These days, second round matches can be pretty interesting.   Let’s take a look at a few of today’s more intriguing matches.

Haas vs. Nadal

OK, Haas shouldn’t really pose any problems to Nadal.  He’s a veteran, but injuries have put him on the sideline for many years, so he’s played rather infrequently.  Although Nadal was worried he might drop out due to a weird knee issue, he literally would have to do just that for Haas to win.  Haas is a savvy player but too few matches against the world number 2 is too much to ask.  Interesting only because Haas has been in the top 5 before, but not in a number of years.

Querrey vs. Tomic

Querrey was injured and I believe had surgery or some such.  Querrey out for a fair bit of 2011 and has been working to get back into the game.  Like the rest of the Americans, he’s been training hard during the off season which was a bit longer for him than others because Querrey’s not contending for the year-end championships.

Querrey will go into this match and try to play his usual game which is to hit big serves and go after his forehand and pretty much hope he doesn’t get lulled into playing Tomic’s style.  I think Querrey has a better mindset and a fairly straightforward strategy compared to Verdasco.  He’s not the basket case that Verdasco is, but there are still question marks for Querrey.  First, he hasn’t played that much while Tomic has and that’s really the biggest question.  Second, can he hit Tomic off the court?  Tomic has played some big hitters and he’s very clever and won those matches.

This would probably be a solid Tomic victory had he not been pushed so hard in the first round match.  On the plus side, Tomic’s style is pretty low key so he doesn’t expend a ton of energy unless he’s being pushed around and that’s the strategy most players take against Tomic.  They want to move him around so they don’t fall into pushing the ball back and forth. Even so, Tomic would likely agree that a full recovery would make it much easier to play Querrey.

With Tomic’s recent success, he has to be favored over the American that’s still trying to get his game back in order and has few matches under his belt.  Querrey did a good job in the first round, but he got lucky to play another big guy. Big guys tend to have a limited strategy and Querrey happens to play the big guy game better than most.  Tomic is technically a big guy too, but plays a weird sort of game.

Berdych vs Rochus

You would think this favors Berdych, and it probably does, but Rochus has been playing well, as of late.  Rochus reached the finals of Auckland a few days ago in what must have been one of the shortest finals (in terms of player heights) in quite some time.  Rochus fought but it’s hard to outfight Ferrer.

Berdych’s game ought to be too big for Rochus.  He’s been playing pretty good tennis the last few weeks during Hopman Cup.  And I expect the win, but Rochus won’t make it easy.  Berdych tends to struggle against steadier players like Tipsarevic and Ferrer, but I think his power wins out.

Isner vs. Nalbandian

A hard call.  Nalbandian leads the head-to-head, but it’s a bit deceptive.  The first match Isner retired.  The second match, which was Auckland from last year, was at a period where Isner was not playing that well (he didn’t do well until Newport just after Wimbledon).  It’s not clear what Isner’s form is, but expect him to give a better battle than Auckland.  It’s the classic David (Nalbandian) vs. Goliath.  Nalbandian is quick, moves around the court well, and has good groundies.  Isner will want to hit big serves and big forehands and win points quickly.

I’m not sure what form either player is in, but I would narrowly favor Isner.

Wawrinka vs. Baghdatis

Perhaps a bad matchup for both players who have seen higher rankings.  Baghdatis, in particular, always seems to see his rankings see-saw.  Baghdatis has been with coach Maclagan, formerly coaching Murray, for around a year, i believe.  He reached the quarters of Brisbane.  Wawrinka reached the semis of Chennai.  Even so, I think Baghdatis is in better form.  We’ll see.  Slight edge to Baghdatis, but should be a good match.  This may be the most evenly matched of the early rounds.

Dimitrov vs. Almagro

Of the “new 4” (which include Tomic, Harrison, Dimitrov, and Raonic), Dimitrov has had, by far, the weakest results.  Raonic has, at least, won a tournament (now two) and Tomic has beaten top ten players.  Harrison has reached the semis of two ATP events.  Almagro’s weakest surface is hardcourts where he seems to struggle with return of serve or confidence or something.  He’s a big hitter, so it is curious why he has problems on hard courts unless he can’t handle lower bounces or the return of serve.

Dimitrov had to work hard to get out of the first round.  Still, because of Almagro’s preference to be on other surfaces, Dimitrov should have a decent shot at winning.  Gotta lean to Almagro until Dimitrov shows he can handle a player like Almagro.

Others

Obviously there are players like Federer and del Potro playing, but their matchups don’t seem as intriguing.