The 2012 ATP Kuala Lumpur event (2012 Malaysian Open) will kick into full swing on Thursday. The top two seeds in the event, David Ferrer and Juan Monaco respectively, will play their first matches after each player enjoyed a first round bye. Ferrer will face Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. while Monaco will face Taipei's Jimmy Wang. Neither of the top two seeds appears to be threatened by his second round opponent.
Ferrer and Bogomolov Jr. have never faced one another despite the fact that they are both veterans on tour. However Ferrer has enjoyed an excellent season thus far, one that has seen him make the semifinals in two grand slams. With a 60-12 record on the year and five ATP titles to his credit, Ferrer clearly outshines Bogomolov, a player with no titles in his entire career and a 12-26 record so far this season. Looking ahead in Ferrer's draw he may have to face fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals and then possibly Julien Benneteau or Alexandr Dolgopolov. Surviving that draw, Ferrer may very well face Monaco in the final.
Monaco and Wang, like Ferrer and Bogomolov Jr., are two players that have never faced one another despite the fact that they are both in their late twenties. But Wang, currently ranked just 151st in the world, does not have a great deal of experience winning second round ATP tour-level matches. He turned pro in 2001 and has tallied just 35 career victories since that season. At this point in his career, Wang commonly plays at the challenger level and he recently dropped a match to a player ranked 402nd in the world.
Monaco, currently ranked 11th, has three titles on the year and has not lost to anyone ranked outside of the Top 100 all season. However an examination of his shorter term form suggests that things are not currently going all that well for the Argentine. Entering the Kuala Lumpur event, Monaco has lost four straight matches although each of those losses were to players of higher caliber than Wang. Should the Argentine avoid an upset he would face Canadian player Vasek Pospisil in the quarterfinals and then possibly Denis Istomin or Kei Nishikori in the semifinals.
If you went by seeds, you would expect a David Ferrer vs. Juan Monaco final at ATP Kuala Lumpur. However Nishikori, Istomin, and maybe even Nikolay Davydenko cannot be ignored in Monaco's half of the draw. If Ferrer fails to make the final, you would likely expect Benneteau or Dolgopolov to be there instead. Monaco's second round match is scheduled for Center Court at 1pm in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (Malaysian Standard Time) while Ferrer's match is the late match for the main court, scheduled for 7:30pm.
Predictions: Monaco (1/4 Stan James) and Ferrer (1/20 Stan James) both advance; ATP Kuala Lumpur final - David Ferrer vs. Kei Nishikori or Denis Istomin.