Duckworth Seeks Verdasco Revenge In Miami

Fernando Verdasco will take on James Duckworth in the second round of the Miami Masters tomorrow, a competition that the Spaniard has twice reached the quarter-final of. The last eight first came calling for Verdasco back in 2009 when he saw off Benjamin Becker (6-3, 6-4), Feliciano Lopez (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) and Radek Stepanek (6-2, 6-2) before losing out to eventual tournament winner Andy Murray (6-1, 6-2). A year later he would repeat his feat, Dudi Sela (6-1, 6-2), Jurgen Melzer (6-3, 6-7, 6-1) and Marin Cilic (6-4, 7-6) all being dispatched before the now 31-year-old fell to a 6-4, 6-7, 4-6 defeat to competition runner-up Tomas Berdych.

Tomorrow see the six-time ATP title winner take on tournament debutant James Duckworth. Whilst Verdasco received a bye into the second stage, the Australian has already kicked off his campaign by defeating Bosnia-Herzegovina`s Damir Dzumhur in the first round. The Sydney-born player was able to take the first set 6-3 before only managing to pick up three games in the second. Dzumhur was taken down swiftly in the third, that set again finishing 6-3 to Duckworth. Whilst he is 12/1 with boylesports to take tomorrow`s first set by six games to three, Verdasco is 4/1 with most bookmakers to secure the opener by the same score. william hill`s 5/2 says that either of the players will run out the 6-3 victor in the first.

This will be only the second time that the two men have met on court, Verdasco having been the winner in their second round clash in the Indian Wells tournament just a week ago. Duckworth only managed to pick up two games in the opening set but pulled his performance together to just miss out on contesting a third by losing the second set on a tie-break. Coral have the best price of 7/2 on there being a tie-break in the second set once again whilst Stan James` 5/6 says that the Spaniard will be able to win in straight sets once again. Verdasco would lose out to Japanese world number five Kei Nishikori in the third round (7-6, 1-6, 4-6). It is the Madrid-born star who is the favourite to double his head-to-head lead over Duckworth tomorrow. Skybet currently have the best price on the favourite doing the business and progressing through to the third round stage. This price currently stands at 1/3. Otherwise, his 23-year-old opponent can be backed at the best price of 11/4. Those odds can be picked up at boylesports.

The world number 34, Verdasco`s best finish this year came in the Quito tournament on clay. The 31-year-old beat Gerald Melzer (7-6, 6-4) and Paolo Lorenzi (6-1, 6-2) to reach the semi-final of the competition before exiting at this stage by losing two tie-breaks to world number 14 and eventual runner-up Feliciano Lopez. Verdasco could only reach the third round of the Australian Open. The 6`2" player exited when running into Novak Djokovic at this early stage. That match ended 6-7, 3-6, 4-6.

Duckworth, who is just inside the top 100 players in the world, performed well when recording a quarter-final finish in the Brisbane Open. He beat off better ranked opponents Gilles Simon (6-2, 6-2) and Jarkko Nieminen (6-4, 6-7, 3-6) before losing out to Roger Federer in the quarter-finals. The Sydney native could only grab one game in this match on home soil (0-6, 1-6). He would reach the final of the Kolkata Challenger tournament but fail to overcome Radu Albot 6-7, 1-6.

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26/03/2015     © Frixo 2024