Florian Mayer v Philipp Kohlschreiber
Tennis: ATP Masters Miami 2nd round
Friday, 26th March 2010 - Start 2pm GMT

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Preview

The 2nd round of the Masters in Miami sees an all German clash between 2 players that are ranked in the top 50 of the World.

Florian Mayer may be the man in form coming into the match, overcoming his early exit at Indian Wells to take part in a Challenger even at Sunrise. He did not just take part though, he went on and won in a tough field, beating Gilles Simon in the Final. He has also negotiated one round here in Miami when overcoming Marco Chiudinelli in 3 sets.

Mayer had been particularly strong on the surface when it comes to Challenger events, winning 2 of them so far this season and recording a 10-0 match record. However, he is only 4-4 in main ATP tour events and an easy defeat by Evgeny Korolev at Indian Wells cannot be easily ignored. Neither can the fact that he was also very good in Challengers and Qualification events last year on the surface but still struggled to a 2-3 record in main level events.

The German Number 3 does have a decent record in Miami, twice reaching the 3rd round here, but he was beaten in the 1st round last time in 2008 and did not compete here last year.

Philipp Kohlschreiber was very unlucky in losing to Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells, and will feel he had a really good chance to win that match. He did waste match points and it might be interesting to see how he focuses on this tournament mentally. He remains a bit of an enigma, capable of pushing the very best to their limits while also throwing in a stinking match and losing to a player he should beat.

He does have a decent 6-3 record on hard courts this season and has reached the Semi Final of a tournament on the surface earlier this season. Kohlschreiber has had winning records on hard courts in both of the last 2 seasons prior to this one and will know he can gain valuable ranking points after losing in the 1st round in Miami last year.

Surprisingly, Kohlschreiber is yet to win a match in Miami on 3 previous appearances on these courts.

The players have met each other twice before with each winning 1 of the matches. Kohlschreiber won their last meeting in 2 sets on the hard courts of Auckland, New Zealand.

Prediction

Florian Mayer has had some good results already this season and should be full of confidence coming into this match after picking up a tournament win last week. He has all the weapons to play well on the hard courts but can be a little suspect mentally when it comes to close matches.

Philipp Kohlschreiber may not have beaten Djokovic at Indian Wells, but he should also have picked up some confidence from that match. It should give him more desire to move up from the World Number 33 he currently holds although he can sometimes get unstuck in matches like this.

I am sure this match will be close but I think the higher ranked German player, Philipp Kohlschreiber, will go through to the next round. It could be close and may even go 3 sets, but I think he will be the fresher man and has a little more about his game than Mayer.

The Pick :

Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2/3 close sets

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Philipp Kohlschreiber WIN @ 1.66 (Pinnacle/Betsson)