Malaysian Open and PTT Thailand Open: Friday’s Preview
Five of the ATP World Tour’s top twenty are among the eight contenders taking the courts in Kuala Lumpur at the Malaysian Open competition on Friday.
The first clash on the Centre Court is the only qualifiers match up as world number 102, Igor Andreev from Russia will take on Milos Raonic of Canada on the very first occasion. The 19-year-old Milos is playing in his first ATP World Tour quarter, whereas
Ignor is a former top twenty player as well as the winner of three ATP World Tour trophies. This is going to be his first hard surface quarter of the year, with the other four coming on his darling clay courts.
Next up is an all-star match between the world number six Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Both the players are approaching a total of forty match victories for the year, and they have each recorded a single ATP World Tour crown
this season. Mikhail has triumphed in three of his last five clashes, taking the final match here back in 2009 in the second round in straight sets.
Third up is another all star-battle, featuring the third seed and Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic and the world number five Spaniard David Ferrer. David enjoys a career record of 4-2, winning the last three meetings. This is Tomas’
eighth quarter final appearance on this court and eleventh overall in 2010. David, on the other hand, is making his second quarter-final showing on hard surface and ninth overall this season.
Last up is the top seed Swede, Robin Soderling who will take on Andrey Golubev, an eighth seed from Kazakhstan on their very first clash. Soderling is at his career best ranking of world number five, and this is his tenth quarter or better in 2010. Andrey,
on the other hand, is 1-4 lifetime versus the top ten foes and won his first ATP World Tour crown earlier in Hamburg during the month of July. This is his first quarter since then and second overall this season.
In another action, the world number one Rafael Nadal, the third seed Jurgen Melzer from Austria and Ernests Gulbis headline today’s quarterfinal clashes at the PTT Thailand Open Men’s event.
In the first match of the day, veteran left-handed Jarkko Nieminen from Finland and Jurgen will face each other on the fourth occasion on the ATP World Tour. Jarkko has so far triumphed in all three past tour level encounters. He is contesting in his second
quarter in as many weeks and is attempting to make his way into his very first semi-final since Delray Beach earlier in February. Jurgen, on the other hand, is making a career best tenth quarter showing or better this season and is 4-5 in quarter final clashes.
He is attempting to earn one of the six remaining places for the year ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. He is currently number eleven in this year’s points standings.
In the second clash, the 2007 Bangkok runner up Benjamin Becker from Germany will meet Daniel Brands. Benjamin triumphed in straight sets in the opening round of United States Open in New York. Both of them are coming off victories over seeds, as Daniel
got the better of Thiemo de Bakker on Wednesday, whereas Benjamin dismissed Fernando Verdasco on Thursday.
In the evening session, Rafael Nadal will take on Mikhail Kukushkin from Kazakhstan on the very first occasion. The Spaniard leads the ATP World Tour with a total of six trophies and a match record of 60-7. Kukushkin, on the other hand, is attempting to
make his way into his second career ATP World Tour semi-final after reaching the semi-final round in Moscow back in 2009.
In the last match, Gulbis will play the Spaniard tennis player Guillermo Garcia Lopez. The 22-year-old Gulbis is hoping to make his way into his fourth semi-final this season, whereas Garcia-Lopez is trying to progress to his third ATP World Tour semi-final
or better in 2010. His best result was a finalist in Eastbourne during the month of June.
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