David Ferrer vs Igor Andreev – Opening Round Preview: US Open 2011
Spain’s number two tennis player, David Ferrer, will begin his campaign at the last Grand Slam tournament of the running year, US Open, by facing the unseeded Russian, Igor Andreev, in the opening round on Tuesday afternoon.
The contest will be staged on the outdoor hard courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States, with the winner of the match getting a berth in the second
round of the tournament.
Rated at number five in ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, the Spaniard has been in a brilliant form so far in the current season. Ferrer has a 40-12 winning record and his aggressive game play has earned
him two championship titles this ATP season. He took off 2011 by bagging his 10th ATP title at Heineken Open by defeating the former world number three, David Nalbandian of Argentina in the final.
Ferrer then went on to defend his title at Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco to extend his title count to 11. The Spaniard played his most recent match at the Cincinnati Masters, where he was defeated in the third round of the
tournament at the hands of the 10th seeded Frenchman, Gilles Simon. Ferrer is seeded at number five in the US Open and will certainly desire to put up a far better performance than he did in Cincinnati.
The Russian, competitor, Andreev, is currently rated at number 78 in the world rankings and has been struggling throughout the running ATP season to get his vintage form back. Andreev won 15 of the total matches he played this
year and has suffered 22 defeats to fall to the number 78 spot.
The Russian has an impressive record against Ferrer and the head-to-head series between the two contestants is levelled at 4-4. The Spaniard is currently running a three-match winning streak against Andreev and it is highly anticipated
that Ferrer will extend his winning record against the Russian in Tuesday’s matchup.
The Last time these two men faced each other was in the quarter-finals at Buenos Aires, where Ferrer nailed a cracking straight sets victory 7-5, 6-2, against Andreev. The Spaniard has played against Andreev on hard courts on four
different occurrences and they both have won two matches each.
The best run Ferrer ever had at the US Open was in 2007, when he surprised the second seeded fellow compatriot, Rafael Nadal in the fourth round and then took down Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina to reach his first ever Grand Slam
semi-final. He was defeated by Novak Djokovic in the round of four and has never gone that far in his voyage at the US Open.
Andreev has best campaign at the Flushing Meadows was in 2008, making up to the fourth round of the tournament, only to be defeated by the Swiss maestro, Roger Federer in a tantalisingly close matchup 6–7 (5), 7–6 (5), 6–3, 3–6,
6–3.
The two men have played against each other on a number of occasions and it won’t be any different on Tuesday. Ferrer is certainly the hot favourite for the contest but he must know he has suffered equal number of defeats from Andreev
as his victories against him.
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