Week 6 continues to move along, with a few upsets taking place. I'm hoping that Andy Roddick survives his match against Leonardo Mayer tonight, because I've got tickets to see him tomorrow. Fingers are crossed. But let's see what else is going on, before heading to San Jose.
In Rotterdam, Djokovic is cruising. He beat Chiudinelli 4 and 2 after his first-round opponent retired in the second set, and then the player he was supposed to play in the third round, Florian Mayer (no relation to Leonardo) pulled out of the tournament. He's on his way to the semis, having played only three sets of tennis! It's a shame that Mayer had to withdraw, because he had a good win yesterday over fifth-seed Tommy Robredo. He'll face the winner of Monfils-Youzhny, a tasty little quarterfinal match-up. Youzhny beat Djokovic in the semis here last year, so if the Russian comes through, I'm sure the new world number 2 will be looking for revenge.
In the bottom half, Soderling will play Julien Benneteau, and there are still too excellent second-round matches to player. Marcos Baghdatis, after an excellent win over James Blake (what was he doing in the Netherlands?) plays Nikolay Davydenko. The winner there will face the winner of Andreas Seppi and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer. Still some good tennis to play in Rotterdam.
In Costa do Sauipe, the dirtballers are continuing to ply their trade. Horacio Zeballos still is not doing that well in his first year seriously playing the top tier of the tour. He's now 0-4 on the season, if I'm not mistaken. The jump from dominating the challengers to playing well at the top level is a tricky one to make. Richard Gasquet also pulled out of the tournament before it started, which sure doesn't help his comeback efforts. Hometown favorite Bellucci is still going strong, as are clay-court veterans Juan Carlos Ferrero, Igor Andreev, and Albert Montanes.
Over in San Jose, Sam Querrey finally won his first match of the year, breezing past Teimuraz Gabashvili in straight sets. He'll next face compatriot Taylor Dent, which is a winnable match, and should feature some spectacular serving. If he gets past Dent, he'll face either American veteran Michael Russell or (more likely) Belgian Xavier Malisse, who upset defending champ Radek Stepanek in the first round. Looks like Malisse may finally be ready to make use of his overturned ban.
Roddick plays Leonardo Mayer tonight, as I mentioned, and if he makes it through, he'll face Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. Roddick leads the head-to-head 4-2, with one win coming earlier this year. It was a tight win for Roddick, as Berdych blew him off the court in the first set, 6-1.
In the bottom half of the draw, Denis Istomin upset Tommy Haas, who apparently didn't benefit too much from his dual German-American citizenship. Istomin faces Philipp Kohlschreiber, who has an excellent chance of making the final here. The draw was already top-heavy, and two of the four seeds in the bottom half (Haas, already mentioned, and Jeremy Chardy) have already lost. The only player standing in his way is Fernando Verdasco. It seems unlikely that Benjamin Becker or Bjorn Phau might make it to the final, but it's possible!
It's also worthy of note that the Bryan Brothers continued to do pretty poorly at this tournament, which they've never won despite playing eight (now nine) times. They lost in the quarterfinal the unlikely team of Benjamin Becker and Leonardo Mayer. The Bryans are now 7-9 at this tournament, a pretty poor record for the number one doubles team at an American hard-court event!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Week 5 Wrap-up and Week 6 Preview
Well, there were certainly a handful of surprise finalists in last week's tournaments, and some surprise winners as a result. In Johannesburg, top seeds Monfils and Ferrer both lost in the semis, leaving the surprising final match-up of Lopez and Stephane Robert. The more experienced player won this one, as Lopez took the second title of his career. His previous title came all the way back in 2004, so this was quite a drought. It was an encouraging result by Robert as well, having made his first ATP final after reaching 24 at the level of the challengers and futures. He's playing the best tennis of his career at age 29.
The other surprise finalist was Tomaz Bellucci, who managed to unseat Fernando Gonzalez in the semifinals at his home tournament and then beat clay court veteran Juan Monaco in the final. The young Brazilian is making an assault of the top levels of the game. He hasn't had any shocking upsets or performances that are bringing him a great deal of attention, but he's quietly improving and winning more and more matches. Clay is his favorite surface, so watch for him at the French Open this year.
A young player who is earning his attention is Croatian Marin Cilic, who somehow managed to fight off fatigue and red-hot challenger player Michael Berrer to defend his second title of the year. That's incredibly impressive for a player who should be exhausted after his past few weeks. Kudos to Cilic for his spectacular start of the year.
On the challenger circuit, Bernard Tomic won his second career title on the challenger circuit, while Carsten Ball was upset by American Ryan Sweeting.
