Monfils, however, is the heavy favorite to prevail.

    (8) Jurgen Melzer vs. Donald Young

    In their only previous meeting, which came earlier this season in Poertschach, Austria, Melzer handed Young a routine 7-5, 6-2 defeat. In that contests, howeve, Melzer had the home crowd behind him and he is more experienced than Young on clay, even though the surface does not especially suit either player. Young is still struggling to win matches at the ATP level, but he has showed off some of his best stuff since Poertschach. The 19-year-old American destroyed Tommy Haas in Los Angeles this summer and took James Blake to five sets in a thrilling, high-quality first-round encounter at the U.S. Open. Mezler is also in pretty decent form at the moment. The lefty made it to the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics and he won two matches in New York before falling to eventual runner-up Andy Murray in five sets. If Melzer serves well, allowing him to dictate play against the counter-punching Young, he will advance to round three, but it should be closer than it was between these two back in July.

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