2010 Open Sud de France; Preview of the evening matches
The 2010 Open Sud de France tennis tournament will feature two matches in the evening session on Tuesday. In the opening clash in Montpellier, later in the day, Olivier Rochus of Belgium will take on Michael Llorda on the centre court.
The 30-year-old Llorda who is currently ranked number thirty two in the world by the Association of tennis professionals enters with a match record of 24-18 on the season. The left hander who turned professional back in 1999 won the Marseille title earlier this year after getting the better of Benneteau. He achieved his career high ranking of world number twenty eight back in September this season. The French man also reached the quarter final round in Queen's Club where he was given a beating by Mardy Fish in straight sets. He has so far won a total of five ATP World Tour titles in his career.
The Paris-born started off his 2010 campaign with a first round defeat in Sydney and Brisbane. He then reached the second round at the Australian Open in Melbourne and eventually lost to Juan Monaco in a five-setter epic. The final match score was 6-3, 6-3, 6-7(5), 1-6, 3-6.
The 1.90 meters tall player next played in Rotterdam and once again couldn’t even win his opening round match as he was thrashed out by Marco Chiudinelli in the first round. One week later, the professional tennis player from France stunningly triumphed in the 2010 Open 13 championship in Marseille. He made his way into the final after hammering down Marcos Baghdatis as well as Robin Soderling in the initial rounds. In the title battle, Llorda crushed Julien Benneteau in two sets on their first ever meeting on the tour. The final match score was 6-3, 6-4.
The Belgian tennis ace, Olivier Rochus on the other hand, enters with a lifetime mark of 3-0 versus Michael Llorda. The 29-year-old Rochus who turned professional back in 1999 has triumphed in two of the last three clashes in Challenger events. Olivier is famous for being extremely short as he is 1.68 meters tall. The right hander who is currently ranked number 104 in the world by the Association of tennis professionals achieved his career high ranking of world number twenty five back in 2005. He has so far reached the finals in New Port where he was defeated by Mardy Fish and quarter final in Nice where the Belgian was bundled out of the tournament by Richard Gasquet.
In the concluding match of the day, the 28-year-old Argentinean David Nalbandian will take on Marcel Granollers on the second occasion in his career. Nalbandian triumphed in their previous clash which took place in the second round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo back in 2009. The right handed Nalbandian who made his debut on the ATP tour back in 2000 has come back strongly from last season’s hip surgery to improve his ranking from 161 to number thirty one in the world. The Unquillo resident captured his eleventh title of his career back in Washington during the month of August.
The Barcelona resident Marcel, on the other hand is currently ranked number sixty eight in the world. He has so far reached the semi-final round in Bucharest and a quarter final showing in Santiago where he was defeated by Andujar and Gonzalez respectively. The Spaniard enters with a match record of 17-19 on the season and has won a single title on the tour. He achieved his career high ranking of world number forty four back in 2009.
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