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  • Del Potro, Argentines invade Vienna

    10/8/08 5:32 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Juan Martin Del Potro kicks off his campaign at the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy on Wednesday. Fellow Argentines Guillermo Canas and Eduardo Schwank will contest second-round matches.

    (5) Fernando Verdasco vs. Guillermo Canas

    Verdasco and Canas have squared off on five previous occasions, but not once since 2005. The first three decisions--all on clay and all in 2004--went to Verdasco before Canas won on both hard courts and grass in '05. Now, however, Verdasco is more well-rounded on all surfaces. This season he reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and more recently the semifinals in New Haven. At 30 years old, Canas is on the downside of his career after a surprising 2007 campaign. The Argentine has been in dismal form of late, but he posted a solid straight-set win over Andreas Seppi in the first round this week. Verdasco is the heavy favorite and should take care of business, but don't be surprised if Canas takes it to three sets.

    Martin Fischer vs. (3) Juan Martin Del Potro

    Ranked 219th in the world, Fischer obviously had to get a wild card into the Vienna main draw. What he did not get, however, was a withdrawl from Del Potro. The Argentine is coming off a runner-up finish in Tokyo, where he looked under the weather in his final loss to Tomas Berdych. Nonetheless, Del Potro appears ready for action on Wednesday and that is not good news for Fischer. Del Potro won four consecutive tournaments in between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and then reached the quarterfinals in New York. Needless to say, a little-known Austrian will not be the one to derail Del Potro's momentum. The No. 3 seed will make quick work of Fischer much to the chagrin of the crowd.

    Carlos Moya vs. Eduardo Schwank

    This is a rematch of an epic forst-round encounter at the French Open earlier this season. Schwank needed three hours and 58 minutes to overcome Moya, who stormed back from two sets down to force a decididng fifth. The up-and-coming Argentine made a name for himself in clay-court Challenger events leading up to Wimbledon, but he is faring just fine on the hard stuff as well. He had match points against Andy Roddick in Washington, D.C. and he reached the quarterfinals in Metz last week. On Tuesday in round one he upset No.7 seed Gilles Simon. Moya also reached the Metz quarterfinals, three weeks after finishing runner-up on the clay courts of Bucharest. Another long battle will be in the cards, but look for Moya to get revenge.

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