General / / 15 August 2007 /

Perfecseun assesses another match from the Western and Southern Masters

Round 2 Preview

P. Kohlschreiber (Germany) vs J.M Del Potro (Argentina)

For German fans, Kohlschreiber was the hero yesterday with Tommy Haas getting knocked out by quickly-recovering Ancic. The push continues today for the unseeded German and he faces Del Potro in what will be a good duel.

I am inclined to follow Kohlschreiber as he proved a worthy selection yesteday by seeing off Calleri in 3 tough sets. He faces another Argentine and he can prove his worth once again. Selecting the German in this match is not an act of blind sentiment but proven form.

When lower ranked clay court players appear on hard courts, they are best laid or avoided, at least that is my approach. Del Potro defeated Canas in 2 sets yesterday, 6-2 6-2. That was an unexpected result as such but it was a battle of good clay court players on hard court. It will be a different story when Del Potro squares up to Kohlschreiber. The German holds his serve well especially on hard courts, powerful ground strokes with his favourite serve out wide and quick cross court winners. This play will cause Del Potro a lot of problems and it will keep Kohlschreiber´s high percentage of service games held in this tournament.

Del Potro, like most Argentines playing the US Open series, has not shown any decent form. Even the top Argentine player Nalbandian got bounced by Carlos Moya in 2 sets which was a bit of a surprise. Del Potro has not gone past the second round of any tournament since the road trip of the US Open began. He lost to Dancevic, ranked 109, in Indianapolis and Montreal and Wayne Odesnik, 189, in Washington. He has not beaten anyone ranked in the top 50 on hard court except Canas who is ranked 14 by virtue of performances on clay and an "out of the blue" form on hard court in the early part of the season.

It is safe to believe that Kohlschreiber, sitting pretty at ATP rank 38, is a much better player. He is good on clay and much better on grass and hard courts. He won his first ATP title on clay this year, defeating Mikail Youzhny in front of his home crowd in Münich. Kohlschreiber looks to be in fine form and the Argentine will need an extra gear to win this match if he is to justify favourtism.

Suggested Bet: Lay Del Potro to win 2-0 sets @ 2.3

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