Analysis for Llodra-Darcis (ATP Halle)

Head-to-head record 0:0

Michael Llodra of France will face Steve Darcis in Halle´s second round. Llodra is an experienced player who was primarily known as an excellent doubles player. This year, he is having the best singles season so far. He won two tournaments in the course of two months, the first being in Adelaide, where he defeated Jarkko Nieminen in the final, and the other in Rotterdam, where he edged out Robin Soderling in a third-set tiebreak. He played well also on clay - entered the French Open, where he upset Tomas Berdych in the second round and went on to reach the fourth round, losing to Latvian Ernests Gulbis in straight sets. He is an aggressive player and has everything he should have to success on fast surfaces. Surprisingly, he has never been impressive on grass during his career with the exception of Dutch tournament in Hertogenbosch. He possesses a negative record at Wimbledon (3-7), Queens´ Club (3-4) and Halle (0-1) and even if he played in a solid shape against Ljubicic in the first round, we don’t think he should be such a big favourite against dangerous Darcis. Steve Darcis made his grass court debut two days ago and defeated easily his countryman Olivier Rochus. He is having a good season as well - on 2 March 2008, Darcis won his second ATP event in Memphis beating Swede Robin Soderling in the final. He was fairly successful as a junior reaching #8 in the world and beating the likes Baghdatis, Murray or Berdych. We think he has a good potential for further improvement and he should have his chance against more experienced Llodra. Of course, Frenchman is a favourite here, but we don’t think that Darcis should be above 3.