Kevin Anderson will contest his first match as a top-10 player when he opens in Shanghai against Tommy Haas on Tuesday. Second-round action is beginning with an all-Croat battle between Marin Cilic and Borna Coric.
(WC) Tommy Haas vs. (12) Kevin Anderson
Anderson and Haas will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they clash in round one of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Tuesday. They split their two previous encounters; Anderson prevailed 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 on the indoor hard courts of Stockholm in 2011 before Haas won 6-4, 6-4 at the 2013 Cincinnati Masters. Anderson may not have thought he would be facing Haas again in 2015, but the German is still on the scene at 37 years old despite a myriad of injuries. He has played sparingly this season because of a shoulder problem, but he was at least competitive in recent Grand Slam losses to Milos Raonic (Wimbledon) and Fernando Verdasco (U.S. Open).
The last major of the year saw Anderson achieve a breakout of sorts, as he upset Andy Murray and reached the quarterfinals for the first time. Shanghai’s No. 12 seed is 39-20 on the season and just broke into the top 10 on Monday right on the number at a career-high 10th. Anderson, however, is coming off a blowout loss to Gilles Muller in last week’s Tokyo first round. He should be eager to make a statement with his new status in the top 10 and is likely to take advantage of an opponent who may never be able to serve at 100 percent again.
Pick: Anderson in 3
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(14) Marin Cilic vs. Borna Coric
Cilic played well at the U.S. Open to reach the semifinals and turned in a decent quarterfinal showing last week in Tokyo, but his Shanghai campaign almost never got off the ground despite what appeared to be a favorable draw. Chinese wild card Di Wu had a match point in the third set on Monday only to see Cilic save it with an ace as the heavily-favored Croat eventually scored a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory. The world No. 12 is 28-16 for the season and has been impressively consistent since finally getting over a shoulder injury this spring.
Up next for Cilic is a first-ever meeting with his younger countryman, Coric. The 18-year-old is also coming off a third-set tiebreaker survival; he edged Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(5) on Sunday. Coric is up to 40th in the world thanks to a breakout season in which he has earned 25 of his 32 career ATP-level match wins. Cilic has to view his opener as a wake-up call and will undoubtedly treat an opponent he knows very well far more seriously than the little-known Wu. In the end, the favorite’s superior firepower will prove decisive.
Pick: Cilic in 3
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Anderson in 3 and Cilic in 2
Borna will upset Cilic if he makes as many errors as he did today against Wu. Borna is a wall.
Maybe Cilic had enough of a scare in his first match and will come out playing better.
Yep. Wakeup call. And coric wont sneak up on him.
Fog is playing Sousa atm and all the commies are talking about are his wins over Rafa this year. Any excuse to trash talk Rafa. Trash talking Rafa is everywhere.
Speaking of Fog, he lost one service game in the 1st set (he broke back) and needed a hug after the set:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRML5lUXAAA9qbS.png:medium
Roger is in a 1st set TB against Albert Ramos.
Notice how quiet it is when Rafa is not playing? Tennis sites come alive as soon as Rafa takes to the court.
Ramos takes the 1st set against Roger.
OOP for Wednesday:
http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2015/5014/op.pdf
so Rafa gets the prime time again… 🙂
Cilic won very easily, a lot of people think that Coric is the future of tennis but he is still a work in progress. Even though its too early to judge one thing is obvious after watching him, he does most things reasonably well but he lacks firepower I dont see any big weapons in his arsenal.
He will be amazing. Hes not yet….and understandably so.
I guess that means he is “live” amazing.
Agreed. I’ve said before that he is way overrated at the moment largely because he beat Rafa with appendicitis.
You can understand why players go for broke against Rafa, it enhances their profile, no end. No other player has that effect, not even Roger.
what?
Oh, Ricky, don’t.
Ricky, fact.
what is
I see you have allowed to rejoin the knitting circle ;-0
?
^^ …..you have been allowed…..
who is
Coric has solid backhand and is starting to become more aggressive on his forehand. His grit alone will make him a great player.
well, not alone. but complimented by many other attributes, yes.