Pedro, The Mystery Man

Martinez has almost become a ghost on the main tour...

What do I mean by that? Well, sometimes he is in the tournament, but it's barely noticeable because he takes a 6-2, 6-1 beatdown in 60 minutes. Then, now and then, you get competitive matches. Sometimes he seems to be injured, and sometimes he is just having a bad day, usually accompanied by a lot of double faults and unforced errors. Still, we have seen him put up a good fight against decent players. He beat Rune in a deciding set tiebreaker recently in a Davis Cup match, and three days after, he retired 6-1, 3-0 down to Topo in the first round of a Challenger in Austria (fatigue). Speaking of injuries, they used to plague Cazaux. This season, he has stayed healthy and been able to showcase his talent!

I think the matchup for Martinez is quite decent, if he shows up in some way. He is quite a decent returner, and I find him better when he plays someone who is not overly aggressive. At the same time, I find the matchup decent for Cazaux as well, at least he is not facing a super solid counterpuncher! As for the conditions, I would say they do favour Cazaux, but perhaps not as much as one would think initially (Martinez can do decent on medium-fast surfaces as well). So, as always in Pedro's matches (especially first-rounds), it's hard to know with certainty which version shows up. His win against Rune was huge for Spain to advance in the Davis Cup. Could he take this confidence boost to finish the season strong as well? A tricky match, let's look at the odds...