Fellow veterans Philipp Kohlschreiber and Marcos Baghdatis will continue their Dubai campaigns during second-round action on Wednesday. They are set for respective meetings with unseeded opponents Borna Coric and Vasek Pospisil.
(8) Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Borna Coric
Kohlschreiber and Coric will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they battle for a place in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday. Suddenly heating up after a slow start to the season that was due in part to bad draws in both Auckland and Melbourne, Kohlschreiber is coming off a quarterfinal showing in Sofia and a semifinal performance in Rotterdam. The 28th-ranked German upset Marin Cilic in Rotterdam before succumbing to Gael Monfils. He maintained his fine form during first-round action this week, taking care of Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Coric’s 2016 campaign is a mirror image to that of Kohlschreiber. The 19-year-old Croat burst out of the gates on fire, finishing runner-up in Chennai to Stan Wawrinka. But he has not won back-to-back matches since that event and even lost in three consecutive first rounds. Coric, who registers at 38th in the world, is a modest 6-5 on the season following a 6-4, 6-4 opening-round defeat of Jiri Vesely. As he often is at this point in his career, Coric will be on the defensive for the majority of this match. Growing in confidence, Kohlschreiber should eventually get the best of what is likely to be an entertaining baseline battle.
Pick:Â Kohlschreiber in 3
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Vasek Pospisil vs. Marcos Baghdatis
Pospisil and Baghdatis will be squaring off for the third time in their careers and for the third time since the start of last summer when they meet again on Wednesday. Baghdatis prevailed 6-4, 7-6(5) in the Atlanta quarterfinals before Pospisil exacted revenge in the form of a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3 victory in Kuala Lumpur.
This is already one of the rare events in which Pospisil has progressed further in singles than in doubles. The 45th-ranked Canadian outlasted Lucas Pouille 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Monday before losing his doubles opener with Nenad Zimonjic. Baghdatis booked his spot in the last 16 by taking out No. 5 seed Viktor Troicki 7-6(2), 6-2. The 57th-ranked Cypriot has now advanced out of round one in three straight tournaments. With a confident ball-striker on the other side of the net, Pospisil will have to shorten points by moving into the forecourt. But that is not something he is often willing to do despite his stellar volleying skills.
Pick:Â Baghdatis in 3
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who ya got?
Pospy in three and kohl in three
Vashy “Lemon” Pospisil over Marcos “GPolo” Bagdhatis in three.
Philipp “Glass” Kohlschreiber vs. Borna “Gain” Coric in three.
Baghdaddy over Lemon Popsicle in 3
hahaha Borna “Gain” Coric over Philipp Glass Kohlschreiber in 3
Hawkie “on a roll” stradamus.
Kohlschreiber in 2
Baghdatis in 3
Djokovic in 2
Lopez in 2
RBA in 3
Kyrgios in 3
Berdych in 2
Wawrinka in 2
RBA in 3???
It’s tempting, always tempting, for me to pick Chung. Gotta give HC a set.
Me too but only because of Everybody Wang Chung tonight which I’m not sure is a valid rationale.
Don’t you?
I do!
Very much like Kimbus’ picks. Kohls should win too. I’m just being silly picking Coric – remembering how well he did in Dubai last year.
yeah, I think this is one of the few interesting matchups tomorrow – can def see Chung causing trouble for RBA if he decides to play well. Also if Kukushkin wasn’t that terrible I’d pick him over Kyrigos tomorrow.
Also I think Coric has been really bad this year – the effort seems fine but his play has been terrible, if Kohli doesn’t tilt and actually tries to show up and play well this should be pretty easy IMO.
agree with statement about Kuku. Kyrgios is ripe to be upset…but certainly not by the Kuku monster.
RBA will routine him.
You never know. Chung is tough. But yes RBA most likely wins that match in straights.
pretty happy with my picks…Chung not ready for RBA but otherwise it’s looking pretty solid. Although not really that tough to predict todays matches