Top players, such as Richard Gasquet, Mikhail Youzhny and Gael Monfils, will be in action at the Gerry Weber Open on Tuesday for a seamless transition from the clay court to the grass court season.
Fifth seed Gasquet will face Robin Haase in the first match of the day. It will be interesting to see how much he has recovered from a back injury. Gasquet managed to reach the third round at the Roland Garros, despite missing most of the clay court season.
The Frenchman defeated Bernard Tomic and Carlos Berlocq before being knocked out by Fernando Verdasco in Paris. Gasquet showed some promising performances on clay and will be hoping to carry that momentum on to the grass against Haase.
Haase from Netherlands, on the other hand, has been pitted against a relatively tough opponent in the first match. He has not won a main draw match in Halle so far. The 27-year-old's best performance in the ATP tour is on clay, when he reached the semifinals of the Bucharest Open.
This will be the third meeting between these players, and Gasquet edges Haase by winning both previous encounters.
Meanwhile, Russian Youzhny will face big-server Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in his first round encounter. It is going to be a tough match for the sixth seed against the in-form Karlovic, who is coming on the back of a third round appearance at the French Open.
The two have met thrice so far and Youzhny got the better of the Croat on all three occasions. Their most recent clash happened in the 2012 Zagreb Open quarterfinals, when the Russian prevailed over Karlovic in three sets.
This has been a patchy year for the world number 16 as he gave a tough fight to Rafael Nadal in the Rome Masters but crashed out in the last 64 in Paris. He has just won seven matches this season and lost 10.
Frenchman Monfils will open his campaign against German Benjamin Becker, after a superb showing in the French Open. Monfils went all the way to the quarterfinals, before losing to Andy Murray in a five-set thriller.
Becker, on the other hand, has had a poor outing in the ATP tour this season. The world number 79 won only three matches on clay, and in his last tournament at the Aegon Trophy he lost the opening match against eventual winner Marcos Baghdatis.
Monfils and Becker have met four times and the world number 20 got the better of the German on all four occasions. However, those wins came on the hard court and this is their first meeting on grass.
Schedule of Play
Richard Gasquet vs Robin Haase starts at 3:30 pm IST, 10:00 am GMT
Mikhail Youzhny vs Ivo Karlovic starts at 5:30 pm IST, 12:00 pm GMT
Gael Monfils vs Benjamin Becker starts at 9:30 pm IST, 4:00 pm GMT
Where to Watch Live
The action starts at 3:30 pm IST, 10:00 am GMT. Global online viewers, including India, can live stream the action HERE or HERE. Euro Sports will have live coverage in the UK but to watch the action online, click HERE or HERE.
