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Haase and Pospisil will square off for a place in the Vienna quarterfinals today. The bookies see this as a somewhat balanced encounter but my input is that there is only one logical winner here.
Robin Haase entered Vienna on the back of a poor run of form, losing to Dancevic, Devvarman and Sijsling in the last tournaments and gaining only one win against Gimeno-Traver. His post Wimbledon hard court season was very poor overall, Haase posted a record of 3 wins and 4 losses, defeating only second tier players like Rosol, Manarino and the previously mentioned Gimeno Traver. The dutchman won his first match in Vienna against Bozoljac (5-7 6-2 6-2), but it was a horrible match from Robin. He was vastly outplayed in the first set and even for large periods of the second set, despite the 6-2 scoreline. Bozoljac started to have fitness problems late in the second and got injured in the third (muscle spasms from what I was able to see). The serbian basically played on one leg until the end, still getting 2 games thanks of Haase`s unforced errors.
Pospisil surprised everyone with his semifinal run at the Montreal Masters series, but after that his form declined and he was barely able to get a win here and there. However, he seems to have recovered his momentum, beating Gasquet and challenging Monfils last week in Shanghai. Here at Vienna he got an impressive 2 set win against Hewitt (7-6 6-4). Surely Vasek is a young player of definite quality and this is the year of his emergence, we`ll see him in the top 20 zone next year.
The head 2 head is 0-0, this is the first meeting between the two. Both players are big servers with solid forehands, but Pospisil has the obvious advantage of being much more adapted to the hard courts and the indoor enviroment than Haase, who prefers clay.
Having watched the dutchman in the first round and considering his poor form in the last months, I can`t see any way for him to defeat Pospisil. His serve, his main weapon on this surface, was really poor and unstable against Bozoljac, so the canadian will have his chances for sure on the return. This would make Haase a sure victim, since he is not a top returner and Pospisil`s serve works great right now. Vasek is in good shape lately, mixing it up with top players like Gasquet, Ferrer, Monfils or Hewitt. Current form and playing surface are clearly in the canadian`s favor, he is also the better player overall, so I see a clear win for him today against the struggling Haase. This should be a one sided encounter if the dutchman does not miraculously raises his recent level of play.
I really had a tough time picking an outcome for this one in terms of betting types, as simple win, handicap and straight sets win all seem to be solid choices. In the end I decided to go with safety and bet on the simple win in case that Haase plays better than he did lately and somehow manages to scrape a set. I`ll go with maximum stakes though. My prediction is Haase – Pospisil 3-6 4-6.
Pick: Vasek Pospisil
Odds: 1.63 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 6.30
Event date: 16 October
Editor Facts
- Rostick is 13 for 19 in October
