Roberto Bautista Agut and Gael Monfils will continue their weeks in Rotterdam during second-round action on Wednesday. Andy Murray, meanwhile, is kicking off his campaign against Nicolas Mahut.
Gael Monfils vs. (7) Roberto Bautista Agut
Monfils and Bautista Agut will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they do battle in round two of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Wednesday. Their only previous encounter came last summer on the hard courts of Cincinnati, where Monfils cruised 6-4, 6-1. The Frenchman is off to a mediocre start to this season, but most importantly he appears to be healthy. Monfils reached the semifinals last week in Montpellier and rolled over countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday.
Bautista Agut is in similarly unspectacular form early in 2015. The seventh-seeded Spaniard has won only two matches since opening his year with a semifinal showing in Chennai. One of those came on Monday, when he took care of German wild card Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-1. Monfils is not playing quite as well as he was last summer so this should be more competitive, but Bautista Agut is once again at a surface disadvantage. Monfils will likely get the job done if he stays focused and motivated.
Pick: Monfils in 2
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(1) Andy Murray vs. (Q) Nicolas Mahut
Murray will be back in action for the first time since finishing runner-up at the Australian Open when he takes the court on Wednesday in Rotterdam. That is the fourth-ranked Scot’s only tournament of the season so far and it included wins over Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios, and Tomas Berdych in addition to a four-set final loss at the hands of Novak Djokovic.
Murray’s opening-round test will come against Mahut, whom the top seed has defeated on three of four previous occasions. Mahut’s lone victory came on the grass courts of Queen’s Club in 2012, when he pulled off a 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(1) upset. All three of Murray’s wins have come in straight sets, including most recently at the 2013 Queen’s Club event. Mahut has already done well to qualify for the main draw this week with defeats of Nikoloz Basilashvili and Michael Berrer. This, however, should be a terrible matchup for the Frenchman against one of the best returners in the game.
Pick: Murray in 2 losing 7 games or fewer
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