Monte Carlo Crisis Center, Day 5
Morning all. Here's your regular space for discussing or match-calling this week's tennis from the Masters Series event in Monte Carlo (or the WTA tournaments taking place in Barcelona and Charleston). As with all Crisis Centers we request that you keep the talk focused on the ongoing matches until the day's play is over. Afterwards it's acceptable to go off-topic. With TypePad's limitations still current, you'll be provided with Overflow posts as needed.
Today's Order of Play in Monte Carlo can be found on this link; we're now down to the last sixteen players, which total includes three qualifiers and no French players.
Currently it's raining, though it's hoped that the weather will clear later in the day. Assuming that it does, on Court Central we begin with an interesting all-Spanish encounter between Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer. Six of their seven matches played to date have been on clay, and Verdasco has won four of them. This will be followed by the all-Swiss clash between Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, who meet for the first time on a clay court. Then Rafael Nadal takes on Nicolas Lapentti. Their head-to-head is 1-1, with Lapentti having won their only match on clay - though it's somewhat irrelevant today, as it occurred six years ago. Next up Andy Murray takes on Fabio Fognini. Fognini defeated Murray 6-2, 6-2 in their only match to date, though it took place back in 2007 when Murray was still visibly recovering from a wrist injury that had kept him off the tour for several months.
On the Court des Princes the most interesting match of the day could be the meeting between Nikolay Davydenko and David Nalbandian that will round off the day. Both men can certainly play on clay, and six of their ten matches to date have taken place on the surface. Nalbandian leads the overall head-to-head 6-4, most recently with a victory in the semifinal of last year's Paris Masters. On clay they have 3 victories apiece, with Davydenko having delivered a final-set bagel to clinch their last match on the surface - their Davis Cup encounter in Argentina last year.
I'm picking wildcard Ivan Ljubicic as yesterday's player of the day, after he defeated Juan Martin Del Potro over three sets. Ljubicic will be playing Simone Bolelli for the first time later today.
As always, enjoy today's tennis,
- Rosangel Valenti
[Note - as of around 11.20 a.m. EST, we're moving to the Overflow post linked below - RV
Further note - a second Overflow has been opened as of around 14.15 EST; see link below - RV].
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