Friday preview by Lawrence Frankopan
As tournament director I should be totally objective and not at all euphoric, but it is impossible in this situation. I do not want to jinx it, but the week is developing incredibly well. Needless to repeat that the stadium was full again, that Dominic Thiem, Borna Ćorić and Gael Monfils offered the fans again incredible tennis on the center court and, the most important thing is, that we have a blockbuster Friday.
The second weekend of the tournament will be spectacular and the list of matches is absolutely incredible. On the center court we are opening with Fabio Fognini vs. Joao Sousa. Beating Seppi, Sousa has prevented an Italian derby. Fabio has looked so far pretty well and fully focused on the tournament. Although he is one of the favorites on paper, the Portuguese showed how dangerous he is.
Not before 8 p.m.our local boy is entering the court. The match Borna Ćorić vs. Roberto Bautista-Agut will show the clash of two current winners of ATP annual awards. Will the winner be the player who has most improved in 2014 or the ATP star of tomorrow? Borna can count on the support from the definitely sold-out stadium, but the stable Roberto certainly will not hand over the match without a fight.
At the end of the day we are having tennis delicacy. I believe that most of the ATP 250 Series wouldn't be bothered to have the final match played by Monfils vs. Kohlschreiber. This year we have the honor that they are playing in the quarter-finals.
The Austrians will watch their derby at the grandstand. Dominic Thiem and Andreas Haider-Maurer played last weekend together in the Davis Cup and today they will be playing against each other. The Croatian-Finnish double Draganja/ Kontinen is playing in the semi-finals, so the home fans will have a special reason to return to the grandstand.
