Gilles Simon is three wins away from defending his Bucharest title, but he will face an in-form Daniel Brands on Friday. Viktor Troicki and Lukas Rosol are also battling for a place in the semifinals.
Daniel Brands vs. (2) Gilles Simon
Simon and Brands will be squaring off for the third time in their careers when they meet in the quarterfinals of the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy on Friday. The head-to-head series stands at 1-1, but Brands won their only previous clay-court encounter 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the 2009 Hamburg event. Simon turned the tide with a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory earlier this season on the hard courts of Rotterdam.
Both players have been impressive in 2013 and already this week. Brands, 9-7 at the ATP main-draw level and seven for seven in qualifying attempts this year, rolled over Tatsuma Ito then got a retirement from Gael Monfils while leading by a set and a break. Simon, the defending Bucharest champion, faced an in-form Jarkko Nieminen on Wednesday and prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a high-quality showdown. The world No. 16 is 17-10 for the season, which includes a quarterfinal in Miami.
Brands has a bigger game than Simon–which is not saying a lot–but the Frenchman’s craftiness may be too much to deal with on the slow stuff. Simon’s performance against Nieminen should give him enough confidence to withstand his opponent’s power and keep too many balls in play to make for a ton of baseline rallies.
Pick: Simon in 3
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(8) Viktor Troicki vs. Lukas Rosol
Troicki and Rosol will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers on Friday in Bucharest. Rosol leads the head-to-head series 2-1, including 2-0 on clay (one of those meetings, however, was a dead Davis Cup rubber last year in the Czech Republic). They most recently clashed last summer on the slow stuff in Hamburg, where Rosol prevailed 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
The 27-year-old Czech is slowly starting to make a name for himself aside from his 2012 Wimbledon upset of Rafael Nadal. He has been a huge part of his nation’s return trip to the Davis Cup semifinals and he registers just two spots off his career-high ranking at No. 48 in the world. Rosol is 10-8 for the season following wins this week over Gilles Muller and Andreas Seppi. Troicki is a disappointing 6-9 for his 2013 campaign, but he ousted both Marinko Matosevic and Tobias Kamke in straight sets to reach the last eight in Bucharest.
The 45th-ranked Serb may be gaining confidence and–their past history notwithstanding–clay is the best surface on which to face Rosol. Troicki owns a stellar return of serve and his baseline game is superior to that of his opponent. Unless Rosol is putting in a ton of first deliveries and able to dictate a vast majority of baseline rallies with his forehand, the No. 8 seed should advance.
Pick: Troicki in 3
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