An intriguing quarterfinal lineup in Bastad pits Nicolas Almagro against Fernando Verdasco in an all-Spanish clash on Friday. Juan Monaco and Grigor Dimitrov are also in action.
(2) Nicolas Almagro vs. (8) Fernando Verdasco
Almagro and Verdasco will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers at the ATP level when they collide in the quarterfinals of the Skistar Swedish Open on Friday. Verdasco leads the head-to-head series 5-3, including 4-3 on clay. Almagro, though, has won three of their last five encounters–including a 6-3, 6-4 victory in their most recent meeting last spring on the hard courts of Miami. Verdasco has won their last two clay-court clashes; 6-7(2), 7-6(2), 6-3 two years ago in Gstaad and 6-4, 7-6(5) at the 2012 Acapulco event.
Verdasco is rounding into form after a prolonged slump and he is coming off a quarterfinal performance at Wimbledon, where he fell to eventual champion Andy Murray in five sets. The 35th-ranked Spaniard is now 15-13 for the season following Bastad victories over Andreas Vinciguerra and Jan-Lennard Struff. Almagro’s two most recent appearances came at Grand Slams; he reached the fourth round at Roland Garros and the third round at Wimbledon. The 16th-ranked Spaniard boasts a solid 29-13 record for his 2013 campaign after overcoming Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in his Bastad opener. Verdasco is finally playing with confidence, but surface should generally dictate the outcome of this matchup and clay gives a slight edge to Almagro.
Pick: Almagro in 3
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(3) Juan Monaco vs. (5) Grigor Dimitrov
Monaco and Dimitrov will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers on Friday. All three of their previous encounters have gone Monaco’s way, and all three have ended in straight sets. They faced each other twice last year, with Monaco prevailing in Tokyo and at the Paris Masters. Their only previous clay-court date came at the 2011 Barcelona tournament, where the Argentine cruised 6-4, 6-1.
Dimitrov, however, is starting to live up to his potential. The 29th-ranked Bulgarian’s clay-court swing included a quarterfinal finish in Monte-Carlo and a second-round upset of Novak Djokovic in Madrid. Three-set Bastad scalps of Elias Ymer and Filippo Volandri have his 2013 record up to 23-14. Monaco, a champion on the clay courts of Dusseldorf two months ago, had lost two straight matches prior to Wimbledon but he advanced two rounds at the All-England Club and took care of Henri Laaksonen 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday. The 20th-ranked Argentine is a modest 17-14 for the season. Dimitrov’s slow starts this week are cause for concern and clay also favors Monaco, who should be able to wear his opponent down from the back of the court on this surface.
Pick: Monaco in 3
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who ya got?
If plays at anything like his level in the Wimbledon SF Verdasco in 3 closely fought sets.
nice pick Ed