2011 Open 13: Robin Haase vs. Andreas Seppi – Preview
Dutch Robin Haase kicks off the singles action on Tuesday at the 2011 Open 13 in Marseille, France as he takes on Italian Andreas Seppi. The first of five tournaments held in France, the Open 13 is an ATP 250 level event played on indoor hard courts.
Ranked 47th in the world, Seppi has met with little success on the tour so far this season. Starting the year at the season opening, 2011 Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, Seppi failed to move past the first round as he lost to German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
A week later, Seppi met with similar fate at the 2011 Medibank International Sydney. Unseeded at the event, Seppi was able to move into the next round after defeating Denis Istomin. However, he was ousted in the second round by Richard Gasquet. Playing at
the season opening Grand Slam the Australian Open, Seppi saw another second round exit. Defeating Arnaud Clement, Seppi was forced to exit in the second round by Clement’s compatriot, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Although the Italian hasn’t met with much success on the tour, his run in the Challenger events has been fruitful. Playing at the Bergamo event last week, Seppi made it all the way to the finals where he defeated Gilles Muller to clinch a title win for himself.
Returning back to the tour this week, Seppi is participating in his fifth straight year here. Although Seppi might have been playing here for almost half a decade, the Italian has never had much luck on this surface. His debut in 2007 took him past Mario
Ancic in the first round to Jonas Bjorkman in the second where he was defeated in straight sets. With the exception of 2008 when the Italian was defeated in the first round by Michael Llodra, Seppi has met with second round exits so far.
Starting his fifth year here, Seppi begins his campaign against Haase. This would be the pair’s second meeting on tour though their last and first meeting came three years ago at the Vienna event in 2007. Seppi had managed a 7-5, 6-3 victory over the Dutch
then. Although it did not contribute to the official head to head, the pair met once again in a Challenger event in 2008. However, this time around Haase had gotten the better of Seppi as the former bounced back from being one set down to prevail in three
sets.
Sporting a positive year-to-date win loss mark; Haase ranks 54th in the world with three tour level participations so far in the season. His season best so far came at the season opening, Aircel Chennai Open where he enjoyed a quarterfinal run
before losing to eventual champion, Stanislas Wawrinka. Haase also made it to the third round of the Australian Open where he lost to the hard hitting American, Andy Roddick.
Falling in the qualifying draws in 2007 and 2008, this week marks the first main draw participation for the Dutch.
Prediction: Both professionals are equally matched to predict a clear winner. However, Haase’s recent victory over Seppi slightly tips the odds in the Dutch’s favour.
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