Victor Crivoi +162
Romanian qualifier won two matches in qualifying for the Rome tournament over Gabashvilli & Lapentti. The one over Lapentti being fairly impressive to me as the Ecuadoran had scalped several opponents the caliber of James Blake or much better in Youzhny, Stepanek, Belluci & Safin in the last two clay court tournaments. Blake has been mostly miserable since injuring an ankle in San Jose and lost his only clay court match this year in Houston, which is one of the few clay court events he had success at during his career. Blake did make the quarters here last year, but he was obviously playing better at the time. With matches under his belt on this surface and the questionable form of Blake, good spot to fade the USA & take a stab at Crivoi.
Romanian qualifier won two matches in qualifying for the Rome tournament over Gabashvilli & Lapentti. The one over Lapentti being fairly impressive to me as the Ecuadoran had scalped several opponents the caliber of James Blake or much better in Youzhny, Stepanek, Belluci & Safin in the last two clay court tournaments. Blake has been mostly miserable since injuring an ankle in San Jose and lost his only clay court match this year in Houston, which is one of the few clay court events he had success at during his career. Blake did make the quarters here last year, but he was obviously playing better at the time. With matches under his belt on this surface and the questionable form of Blake, good spot to fade the USA & take a stab at Crivoi.
