Analysis for Haase-Navarro (Tokyo)

Head-to-head record 0:0

Robin Haase is generally considered to be the most talented Dutch player nowadays. He has already shown his potential several times as he managed to defeat some world-class players lately (eg. Berdych, Karlovic). The problem is that he lacks consistency and the level of his performances fell down rapidly after Montreal Masters. He defeated Berdych and played a tight battle with Baghdatis in Montreal but after this he lost to Echagaray in Bronx, Djokovic at US Open and Oli Rochus in Mumbai last week. He won just two Davis Cup matches against Portugal outsiders Elias and Gil and was (especially in the match against Elias) very close to shocker as he lost 2 sets with totally unknown player. On the other hand, his talent is unexceptionable and we just love his attractive style of play. We believe his current bad results are temporary and it is just a matter of time when he starts to win again. The best opportunity he could get will come in the first round of Tokyo tournament. He will face Spaniard Ivan Navarro who is far from being world class player. He is much more experienced than his Dutch opponent but has never achieved any remarkable successes in his career. He is untypical Spanish player as he is able to play on fast surfaces pretty well (mainly thanks to his good serve). But clay remains his best surface and he is not a world-beater even on clay. His latest results weren’t impressive and we think he should be an underdog in the match against dangerous and desperate Dutch. Odds above 1.65 could be worth taking here.