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4/8/09 4:21 AM | Ricky Dimon
Juan Carlos Ferrero and Potito Starace will square off in the Casablanca second round on Wednesday. A spot in the quarterfinals is at stake.
It will be the fifth career meeting between Juan Carlos Ferrero and Potito Starace when the two veterans do battle in the Grand Prix Hassan II second round on Tuesday afternoon. All of their previous encounters were on clay, and Ferrero leads the head-to-head series 3-1. Starace, however, won their most recent duel in the spring of 2007 at the Masters Series Rome.
Neither man has been in particularly good form since then. Starace reached a career-high of 27th in the world rankings in October of that year (2007), but he is now down at No. 90. The Italian owns a poor 5-9 match record so far in 2009. The good news for Starace, however, is that four of those nine wins have come on clay, his favorite surface. On Tuesday he ousted fellow clay-court specialist Oscar Hernandez in three sets.
Ferrero has fallen even further than Starace. Once No. 1 in the world, the Spaniard finds himself down at 115th in the rankings, mostly as a result of physical problems. Ferrero has continued to struggle this season, going 1-3 in matches during the early hard-court swing. But when he moved to clay he posted two quarterfinal showings; first in Costa Do Sauipe and then in Buenos Aires. While no longer the player he was in the early stages of this decade, the 2003 French Open champion can still be dangerous, especially on clay. Ferrero showed as much again on Tuesday, ousting No. 7 seed Christophe Rochus in easy straight sets.
Wednesday's second-round clash will be a treat for fans of clay-court tennis. It will be a baseline grind at its finest, and the backhand exchanges (Starace's one-hander to Ferrero's two-hander) should be scorching. Ferrero has more talent and should be playing with a decent amount of confidence at the moment, so this is his match to win. The question, of course, is whether or not he will look as physically fit as he did against Rochus. Assuming no problems arise, look for "the Mosquito" to take out Starace in a tight three-setter.
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Potito Starace
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Grand Prix Hassan II
remi, Mar 17, 2010 2:16 AM
tanna, Mar 17, 2010 1:50 AM
smr, Mar 17, 2010 12:11 AM
Sib69, Mar 17, 2010 12:08 AM
jonir, Mar 16, 2010 9:49 PM
remi, Mar 17, 2010 2:20 AM
chr18, Mar 17, 2010 12:40 AM
tj600, Mar 17, 2010 12:35 AM
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it's early, and his opponent is Starace, but Ferrero can play with anyone in the world on clay other than Nadal if he keeps playing like this
RickyDimon , 4/8/09 6:59 PM