I don't really speak Spanish but the gist of it is a simple comparison head-to-head thing then saying what the pundits are saying.

Bascially,

Verdasco is the local boy so the vocal crowd support may tip the balance in his favour.

Henman had an injury last year so didn't has had a drop in ranking meaning he needed a wildcard to enter this masters series so the match will be close and interesting. then something about Gaston Gaudio, i think maybe that Tim has been practising with him but am not sure.

Of course all of the above could be rubbish and someone who does speak spanish will come along and make me look very silly!

UltimateBoggoFan wrote:

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The tournament are doing a superb online daily magazine on the tournament, there's only 1 snag, it's all in Spanish. Does anyone here speak any ? There's a section on the Henman - Verdasco match in today's issue. Does anyone know how to feed info in pdf files into one of those free online translators ? Link: http://tennis-masters-madrid.com//pdf/daily/2006/Daily_MMMM_16oct2006.pdf

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Babelfish says...

Tim Henman Ranking ATP: 41º
Nationality: English Age: 32
Results 2006: End of Tokyo, semifinals in Zagreb and Queen's.
Strongpoints: Its style of serve and volea falls perfect in the fast track of Madrid. Without the pressure of his better days to obtain a better ranking, it can be a rival of danger for Verdasco in the opening. Was seen yesterday it very loose actually with the Argentinean Gastón Gaudio.


Ranking ATP: 26º
Nationality: Spanish
Age: 22
Results 2006: Semifinals in Valencia and Kitzbühel, quarterfinals in Masters Series of Hamburg and eighth of end in Wimbledon.
Strongpoints: He is local, of the same Madrid. Their power from the bottom of the track and greater speed can incline the balance to their favor.

 

Monfils must be feeling pretty silly right now. In his rd2 match against Hrbaty today he'd won the 1st set 6-3 and it was 2-2 in the 2nd when he leapt in the air to celebrate a winner. He turned his ankle when he landed and was forced to retire !

He wasn't leaping to celebrate a winner. Hrbaty overhead smashed at the net and Monfils flew through the air and somehow got it back, so Hrbaty smashed it even harder and Monfils flew after it again more for a joke than anything else as he was never going to get close to it. This led to him hop skipping and jumping into the advertising board and injuring his ankle.

Massive upset:

Roddick lost in rd3 in straights to Berdych, 7-6, 6-3 They'd never played before but Berdych was on fire, smashing down 23 aces !!! That's more than 2 a service game !

I'm looking forward to Nadal v Haas this evening. Who do we think will win that one ?

I'm going for Haas, since Wimbledon Nadal has really been struggling when he comes up against quality big-hitters who can muscle him off the court with huge serves and forehands. Haas is exactly that kind of player and the Madrid courts are so fast. They've played once before, Nadal won 7-6, 6-3 in Cincinatti this year.

The other rd3 result today is that Ginepri beat Robredo 6-3, 7-6 which isn't particularly surprising on a fast surface. This tournament has been a bit of a disaster for Spaniards so far. Ginepri's been in great form so far, he's likely to play Federer in the quarters. I can't see either Soderling or Ginepri troubling Fed so I reckon it'll be Federer in the semis v hopefully Henman !

I wouldn't be surprised if Joachim Johansson reaches the final here, given the way he's been playing

UltimateBoggoFan wrote:

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I wouldn't be surprised if Joachim Johansson reaches the final here, given the way he's been playing

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I hope not - we've missed him off the Boggo rankings thread, and he'd overtake with a finals place