What an exciting line up of tennis today. Play begins at 11am local time and will be televised on the Tennis Channel throughout the day.
Federer faces #27 seed Dmitry Tursunov. Tursunov possesses big strokes and has the ability to push Roger today but the strong edge goes to Federer. Fed is playing with a renewed level of confidence coming of a tournament win in Dubai last week. Tursunov will have to do something very special today to gain a victory over Roger.
Later in the day, Rafael Nadal will face the unorthodox strokes of Alexandr Dolgopolov. Dolgopolov has the ability to give Nadal a tough match. His strokes are hard to read, he takes the ball early and hits very flat. He can find angles from anywhere on the court.
Rafa who dropped a set and was very close to being escorted out of the tournament by Radek Stepanek on Saturday night is still the clear favorite in today's match. Although Dolgopolov shares similar style as Stepanek with flatter ground strokes and an aggressive game, he will not be able to handle Rafa's pace for the length of the match. You will see it stay close for a set but Nadal will run off with the match by the middle of the second set.
Also today, one of my new favorite players to watch, Stan Wawrinka will face an under estimated challenger in Andreas Seppi. Seppi has proven that he can compete with the world's best but today could be the end of the BNP Paribas for him. Stan is coming off his Australian Open win and in my opinion is striking the ball better then any other of the top 10 players.
That said, other then 1 Davis Cup match, Stan has not played since the Australian Open in January.
This much time off could prove costly if this becomes a tight match. Not being match tough always rears it's ugly head during crucial moments in a match.
Other players in action today include Tommy Haas vs. Kai Nishikori, Andy Murray vs. Jiri Vesely, Gael Monfils vs. Fabio Fognini.
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