Second-round action is wrapping up on Thursday in Marrakech, where top seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez will begin his week against Nicolas Almagro. In Houston, Feliciano Lopez is facing Lukas Lacko.
Marrakech: (1) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Nicolas Almagro
Garcia-Lopez and Almagro will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers at the ATP level and for the first time in almost three full years when the two Spaniards collide in round two of the Grand Prix Hassan II on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at 3-2 in favor of Almagro, including 2-1 on clay. He has won two in a row at Garcia-Lopez’s expense; 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 at the 2013 Bastad event and 6-2, 6-3 one week later in Hamburg.
Almagro’s return from a 2014 foot injury has been a slow one, and it continues to be a struggle in 2016. The 30-year-old is back up to No. 62 in the world almost exclusively thanks to a runner-up showing two months ago in Buenos Aires, where he fell to Dominic Thiem in a third-set tiebreaker. Almagro opened on Tuesday in Marrakech by cruising past Radu Albot 6-4, 6-3. Garcia-Lopez, who earned a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed, is a disappointing 6-8 this season. The world No. 38 is 1-5 in his last six matches. Current form and the clay-court surface both favor Almagro, who should be able to pick up a big win and also parlay it into a deep run this week.
Pick: Almagro in 3
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Houston: Lukas Lacko vs. (3) Feliciano Lopez
Lopez and Lacko will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they meet during second-round action at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship on Thursday. Their only previous showdown came four seasons ago on the indoor hard courts of Kuala Lumpur, where Lopez prevailed 6-3, 7-6(3). The 34-year-old Spaniard is a mediocre 8-7 for his 2016 campaign but picked up some momentum with a semifinal finish in Dubai and a fourth-round performance in Indian Wells. He is looking to bounce back from an opening loss in Miami to Yoshihito Nishioka.
Lacko is struggling down at No. 114 in the rankings and he had not won an ATP-level match this year prior to his arrival in Houston. In fact, the Slovak had not won an ATP-level match since last July in Newport and he even dropped three Challenger matches in succession heading into this week. Lacko picked up a much-needed victory by taking advantage of a rusty Dmitry Tursunov via a 6-1, 7-5 decision on Tuesday. Lopez, who has never lost his first match in three previous trips to Houston, will present a much tougher test.
Pick:Â Lopez in 2
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who ya got?
Same – Lopez 2 & Almagro 3
Almagro in two and Lopez in three
would not be surprised by Almagro in 2. Would be borderline shocked by Lopez in 3.
Actually Lopez will probably win in straights but I’ll go kind of bold and give Lacko a set. I do have a feeling almagro wins in straights though and I was right with that prediction for Monaco vs paire so I’m thinking the same happens here.
The reason I brought up Monaco and paire was cuz that was kind of bold to pick that upset and in straights too but I still thought it was realistic so that was my pick and it’s kind of like this scenario with almagro and GGL imo cuz almagro is a realistic upset obviously. I’m surprised he hasn’t risen higher in the rankings this season. He’s been playing pretty well. He should be able to make a good run here in Marrakech barring a loss to GGL here.