2011 Movistar Open, Santiago Giraldo vs Igor Andreev, preview
In its 18th edition, the 2011 Movistar Open enters the fourth day of play on Thursday. The first red clay event of the season, the Movistar Open is an ATP 250 level tournament.
With four of the quarterfinal spots already filled in the draw, only four positions now remain. Kicking off the remainder of the second round matches of the event is the eighth seeded, Santiago Giraldo, as he takes on the un-seeded Russian, Igor Andreev.
Making his debut at the Santiago event, Giraldo is playing at his second tour level event this year. He kicked off the year playing at the 2011 Heineken Open in Auckland where he made it all the way to the semi-final before being ousted by eventual champion,
David Ferrer.
His run at the Grand Slam Down Under didn’t go as planned since he had to exit the event in the second round following his loss to fifteenth seed, Marin Cilic.
Coming into the Santiago event, Giraldo was seeded eighth in the main draw. Drawn against Argentine qualifier, Facundo Bagnis, Giraldo bounced back from being one set down to secure a three set win over the Argentine.
Andreev on the other hand moved into the second round after a surprising straight sets victory over Argentine, Eduardo Schwank. Clinching a 6-3 victory in the first set, Andreev was able to ensure his survival at the event after securing a 7-4 win in the
tiebreaker of the second set.
Playing at this third ATP event of the year, Andreev started his run at the Brisbane International but was ousted in the first round by Alexandr Dolgopolov. Playing as a qualifier at 2011 Medibank International Sydney next, Andreev was able to go one step
further and exited in the second round when he lost to third seed, Ernests Gulbis.
The Russian met with the same hard luck in his Grand Slam run. Although, he was able to win his opening clash against Filippo Volandri, he fell to fourteenth seed Nicolas Almagro in the second round though not before pushing the match to five sets with one
tiebreaker.
The Russian plays the Colombian for the second time in their career with the career head to head score resting at 1-0 in the Russian’s favour. The pair had last met in their first round clash at the 2007 Aircel Chennai Open. Andreev had prevailed in straight
sets though Giraldo put up quite a fight, pushing the second set into a tiebreaker.
The winner of this match will go on to face fourth seeded Argentine, Juan Ignacio Chela or Brazilian qualifier, Caio Zampieri.
Prediction: Although Andreev enjoys the lead in the career head to head, Giraldo not only registers a better year-to-date win loss mark but the Colombian had also exhibited better form lately. Giraldo might be able to finally level his head
to head with Andreev for a spot in the quarterfinals.
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