My first investment today, note that they are "investments" when in form, otherwise they are bets, is for Ramirez-Hidalgo to defeat Feliciano Lopez.
They have never met on the ATP tour, Lopez holds a 3-0 lead in Challenger/Futures meetings, but all were before 2001, so we can disregard them.
Lopez opened with a good win over Volandri, but this was only his third win on clay this year in 10 attempts. You have to go back to 2003 for the last time he had a winning record on the surface. He much prefers hard courts, where his big serve can be seen to it's greatest advantage.
In two previous trips to Gstaad, he has never gone beyond the second round, Feli is likely to be fine tuning his game for the hard court season ahead.
Ramirez-Hidalgo plays almost exclusively on the red stuff and, at the age of 28, is having his best ever year on tour. In 8 years as a pro, he has recorded over 40% of his career wins in the first six months of 2006. He is capable of the odd stinker, losing to Azzaro (ranked287) and Ungur (245) but boasts, wins over Coria (twice, once in Argentina), Gaudio, Safin and Lapentti, all this year.
He reached the quarter finals at Roland Garros and had a good win over Ferrer, en route. On his only previous visit to Gstaad, he made the quarters and will be looking for something similar this time round.
Today, we have the meeting of two men, one who has his objective ahead and the second, who will see this as a major target for the season. I see value in the clay courter, with the greater motivation.
3 points Ramirez-Hidalgo to beat Lopez 1.97 betfair.
Good Luck.
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