Tomas Berdych and Stanislas Wawrinka will kick off their Basel campaigns on Tuesday. They are set for respective meetings with Ivo Karlovic and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Ivo Karlovic vs. (2) Tomas Berdych
Karlovic and Berdych will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they clash in round one of the Swiss Indoors Basel on Tuesday. Berdych has gotten a look at the Croat’s booming serve on four previous occasions and the head-to-head series is tied at two wins apiece. They last faced each other at the 2011 Montreal Masters, where Berdych prevailed 6-3, 7-6(2). Their most typical Karlovic match came at this same Basel event back in 2007, when the Czech went down 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 7-6(13). This will be their fifth consecutive showdown on a hard court.
Berdych has not lost prior to the third round of a tournament since Roland Garros, but it would not be fair to say he is on fire. The world No. 7’s Asian swing included a runner-up finish in Bangkok, a semifinal showing in Beijing, and a round of 16 ouster to Nicolas Almagro in Shanghai. Karlovic improved to 14-12 at the ATP level this season after advancing to last week’s Moscow semifinals (lost to eventual champion Richard Gasquet). The 34-year-old is always dangerous on a fast surface, but his physical shape is always a question mark (two retirements in his last seven events) and Berdych has experience facing the big serve.
Pick: Berdych in 2 with 1 tiebreaker
[polldaddy poll=7494845]
(4) Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Edouard Roger-Vasselin
Wawrinka and Roger-Vasselin will be doing battle for the second time in their careers at the ATP level on Tuesday. They clashed early last season on the hard courts of Chennai, where Wawrinka pulled out a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. The eighth-ranked Swiss is 47-19 for the year and making a serious run for the World Tour Finals. Since reaching the semifinals of the U.S. Open, Wawrinka has posted notable results in Kuala Lumpur (semifinals) and Shanghai (quarterfinals) but in general he has cooled off just a bit.
Roger-Vasselin’s status is questionable at best after retiring from a Moscow match last week because of a strained neck. When healthy, though, the 65th-ranked Frenchman is faring well. He has not lost in the first round of a tournament since Winston-Salem in mid-August. Prior to making a quarterfinal run in Moscow, Roger-Vasselin qualified for the Tokyo main draw and advanced one round. Based on Wawrinka’s superior firepower, home-court advantage, the surface, and his opponent’s recent retirement, all signs point to a win for the No. 4 seed.
Pick: Wawrinka in 2
[polldaddy poll=7494841]
I am not implying Stan’s performance was strategic. He was devastated at losing to Vasselin.
#TheRaceSyndromeStruckAgain
I wasn’t suggesting he didn’t give it his all. I only saw the closing stages of the match and it struck me he looked very fatigued. I was responding to Natashao’s point if this was the case why did he play Basel if he was already exhausted.
It was bad luck he drew Karlovic in 1R but it was not a bad loss. He now has the benefit of a few extra days prior to Paris and still has a comfortable margin in the Race.
correct.
#nerves
I think Berdy had the wrong strategy for Karlovic. Everyone knows that Karlovic defends the net 100% so why did Berdy not try and lob him more. He continuously tried to pass Ivo at the net and it didn’t work.
Rafa has a packed schedule of exhos in November so he needs to have a long break before going on the road again.
I am absolutely certain that Berdych has actually qualified for London, it is just not “official” yet. Its mathematically impossible for TOmas to fall to 10 th place in the race(Murray’s withdrawal means top 9 qualify) so he will be in London.
^^^^^That’s my understanding too. But I am notoriously unreliable when it comes to extrapolating the figures 🙁
Nadline: All the signs indicate Rafa’s schedule is being managed very much more carefully. I’m sure you would agree it was not always the case in the past although
I have a sneaky suspicion it was Rafa who often forced the pace.
The important thing is he now knows he can take time out, if needed, and come back even stronger and better. There is no need for him to run himself into the ground in order to remain competitive.
Has there ever been so much attention paid to what was going on in Basel? And with so much resting on the Paris results – not only the last WTF places but also Rafa and Djokovic battling for ranking points – it’s going to be quite a week next week. Unlike last year when it was more a question of who would leave when to get to London.
ed251137@October 23, 2013 at 10:19 am
—Has there ever been so much attention paid to what was going on in Basel?—
Nope! Because Fed has never battled for the last WTF places.
Berdy’s loss was not that big a surprise.
Basel draw “randomly” put Ivo, Pospisil and Dodig – three very hard hitters – in Berdy’s path before a potential meeting with Fed.
Any of those three on their game on a fast indoor court can simply take the game out of anybody’s hand including the Bird.
Fed plays his second round match today with Delpo just playing his first.
#HomeRules
they also made Istomin play singles on Tuesday whereas Federer played on Monday AND Istomin had to play doubles on Tuesday, too.
ridiculous.
#SwissTiming
I’d laugh for ten minutes, though, if Dr. Ivo plays the spoil all and cures Fed in the quarters, but my gut tells me, the script doesn’t allow this.
Or probably the semis… I’m not going to look at that draw again, lol!
And another one bites the dust.
Stan, Berdych, Gasquet……
“and another one bites the dust”
#queenroger
some animals are more equal
always
The commentator for Delpo match has just mentioned Stan was in tears after the match last night.
I only caught the end of Gasquet match. Will look at it later. Was Gasquet injured or did Llodra take him to the cleaners? Tough on him to be put out by a countryman who has never managed to beat him before.
#NotVeryPatriotic
Gasquet was injured
I had been half expecting he would pull out of Basel after the problem he had during the final with Dimitrov on Sunday.
Stan needs to get a grip. He can’t take losses this personally. He cried after he lost to Nole in Australia, and I’m sure he has cried after another loss to Novak after that, and after a loss to Rafa and so on and so on…………….
well those are different. Losing at a relatively meaningless 500-point is not a tear-jerking offense.
Something in the Aussie air seems to make Swiss players tear up, no?
If you think about it, he often looks on the verge of tears even during matches.
I bet he got bullied at school.
RT @alvarorama: “WTF contention this week: Berdych, out. Gasquet, out. Wawrinka, out. Tsonga, not playing. Raonic, not playing. Federer, smiling.”
#Kidnappings