Michael Berrer v Sergiy Stakhovsky
Tennis: United Arab Emirates, ATP Dubai, Singles
Tuesday, 23rd February 2010 - Start 10:00

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Preview

Michael Berrer is a left-handed German who has achieved some of his best results during his career over the last 4 months. He recently was the Runner Up in an indoor tournament in Zagreb and has seen his ranking move up to World Number 56, only 5 places below his career high.

This season he has already reached the Final of one ATP tournament and the Quarter Final of another while winning a Challenger tournament in his home country.

A lot of the success Berrer has achieved has come on the indoor hard courts. He has found life a little tougher when playing on the outdoor hard courts and has compiled a 28-27 on these courts since the 2008 season. However, it should also be noted that he is 8-12 in matches at the ATP level.

Michael Berrer will be making his first appearance in Dubai.

Sergiy Stakhovsky is a player with talent and good things are expected of him. I think it would be fair to say that he has not quite lived up to these expectations yet in his career and finds himself ranked as the World Number 70.

Stakhovsky is now getting to a place where results have got to come for him. He has struggled so far this season and failed to go beyond the 2nd round in any tournament he has entered although he has been unfortunate to have drawn Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling in his last 2 tournaments.

The Ukranian has struggled since winning his 2nd ATP title at the back end of last season in St Petersburg and has failed to win 2 matches in a row since then. Last season, Stakhovsky started playing in more ATP events than Challengers although he was not so successful on the hard courts. He is 26-21 on these courts since 2008, but only 11-16 over the last 2 seasons.

He lost in the 1st round here last season to Andy Murray in 3 sets.

Head to Head

Interestingly, Michael Berrer holds a 3-0 lead over Sergiy Stakhovsky in their head to head battle, but these meetings are all from a minimum of 5 years ago.

Berrer beat Stakhovsky twice on hard courts during that time.

Prediction

Michael Berrer has been playing very well recently and has the added advantage of being left-handed which serves him well while, erm, serving. He has won Challenger events while also beating some playings ranked higher than himself in the main draws. Fitness could have been a concern but he took last week off after his exertions in Zagreb and Rotterdam.

Sergiy Stakhovsky has a big serve and powerful groundstrokes although the inconsistency of these shots can hurt him. He has shown the talent he has by pushing Robin Soderling all the way last week but I am concerned about a possible injury that he pulled out of Rotterdam with.

I think Berrer has the game to really give Stakhovsky a hard time. While I think the Ukranian is likely to have the better career when it is all said and done, I think at this very moment Berrer still has the edge in terms of form. It might need tie breaks and tight sets, but I think Berrer has to be the call here.

The Pick :

Michael Berrer 7-6, 6-4

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Michael Berrer WIN