Dorsch has decided (half year ago) to climb up in ATP rank by playing mainly on US hardcourts. And it works well so far. He finished '05 with a 30-5 record in challengers/futures and is playing solid this season too. His opponent today has a little experience on US hardcourts and has won less than 10 matches in these conditions in his career. Thats's why I think Benedict should win this one. Odds are equal in most bookies, but value is only on German's side in my opinion.

Gianluca Naso is another young talented Italian on a tour and I can't see why he is underestimated by 5dimes in matchup versus a player (Kas) that looks like a typical challenger/futures cannon fodder. Well, it might be, because he have beaten 3 opponents in quallies. But I still believe more in 19yr old Sicilian and a home crowd support.

Well, Bobby Reynolds is struggling this year and he must be very frustrated. But I'm sure he still remembers how to play and will slowly rebuild his confidence back. It's a first Chadaj's appearance in US in 2006, so he might be quite unprepared and here I see a decent chance for Reynolds to win and end this awful losing streak.

I suppose old man Calatrava is not fully fit these days. He withrawed (left leg inured) in Barletta from doubles and then easily lost to Gicquel. Next week in France (Saint Brieuc) he was trashed by Hajek in first round. These circumstances plus generally poor form this year makes him a nice player to bet against. Especially that there is a very good claycourter on the other side of the net today. Van Gemerden is in solid form, I do like his chances in this match and odds are to tasty here to miss.

Monza (Italy). Andrea Stoppini is a local boy. He has family in this area and will be fighting hard to stay in this challenger as long as possible. Last year he passed through quallies here and defeated Baghdatis in first round of main draw. Now situation is quite similiar (Q's passed) and the opponent is not a claycourt lover too (like Baghdatis). Kristian Pless likes faster surfaces and I doubt he would care about such a minor challenger, because he is going to change continent (Florianopolis, Brazil) this week and participate in a tournament with a 5 times bigger prizes.

Odds are very, very good. Old man Dick Norman is well known and respected player in Mexico. For example San Luis Potosi Challenger belongs to him. He is 14-2 there, 2002 and 2003 winner and last year finalist. In Mexico City his record is not that good, but he was in semi last year, so he knows this courts well for sure. Bogomolov plays on claycourts occasionally and have naver achieved anything spectacular on this surface. He had a tough game against even worser claycourter (Healey) yesterday. Big Dick easily trashed quallifier Hartfield at the same time.

I will risk here medium stake on Falla straight 2 sets win. He comes from quallies and his much better claycourter than Cakl. Czech at this stage of his career is playing mainly on faster surfaces. Clay is simply not his favourite surface and without match practice he should have troubles against well prepared South American.

Two first round exits on home courts ? It would be disaster for Potito. He was defeated by Hajek, who was playing amazing tennis in Barletta week ago. And now he's in must win situation. Napoli is for sure one of his favourite tournaments. He is 12-4 here and last year was close to win it, but lost in final to Richard Gasquet in 3 sets thriller. Gabashvili just started the season, defeated injured Galimberti last week and was beaten by Bolelli next day. I predict easy Starace win, odds are not bad at all.

Mexico challenger. Match of the day on central court. The best ranked home player Santiago Gonzalez, who knows this place very well against a guy from Canada - Frank Dancevic, who is skilled for faster courts rather and is visiting Mexico city for the first time in his tennis career. Home crowd will be very dissapointed if Gonzalez struggle to win it. Well, me too... so Vamos Santiago !

Saint Brieuc challenger. Clay is a surface, but it's played indoors. Believe me or not.... Gorka Fraile has never played a single game indoors. These specific conditions (very fast clay) in St. Brieuc suit much more guys that like faster surfaces (hard, carpet) than typical claycourters. Wauters loves playing indoor and just has easily won Poitiers futures (indoor hard), so in my opinion he should be a strong favourite here, not Basque. But that's a odssmakers problem, I'm happy to take high odds with full stake.

Another matchup between a player that already won a match here (Santoro def. Karlovic) and a 'byer' (Kiefer - 1st round off). And here are 2 other interesting facts... Fabrice leads h2h 5-0, it means something even if last match was played few years ago. Other thing - Kiefer had a virus (flu) recently and that was the reason of his w/o in Las Vegas and 3rd set tiredness in match against Mathieu 2 weeks ago. Santoro is an experienced man and knows how to tire his rival for sure.