Events / Ben Caudell / 11 October 2010 /

Ben Caudell tells us why he's siding with Andy Roddick against Philipp Kohlschreiber in Tuesday's early match...

Neither of these two tennis stalwarts have had much success in the past playing in China.

Andy Roddick has fared slightly better by reaching the semi-finals of Shanghai in 2007 when the Master Series event was played on indoor carpet (rather than the outdoor hard courts that the tournament now takes place on) and the American has one tournament win to his name, Beijing 2008.But he has since gone on to lose three consecutive first matches over here.

Philipp Kohlschreiber is 2-3 in China, with all five matches being played within the last two years; the German recorded a top 10 win over Fernando Verdasco of Spain last week before losing to big serving John Isner in three sets at the Beijing Open so will be slightly more accustomed to the playing conditions and will have had more time to prepare than his adversary.

The overwhelming statistic coming into this match is the fact that Andy Roddick tends to play his best tennis of the year at Masters Series events that are played on outdoor hard courts. The world ranked no.10 has been extremely impressive, winning 15 from his last 17 matches at this level, albeit all in America. Kohlschreiber is 6-4 at Master Series level and of more statistical importance, he has lost six of his last seven matches when his opponent in a top 10 ranked player.

Although the big serving American recently "Tweeted" that in practice he was suffering from a lot of foot faults (all with his left foot!!!) he can be buoyed by the knowledge that he has a winning head-to-head record against his German opponent: 3-1.

His most recent win was at this year's Wimbledon Championships in which he was victorious in four sets. Roddick is also aware that he doesn't have to defend any ranking points this week because he lost in the first round to Stanislas Wawrinka in 2009.
There will therefore be less pressure on A-Rod's shoulders, he will be able to relax a little more and focus on regaining some much needed form so that he can push ahead with his task of reaching the Master Series Finals, held at the O2 arena in London at the end of the year.

Selection:

Back Andy Roddick @ [1.5] to win match
Back Over 22.5 Games @ approx. [1.8]

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