2011 Heineken Open: Xavier Malisse continues play on ATP Tour for second straight week
While the afternoon session wraps up for the day, Tuesday in Auckland will see three more singles for the evening session at the 2011 Heineken Open.
Kicking off singles play on court 4 will be qualifier Pere Riba as he plays Tobias Kamke.
Although, Riba had been part of the main draw at Doha last week, his first round ousting by Lukas Lacko dropped him in the rankings forcing him to compete in the qualifying round at Auckland if he had any wishes to gain acceptance in the main draw. Seeded
3rd in the qualifying draw, Riba opened his main draw run playing Aussie James Lemke. Riba moved ahead into the second round enjoying a 6-2, 6-4 win. He met and defeated Russian Raven Klaasen in the second round bouncing back from one set down.
Losing the first set 5-7, Riba bounced back in the second set to reverse the score and win it 7-5 before clinching a match victory by winning the decider 6-4. Moving ahead, he met the only remaining local in the draw, Jose Statham. Losing to the Statham’s
crowd advantage, Riba lost the opener 4-6. This was however, the only leeway he allowed the local. He won the second set 6-4 before going ahead to clinch a victory by registering 6-3 in the decider.
Kamke started 2011 playing at the Brisbane International last week. Drawing against 2009 champion and 2010 finalist, Radek Stepanek, Kamke got off to a good start winning the first set 7-5. However, he lost his form afterwards and losing the next two sets
was forced to exit the event.
Having never met before, the two players will be meeting for the first time on the ATP Tour. Given the almost same ranking between them, neither has much playing to their advantage and catching a lucky break either could win.
Playing on the centre court will be Xavier Malisse as he plays 2010 finalist and wildcard entrant Arnaud Clement. Meeting for the fifth time on the courts, the pair stands at 3-2 head to head score in Malisse’s favour. Having met thrice in 2001, their last
meeting came at the Australian Open in 2007. Malisse started 2011 playing at the Aircel Chennai Open. Moving past Janko Tipsarevic in the semis, Malisse setup a final clash with Stanislas Wawrinka though he failed to clinch the title.
Clement, on the other hand, started 2011 at Brisbane though he failed to make it past the first round owing to his loss to qualifier Ricardos Berankis. Given the statistical advantage coupled with the final run last week, Malisse might win. However, in their
last two meetings, Clement has been victorious.
Wrapping up the singles action for the day will be Robin Haase as he plays Pablo Cuevas for their first ever ATP Tour meeting. Although, this will be Cuevas' first match in 2011, Haase already stands at a 2-1 mark given his quarterfinal run at the Chennai
event where he was ousted by eventual champion Wawrinka.
Tags: