tms Houston: Thursday Preview

Andy has already secured a win over Carlos Moya in his first match at the Tennis Masters Cup this week. Next up for him will be the winner of the other round robin match, Rainer Schuettler, who defeated Guillermo Coria on Tuesday.

Schuettler leads the series with a 2-1 edge over Andy. They have quite a history together which began at this year’s Australian Open semifinals where Schuettler defeated Andy in a tough four setter. Their next meeting came at the quarterfinals in Indian Wells where the German extended his lead over Andy by winning their match in easy straight sets.

That was of course before of summer of Oz. Andy is certainly not the same player he was six months ago. With the No. 1 ranking and his first Grand Slam title under his belt, Andy should have confidence going into the match.

And the No. 1 ranking is here to stay. Andre Agassi win over Ferrero, who has yet to win a match at Masters Cup Houston, guarenteed Andy would finish first in the ATP Champions Race and clinch the year-end world No. 1 as well. This feat makes Andy the youngest American in history to end the year as the world No. 1.

In a press conference earlier this week, Andy admitted that he thought finishing the year at No.1 would be mean more to him than winning the actual Masters Cup, but “the double” would obviously be welcome.

When asked about how he plans to react to Schuettler’s game in the match, he laughingly replied, “A lot better than I have the last two times. I mean, he’s obviously a very good player. I mean, he’s been so consistent week in and week out this year. You know, that’s a good thing about having a good coach (referring to Brad Gilbert), is that he’s gonna come up with something special - I hope. I’ll be able to try to figure out a game plan and go after it.”

Hopefully BG will have a good plan. Andy’s match is slated first on the stadium court today and is set to begin at 1 p.m. ESPN will air LIVE coverage of the match. Live scoring can also be followed via the ATP website at atptennis.com.