Fernando Verdasco will face David Goffin for the second time this season on Sunday in Madrid. Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Julien Benneteau are also kicking off their campaigns.
David Goffin vs. Fernando Verdasco
Verdasco and Goffin will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they meet in round one of the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday afternoon. Verdasco won their only previous encounter 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 earlier this season at the Australian Open.
Both players are in dire need of a win followed by a decent run this week. Verdasco is a horrendous 3-8 for his 2013 campaign, including 1-7 in his last eight matches. The Spaniard, who has plunged to No. 45 in the world, has lost his opener in six of eight tournaments this year. Verdasco is 1-3 on clay in 2013 and all of his losses have come in straight sets. Goffin is just 7-12 for the year, but he is at least starting to win some matches after a disastrous February. The 61st-ranked Belgian reached the third round in Miami and second rounds at clay-court events in Bucharest and Oeiras. He beat Pedro Sousa last week before succumbing to eventual semifinalist Pablo-Carreno Busta in three sets.
Verdasco has an advantage in that he is playing at home and he has been to the Madrid quarterfinals twice in the last four installments, including last season on blue clay after upsetting Rafael Nadal. The former world No. 7, however, is a player who feeds off confidence and right now he has none of it. A consistent counter-puncher like Goffin is not the type of opponent you want to face when you are struggling.
Pick: Goffin in 3
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Julien Benneteau vs. (16) Gilles Simon
Benneteau and Simon will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers at the ATP level on Sunday. The head-to-head series is tied up at three wins apiece after Benneteau’s 6-4, 7-6(2) victory earlier this season indoors in Rotterdam. Their only previous clay-court meeting came in the 2008 Casablanca final, with Simon prevailing 7-5, 6-2.
Simon is a respectable 18-11 for the season, but his clay-courts effort have been dismal. The 17th-ranked Frenchman lost a pair of Davis Cup rubbers against Argentina, dropped his opener in Monte-Carlo, and got blown out by Lukas Rosol in the Bucharest semifinals. Benneteau is in far worse form. The 31-year-old Frenchman has lost five matches in a row and he does not have a single win since mid-February. Down at No. 33 in the world, Benneteau is at risk of missing out on a Roland Garros seed. Showing no signs of getting back on track anytime soon, the veteran will be hard-pressed to even make a match out of this one.
Pick: Simon in 2
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