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]
Leave a Reply