Marcos Baghdatis and Carlos Berlocq will face each other in a Kuala Lumpur opener on Wednesday. Ryan Harrison and Joao Sousa are also bidding for a place in the second round.
Marcos Baghdatis vs. Carlos Berlocq
Baghdatis and Berlocq will be squaring off for the third time in their careers at the ATP level and for the second time this season when they meet in round one of the Malaysian Open on Wednesday. They split their two previous encounters; Baghdatis won 6-4, 6-3 last summer on the hard courts of Montreal before Berlocq prevailed a few months ago on the grass of ‘s-Hertogenbosch via a 6-2, 6-4 decision.
Berlocq, who lost to Roger Federer in the U.S. Open second round, is coming off a quarterfinal performance in Metz. The 44th-ranked Argentine is 25-21 for the year. Baghdatis was in a horrendous slump from February through July, but he has recently shown some signs of life. The 48th-ranked Cypriot reached the quarters in Washington, D.C. and he advanced two rounds at the U.S. Open before falling to eventual semifinalist Stanislas Wawrinka in a fourth-set tiebreaker. With confidence in tow, Baghdatis should have a slight edge on an indoor hard court.
Pick: Baghdatis in 3
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(WC) Ryan Harrison vs. (SE) Joao Sousa
Harrison and Sousa will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Wednesday. Sousa owns 10 of his 21 career ATP-level match wins this season and he is up to a career-high ranking of No. 77 in the world. Portugal’s top player got a special exemption into Kuala Lumpur by reaching the St. Petersburg semifinals last week, when he upset Dmitry Tursunov along the way.
Meanwhile, Harrison is not enjoying a good year and he has not played since the U.S. Open. The 109th-ranked American owns an 11-19 record after getting a terrible draw in New York and going down in the first round to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. While Harrison won’t mind facing Sousa on an indoor hard court, the 21-year-old almost always plays his best tennis at home in the United States. This is a good opportunity for Sousa to maintain his momentum and extend Harrison’s woes.
Pick: Sousa in 3
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nailed ’em