French Open R4 previews: Ferrer vs. Anderson, Almagro vs. Robredo

The tallest man in the draw faces the shortest man in the draw, nearly a foot of height between them.  On clay, though, Ferrer looms much larger than does Anderson–despite the South African’s appearance in the Casablanca final this spring.  Ferrer has dominated all of his first three opponents without dropping a set, pouncing on a weak draw after Madrid and Rome assigned him quarterfinals against Rafael Nadal.  Reaching the semis at Roland Garros for the first time last year, he should feel confident of reaching his fourth semifinal in five majors.  This Spanish veteran has made a living out of defanging huge servers like Anderson, using his deft reflexes and compact swings to blunt their single overwhelming weapon before outmaneuvering them along the baseline.

In the second week of the French Open for the first time, Anderson scored a minor upset when he defeated fellow giant Milos Raonic in straight sets.  He also bounced Ferrer from the second round of Indian Wells in March, but that victory may have owed something to Ferrer’s busy South American clay schedule just before and the deflating loss to Nadal that ended it.  With both men on full rest, unlike many of the men in this rain-befuddled tournament, an engaging contrast of styles should pursue.  Look for Anderson to threaten in one set of an otherwise uneventful match.

Pick: Ferrer in 3 

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 (32) Tommy Robredo vs. (11) Nicolas Almagro

This all-Spanish battle should feature plenty of traditional clay-court tennis with extended rallies from behind the baseline.  Nevertheless, three-time Roland Garros quarterfinalist Almagro will take more chances than the veteran counter-puncher across the net.  A former member of the Top 10, Robredo launched an impressive comeback from injury this spring by winning the Casablanca title and upsetting Tomas Berdych in Barcelona.  He has emerged from one of the bracket’s most star-studded nuggets, which included not only Berdych but also Gael Monfils and Ernests Gulbis.  Saving match points against Monfils in the last round, Robredo has rallied from losing the first two sets in each of his last two matches.  One wonders how much spring he still has in his legs.

If Robredo has made a habit of coming from behind against daunting odds, Almagro has grown famous for choking away huge leads.  That trend surfaced most notably at the Australian Open this year, when he failed to serve out a match three times against Ferrer.  His 2013 campaign has featured a strange mixture of notable achievements and bitter disappointments in tight matches. To set up a possible rematch with Ferrer in a second straight major quarterfinal, he will need to keep Robredo on the move from the outset by serving precisely and redirecting groundstrokes down the lines.  He has won all five of his meetings with Robredo–all on clay–while losing one total set.  All but the most distant came well after his compatriot’s prime, but Almagro lost just one set in the first week and fired past Robredo-esque grinder Andreas Seppi with ease.