Tuesday Preview

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By Barry Newcombe


Daniel Evans v Xavier Malisse
Played—never previously met

Daniel Evans, an 18-year-old from Birmingham, makes his ATP tour debut against the Belgian Xavier Malisse, who will be 28 next month. Evans and Malisse came into the Artois field as wild cards, Evans as recognition of his potential and Malisse, injured for much of last year, because he is long term friend of the tournament and a former Wimbledon semi-finalist.

Tournament director Chris Kermode says: "The Artois Championships has a long history of giving young players a chance to make an impact and Dan stood out to me as a player with the potential to do that. Dan has obvious talent and this is an opportunity to show what he can do." Malisse has a career record of 207 wins and 174 defeats and will give the 988th ranked Evans a clear-cut examination. Malisse was the first Belgian into the Wimbledon semi-finals for 98 years in 2002. Evans has played futures events this year and was in his fifth tournament before he won a match.

Verdict—intrigue everywhere

Andy Murray v Sebastien Grosjean
Played-never previously met

Andy Murray, the British No 1 and sixth seed for the Artois Championships, can expect a warm welcome when he opens his singles campaign today against the experienced 30-year-old Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, twice a finalist in this tournament. Murray's opportunities to play competitively in his own country are necessarily restricted by the demands of the tour but he has had just about a week of preparation to adjust to grass court play after the French Open—and had an opening round doubles last night which should have helped him as well.

It was here of course that Murray made his ATP grass court debut three years ago. Grosjean's understanding of grass and the value of this tournament makes him a considerable competitor and having won his opening singles against qualifier Rik de Voest he will also be eager to move on. Grosjean was runner-up here in 2003 and 2004 and was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in the same years.

Verdict—Murray eager to set the pace

Fernando Gonzalez v Richard Bloomfield
Played-never previously met

Richard Bloomfield, who comes from Norfolk and ranks 412th in the world has one distinct benefit as he opens his challenge in the Artois Championships because he has already won three matches in qualifying to reach the main draw where he faces Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, the tenth seed. Bloomfield was in the British Davis Cup squad for the tie against Argentina earlier this year and his captain John Lloyd will be watching his form closely as he begins the countdown to the key match against Chile in September.

Gonzalez, aged 27, is ranked 15th in the world and has finished in the top ten for the past two years. He usually makes an impact on grass and his best in this tournament was to reach the quarter finals last year where he was beaten by Dmitry Tursunov. He was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in 2005 and runner-up at the Australian Open last year. He was an Olympic gold medallist in doubles in Athens in 2004.

Verdict—Gonzalez to take command

Feliciano Lopez v Nicolas Mahut
Played-Lopez leads 1-0

Nicolas Mahut could rightly claim to be one of the surprise packets of last year's Artois Championships because it was here that he reached the first ATP final of his career, beating Rafael Nadal on the way, and held a championship point against Andy Roddick in the second set tie break. If playing in the final here was an inspiration he then had to move on to the Wimbledon qualifying tournament and he came through there as well.

He won one match at Wimbledon, but had played so many matches on grass that his 10-3 record made him the best player on the surface last year. He is a former Wimbledon junior champion. Lopez is a left hander who lives in Madrid and will be remembered in this part of the world for beating Britain's Tim Henman in the second round at Wimbledon last year—which turned out to be Henman's farewell to the tournament. Now ranked 33rd in the world Lopez beat Mahut in Las Vegas last year.

Verdict-Lopez to prevent Mahut running through the draw

John Isner v Kevin Anderson
Played-Anderson leads 1-0

Doubtless the ground staff at The Queen’s Club will be taking more than a passing interest in the presence of John Isner on the Centre Court today. He runs around on size 15 shoes, weighs something approaching 17st., and is 6ft 9ins tall having grown an additional five inches seven years ago when he was 16. He ranks 84th in the world and comes to The Artois Championship having lost a five set first round match in the French Open to Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.

Anderson can almost look Isner in the eye because he is just two inches shorter and nine places lower in the rankings. Anderson, who was born and lives in Johannesburg, won their only previous meeting in Las Vegas this year and came into this tournament after being a finalist at Surbiton. The attributes of the two players suggest this first meeting on grass will involve some hard hitting and high reaches.

Verdict—Isner to square their career record

Rafael Nadal and Mariano Hood v Fernando Lopez and Nicolas Lapentti

Two days after demolishing Roger Federer in the French Open final, Rafael Nadal, champion there for a fourth year running, makes a rapid transition to grass. Just as he did in previous years he wants to find his feet on the surface--and starts off as a wild card in doubles at the Artois Championships with Argentine veteran Mariano Hood. Their opening match puts them up against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

Hood, a 34-year-old left hander, was once ranked 20th in the world in doubles and has won 13 titles, the last in 2005, and all on clay courts. He has played two ATP tournaments this year. Nadal does not often include doubles on his agenda but an all left handed partnership should certainly be intriguing—all the more so because Nadal arrives here in outstanding form in singles.

Verdict-Nadal to ease his way into the tournament