The Spanish and the Frenchman have both endured disappointing years with a very negative track record. Feliciano Lopez should finish the season in the top fifty, and at current he is holding on to the forty-seventh spot. Lopez have been utterly disappointing through the course of the year with only successful appearances at Spain and Shanghai. Going 17-23 for the year is certainly a poor record and a player of his calibre should be fighting in the top twenty five of the rankings. For Clement, he played extremely well in Lyon last week, only eventually going down to Ivan Lubicic in the semifinals, 6-2 6-4. Clement have steadily improved over the last couple of weeks and no wonder the odds are priced closer than it is for this game.

On head to head record, both players are tied a piece heading into this match whereby I am sure the French crowd will behind their national player to deliver the goods. As shown last week at Lyon, Clement was able to feed off the home support, which only provides him with greater confidence to compete with the better ranked players. Go for Clement to closely grab the opening set in what should be a pulsating match.

Pick: First set Clement  win  6-4  @7