The exodus of seeds in continuing at the International German Open in Hamburg. Tomaz Bellucci lost in an amazingly tight three set match to Andreas Seppi, 6-7, 7-5, 5-7. Seppi ran away with the first set tiebreak, 7-0 and that was a big decider in the match. Bellucci fought hard, though. Juan Carlos Ferrero also lost today, but he mostly ran out of steam. He won the first set in a tiebreak, but he appeared to be having trouble with injuries by the end of the match, and German Florian Mayer took up the German cause with a great deal of elan. He has an unorthodox style of play, but when he's on, he's a lot of fun to watch. I like that jumping two-handed backhand - you may have seen Marat Safin or Gilles Simon do it, but Mayer does it as well. He got a bit of help from an either exhausted or hobbled Ferrero, but he played strong tennis to get the win.
In the semis, Mayer faces Andrey Golubev, who played unbelievable tennis again in his victory over friend Denis Istomin. Golubev has been on tour for a while and hasn't really done much of consequence, but watching him play this week has been something of a revelation. There's no reason this guy couldn't be in the top 20, if he could maintain this level of play. He displayed really spectacular hitting from every part of the court in his wins over Davydenko and again today. I'd like to see him keep playing this way for a longer stretch of time.
Seppi gets to play the last seed in the draw - Wimbledon doubles champion and French Open singles semifinalist Jurgen Melzer, who would be the new tournament favorite, if it were for the fact that some sort of curse had descended on every other seeded player this tournament. Seppi will be more exhausted than Starace was, but Seppi also has the potential to be more dangerous. I'm expecting a Melzer-Golubev final, but anything can happen, really.
In Atlanta, Americans are continuing to do well. John Isner just blitzed Michael Russell today, a complete contrast to their match earlier in their, where Isner needed to take two tiebreaks to win. Today, he was absolutely on fire, while Russell couldn't quite get his game to work. If Isner plays that way tomorrow, Kevin Anderson is in trouble - Anderson is another tall, big-serving guy, but I think that Isner has shown he's more than just a serve in recent weeks. I see him through to the final.
The other semifinal is much more interesting, as it features Mardy Fish against Andy Roddick. Roddick has a dominant record over Fish, winning 9 of their 10 matches, and Fish's only victory came from a Roddick retirement, way back in 2003. However, Fish is on an absolute roll. He made the final at Queens, won the tournament in Newport, and has blitzed through his first three rounds in Atlanta. He's won a set by 6-1 or better in each match. On the other hand, Roddick has struggled in both of his matches, losing a tiebreak to Rajeev Ram and losing the first set to Xavier Malisse today. Is current form going to trump history, here? This is probably Fish's best chance to get a legitimate win over the U.S. number one in years, so that should be a fascinating match. I think either one could meet Isner in the final.
It should be a fun day of tennis.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Week 29 Quarterfinals
It's been an interesting week in tennis - the Hamburg tennis tournament has been experiencing an absolute exodus of the seeded players up through the quarterfinals. Despite 16 seeds, all of which got a first-round bye, only three seeded players made it to the quarterfinals: Juan Carlos Ferrero, Jurgen Melzer, and Tomaz Bellucci. The remaining spots are filled out by some mid-to-lower tier players who have played some great tennis to get this far. Kazakhstan player Andrey Golubev just blew Nikolay Davydenko off the court today - he's still trying to get his season back on track. Maybe the American hard-court season will treat him better.
The quarterfinal match-ups may not look like great matches at first glance, but the lower-ranked players who made it this far have played some great games to get this far, and the seeded players have not done very well, thus far. Will the remaining three be able to turn the tide?
Ferrero, the most accomplished player left in the tournament, plays the last German. Florian Mayer has a chance, but he'll have to play his best to keep the local hope alive. The other two seeds both play Italians, with Melzer - the player with the best current form coming into the tournament - playing Potito Starace, and Bellucci - who probably has the brightest future of the players left - playing Andreas Seppi. I have to pick the favorites in all three of these matches, despite the problems they've had thus far. The fourth match between an Uzbek and Kazakh is an interesting one, and based on their performances today, I'd pick Golubev over Istomin, but it could go either way.
In Atlanta, the tournament has been going a bit more according to the proper script. The Americans have been dominating the tourney, with five of the eight quarterfinal spots going to local boys. The only one who had a chance but couldn't quite make it was Donald Young, who fell to Kevin Anderson in the last round.
