Analysis for Darcis-Massu (ATP Beijing)

Head-to-head record 1:0

Steve Darcis of Belgium will play Nicolas Massu of Chile in the opening Olympic round. Darcis 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 should be able to take his chance against Chilean claycourter. Darcis has been a big improver this year. At the Dutch Open last year, in his 3rd career ATP-level tournament, he won his first ATP-level singles match and then went on to win the tournament, catapulting him into the top-150 for the first time. He beat all top-60 players en route to the title. On 2 March 2008, Darcis won his second ATP event in Memphis beating Swede Robin Soderling in the final. He feels comfortable on hard courts and should exploit relatively friendly draw here. He will face experienced Chilean veteran Nicolas Massu. Massu is former world number nine in singles and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He has a style characteristic of a clay court specialist, with strong baseline play characterized by a solid forehand and backhand. Chilean is known for his extremly tough fighting spirit, especially when playing for Chile, as he has demonstrated at the 2004 Olympics and at numerous Davis Cup matches. He has also turned around difficult matches. On the other hand, his best years are gone and he has been struggling over the last years. He dropped out of the top 100 and played mainly clay challengers. The famous Massu from 2004 is gone and we can hardly imagine that he would manage to repeat that success once again. He was a great player but should be the underdog against Belgian young gun, especially on fast surface. Odds above 1.6 are good enough for us.