Looking ahead to the next week, some of the top players are back in action. With last week's lineups a bit on the weak side, it's good to see a handful of the big dogs on the court once again.
The weakest field is actually in Brazil, where Juan Carlos Ferrero is the top seed at 22 in the world, and the eighth-seed is Richard Gasquet, who is ranked outside the top 50. Despite the lack of top players, there could be some firecracker matches in the late rounds. In addition to Ferrero and Gasquet, who are both trying to get as much preparation for the French Open as possible, Bellucci is in the draw. He made the final here last year, in his own back yard, so he'll be wanting to go one step further. Igor Andreev is also here, undoubtedly anxious to beat someone into
submission after having Federer on the ropes in the first round of the Aussie Open. Horacio Zeballos is also there, trying to justify his relatively high ranking with some results of note on the tour level.
Next week will also be Novak Djokovic's first tournament after moving to number 2 in the world rankings, at Rotterdamn. This is really a loaded draw, despite the lack of last year's champion Andy Murray. Davydenko and Soderling are also there, as well as Monfils and Youzhny. Not to mention the most appetizing opening round of the whole week, unseeded Marcos Baghdatis against unseeded James Blake. They've each been involved in some of the best matches of the year. Davydenko also opens against Feliciano Lopez, fresh off a victory. Amazingly, the winners of those matches will play each other in the second round. The magic of the draw...
I'm a bit surprised to see Blake in Rotterdam, actually, since he could easily have been at the tournament in San Jose, where most of the other Americans are. Roddick, Querrey, Odesnik, Fish, Dent, Ginepri, Britton, Ram, Russell, and a few others. That's pretty much every American even near the top of the game, except for Blake and Isner. The Americans will have to compete with some tough foreign resistance, though. Last year's champ Radek Stepanek is in the draw, as is Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych. You'll also find Tommy Haas, who just got dual German-American citizenship a week or two ago. I wonder if he'll get more support this way?
The other surprise finalist was Tomaz Bellucci, who managed to unseat Fernando Gonzalez in the semifinals at his home tournament and then beat clay court veteran Juan Monaco in the final. The young Brazilian is making an assault of the top levels of the game. He hasn't had any shocking upsets or performances that are bringing him a great deal of attention, but he's quietly improving and winning more and more matches. Clay is his favorite surface, so watch for him at the French Open this year.
A young player who is earning his attention is Croatian Marin Cilic, who somehow managed to fight off fatigue and red-hot challenger player Michael Berrer to defend his second title of the year. That's incredibly impressive for a player who should be exhausted after his past few weeks. Kudos to Cilic for his spectacular start of the year.
On the challenger circuit, Bernard Tomic won his second career title on the challenger circuit, while Carsten Ball was upset by American Ryan Sweeting.
Looking ahead to the next week, some of the top players are back in action. With last week's lineups a bit on the weak side, it's good to see a handful of the big dogs on the court once again.
The weakest field is actually in Brazil, where Juan Carlos Ferrero is the top seed at 22 in the world, and the eighth-seed is Richard Gasquet, who is ranked outside the top 50. Despite the lack of top players, there could be some firecracker matches in the late rounds. In addition to Ferrero and Gasquet, who are both trying to get as much preparation for the French Open as possible, Bellucci is in the draw. He made the final here last year, in his own back yard, so he'll be wanting to go one step further. Igor Andreev is also here, undoubtedly anxious to beat someone into
submission after having Federer on the ropes in the first round of the Aussie Open. Horacio Zeballos is also there, trying to justify his relatively high ranking with some results of note on the tour level.
Next week will also be Novak Djokovic's first tournament after moving to number 2 in the world rankings, at Rotterdamn. This is really a loaded draw, despite the lack of last year's champion Andy Murray. Davydenko and Soderling are also there, as well as Monfils and Youzhny. Not to mention the most appetizing opening round of the whole week, unseeded Marcos Baghdatis against unseeded James Blake. They've each been involved in some of the best matches of the year. Davydenko also opens against Feliciano Lopez, fresh off a victory. Amazingly, the winners of those matches will play each other in the second round. The magic of the draw...
I'm a bit surprised to see Blake in Rotterdam, actually, since he could easily have been at the tournament in San Jose, where most of the other Americans are. Roddick, Querrey, Odesnik, Fish, Dent, Ginepri, Britton, Ram, Russell, and a few others. That's pretty much every American even near the top of the game, except for Blake and Isner. The Americans will have to compete with some tough foreign resistance, though. Last year's champ Radek Stepanek is in the draw, as is Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych. You'll also find Tommy Haas, who just got dual German-American citizenship a week or two ago. I wonder if he'll get more support this way?
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