2011 Open 13: Nicolas Mahut vs. Andrey Kumantsov – Preview
French tennis fans rejoice as one of their own takes finally takes to the courts on Tuesday. Playing at the 2011 Open 13 in Marseille, France local wildcard entrant Nicolas
Mahut begins his campaign as he takes on the Russian qualifier, Andrey Kumantsov.
Ranked 89th in the world, Mahut is playing at his first tour level event. Like top Brit Andy Murray and American giant John Isner, Mahut had started this year
competing in the first ITF event of the season, the Hopman Cup. Partnering Kristina Mladenovic, Mahut represented France. Although he won his rubber against Italian Potito Starace, Mahut lost to Murray and Isner losing any chances of France making it to the
finals.
Mahut next competed at the second ITF event of the season, the season opening Grand Slam, the 2011 Australian Open. Ranked 132nd then, Mahut appeared in the qualifying
draw. Defeating Frederik Nielsen in the qualifying final, Mahut gained acceptance in the main draw of the event. Continuing his ascent, the 6ft3in Frenchman defeated Argentine Brian Dabul in his opening clash though he fell to Viktor Troicki in the second
round.
Ousted from the Grand Slam, Mahut appeared on the Challenger Tour. Participating at the Courmayeur event, Mahut made it all the way to the final where he defeated Gilles
Muller to clinch an event win for himself. However, the next week Mahut played in the Quimper event at home and fell to compatriot Ludovic Walter in the first round.
Debuting here in 2001, Mahut is putting in his seventh year here. The Frenchman’s career best here came in 2008 when he made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing
to Andy Murray. However, the Frenchman’s 2010 run here ended in the qualifying draw when he lost to Illya Marchenko and failed to make it into the main draw.
Playing the Russian for the first time, Mahut not only has the “surprise” element in his favour but the fact that he outranks the Russian by more than 200 places tip the
odds in his favour considerably.
Ranked 365th in the world, Kumantsov kicks off his tour this week as he successfully qualified for the main draw here in his debut run. Kumantsov upset qualifying
second seed, Go Soeda in his opening clash. He then moved on ahead to defeat Jonathan Hilaire before finally doing away with Belgian Ruben Bemelmans to gain acceptance in the main draw.
Kumantsov had earlier participated in three Futures events; Turkey F3, Turkey F2 and Turkey F1. The Russian also participated in the qualifying draw of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors
though losing to Roko Karanusic he failed to move into the main draw.
Prediction:
Given the disparity in their rankings, Mahut is the clear favourite to win the match. Also the fact that he enjoys the home court advantage makes it extremely difficult for the Russian to win the match.
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