Let me start with this:
These are two guys headed in two seperate directions.
#62 Santiago Giraldo is an ATP WORLD-CLASS player who will be working his way to the top of the ranks very soon.
#181 Daniel Brands has had success playing mostly in Challenger events the last 2 years while getting some action in at the World-level. BUT this year he is plummetting down the rankings ladder and hitting every rung on it.
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Giraldo is 22-19 in ATP World Tour & Grand Slam matches this year. HE DID NOT PLAY 1 SINGLE CHALLENGER-LEVEL MATCH THIS YEAR. He knows he is on the brink of being at the upper end of the ATP World Tour.
His best wins were over #37 Garcia-Lopez, #12 Melzer, #21 Dolgopolov Jr., #32/#31 Bellucci (twice), #25 Montanes (twice), & #39 Chela.
He has played REALLY TOUGH against big competition such as Fish*, Gasquet, Almagro*, Llodra, Robredo*, Ferrer, and Anderson*.
(* = won 1 set of 3)
Giraldo HAS NOT LOST TO A PLAYER RANKED OUTSIDE THE TOP 100. His worst loss this year in World play was to #93 Igor Andreev in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami where he won 1 set of 3.
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Daniel Brands had to win 3 Qualifier matches to get to play Giraldo today (Tuesday the 2nd). His last match was on Sunday, so he'll have had 1 full day of rest.
Brands is an awesome 1-9 in ATP World play this year, but dwells more in the Challenger-level going 10-6 YTD.
This guy is pathetic this year. Though he has made it to 2 CHALLENGER Finals this year, they weren't very challenging.
He won a CHALLENGER title in Oberstaufen, Germany where he didn't play ANYBODY better than a #155 ranking.
In his other deep CHALLENGER run, he didn't play anybody better than a #124, except for sand-bagger Michael Berrer.
Out of the other 17 events I see in his Playing Activity, HE LOST IN THE OPENING ROUND 14 TIMES!
The other 3 times, he won 1 match, and then lost on his way out of the event.
His WORST LOSSES were to #179, #188, #173, a different #179, and a #629 (lost in straight-set fashion).
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HEAD-TO-HEAD STAT TO REMEMBER:
Return Games Won
Santiago Giraldo hits a rather good Return Games Won Percentage by winning 26% of them.
Daniel Brands however has won a meager 7%.
What does that mean? Giraldo is a good returner and can earn his points while Brands can only cross his fingers & hope for Unforced Errors from Giraldo.
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I hope this helped you.
Santiago Giraldo -310
He estimatedly plays at 11:00 Central Standard Time.
Best of Luck on whatever picks, strategies, or opinions you have 
TexasD
just gotta post something because I dont want to see this thread stop at post # 13 when game starts. 
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