John Isner and Michael Russell could not be more different as tennis players - their contrast of styles is interesting. They played an amazing match earlier this year, but Isner has gone on to play better tennis since their last meeting in the spring. I'd pick him over Russell. The other all-American match-up is Mardy Fish against Taylor Dent. Fish has already ousted American Robby Ginepri, and he's been playing like he was back when he was in the top 20, so it'll be tough for Dent to come through this one.
The most interesting quarterfinal is between Roddick and Malisse, who played at the final in Atlanta nine years ago, when it was on clay. That was Roddick's first title ever. Roddick didn't play great against Ram today, but he still won everything pretty comfortably (except the second-set tiebreak). It was just enough of a tight match for Roddick to likely lift his game against the potentially-dangerous Belgian.
The fourth match-up is between Kevin Anderson and Lukas Lacko, who got an easy match against a lackluster Lleyton Hewitt in the round of 16 to make it to the quarters. I'll take Anderson in this one, pretty cleanly. Should be fun to watch, though - it's a good day of tennis, in both the U.S. and Germany.
The quarterfinal match-ups may not look like great matches at first glance, but the lower-ranked players who made it this far have played some great games to get this far, and the seeded players have not done very well, thus far. Will the remaining three be able to turn the tide?
Ferrero, the most accomplished player left in the tournament, plays the last German. Florian Mayer has a chance, but he'll have to play his best to keep the local hope alive. The other two seeds both play Italians, with Melzer - the player with the best current form coming into the tournament - playing Potito Starace, and Bellucci - who probably has the brightest future of the players left - playing Andreas Seppi. I have to pick the favorites in all three of these matches, despite the problems they've had thus far. The fourth match between an Uzbek and Kazakh is an interesting one, and based on their performances today, I'd pick Golubev over Istomin, but it could go either way.
In Atlanta, the tournament has been going a bit more according to the proper script. The Americans have been dominating the tourney, with five of the eight quarterfinal spots going to local boys. The only one who had a chance but couldn't quite make it was Donald Young, who fell to Kevin Anderson in the last round.
John Isner and Michael Russell could not be more different as tennis players - their contrast of styles is interesting. They played an amazing match earlier this year, but Isner has gone on to play better tennis since their last meeting in the spring. I'd pick him over Russell. The other all-American match-up is Mardy Fish against Taylor Dent. Fish has already ousted American Robby Ginepri, and he's been playing like he was back when he was in the top 20, so it'll be tough for Dent to come through this one.
The most interesting quarterfinal is between Roddick and Malisse, who played at the final in Atlanta nine years ago, when it was on clay. That was Roddick's first title ever. Roddick didn't play great against Ram today, but he still won everything pretty comfortably (except the second-set tiebreak). It was just enough of a tight match for Roddick to likely lift his game against the potentially-dangerous Belgian.
The fourth match-up is between Kevin Anderson and Lukas Lacko, who got an easy match against a lackluster Lleyton Hewitt in the round of 16 to make it to the quarters. I'll take Anderson in this one, pretty cleanly. Should be fun to watch, though - it's a good day of tennis, in both the U.S. and Germany.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Week 28 Wrap-up and Week 29 Preview
The finals that we wrapped up today were a study in contrasts - in Bastad, hometown (and on-paper) favorite Robin Soderling lost a tightly-contested match to Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, a big win for Almagro, who hadn't won a title since February of 2009. Almagro is a guy who can hit anyone off the court, if his shots are landing. Soderling used to be the kind of player that Almagro is now - incredibly powerful, but not very consistent. Almagro has the game to be where Soderling is now, if he can just figure out how to be as consistent as Robin has become, week-in and week-out. He managed to best him today though, and that's what mattered.
The other final of the day was more anti-climactic, as Gael Monfils was forced to retire with an injured ankle against Albert Montanes. That's a shame, because that would have been a great match-up. Gael has trouble at the last stage of tournaments - he is now 2-8 in finals. Credit Montanes for putting together a great week, but that has to be disappointing for Monfils.
