There was one big piece of news in the tennis world, today: the shocking retirement of Elena Dementieva, who played her last WTA match against Francesca Schiavone and lost. It's really a shame to see her go, but on one level, I can understand - her year was plagued with injuries, and at age 29, it's possible that her lingering conditions are only going to get worse, not better, as time goes on. It also sounded like she was interested in settling down and having a baby, which is completely understandable. Finally, she didn't want to slide down in the rankings and be struggling to qualify for entry into tournaments. All of this is commendable, but I'm still sad to see her go. She was a great player to watch when she was on - even though her serving woes and mental fragility in big moments could also make her bad days tough to endure. Still, she was an absolute class act and had the cleanest ground strokes you could ever hope to see. She'll be missed, and I wish her all the best in her future endeavors. As a player who also seemed to be a fan of the sport, I wouldn't be surprised if she stayed near to the game in some capacity, once she's had a little time away.
While that may have been all that was on people's minds today, there was also some pretty good tennis. Though not in Doha, where none of the matches had any significance regarding who would make it to the semifinals, and they were basically played that way. On the other hand, the quarterfinals of the men's events taking place this week had some excellent action. Nine of the 12 matches went three sets, and three of them ended in decisive-set tiebreaks.
There were some big upsets today. Albert Montanes benefited from Nikolay Davydenko's continued poor run of form, as the Russian lost to the Spaniard in second and third set tiebreaks, having won the first set 6-3. Davy's year is pretty much over, and he's got to be looking to rebuild next season. After he fails to defend his ranking points from the year-end championships last year, his ranking is going to drop like a stone. I'm not sure where he'll end up, but he'll probably be the farthest he's been from the top ten in a long while.
Otherwise, in Monpellier, the favorites came out on top. Monfils ended up being too strong for John Isner. The American took the first set after breaking Monfils in an early moment of lackadaisical play from Monfils, but after that, it was all business. In the end, Monfils returning was stronger than Isner's serving power. The same could not be said for Gilles Simon or Jarkko Nieminen, who both lost to big-serving, big-hitting players as well. Simon stole the second set from JW Tsonga by running away with the tiebreak 7-0, but Tsonga recovered in the third set. His weakest passage of play was in the second set tiebreak, when he just went on walkabout. Very strange from a player with a good record in tiebreaks, generally. Nieminen, on the other hand, lost a very tight third-set tiebreak to Ivan Ljubicic after a pair of calls from the umpire failed to go his way - one a serve from Ljubicic that was probably out by the ump declined to overrule, and another a ball from the Finn that was very close (and farther away from the umpire's chair) which he called out. Tough break for Jarkko, but he's playing well and should be encouraged by how he's finishing the season.
The semifinals here are Ljubicic-Montanes and Monfils-Tsonga. I have to say that I think whoever wins between Monfils and Tsonga will win in the final, no matter who comes through between Ljubicic and Montanes. Both of these guys love playing in France, they're both showmen, and that combined with their natural talent should be enough to get them the championship.
In Vienna, the most anticipated match-up of the day fizzled out, but at least it did so in the way that was preferable for the tournament. Jurgen Melzer automatically advanced when Kohlschreiber withdrew with injury. Surprisingly, he's joined in the semifinals by lucky loser Andreas Haider-Maurer, who demolished second seed Marin Cilic today. It was an impressive performance from the young (well, young in terms of experience) Austrian. He benefited even more when Marcos Baghdatis was surprisingly beaten by German journeyman Michael Berrer. That's a winnable semifinal for Andreas, and if Melzer can get past Nicolas Almagro, we could have an all-Austrian final in Vienna. That would be spectacular for the tournament. I know that I and the tournament organizers will be keeping our fingers crossed for the hometown boys.
Unfortunately, there's no hope for a similar final in St. Petersburg, though one of the semis is an all Russian affair. In fact, that's probably the more important semifinal, as Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov are both experienced players with multiple titles on their belt, while both of their potential opponents in the other semifinal, Mikhail Kukushkin and Ilya Marchenko, are vying for their first tour-level final appearance. I like Youzhny to win this match, but I'm rooting for Tursunov, who is recovering from ankle surgery. He's such a character, it would be fun to have him in the mix again next year.
