Analysis for Machado-Vliegen (ATP French Open)

Head-to-head record 0:0

As you know, Rui Machado is the player we often support. We have been watching him all over his career as he was considered to be the biggest talent of Portugese tennis. In 2006, Rui suffered the knee injury at Davis Cup Match in Portugal and during 2006 and 2007 almost did not compete at the highest level. In 2008, he finally showed some signs of improvement. Machado began his comeback with a spectacular run on the Futures circuit early in 2008. After failing to qualify into Portugal F3 in late January, he went on to win his next 26 matches in a row, losing just 2 sets along the way. He won Italy F1, qualified into and won Portugal F4, then won Portugal F5 an F6, both using Special Entry status. He finally lost a match two weeks later in the semifinal of Spain F12 to Pere Riba, but got revenge the following week at Spain F13, beating Riba in the final, for his 5th Futures win in his last 6 tries. The string of victories took his ranking from No.729 in February to No.371 in early April. Just 10 weeks after having to play qualifiers to get into Futures tournaments in Portugal, he was given a Wild Card entry into Portugal's ATP stop in Estoril, and made great use of it, defeating Ivo Karlovic in the first round in his first-ever ATP-level match. This match catapulted him back among the top players and he continued in above average performances since than. And what about this year? In March 2009, after peaking at an all-time high rank no. 129, he was unable to impose his game once again in Moroccan soil, at the Marrakech Challenger. Machado then tried to reach the main round of the Miami Masters but failed to go past the first qualifying round. At the Athens Challenger, he earned his second Challenger singles title and the biggest tournament won by a Portuguese ever. In May, in his third appearance at the Estoril Open, he lost the tight first round match against Oscar Hernandez. He, then managed to qualify to the 2009 French Open. He will play Kristof Vliegen of Belgium who prefers fast surfaces and his style of play is based on a solid serve. He has a much better serve and more powerful shots than his Portuguese opponent but Machado should take the advantage of slow conditions and keep the match close if everything goes fine for him. Vliegen is currently far from his best and we think that Machado is a favourite for this match. Anything above 1.8 is good enough for us.