Tommy Robredo hopes to kick start his comeback in Umag this week starting against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.
Robredo started the year very strongly, reaching the fourth round of the Aussie Open and winning the Santiago title but at the age of 29, his body is starting to break down more frequently and a combination of injuries have meant he's played very little tennis since the early spring.
His return has not been too successful so far, an early exit at Wimbledon and a first round retirement in Bastad.
However in Ramirez Hidalgo he has an opponent he's beaten in three of their four matches, winning the last one 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in Acapulco two years ago.
33 year old Ramirez Hidalgo is also some way past his peak and has fallen to a ranking of 132 and he's not been past the second round of any event on the tour this year.
Robredo is the fifth seed this week so just missing out on a first round bye and he has an excellent opportunity to make the quarters where either Juan Carlos Ferrero or Ivan Ljubicic could meet him. In his current form he's also unlikely to pick up too many points at the strong events in the States over the next month and there's just a couple more chances to cash in on these weaker tournaments until the Tour returns briefly to the European clay-court venues in mid-September.
Prediction: Robredo in two.
