ATP Bangkok 2012 (Thailand Open), a 250 level event on tour, will winnow down to eight quarterfinalists on Thursday. Already in the quarters are Jarkko Nieminen and Janko Tipsarevic, the seventh and first seeds respectively in the tournament. Looking to join them will be title threats Milos Raonic and Richard Gasquet.
Both of those players are facing tough outs on Thursday in what will be second round matches. Raonic will face Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in what promises to be a match filled with aces and perhaps more than one tiebreaker. Gasquet will face Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, a young talent that is still looking to make a major mark in ATP events.
Raonic and Karlovic have played one another before but only in exhibition play. That was back in February of 2011, shortly after the Canadian made a name for himself with a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open. Not surprisingly, all sets played between the two went to tiebreakers with Karlovic winning 7-6, 7-6.
Karlovic is currently ranked just 80th in the world and at the age of 33 you have to wonder how long he'll be running with the much younger players. Additionally, Karlovic has not beaten a player ranked as highly as the Canadian in a little over a year. Raonic, the current World No. 16, is still just 21, he played well at Flushing Meadows, and he went 6-0 in sets played in recent Davis Cup singles. Betting odds clearly make Raonic a favorite and bet365 have him priced at -333 (3/10) to win straight up.
Gasquet, currently ranked 14th in the world, has faced and defeated Dimitrov on two occasions. Many tipped the Bulgarian for the top following an impressive juniors career but he's done little recently to suggest that he's poised for an upset of his French opponent in Thailand. Gasquet, a fourth rounder in Flushing Meadows and a finalist from the Canadian Masters, appears as though he should be able to handle an off-form Dimitrov, a player with fairly recent losses to Benoit Paire, Rajeev Ram, and even Marco Chiudinelli.
Looking at the draw for ATP Bangkok, Gasquet and Raonic could play in the semifinals with Bernard Tomic, Dr. Ivo, and Nieminen the other threats to make the tournament's final. The top half of the draw looks less wide open with Tipsarevic looking strong to make the championship match.
Raonic's match is to start not before 7pm (ICT time) with Gasquet's match to follow.