Still lots of great action yet to come this weekend, as the semifinals in Doha start tomorrow as well. Now things really count, as the elimination matches begin. Clijsters plays Stosur and Zvonareva plays Wozniacki, which are both coincidentally rematches from this year's U.S. Open! All four of these players have been playing exceptional tennis this week, but Zvonareva is the only one who didn't drop a match in round robin play. It's tough to know what to expect tomorrow, but it should be fun to watch.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Week 43 Quarterfinals
While we're in a relatively minor (in terms of importance to the whole year) week for the ATP, but the end-of-year WTA championships in Doha are a very big deal. Up until today, the year-end number one ranking was still up for grabs, with either Caroline Wozniacki or Vera Zvonareva capable of snagging the spot. The first two days of action were relatively uneventful, with six straight set victories. But today, the level of play just skyrocketed, and all three matches featured some of the best play that we've seen all year on the WTA tour. Elena Dementieva upset Sam Stosur in a third set tiebreak, after Elena had been whipped by Wozniacki by the score of 6-1, 6-1. Good showing by Dementieva, even though she was mathematically eliminated from moving past the round robin stage, once Wozniacki came back from dropping the first set to Francesca Schiavone in order to win the second and third by wide margins, even though it still seemed tight. The last match was between Kim Clijsters and Azarenka, and while it was tightly-contested for the first two sets, in the end the heat was too much for the Belarussian, and Azarenka faded in the third. All the same, everyone involved played spectacular tennis today, truly worthy of the importance of the event. I'm encouraged for the next few days of action.
While the stakes weren't quite so high elsewhere, the action was still quite exciting. There were two amazing comebacks at the Open Sud de France, where Nalbandian served for the match twice against Gilles Simon, but still ended up losing. It was less good news for the French when Richard Gasquet dropped a similar sort of lead against Jarkko Nieminen, only to lose in the end. In reward, Simon gets to play JW Tsonga and Nieminen gets Ivan Ljubicic. Really, all of the quarters in France are pretty strong. The other two feature John Isner and Gael Monfils, as well as top seed Davydenko against Albert Montanes. All of those matches could go pretty much either way.
Vienna has the most seeds left standing, which also leads to some interesting matches. Top seed Jurgen Melzer gets Kohlschreiber, Almagro gets Chela (that really seems like a clay-court quarterfinal), Baghdatis gets German Michael Berrer, and Marin Cilic gets the young Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer. I lean towards all four top seeds coming through here, though Haider-Maurer has an outside chance of an upset against Cilic, who has not been in great form. And Kohlschreiber can play well enough to beat almost anybody on the right day. But I know the Austrian crowd wants to see both Melzer and Haider-Maurer through. There's not a lot to be excited about in terms of Austrian tennis, these days.
While there are only three seeds left in St. Petersburg, the remaining field is probably the weakest. Top seed Mikhail Youzhny was tested by the young Russian player Donskoy, but he came through in the end. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Donskoy again, though. He gets Victor Hanescu in the quarters, which should be a fairly straightforward win since they're not on clay. The best quarterfinal is probably between two players on opposite ends of their careers - Dmitry Tursunov is on the comeback trail from ankle surgery, while Dolgopolov is just trying to establish himself as a contender for these sorts of tournaments. In the other quarters, Tipsarevic faces Kukushkin and Becker faces Marchenko. I like Becker and Tipsy in those matches.
While the stakes weren't quite so high elsewhere, the action was still quite exciting. There were two amazing comebacks at the Open Sud de France, where Nalbandian served for the match twice against Gilles Simon, but still ended up losing. It was less good news for the French when Richard Gasquet dropped a similar sort of lead against Jarkko Nieminen, only to lose in the end. In reward, Simon gets to play JW Tsonga and Nieminen gets Ivan Ljubicic. Really, all of the quarters in France are pretty strong. The other two feature John Isner and Gael Monfils, as well as top seed Davydenko against Albert Montanes. All of those matches could go pretty much either way.
