Estoril, Munich, Belgrade - Thursday Preview

Estoril Open – Portuguese Trio Of Machado, Gil, Tavares Eye Quarter-finals

The top Portuguese trio on the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings of Rui Machado, Frederico Gil and Luis Tavares look to reach the quarter-finals on Thursday at the Estoril Open. This is the second time in three years three native players have reached the second round on home soil.
In the first men’s match on Central, No. 3 seed and wild card entry Gael Monfils of France looks for his first win (0-2) against Spanish qualifier Alberto Martin. Monfils, who has been sidelined with a hand injury, is making his season debut on clay. He enters with a 12-6 match record on the year and is ranked No. 18.

In the next match, Gil takes on top Colombian Santiago Giraldo for the first time in an ATP World Tour main draw.  Giraldo is ranked a career-high No. 61 this week and he owns a 10-6 match record on the year (5-1 on clay). Gil, who is 6-4 in his career in Estoril, advanced to the quarter-finals here in 2006 (l. to No. 4 Nalbandian) and in 2008 (l. to No. 1 Federer). He also has two other Top 20 losses, to No. 15 Richard Gasquet in 2007 and to No. 16 James Blake last year. Gil, who finished a year-end best No. 69 last season with an 18-18 record, comes in with a 4-7 mark. 

On Centralito, No. 5 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain meets Tavares for the first time. Tavares is trying to reach his first career ATP World Tour quarter-final.

In the final match, Machado and Polish lucky loser Michal Przysiezny battle for the first time. Przysiezny replaced No. 2 seed Ivan Ljubicic who withdrew due to a left side strain.  Machado is the top-ranked player from Portugal at No. 114 (reached career-high No. 102 on Apr. 5). Machado has played well on the Challenger circuit with an 18-5 record and one title. He is 2-3 lifetime in Estoril and 3-1 this year in tour level play, winning a match in Costa do Sauipe in February and Davis Cup play vs. Denmark in March.

BMW Open – Seeds Cilic, Kohlschreiber, Baghdatis, Almagro Take Aim At QFs

There are four second round matches Thursday at the BMW Open by FWU RETAKAFUL, all involving seeds, as top seed Marin Cilic of Croatia, No. 4 and top German Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 5 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and No. 6 Nicolas Almagro of Spain, highlight the schedule.

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In the first match on, Swiss No. 3 Marco Chiudinelli looks to reach his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season against Baghdatis, who is trying to register his 20th match win of the year (19-9). Last season Baghdatis didn’t win his 20th match until the final tournament he played in October in Stockholm, where he captured the title.

In the next match, Kohlschreiber, who is 10-4 lifetime in Munich, takes on Spaniard Santiago Ventura. Kohlschreiber is 14-9 on the season (5-2 on clay) and he’s trying to reach the quarter-finals or better for the fourth time in 2010.

In the third match, Cilic plays Stuttgart native Simon Greul for the first time. The 21-year-old Croat is one of five players to win two ATP World Tour titles this season and he enters with a 22-6 match record on the year. Greul is looking to advance to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since last September in Bucharest where he was a semi-finalist.

On Court 4, big-serving South African Kevin Anderson plays Almagro for the first time. In Friday’s bottom half quarter-finals, No. 3 and defending champion Tomas Berdych meets German Philipp Petzschner and No. 2 seed and last year’s finalist Mikhail Youzhny plays Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic.

Serbia Open – Top Two Seeds Djokovic, Isner Highlight Day Four Action

The last four quarter-final berths are up for grabs at the Serbia Open on Thursday, with the country's biggest home-grown hero among those in action. 

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Kicking things off on Centre Court is No. 8 seed and top Italian Andreas Seppi against Frenchman Richard Gasquet. They have split the previous two meetings on clay in Hamburg in 2005 and ’08. Seppi reached the semi-finals here last year.

In the second match, No. 2 seed John Isner of the U.S. makes his tournament debut against Frenchman Josselin Ouanna. Isner won the previous meeting on hard courts last summer in Indianapolis. Isner is 1-5 on clay this year but that win came last week in Rome and he reached the doubles final there (w/Querrey).

In the third match, the only all-unseeded battle of the day features Argentina's Horacio Zeballos against Serbian wild card Filip Krajinovic. Zeballos, the ATP World  Tour Newcomer of the Year last year, snapped a four-match losing streak with his first round win and hopes to continue to get back on track as he faces 18-year-old Krajinovic, who earned his first career ATP World Tour match win on Tuesday. 

Last up is World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who will begin his title defense against Italian Fabio Fognini. The top-seeded Djokovic defeated Fognini in straight sets in their only previous meeting last October in Shanghai. Djokovic enters with a 20-6 match record on the season, including 7-2 on clay. Fognini snapped a five-match losing streak with his first round win here but he is 0-8 lifetime against Top 10 opponents. The only time he faced a Top 2 player was against No. 1 Roger Federer in 2007 as he lost 61 61 in Montreal.