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  • Lopez, Canas, and Tsonga open Hamburg play on Monday

    5/12/08 5:53 AM | Jonathan Morgan
    - In the first quarter, there is quite a bit of action on Monday in Hamburg wih 3 solid matches on tap.

    Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Nicolas Mahut

    This all-French matchup will be the first time these guys have played since a futures event way back in 2003. It was on clay and Mahut won in straights, but don't look too much into it. Neither player prefers the clay, as both have had much better results on a quicker surface. It will be only Tsonga's second match since injuring his knee in Davis Cup right after Miami. He seemed to be over it last week in Rome, but he looked rusty. He will have rectified that by now, and his serve, forehand, and overall power game will be too much for Mahut.

    Guillermo Canas vs. Michael Llodra

    Canas last year scored a pair of career-defining wins over Federer, but lost to him just last week in Rome. Llodra started off the year in fine form, winning Rotterdam and Adelaide, both on hard courts. Since then he has done aboslutely nothing, going 0-6 since his Rotterdam victory. Canas' best surface is clay and he has had some solid results all year. Canas should roll through this one easily as Llodra will get eaten up in the baseline rallies.

    Feliciano Lopez vs. Ivo Minar

    Lopez should have no problem with the qualifier Minar, despite the fact that he hasn't done much on clay this year. Minar has had an alright year on the clay, but he is simply a notch below Lopez's level. Minar is much more of a challenger tour player that occasionally gets to play with the big boys and can maybe pull off a win or two before going down. In this case however, Lopez should be too much for the Czech qualifier. Lopez's swinging lefty serve and forehand should grind Minar down before Lopez comes in for the finishing strike. Most baseline rallies will go like this and Lopez will take the win.

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