Vienna has the most seeds left standing, which also leads to some interesting matches. Top seed Jurgen Melzer gets Kohlschreiber, Almagro gets Chela (that really seems like a clay-court quarterfinal), Baghdatis gets German Michael Berrer, and Marin Cilic gets the young Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer. I lean towards all four top seeds coming through here, though Haider-Maurer has an outside chance of an upset against Cilic, who has not been in great form. And Kohlschreiber can play well enough to beat almost anybody on the right day. But I know the Austrian crowd wants to see both Melzer and Haider-Maurer through. There's not a lot to be excited about in terms of Austrian tennis, these days.
While there are only three seeds left in St. Petersburg, the remaining field is probably the weakest. Top seed Mikhail Youzhny was tested by the young Russian player Donskoy, but he came through in the end. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Donskoy again, though. He gets Victor Hanescu in the quarters, which should be a fairly straightforward win since they're not on clay. The best quarterfinal is probably between two players on opposite ends of their careers - Dmitry Tursunov is on the comeback trail from ankle surgery, while Dolgopolov is just trying to establish himself as a contender for these sorts of tournaments. In the other quarters, Tipsarevic faces Kukushkin and Becker faces Marchenko. I like Becker and Tipsy in those matches.
Monday, October 25, 2010
WTA Doha Preview
Tomorrow, the women's year-end championship tournament starts in Doha. This is going to be an interesting tournament, because a number of the big-name players aren't present: Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, and both Williams sisters are not present. With the draws that we're seeing, combined with the odd sorts of form that the players involved have been exhibiting at the end of the year, this is really going to be a toss-up in terms of who comes out on top. It's also an open question as to what level of tennis we can expect this week. It should be interesting to see.
The first group, despite having Caroline Wozniacki, the current world number one, is arguably the weaker group. While she is an excellent player, "Sunshine" Wozniacki does not have a very good record against the other top players in the game, and those are the only ones she's going to be facing this week. Her group also has French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur - who have pretty much sat out the second half of the season, considering their lack of results since the French Open. Stosur did look sharp at the U.S. Open, where she lost a match to Kim Clijsters in the quarters that she probably should have won, but neither one has ever played in the year-end championships before. The fourth player in that group is Elena Dementieva, who is appearing here for the 10th time, but her record here is abysmal, as she's gone 6-18. It's tough to pick out of this group - all four players have their reasons to choke, so I don't know if I can call who's going to come through.
On the other side, things are a bit tougher. Kim Clijsters is the only player to have won the year-end championships before, and she's done it twice! Vera Zvonareva, also in this group, has made it to the final before, which is something of an achievement. But Vera has shown she still has a tendency to choke in pressure situations, so it's tough to back her to go all the way. Jelena Jankovic has ended her year pretty poorly, as she hasn't even made the quarterfinals in any event since the French Open. The fourth player in this group, Victoria Azarenka, is something of a wildcard. She played some excellent tennis in winning the last tournament of the year, but she didn't have to play anyone of consequence on the way. She could make some noise, though.
I have no real sense of how this tournament could play out - I think it's just about as likely that we'll get an established player like Kim Clijsters tearing through her opponents and winning the title as a relatively undistinguished player showing her best stuff. It should be fun to watch in the meantime, but I can't make any predictions.
The first group, despite having Caroline Wozniacki, the current world number one, is arguably the weaker group. While she is an excellent player, "Sunshine" Wozniacki does not have a very good record against the other top players in the game, and those are the only ones she's going to be facing this week. Her group also has French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur - who have pretty much sat out the second half of the season, considering their lack of results since the French Open. Stosur did look sharp at the U.S. Open, where she lost a match to Kim Clijsters in the quarters that she probably should have won, but neither one has ever played in the year-end championships before. The fourth player in that group is Elena Dementieva, who is appearing here for the 10th time, but her record here is abysmal, as she's gone 6-18. It's tough to pick out of this group - all four players have their reasons to choke, so I don't know if I can call who's going to come through.
