Andy Murray and Vasek Pospisil will battle for a quarterfinal spot in Rotterdam on Thursday. Familiar foes Stan Wawrinka and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez are also taking part in second-round action.
(1) Andy Murray vs. Vasek Pospisil
Playing for the first time since finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, Murray kicked off his ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament campaign on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Nicolas Mahut. The top-seeded Scot served poorly (58 percent, five double-faults) but otherwise turned in an outstanding performance to maintain his fine form.
Up next for Murray in second-round action on Thursday is Pospisil, against whom the world No. 4 is 1-0 lifetime. They just faced each other last fall on the indoor hard courts of Vienna, where Murray cruised 6-4, 6-4. Pospisil is playing decent tennis at the moment with a third-round showing Down Under and an impressive 6-4, 6-2 beatdown of Philipp Kohlschreiber on Tuesday. The 59th-ranked Canadian may have a chance if his opponent struggles with his serve, but Murray will likely clean things up in that department.
Pick: Murray in 2
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Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. (4) Stan Wawrinka
Wawrinka and Garcia-Lopez will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers at the ATP level and for the third time since the start of last year’s French Open when they meet again on Thursday. The Swiss leads the overall head-to-head series 5-3 after surviving a recent fourth-round Australian Open showdown 7-6(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8). Garcia-Lopez had previously stunned Wawrinka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 in round one at Roland Garros in 2014. Wawrinka is 2-0 against the Spaniard on hard courts, having also scored a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory at the 2010 Aussie Open.
Their recent French Open result is not the only reason why Wawrinka will be wary of this matchup. Garcia-Lopez has quite simply been one of the stars of 2015. The 31-year-old is 10-3 this season with a title last week in Zagreb and a 7-6(5), 6-5 defeat of Denis Istomin in the Rotterdam first round. Wawrinka advanced by holding off Jesse Huta Galung 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday. Although the No. 4 seed served poorly, so did Garcia-Lopez in his opener. This is a dangerous match for Wawrinka, but 58 percent serving and getting broken three times in two sets by Istomin does not bode well for the underdog.
Pick: Wawrinka in 3
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No where have I seen a worse example of how counter productive to the quality of the game of tennis the ridiculous time violation rule. It’s ridiculous. Lost Popsicle the second set.
#FederazziAtWork
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I kept my “device” turned on, but I (almost) didn’t watch the match.
The tennis channel has just shown the Murray/Pospisil match.
Pospisil winning only 29% of second serve points isn’t going to get it done.
We all know how absurd the time violation rule is in this sport. Really an embarrassment.
Stan has no variety in his game.
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I voted for Tomic in three sets.
Not a bad play