BCR Open & Open de Moselle: Friday’s Preview
A total of 8 ATP World tour players will play on clay courts in Bucharest at the BCR Open on Friday.
In the opening clash on centre court, fourth seeded Juan Ignacio Chela from Argentina will take on Bjorn Phau. Juan and Bjorn have played against each other on only one previous occasion before where the Argentinean lost just four games in a Challenger clash
10 years ago. Juan is the latest tennis contender remaining in the main draw, losing only a single game on his way into the quarterfinal.
Next up is third seeded Potito Starace from Italy who will meet Spanish tennis player Marcel Granollers. Potito has triumphed in both of their previous clashes comprehensively in straight sets at the clay court in Valencia back in 2007 as well as here in
Bucharest back in 2008. However, Marcel has already defeated sixth seeded Romanian tennis ace Victor Hanescu in the opening round of the tournament.
In the third match for Friday, the top seeded and last year’s winner Albert Montanes from Spain will play eight seeded player Jeremy Chardy on centre court. Albert, who is currently enjoying his career highest ranking of world number 22, will be contesting
his seventh ATP World Tour quarter of the season and is hoping for a semi-final berth in Bucharest.
The only clash between unseeded players will involve Pablo Cuevas and Pablo Andujar who is a qualifier from Spain. Both of them have split Challenger clashes at 1-1. However, Cuevas did triumph in their last ATP World Tour match in the opening round of Estoril
earlier this season in three sets. The final match score was 1-6, 7-5 and 6-0. Cuevas is contesting in his fifth quarterfinal of the season which have all been contested on clay. On the other hand, this is Andujar's first ATP World Tour quarterfinal in 2010.
Andujar made his way into the quarters after getting the better of his second seeded foe, Florian Mayer on Thursday.
In other action in Metz, a powerful quarter-finals line-up is scheduled on Friday at the Open de Moselle tennis tournament with a total of four top ten contenders and five overall seeds in France.
Heading the way is the top seed Marin Cilic from Croatia, the fourth seeded Richard Gasquet from France, sixth seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber from Germany, the seventh seeded Tommy Robredo from Spain and the eight seeded Gilles Simon.
In the first match, Gilles stands at a lead of 1-0 versus the top ranked Belgian Xavier Malisse, who is attempting to make his way into his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the season. The 30-year-old Xavier is the oldest tennis contender remaining in
the section. Gilles on the other hand is playing in his third ATP World Tour quarterfinal of the year. His last semi-final appearance came in Lyon in October back in 2009.
Mischa Zverev, a qualifier from Germany will play the second match of the day against Jarkko Niemen. The German is looking for his second victory in as many attempts versus Jarkko. Both of them are trying to reach their second ATP World Tour semi-final of
the season, the first one since February. Jarkko was also a Delray Beach semi-finalist.
In the third clash of the day, Cilic will attempt to level his record of 2-3 versus Kohlschreiber. The Croat triumphed in their previous clash in the semi-final round at Vienna in October last year. Cilic is trying to advance into his sixth semi-final of
the year.
In the late evening schedule, the fourth seeded and 2004 Metz finalist Richard Gasquet will take on his seventh seeded opponent Tommy Robredo on the fourth occasion. Tommy is ahead of the two with 2-1. Richard is attempting to advance into his fourth ATP
World Tour semi-final and Tommy his second of the season. Gasquet won his sixth career ATP World Tour trophy in Nice during the month of May.
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