On the other side, things are a bit tougher. Kim Clijsters is the only player to have won the year-end championships before, and she's done it twice! Vera Zvonareva, also in this group, has made it to the final before, which is something of an achievement. But Vera has shown she still has a tendency to choke in pressure situations, so it's tough to back her to go all the way. Jelena Jankovic has ended her year pretty poorly, as she hasn't even made the quarterfinals in any event since the French Open. The fourth player in this group, Victoria Azarenka, is something of a wildcard. She played some excellent tennis in winning the last tournament of the year, but she didn't have to play anyone of consequence on the way. She could make some noise, though.
I have no real sense of how this tournament could play out - I think it's just about as likely that we'll get an established player like Kim Clijsters tearing through her opponents and winning the title as a relatively undistinguished player showing her best stuff. It should be fun to watch in the meantime, but I can't make any predictions.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Week 42 Wrap-up and Week 43 Preview
Things went about as expected in the finals this week. Roger Federer handled a spirited challenge from German Florian Mayer without too much difficulty, equaling Pete Sampras's record of total titles won in the process, while Viktor Troicki managed to outlast a frustrated Marcos Baghdatis to claim his maiden title in Moscow. Baggy got extremely upset with some questionable line calls, even going so far as to spit at an line judge. Now he's justified in getting upset, but that's just not okay. Here's hoping that Moscow will have Hawkeye next year, and this won't be a problem.
As for Federer, kudos for reaching that milestone in your career, but with the sort of field he had to deal with in Stockholm, coupled with underperforming fellow seeds, it would have been pretty sad if he couldn't clinch this one. Florian Mayer in the final? Can't really ask for a better opponent when you're going for a record like that. But it also moves Federer squarely into second place in terms of matches won over the course of the year, even though he's still 14 match wins behind Nadal, and four titles, as well.
Looking ahead to next week, the fields are a little bit sparser. We're in the home stretch of the tournament calendar now, with only three weeks of regular action left in the season. So some players are scrambling to get all the action they can, trying to accumulate points and prize moeny before the off-season, while others are waiting to make a big push at next week's pair of 500 tournaments or the season-ending Masters in Paris. Still others have basically checked out already, either officially (Juan Martin Del Potro has called it quits for this season, but I can't blame him - more time to recover from surgery is a good thing) or unofficially. If you see some players just going through the motions to avoid fines or pick up appearance fees, you can probably guess what's going on.
There's only one top ten player in action: Mikhail Youzhny, currently world number 9, is the top seed in St. Petersburg, where the rest of the field is not anything to get excited about. The second seed is Sergiy Stakhovsky, ranked #35 in the world. If he's healthy, Youzhny has no reason not to go deep at this tournament, as he shouldn't face anyone but qualifiers, wildcards, or clay-court specialists before the semifinals. After that, things can get a bit more interesting - last week's champion Troicki is in the draw, as is Dolgopolov and wildcard Tursunov. This may be his best chance this year to have a good run and get some momentum before the end of the season.
The bottom half of the draw in St. Petersburg is a who's-who of second-tier Eastern European tennis players. There are a bunch of guys who just on the verge of reaching the top of the game, but haven't been able to do it yet: Gabashvili, Tipsarevic, Istomin, Stakhovsky, and Igor Andreev. Should be fun to see them in action, as well as Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Paul-Henri Mathieu. Any number of people could make it out of this half of the draw.
The biggest news of the week is actually the return of former world number one Thomas Muster, who's been given a wildcard into the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy tournament. The 43-year old winner of the 1995 French Open has been trying to make a comeback on the challenger circuit this year, but he's gone 1-6 in matches at that level. He drew fifth-seed Ernests Gulbis in the first round, and that's just an entirely different level of competition. It's an ill-advised comeback attempt, all around, and while I wish him well, I don't give him much of a shot. Head on over to the Champions tour if you're itching for match player, Mr. Muster.
