Andreas Beck opens Tuesday’s play at the Sarajevo challenger against Russian Konstantin Kravchuk.
Beck reached a high of 33 in the world two years ago after a series of successful runs at some of the big European clay-court events. However the hard hitting left-hander had a pretty poor 2010 season by comparison and the rankings can be ruthless to a struggling player so Beck now finds himself ranked some way outside the top 100.
He faces the arduous and thankless task of trying to work his way back up through the challenger circuit and he’s seeded sixth this week. He’s had an inconsistent 2011 to date, making the final of a tournament in Russia but then crashing out early in Bergamo, Wolfsburg and Cherbourg.
Beck and Kravchuk will be no strangers to each other having met just weeks ago in Wolfsburg. Beck edged it 7-6, 6-4 that day and will be favourite again.
