Quarterfinal previews and picks: Ferrer vs. Verdasco, Haas vs. Stepanek

David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco will contest an all-Spanish quarterfinal on Friday in Stockholm. Another matchup between friends–and occasional doubles partners–is taking place in Vienna, where Tommy Haas faces Radek Stepanek. Chris Skelton previews the action.

(1) David Ferrer vs. Fernando Verdasco

Unsurprisingly in a contest of two Spanish veterans, 12 of their 16 previous meetings have come on clay. While Verdasco once held the edge over his compatriot, Ferrer’s late-career surge has propelled him to five straight wins in this matchup and a 4-0 record in 2012-13 with just one set lost. On the fast hard courts of the 2010 U.S. Open, though, Verdasco rose to the occasion with his only hard-court win against Ferrer. He nearly upset his fellow Spaniard in Rome this spring, marking the start of a resurgence that carried him to a Wimbledon quarterfinal and a clay final in the following months.

Whereas Verdasco will finish 2013 more optimistically than he started it, the opposite looks likely for Ferrer. In eight tournaments since reaching the Roland Garros final, the world No. 3 still has not registered a semifinal. That drought diverges sharply from the consistent results that Ferrer has produced throughout his long tenure in the Top 5, causing many to wonder whether a terminal decline has descended on him. The 32-year-old urgently needs to rediscover his form over the next two weeks before attempting to defend a Masters 1000 title at the Paris Indoors. But Ferrer has continued to look vulnerable this week in dropping a set to American journeyman Jack Sock. His recent mastery over Verdasco marks him as the clear favorite—but also leaves Ferrer with more to lose.

For his part, the streaky Verdasco has spent a career greatly surpassing or falling well short of expectations. His habit of veering between extremes resurfaced this summer, when he followed his Wimbledon quarterfinal with a first-round loss at the U.S. Open. In fact, Verdasco has won one or no matches at five of his last six tournaments. On the other hand, he won a set from Novak Djokovic in Beijing and avenged that U.S. Open defeat against Ivan Dodig with a resilient three-set comeback in Stockholm. With nothing to lose, Verdasco becomes much more dangerous. His fearless shot-making can trouble Ferrer even on a slow court, as he showed with a near-upset in Rome, and his advantage in serving power should play to even greater advantage on this fast indoor setting. The question remains whether he can finish what he started:  close out a match after taking a lead.

Pick: Verdasco in 3

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(5) Radek Stepanek vs. (2) Tommy Haas

The length of an ATP season has not treated the 35-year-old Haas kindly. Forced to withdraw Shanghai with a back injury, he fell in the first week of the U.S. Open and the first round of Beijing. Curiously, Haas has struggled this year with many moderately-ranked veterans, from Mikhail Youzhny and Lleyton Hewitt to Jarkko Nieminen. Ranked near the edge of the Top 10, he has produced more impressive tennis than all of those men over the last 12 months as a whole, yet that superiority has not translated to their individual matchups.

Another such meeting now confronts Haas against a man just seven months his junior. Turning 35 shortly before he participates in the Davis Cup final, Stepanek has followed a common route of veterans in transitioning into a doubles specialist. Still, the former world No. 8 brings much more momentum than Haas does into this meeting, having won 13 straight matches. Although only two of those victories have come at the ATP level, consecutive Challenger titles on European indoor hard courts should have given Stepanek plenty of confidence while renewing his expertise on the surface (a Davis Cup live rubber won over Juan Monaco should not be underestimated, either). That splendid fall surge also may have fatigued the aging Czech, however, as a nail-biting victory over the unheralded Lukas Lacko in his previous match suggested. Stepanek must recover quickly from that third-set tiebreak to execute his darting, leaping, and lunging attack with the energy necessary to fluster Haas.

Both men generally approach the net more often than most of their younger peers, including some serve-volley gambits. Their doubles expertise has honed their sense of the court’s geometry, and both are bold in attacking down the line when an opening appears. That style of tennis suits the indoor hard courts in Vienna especially well, assuming that each man can overcome the burdens imposed by their age. They also shine consistently on home soil, near which Austria lies for both. Outside a retirement in 2007, Haas and Stepanek have alternated victories in five previous meetings, which means that the latter is due to prevail. Beyond that pattern, though, now seems a good moment to take the hot hand in what should be a high-quality battle.

Pick: Stepanek in 3

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