The draw in Vienna is moderately strong, with four players from the top 20, and both of last week's losing finalists. Baghdatis and Florian Mayer could play in the second round, in fact. Another potentially good second-round match is James Blake and top Austrian player Jurgen Melzer. Marin Cilic is also in town, as well as Phillip Kohlschreiber and Nicolas Almagro. Some good players here in Vienna, and there could be late round fireworks, if people live up to their seedings.
The situation is much the same Montpellier, which has five top 20 players but nobody in the top 10. Nikolay Davydenko is the top seed, but with the form he's in, he's nowhere near the favorites to win the tournament, even with a favorable draw. The draw also features Tsonga, Monfils, Llodra, Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Nicolas Mahut (who won a challenger today against Bulgarian up-and-comer Grigor Dimitrov without breaking serve) and Arnaud Clement make up a strong French contingent. But don't count out David Nalbandian, Ivan Ljubicic, or John Isner. Jarkko Nieminen, who played some excellent tennis in Stockholm, is also lurking in the draw.
It's certainly not a likely outcome, but there's an outside chance of a semifinal rematch between Isner and Mahut, which would be great publicity if it did come to pass. Still, I don't think I see it happening.
As for Federer, kudos for reaching that milestone in your career, but with the sort of field he had to deal with in Stockholm, coupled with underperforming fellow seeds, it would have been pretty sad if he couldn't clinch this one. Florian Mayer in the final? Can't really ask for a better opponent when you're going for a record like that. But it also moves Federer squarely into second place in terms of matches won over the course of the year, even though he's still 14 match wins behind Nadal, and four titles, as well.
Looking ahead to next week, the fields are a little bit sparser. We're in the home stretch of the tournament calendar now, with only three weeks of regular action left in the season. So some players are scrambling to get all the action they can, trying to accumulate points and prize moeny before the off-season, while others are waiting to make a big push at next week's pair of 500 tournaments or the season-ending Masters in Paris. Still others have basically checked out already, either officially (Juan Martin Del Potro has called it quits for this season, but I can't blame him - more time to recover from surgery is a good thing) or unofficially. If you see some players just going through the motions to avoid fines or pick up appearance fees, you can probably guess what's going on.
There's only one top ten player in action: Mikhail Youzhny, currently world number 9, is the top seed in St. Petersburg, where the rest of the field is not anything to get excited about. The second seed is Sergiy Stakhovsky, ranked #35 in the world. If he's healthy, Youzhny has no reason not to go deep at this tournament, as he shouldn't face anyone but qualifiers, wildcards, or clay-court specialists before the semifinals. After that, things can get a bit more interesting - last week's champion Troicki is in the draw, as is Dolgopolov and wildcard Tursunov. This may be his best chance this year to have a good run and get some momentum before the end of the season.
The bottom half of the draw in St. Petersburg is a who's-who of second-tier Eastern European tennis players. There are a bunch of guys who just on the verge of reaching the top of the game, but haven't been able to do it yet: Gabashvili, Tipsarevic, Istomin, Stakhovsky, and Igor Andreev. Should be fun to see them in action, as well as Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Paul-Henri Mathieu. Any number of people could make it out of this half of the draw.
The biggest news of the week is actually the return of former world number one Thomas Muster, who's been given a wildcard into the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy tournament. The 43-year old winner of the 1995 French Open has been trying to make a comeback on the challenger circuit this year, but he's gone 1-6 in matches at that level. He drew fifth-seed Ernests Gulbis in the first round, and that's just an entirely different level of competition. It's an ill-advised comeback attempt, all around, and while I wish him well, I don't give him much of a shot. Head on over to the Champions tour if you're itching for match player, Mr. Muster.
The draw in Vienna is moderately strong, with four players from the top 20, and both of last week's losing finalists. Baghdatis and Florian Mayer could play in the second round, in fact. Another potentially good second-round match is James Blake and top Austrian player Jurgen Melzer. Marin Cilic is also in town, as well as Phillip Kohlschreiber and Nicolas Almagro. Some good players here in Vienna, and there could be late round fireworks, if people live up to their seedings.
