Analysis for Ancic-Gicquel (Madrid)

Head-to-head record 0:0

The second today´s pick will be the match between big Croatian Mario Ancic and March Gicquel of France. Mario Ancic plays an all-court game but is able to adapt his game to all surfaces, making him a difficult player to play regardless of the surface. Ancic has a good serve and is capable of producing many aces in a match. On grass and faster surfaces he serves and volleys but on slower courts he is more than able to rally from the back of the court. This year he has suffered several injuries which pushed him down a bit. In Marseille, he dropped out in the first round to Italian Andreas Seppi retiring because of illness after losing the first 4 games. Later, he was diagnosed with mononucleosis, which forced him to withdraw from tournaments for several months. Furthermore, he missed US Open because of a shoulder injury. He returned in October and won 2 matches in Stockholm to be beaten by Thoms Johansson in the third round. His opponent Marc Gicquel plays similar style of tennis. He is good at serve and volley tennis and prefers fast surfaces. He is in a solid form at present despite of losing in the first round at Vienna Open last week. He lost in three sets to Wawrinka who made the finals after that. Gicquel played well in qualifiers and we expect a tight battle today. Is could be decided in tiebreaks and we think that Gicquel´s odds above 3 are worth trying.