Buenos Aires Quarter-finals

OOP

Draw




Nicolas Almagro (ESP)

vs.

Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)

Previous meetings: tied 1-1.

Nicolas Almagro’s confidence will be sky high heading into this match on the back of 9 consecutive wins, and as I said last week, his claycourt form has really lit up the South American season this month. Of course there is the risk that his tired legs may start to feel the effects of his recent efforts, including two 2-hour matches so far in Bs As. But to me the fact that he backed up his Brasil Open title last week with a couple more hard-fought wins in the heat of the Argentine summer suggests he isn’t just here to make up the numbers and has matured since the days he would play well one week and tank the next.

Nico did have a day off yesterday and this match being scheduled for the evening session may be an advantage, but in any case he is better than Chela in every department right now and I expect him to be able to hit right through that skinny Argentine pusher from the baseline. Adrenaline alone should pull him through at this stage. Chela has had lacklustre results since his decent run at the USO, losing to the likes of Mayer, Fognini and perhaps most interestingly to GGL at the AO, a player who has a similar style of play to Almagro. The one thing on Iggy’s side will be the boisterous home crowd, but he has never played particularly well at his home event and actually lost to Almagro here last year at the exact same stage of the tournament… Time for history to repeat itself tonight and I’m pounding these odds at maximum stake. Good luck.

Almagro to beat Chela @ 1.74 (10 units to win 7.4 units) VOID

Result: Chela def. Almagro 6-3 2-1 ret.