2011 Mutua Madrid Open: David Ferrer vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky – Preview
Race for the quarter-finals begins at Madrid, Spain, as world number six David Ferrer takes on the 38th ranked Ukrainian, Sergiy Stakhovsky in the third round of Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday. The contest will take place
at Park Manzanares, where Ferrer will battle it out in front of his home crowd to make a place in the final eight of the tournament.
The Spaniard has been in tremendous form in the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season. Ferrer got a bye to the second round of the Madrid open and edged past the French qualifier, Adrian Mannarino, 7-5, 0-6,
6-0, to meet Stakhovsky in the third round. The Ukrainian accomplished a surprise victory, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3), against John Isner of the United States in the second round of the tournament.
The two men faced each other at Wimbledon in 2008, where Stakhovsky retired from the competition after losing the opening two sets to Ferrer. They haven’t played against each other on clay court and it will certainly be a test
of skills for the Ukrainian when he’ll compete against Ferrer, who is one of the best players on clay surface.
Apart from the 35-match winning streak of the world number one Rafael Nadal, Ferrer is the other Spaniard whose success on clay courts has been phenomenal. Ferrer began the Latin American clay-court season this year by winning
an ATP World Tour 500 tournament at Acapulco. He continued his brilliant form in the European clay court tournaments and made it to the finals of Monte-Carlo and Barcelona but each time he was defeated by Nadal. However, his voyages to the finals of the tournaments
are very impressive.
The Spaniard has registered 26 wins in the running ATP season, while losing just six matches. The Hard-hitting Ferrer is deemed to be one of the toughest competitors on clay court and can take down any top class opponent on his
day. It will not be wrong to say that with his recent performances at Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, Ferrer is certainly the hot favourite in the contest. However, he needs to get his focus in the game, as he seemed to have lost his concentration in the opening
round game against Mannarino, ending the contest with a bizarre of 7-5, 0-6, 6-0.
On the other hand, Stakhovsky has produced a major upset in the second round by defeating the world number 33 Isner to meet Ferrer in the third round. His victory over the better ranked player will certainly raise his confidence
level to the maximum level. Surely the Ukrainian will be under some sort of pressure of playing against the world number six player, who has already defeated him once. Stakhovsky can pressurise the Spaniard by stinging some early points and try to make him
lose his focus off the game.
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