The 37th-ranked Fernando Verdasco will be coming off his good run at the Swedish Open. He had a trio of smooth performances in the first three rounds (all won via straight sets) before falling short against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the semis, 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4. Weeks before that, he was also decent at the French Open, where he bounced three opponents in thrilling fashion before losing to Kei Nishikori in a hard-fought match in the fourth round.
He will be heading to tomorrow’s matchup having the upper hand. Along with being the more seasoned pro overall, he has a deeper experience playing in big stages, particularly on clay. Verdasco owns a 208-125 win-loss card on such a surface, including five titles.
Things have been going hot-and-cold for Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely (55th in the world rankings). If you want to lay some money on the man, do know that based on the past few weeks, it’s almost impossible to tell which version of himself will step out and play.
After ruling the Prostejov Challenger, wherein he seemingly moonwalked and won via straight sets in four of the five rounds, he then had a bumpy ride in his next six matches. He went 3-3 in that stretch, which includes losing consecutive sets to Paolo Lorenzi despite easing past the first set, 6-1, and getting dominated by then 112th-ranked Vasek Pospisil.
Vesely has a 36-36 career record on clay, and he is yet to win a major title on that type of court.