The situation is much the same Montpellier, which has five top 20 players but nobody in the top 10. Nikolay Davydenko is the top seed, but with the form he's in, he's nowhere near the favorites to win the tournament, even with a favorable draw. The draw also features Tsonga, Monfils, Llodra, Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Nicolas Mahut (who won a challenger today against Bulgarian up-and-comer Grigor Dimitrov without breaking serve) and Arnaud Clement make up a strong French contingent. But don't count out David Nalbandian, Ivan Ljubicic, or John Isner. Jarkko Nieminen, who played some excellent tennis in Stockholm, is also lurking in the draw.
It's certainly not a likely outcome, but there's an outside chance of a semifinal rematch between Isner and Mahut, which would be great publicity if it did come to pass. Still, I don't think I see it happening.
Week 42 Finals
In each tournament taking place this week, we had easy semifinal and one extremely close one. Federer and Troicki were the easy winners, over Ljubicic and Cuevas, as expected. Ljubicic just couldn't do anything to hurt Federer, and once he lost the first set (a tight one, admittedly) in a tiebreak, it was essentially over. Troicki must have appreciated finding a clay-court specialist ranked around 50 in the world in the semifinals, and he took advantage of the opportunity, winning 6-3, 6-3.
The other pair of matches were much tighter. In Stockholm, Jarkko Nieminen and Florian Mayer were playing for the privilege of losing to Roger Federer in the final, and I must admit that I expected Nieminen to come out ahead in that one. I've seen Mayer play some great tennis for patches, but I haven't seen him put together a week as strong as this. He's no slouch - he was the ATP newcomer of the year in 2004, between Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils. Yeah, that award has about a 50% success ratio. And this is his third ATP final, but it is his first on hard courts, as the other two were on clay. And to be facing Roger Federer in the final? That's a big ask. The only thing he may have going for him is the fact that nobody - Federer included - gives him any chance of winning, so if he can come out in good form, he may be able to surprise the Swiss number one. But it does make sense that he's getting 10:1 odds to win the match.
In Moscow, Istomin had Baghdatis on the ropes. If I'm not mistaken, he was up a double break in the third and decisive set, only to stumble at the finish line and allow Baggy a chance to come back and take the match in a tiebreak. That's got to be disheartening for the top Uzbek player, but an impressive comeback from the Cypriot. That should make the final interesting - Troicki may be the underdog, but he's got to be fresher coming in, considering his easier semifinal match. That one could go either way - if you want to see a competitive match, rather than a pure display of skill, I suggest catching the final in Moscow, rather the Federer-Mayer final, which will be surprising if it turns out to be close.
The other pair of matches were much tighter. In Stockholm, Jarkko Nieminen and Florian Mayer were playing for the privilege of losing to Roger Federer in the final, and I must admit that I expected Nieminen to come out ahead in that one. I've seen Mayer play some great tennis for patches, but I haven't seen him put together a week as strong as this. He's no slouch - he was the ATP newcomer of the year in 2004, between Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils. Yeah, that award has about a 50% success ratio. And this is his third ATP final, but it is his first on hard courts, as the other two were on clay. And to be facing Roger Federer in the final? That's a big ask. The only thing he may have going for him is the fact that nobody - Federer included - gives him any chance of winning, so if he can come out in good form, he may be able to surprise the Swiss number one. But it does make sense that he's getting 10:1 odds to win the match.
In Moscow, Istomin had Baghdatis on the ropes. If I'm not mistaken, he was up a double break in the third and decisive set, only to stumble at the finish line and allow Baggy a chance to come back and take the match in a tiebreak. That's got to be disheartening for the top Uzbek player, but an impressive comeback from the Cypriot. That should make the final interesting - Troicki may be the underdog, but he's got to be fresher coming in, considering his easier semifinal match. That one could go either way - if you want to see a competitive match, rather than a pure display of skill, I suggest catching the final in Moscow, rather the Federer-Mayer final, which will be surprising if it turns out to be close.
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