Madrid 2nd Round Predictions: Haas-Robredo, Azarenka-Makarova, Monaco-Anderson

1. Tommy Haas v Tommy Robredo

Ekaterina Makarova

The battle of the in-form Tommies will highlight Madrid's schedule on Wednesday.  Tommy Haas had the best result of the day as he dismantled Andreas Seppi with a thumping 6-1 6-2 victory.  Tommy Robredo was equally impressive today as he defeated an out-of-form Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4 6-1.  Both have been in excellent form of late as Haas triumphed in Munich last week, meanwhile Robredo won in Casablanca and since then, has continued to post solid results. I originally went for Robredo over Haas and I always like to stick by my original predictions.  Haas's performance today has made me sit up and take note, but I think Robredo will be marginally fresher and have the home support...

Prediction - Robredo to beat Haas in 3 sets

2. Victoria Azarenka v Ekaterina Makarova

It was always going to be a tough opener for Victoria Azarenka as she had to dig deep into her mental reserves to get past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets, 7-6(8) 7-6(3).  In truth, Pavlyuchenkova really should have taken one of her many set points, blowing a real sitter in the first set tiebreak, but Vika did well to come through unscathed.  It's a tough old draw in Madrid because another streaky Russian awaits in round two, Ekaterina Makarova; she overcame Lucie Safarova in round one, 6-2 7-5, winning five straight games to come back in a topsy-turvy second set.  Azarenka beat Makarova three times in 2011, each becoming more comfortable throughout the year.  Azarenka is still getting back into the swing of things so I expect another struggle, but another straight sets win.

Prediction - Azarenka to beat Makarova in 2 very tight sets

3. Juan Monaco v Kevin Anderson

Two of the draw's dangerous unseeded players go head-to-head in this second rounder in Madrid.  Juan Monaco knocked out the number nine seed, Janko Tipsarevic, 7-6(5) 6-3.  It's just normal now when Tipsarevic gets knocked out in the first two rounds of a tournament and thankfully he was defending semi-final points so he should finally start his hefty descent down the rankings.  Kevin Anderson is not known for his clay-court expertise although I do remember him pushing Tomas Berdych to five sets at Roland Garros last year.  He comfortably beat Jesse Levine, 6-2 6-2 in the first round.  Monaco leads the head-to-head with one lone victory coming last year on the clay in Houston in a tight two setter.  On the clay, I will always favour Monaco, but it definitely will not be easy...

Prediction - Monaco to beat Anderson in 2 tight sets

Best of the rest: WTA 2nd Round Predictions

Carla Suarez Navarro to beat Kaia Kanepi in 3 sets

Varvara Lepchenko to beat Julia Goerges in 3 sets

Maria Kirilenko to beat Kristina Mladenovic in 2 sets

Petra Kvitova to beat Daniela Hantuchova in 2 sets

Best of the rest: ATP 2nd Round Predictions

Rafael Nadal to beat Benoit Paire in 2 sets

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to beat Robin Haase in 3 sets

David Ferrer to beat Denis Istomin in 2 tight sets

Tomas Berdych to beat Jerzy Janowicz in 3 sets

Nicolas Almagro to beat Mikhail Youzhny in 2 tight sets

Kei Nishikori to beat Viktor Troicki in 2 sets