Juan Martin Del Potro and Tomas Berdych will continue their Shanghai campaigns and World Tour Finals bids when they take the court on Thursday. They are going up against Tommy Haas and Nicolas Almagro, respectively.
(6) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (11) Tommy Haas
For the second straight day at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Del Potro will be facing a German against whom he owns a 5-0 lifetime record. The fifth-ranked Argentine needed a huge fight to improve to 6-0 against Philipp Kohlschreiber on Wednesday, but he managed to do it with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory. Del Potro, coming off his third title of the season last week in Tokyo, is now 41-12 for his 2013 campaign.
All five of Haas’ losses to his nemesis have come on hard courts and he has never even taken a single set (0-10 in total). They have met twice this year, with Del Potro prevailing 6-1, 6-2 in Indian Wells and 7-6(4), 6-3 in the Washington, D.C. semifinals. Haas has advanced so far this week with twin 6-4, 6-4 wins over Sam Querrey and Daniel Brands. The world No. 12 is an awesome 43-19 for the year. Past history obviously points toward a Del Potro triumph, but an extensive week in Tokyo followed by long three-setter with Kohlschreiber will not help.
Pick: Haas in 3
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(15) Nicolas Almagro vs. (4) Tomas Berdych
Almagro and Berdych will be squaring off for the 13th time in their careers on Thursday. They faced each other a whopping six times in 2012, with Berdych winning on five occasions. After surviving in a controversial four-setter at the Australian Open complete with bad blood, in which he took all three of his sets in tiebreakers, the Czech went down 6-4, 6-0 in Indian Wells. However, Berdych prevailed in their last four encounters and in 10 of their last 12 sets (he most recently scored a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory last fall in the Davis Cup final). Almagro has won just once in six hard-court tries against Berdych.
Although he retired from last week’s Beijing semifinal against Rafael Nadal due to a back injury, Berdych was back in form on Wednesday as he dismissed Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5), 6-2. The fourth-seeded Czech is now 50-19 for the season and clearly on his way to the World Tour Finals along with Del Potro. Almagro has advanced two rounds by taking out both Go Soeda and Jeremy Chardy in straight sets. The 16th-ranked Spaniard emerged from a recent slump with a semifinal finish in Tokyo (lost to Del Potro in two tiebreakers), but his past struggles against Berdych do not inspire hope for an upset.
Pick: Berdych in 2
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