It will be an all-Spanish affair when David Ferrer and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez meet in the Vienna second round on Thursday. Steve Johnson and Jerzy Janowicz are also hoping to reach the quarterfinals.
(1) David Ferrer vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Ferrer and Garcia-Lopez will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers and for the second time this season when they do battle during second-round action at the Erste Bank Open on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at 7-1 in favor of Ferrer, who most recently trounced his fellow Spaniard 6-1, 6-3 on the clay courts of Rome. Garcia-Lopez’s lone win came back in 2005 at Wimbledon, where he prevailed 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(7). Ferrer is 2-0 against Garcia-Lopez on hard courts, including 1-0 indoors (Valencia 2010).
The No. 1 seed’s Vienna campaign almost never got off the ground. Ferrer should have been well-rested despite a title in Kuala Lumpur and semifinal showing in Beijing because he lost his Shanghai opener to Bernard Tomic. But the world No. 8 came out extremely slow against Albert Ramos-Vinolas before surviving 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Garcia-Lopez advanced by cruising past an ice-cold Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday. Thus the recent Shenzhen runner-up ended a streak of two consecutive first-round exits (Beijing and Shanghai). Garcia-Lopez is dangerous, but Ferrer should be inspired by a new lease on life this week following his scare versus Ramos-Vinolas.
Pick: Ferrer in 3
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Jerzy Janowicz vs. Steve Johnson
The Austrian crowd would have been expecting and certainly hoping to see Dominic Thiem in the second round–and beyond–of this event. But Janowicz had other ideas when those two big hitters took the court on Tuesday, as the 65th-ranked Pole upset Thiem 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. Current form did not suggest such a result was in the cards. Janowicz is a modest 24-22 for the season, lost in the St. Petersburg second round last month, and recently went back to the Challenger circuit (finished runner-up in Orleans a few weeks ago).
Up next for the former world No. 14 is a first-ever meeting with Johnson. The 47th-ranked American was dealt a tough opener against Alexandr Dolgopolov but got through it 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. He now owns 30 match victories at the ATP level in what has been an outstanding 2015 campaign. Johnson is the essence of consistency, whereas it is hard to see Janowicz stringing together two straight stellar performances at this point.
Pick: Johnson in 2
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Ferrer in straights and Johnson in 3
Johnson vs Janowicz was a very close contest but Garcia Lopez won just 2 games he just got trounced by Ferrer.
Ferrer in form
watching Anderson vs Vesely and its too close to call 3 all in the final set but Anderson has the advantage of serving first which could prove decisive.
and has momentum from winning second set
Tsonga is having problem vs Rosol. Hes exhausted and Rosol playing well?