Analysis for Schuettler-De Bakker (ATP Munich)

Head-to-head record 0:0

Experienced German warhorse Rainer Schuettler will face Dutch young gun Thiemo de Bakker. Dutch qualifier was born in 1988 and was successful junior tennis player, who won the Boys' Singles Championship at Wimbledon 2006. However, he still lacks the experience from ATP level. He received a Wild Card into the ATP Amersfoort event in July 2006 and shocked top 100 and French Open Quarterfinalist Julien Benneteau in the 1st round of the event winning in straight sets. In the 2nd round he faced Frenchman Marc Gicquel and lost in 3 sets, 6–4 3–6 2–6. He was just 17 years old. In October 2006, Thiemo won his first senior international title in a Futures event in Albufeira, Portugal. This was followed by many other wins in Future tournaments. He is currently at his career high ATP ranking and should be full of self-confidence after the solid results outside the ATP circuit. In qualifiers, he proved how dangerous player he can be and defeated Malisse, Klec and Crugnola. He will now face German veteran Rainer Schuettler. Schuettler had a fascinating 2008 season reaching his first career semifinal at Wimbledon by beating Santiago Ventura, James Blake, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Janko Tipsarevic, and Arnaud Clement, his match with Clement was over 5 hours, completed in two days to reach the semi finals, losing to Rafael Nadal. His achievement was a big surprise, since he entered the tournament ranked 94th and with a streak of 13 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments without making it past the second round. He played several good matches since that time and proved he is still competitive enough. But he has never been a claycourt specialist as his movement his limited and we doubt he will be able to compete with young Dutchman. He hasn’t won a single match here in Munich since 2004 and his today´s price is too short. At these odds, we will side with his German opponent who should be a slight favourite in our eyes.