Looking ahead to next week, there are two interesting events. The first, the continuation of the second clay-court season, takes place in Hamburg: the International German Open is an ATP 500 even on clay. This section of the season is still odd to me, but this tournament features some great players. Davydenko is still in Europe, hoping to get his post-injury year back on track as the top seed. Basically, all of the clay court stalwarts are back for this tournament - with the exception of Soderling, who was just playing Bastad because he's Swedish. Of course, this event used to be the Hamburg Masters before it was downgraded and moved so Shanghai could be put into that tier. The tournament organizers just lost an appeal to dispute that downgrade, so it'll be interesting to see how the tournament goes. It should still be a fun event, though.
First-round matches to watch are Chiudinelli-Chardy, Nieminen-Christophe Rochus, and actually about a half dozen other appetizing match-ups between solid clay court players. There aren't any of the really big guns playing this tournament this year, but there's a lot of good players, so it would be a fun tournament to see.
That said, it's tough for me to get too pumped about the second swing of the clay-court season in Europe, because I'm gearing up for the American summer hard courts, which are getting underway this week in Atlanta. This is the first year of this tournament in Atlanta, as they got the tournament from Indianapolis, when it closed due to bad financial pressure last year. Fortunately for Atlanta, the field (which was already pretty strong in American players) got a huge boost when Andy Roddick took a wildcard. That, plus hometown boy John Isner's recent publicity at Wimbledon, should give the tournament a pretty good first year.
Most of the game's top US players are here, with the exception of Sam Querrey. Taylor Dent and James Blake open against each other, which may be a good match, but it's a shame they have to meet at such an early stage. Donald Young opens against Dudi Sela, and Michael Russell gets Benjamin Becker. Roddick should be the favorite in this tournament, but he only stands to gain 100 ranking points, and that's if he wins the whole thing. He already has a win and a final at other 250 tournaments this year, so I imagine his appearance has more to do with building some form, helping out the new tournament, and probably a hefty appearance fee as well. I'm looking forward to seeing him in action on U.S. Soil again, as his European campaign was pretty lackluster, after a stellar run in the earlier part of the year.
The other final of the day was more anti-climactic, as Gael Monfils was forced to retire with an injured ankle against Albert Montanes. That's a shame, because that would have been a great match-up. Gael has trouble at the last stage of tournaments - he is now 2-8 in finals. Credit Montanes for putting together a great week, but that has to be disappointing for Monfils.
Looking ahead to next week, there are two interesting events. The first, the continuation of the second clay-court season, takes place in Hamburg: the International German Open is an ATP 500 even on clay. This section of the season is still odd to me, but this tournament features some great players. Davydenko is still in Europe, hoping to get his post-injury year back on track as the top seed. Basically, all of the clay court stalwarts are back for this tournament - with the exception of Soderling, who was just playing Bastad because he's Swedish. Of course, this event used to be the Hamburg Masters before it was downgraded and moved so Shanghai could be put into that tier. The tournament organizers just lost an appeal to dispute that downgrade, so it'll be interesting to see how the tournament goes. It should still be a fun event, though.
First-round matches to watch are Chiudinelli-Chardy, Nieminen-Christophe Rochus, and actually about a half dozen other appetizing match-ups between solid clay court players. There aren't any of the really big guns playing this tournament this year, but there's a lot of good players, so it would be a fun tournament to see.
That said, it's tough for me to get too pumped about the second swing of the clay-court season in Europe, because I'm gearing up for the American summer hard courts, which are getting underway this week in Atlanta. This is the first year of this tournament in Atlanta, as they got the tournament from Indianapolis, when it closed due to bad financial pressure last year. Fortunately for Atlanta, the field (which was already pretty strong in American players) got a huge boost when Andy Roddick took a wildcard. That, plus hometown boy John Isner's recent publicity at Wimbledon, should give the tournament a pretty good first year.
Most of the game's top US players are here, with the exception of Sam Querrey. Taylor Dent and James Blake open against each other, which may be a good match, but it's a shame they have to meet at such an early stage. Donald Young opens against Dudi Sela, and Michael Russell gets Benjamin Becker. Roddick should be the favorite in this tournament, but he only stands to gain 100 ranking points, and that's if he wins the whole thing. He already has a win and a final at other 250 tournaments this year, so I imagine his appearance has more to do with building some form, helping out the new tournament, and probably a hefty appearance fee as well. I'm looking forward to seeing him in action on U.S. Soil again, as his European campaign was pretty lackluster, after a stellar run in the earlier part of the year.
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