2010 Bank Austria Tennis Trophy Singles Main Draw: Thursday’s Preview
Ten professionals take to the courts on Thursday in Vienna as the event enters its fourth day of play. A total of five singles matches are scheduled for the day with four in Centre court and one in the side court of the Wiener
Stadthalle.
Four professionals mark the start of day’s play as two singles matches are to be played side by side in the centre and side courts. The first pair battling it out in the centre court will be German Michael Berrer and Pablo Cuevas
from Uruguay. Berrer advanced into the tournament after upsetting sixth seed, Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Cuevas defeated Dutch number one Thiemo de Bakker to move ahead into the second round. Both players have a 2-1 set win loss record so far in the
tournament. Their head to head score however rests at 0-0 since they have never played at any ATP event before.
The second pair is that of qualifying round finalist Grega Zemlja from Slovenia and eighth seed, Argentinean Juan Ignacio as they battle it out in court B. Ignacio defeated Zemlja’s compatriot, Andrej Martin to move ahead into
the tournament. With that match fresh in his mind, Zemlja might be extra motivated for a win so as to compensate for Martin’s defeat so early in the tournament.
The Berrer vs. Cuevas match will be followed by 3rd seed, Nicolas Almagro from Spain meeting Colombian Santiago Giraldo on the court. This is Almagro’s first matchup of the tournament since he received a bye into the
second round. Giraldo defeated Belgian Xavier Malisse to move ahead into the tournament. Since Almagro is a seeded player, Giraldo has his work cut out for him and will have to bring his A game if he wishes to stay in the running. Their head to head score
rests at 0-0 since the pair have never met at any ATP event before.
Lucky loser and local, Andreas Haider-Maurer will also take to the court to play for the third consecutive day in the event. Maurer defeated Austrian veteran, Thomas Muster to move ahead into the second round. His second round
match will be against the Italian Andreas Seppi on Thursday, who advanced into the tournament after removing Austrian Martin Fischer from the running for the title in his first round match.
The Maurer-Seppi matchup will be followed by another seeded player’s first match of the tournament. Fourth seed, Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus will be playing German Bjorn Phau for his first match of the event. Baghdatis having
received a bye in the first round advanced automatically into the second round. Phau defeated countryman and 2010 Kremlin Cup’s finalist Florian Mayer with a straight set win to stay in the title run.
With two of the top seeds playing in the day, important results will be seen on the scoreboard at day’s end. Since all the singles matches scheduled for the day are second round matches the fans will be a step closer to narrowing
down the contenders for the title run. Five out of eight spots for the singles quarterfinals will be filled tomorrow.
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