HOUSTON WEDNESDAY PREVIEW –  SEEDS QUERREY, ISNER, DIMITROV, FORMER CHAMP KARLOVIC EYE QF

Second round action begins Wednesday at the River Oaks Country Club with four matches on the schedule. Leading off on Stadium is No. 8 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria against Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili in a first-time meeting. The 19-year-old Dimitrov, who is the only teenager in the Top 100 South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, is attempting to reach his first career ATP World Tour quarter-final. Gabashvili’s last quarter-final came in New Haven last August.

In the second match, qualifier and  2007 US Clay Court champion Ivo Karlovic attempts to reach his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season as he takes on Russian Igor Kunitsyn for the first time. The 32-year-old Croat, who has not faced a break point in four matches thus far (three in qualifying), has an 8-9 match record on the season. Kunitsyn is trying to reach his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year.

In the third match on, top seeds and three-time US Clay Court champions (2007, ’09-10) Bob and Mike Bryan meet Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Ricardo Mello of Brazil. The Bryans have won 13 matches in a row here since losing in the quarter-finals five years ago. They captured their 10th career Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open. They helped lead the U.S. to a 4-1 first round Davis Cup victory over Chile. In July, the U.S. will host Spain in the quarter-finals in nearby Austin.

In the evening session, wild card Ryan Sweeting and No. 2 seed/last year’s runner-up Sam Querrey square off for the third time (tied 1-1), the second this year. Sweeting won the last encounter in the second round in Delray Beach in February en route to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final. Querrey, who is the No. 3 American (behind No. 11 Fish, No. 14 Roddick), is looking to reach his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year. In February, he lost in the quarters to Fish in Memphis.

In the last match, Argentine Horacio Zeballos and No. 4 seed John Isner play each other for the second time. At the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Rome last May, Isner came back from a set down to beat Zeballos 7-5 in the third set. Both players are attempting to advance to their second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season. Zeballos reached the quarters in Santiago in February (l. to Starace) while Isner reached that round in Auckland in January (l. to Nalbandian).

WEDNESDAY SECOND ROUND FED-EX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS –  In Order of Play

Stadium

(8) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS)   First Meeting

Dimitrov FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-5
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: May 16, 1991
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 70

Gabashvili FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 4-8
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: May 23, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 77

(Q) Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)      First Meeting

Karlovic FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Doha (l Davydenko); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 8-9
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: February 28, 1979
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 174

Kunitsyn FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 4-5
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: September 30, 1981
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 89

(WC) Ryan Sweeting (USA) vs (2) Sam Querrey (USA) Tied 1-1
09 Los Angeles (U.S.A.) Hard R16 Sam Querrey 6-3  6-7(5)   6-3
11 Delray Beach (U.S.A.) Hard R16 Ryan Sweeting 7-6(5) 6-4

Sweeting FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Delray Beach (l Nishikori)
YTD W-L: 6-6
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: July 14, 1987
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 93

Querrey FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Memphis (l Fish)
YTD W-L: 6-7
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 6
Date of Birth: October 7, 1987
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 20

Horacio Zeballos (ARG) vs (4) John Isner (USA) Isner Leads 1-0
10 ATP Masters 1000 Rome (Italy) Clay R64 John Isner 4-6 7-6(5)   7-5

Zeballos FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Santiago (l Starace)
YTD W-L: 4-3
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: April 27, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 94

Isner FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Auckland (l Nalbandian)
YTD W-L: 7-7
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: April 26, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 29

WEDNESDAY PREVIEW - SECOND SEED BAGHDATIS LEADS LINE-UP AS SECOND ROUND BEGINS

The second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II kicks off on Wednesday, with the first four quarter-final berths up for grabs at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament.

First up on Court Central is a first-time meeting between No. 6 seed Jeremy Chardy against Pablo Andujar. Chardy had lost first round in his last eight ATP World Tour main draws coming into this tournament but snapped out of that losing streak Monday with a straight set win; Andujar has had a better season so far, winning back-to-back main draw matches twice (including at his last event over in Miami, where he beat Top 10 player Fernando Verdasco). Chardy and Andujar are both playing this event for the first time.

Second up is No. 2 seed Marcos Baghdatis against qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov, also a first-time meeting. World No. 26 Baghdatis is trying to reach his third quarter-final of the year, having already gone that far at Brisbane and Rotterdam; Kuznetsova, ranked No. 199 in the world, won his first match of the year in the first round here. Baghdatis and Kuznetsov are both playing this tournament for the first time as well.

Last up on Court Central is No. 8 seed Victor Hanescu facing Michael Berrer. Hanescu hasn’t won back-to-back matches all year, but these courts have brought the best out in the Romanian before, as he reached the quarter-finals here in 2009 and made it all the way to the final last year (falling to Stanislas Wawrinka). Berrer has had a better season (his best result being the finals of Zagreb) but has not done as well at this event before (he fell first round in his only previous attempt here) and did lose his only previous encounter with Hanescu.

Over on Court 2, No. 4 seed Andrey Golubev and Spain’s Pere Riba will also do battle for a spot in the last eight.

WEDNESDAY SECOND ROUND FED-EX ATP HEAD 2 HEADS – In Order of Play

Court Central

Pablo Andujar (ESP) vs (6-WC) Jeremy Chardy (FRA)    First Meeting

Andujar FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Costa Do Sauipe (l Mello)
YTD W-L: 6-7
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: January 23, 1986
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 69

Chardy FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-6
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: February 12, 1987
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 51

(Q) Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) vs (2-WC) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)  First Meeting

Kuznetsov FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 1-0
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: February 22, 1991
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 244

Baghdatis FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
QF: Brisbane (l Roddick); Rotterdam (l Ljubicic)
YTD W-L: 6-6
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: June 17, 1985
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 26

(8) Victor Hanescu (ROU) vs Michael Berrer (GER) Hanescu Leads 1-0
10 ATP Masters 1000 Rome (Italy) Clay R64 Victor Hanescu 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3

Hanescu FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 4-9
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: July 21, 1981
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 58

Berrer FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
F: Zagreb (l Dodig)
YTD W-L: 7-6
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: July 1, 1980
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 81

Court 2

(4) Andrey Golubev (KAZ) vs Pere Riba (ESP)   First Meeting

Golubev FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 4-6
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: July 22, 1987
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 40

Riba FastFacts:
2011 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 2-5
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: April 7, 1988
South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking: 84