Alexandr Dolgopolov and Benoit Paire will kick off their Hamburg campaigns on Tuesday. They are set for respective second-round meetings with Florian Mayer and Albert Montanes.
Florian Mayer vs. (7) Alexandr Dolgpolov
Mayer and Dolgopolov will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they collide in round two of the German Tennis Championships on Tuesday evening. Their only previous encounter came at the same stage of this same Hamburg event two years ago, when Mayer prevailed 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3. Mayer has been up and down since then, but it has mostly been a down season for him in 2013. The 45th-ranked German is 16-16 at the ATP level and he is coming off a blowout loss to Gael Monfils in the Stuttgart second round. Mayer did, however, win a Challenger title on the clay courts of Braunschweig earlier this month and he hammered Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-3 on Monday.
Dolgopolov is a similarly mediocre 15-14 for the year. The 26th-ranked Ukrainian has not played since Wimbledon, where he reached the third round and led David Ferrer two sets to one before losing in five. Dolgopolov is an even 5-5 on clay this season, a mark that includes a first-round Roland Garros loss to Dmitry Tursunov. Junkballs and offspeed stuff will be the norm in this matchup between players with similar but unique styles of play. The surface and the home-court advantage should work in Mayer’s favor, plus his Monday performance should give him plenty of confidence–which he sorely needed heading into this tournament.
Pick: Mayer in 3
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Albert Montanes vs. (9) Benoit Paire
Montanes and Paire will also be squaring off for the second time in their careers on Tuesday. They previously faced each other on the clay courts of Barcelona in 2011, when Montanes scored a 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-4 victory. The 32-year-old Spaniard all but disappeared last season, but he earned his 13th ATP-level match win of 2013 by taking care of Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4 in his Hamburg opener. Recent highlights for Montanes include successful qualification in Rome en route to the second round and a title in Nice.
Paire, who earned a first-round bye as the No. 9 seed, has been inconsistent since reaching the Rome semifinals. The 28th-ranked Frenchman fell in the last 32 of both the French Open and Wimbledon–the latter at which he had a huge opportunity to make serious noise based on the draw. Paire destroyed Davydenko last week in Stuttgart only to get upset by Victor Hanescu in two routine sets during quarterfinal action. Although Paire is the more talented player in this one, Montanes is more solid and also mentally tougher. Clay should help the underdog continue his run into the third round.
Pick: Montanes in 3
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