2011 Movistar Open: Thomaz Bellucci begins title defence at the event
Brazil’s number one, Thomaz Bellucci kicks off his title defence at the 2011 Movistar Open on Monday. In its 16th edition, the 2011 Movistar Open is an ATP 250 series event and the first tournament of the year to be
played on clay surface. It is held in Santiago, Chile, starting from 30 January and ending on 6 February.
Bellucci, currently ranked 30th in the world, is returning to the event for the third straight year. His debut at the event in 2009 saw him exiting in the second round after a straight sets loss to eventual finalist,
Argentinean Jose Acasuso. However, his 2010 run at the event went much further than the second round did, making it all the way to the finals where he defeated Juan Monaco to clinch his career’s second ATP title.
Bellucci started the year by playing at the Heineken Open in Auckland. Seeded seventh in the event, he reached the quarterfinals before losing to unseeded Colombian, Santiago Giraldo. Seeded 30th in the Australian Open,
Bellucci was ousted in the second round by qualifier Jan Hernych in a five set match.
The first rung in Bellucci’s title defence ladder in the Movistar Open is the Italian, Filippo Volandri. Given the disparity in their rankings, Bellucci, a Top 50 player, will probably move past the Italian in straight sets with
a minimal loss of games. The head-to-head score for the pair rests at 0-0 since the pair has never played in any ATP Tour level match before.
While these two battle it out in the central court, playing in one of the side courts will be Russian Igor Andreev as he plays Argentinean Eduardo Schwank. A clay-court-specialist, Schwank will probably get the better off Andreev,
regardless of the fact that the Russian outranks him.
Meeting for the second time on the court, Schwank currently holds a 1-0 lead in the career head-to-head score against the Russian. They last met on the courts in 2008 when Schwank had dispatched the Russian in the first round with
a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
The Bellucci-Volandri match will be followed by a clash between sixth seed, Tommy Robredo and Frederico Gil. Robredo is a clay-court-specialist just like his compatriots Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer; however, Gil currently enjoys
a 1-0 lead in the career head-to-head score. The pair met at Gstaad last year, where Gil bounced back from being one set down to prevail 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 and lead the head-to-head score. However, given the fact that the match was a hard fought battle between
the two, it would be completely unwise to dismiss either of the two.
As Robredo plays Gil, Robredo’s compatriot Pablo Andujar will be competing against Aussie Peter Luczak on the side court. While Andujar is playing in his first ATP Tour event of 2011, Luczak started his 2011 run by playing at the
Brisbane International, as the lucky loser, though he was ousted of the event only in the first round.
Playing their first ever match on the ATP Tour, Andujar will probably defeat Luczak since the latter is not accustomed to the clay surface. Moreover, the Aussie is ranked about 70 places below the Spaniard in the world rankings.
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