It is technically a bit early to be writing a Davis Cup weekend wrap-up, because Australia and Belgium are still locked in their fifth rubber, tied at two a piece. Play was largely suspended yesterday, as heavy rains made action impossible. With Lleyton Hewitt out of the picture, the first reverse singles match was a tough one, but Olivier Rochus beat Peter Luczak in four sets, three of them tiebreaks. Now Steve Darcis and Carsten Ball are playing - this could be a big moment for young Carsten.
As for the ties that did finish up today, there were a surprising number of comebacks. India completed their comeback from two points to none down after the first day's singles - helped immensely by a retirement by top Brazilian player Tomaz Bellucci against Somdev Devvarman. A massive comeback for the Indian squad, though I must say I don't like their chances in the World Group next year.
Austria also came back from two points to one down to beat Israel in Tel Aviv, which is a devastating result for the Israelis. It wasn't a surprise that Melzer beat Sela (though the ease with which he dispatched the top Israeli player was a bit of a surprise) but Harel Levy must have felt like he had a chance to beat Martin Fischer, but the Austrian was not overwhelmed by the occasion or the crowd, and he pulled out a fairly straightforward four set win. That was Fischer's first Davis Cup match! Stunning performance.
But the biggest fightback was Serbia's defeat of the Czech Republic, after losing the doubles rubber on Saturday. Novak Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych in a rematch of their Wimbledon semifinal, and then Janko Tipsarevic absolutely blitzed Radek Stepanek. The veteran may have been a bit exhausted, or feeling some lingering effects from his recent injuries, but Tipsy blew him off the court. So now Serbia is on to their first Davis Cup final, set to face France in Belgrade in a few months' time. Tipsarevic was really the hero, winning both of his singles matches.
But perhaps the biggest hero of the weekend for any particular team was Mardy Fish, who won two five-set singles matches and a four-set doubles match to put the U.S. past the Colombians, in what could charitably be called just about the worst possible conditions for American players. It wasn't great tennis, but Fish played incredibly tough and showed a lot of heart. There were times in the past few years that Mardy was talking like his career was in its twilight stages, but I don't think there's any reason to expect he doesn't have a lot left in him during the years to come.
In other news, Grigor Dimitrov won his second consecutive Challenger tournament, and jumped into the top 150 in the rankings. Brad Gilbert predicted he'd be in the top 20 within a year, which still sounds like a big ask, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. If he can get closer to the top hundred by the end of the year and start getting direct acceptance into top-level tournaments, he'll have the chance to really prove himself among the game's best.
Anyway, looking ahead to the action during the coming week. I'll admit that it's not the most exciting, after a weekend of non-stop Davis Cup action and two weeks of the U.S. Open. But there are some interesting storylines to look at.
In Bucharest, we have the year's final clay court tournament! The clay court year may be ending with a whimper, rather than a bang, because the top seed in Romania is 22nd ranked Albert Montanes, while the second seed is 45th ranked Florian Mayer. Keep an eye on Victor Hanescu in this draw, as the top Romanian player loves clay and is hot coming off Romania's win in the Davis Cup. Every one of these players knows that they should be getting ready for the hard court season in Asia, but their best bet for ranking points is on the clay, so they're scrambling for what they can get in this, their lost shot this year. It's an interesting assortment of specialists.
The draw in Metz is quite a bit stronger, headlined by a slumping Marin Cilic, but also featuring Monfils, Gasquet, Llodra, and Simon, a powerful French contingent, no question. Simon opens against flamboyant Jamaican Dustin Brown, which should be an interesting match. Other match-ups to watch for are Arnaud Clement as a potential second-round for Marin Cilic, and Xavier Malisse potentially getting Ivan Ljubicic. And Jarkko Nieminen and Benjamin Becker in the first round isn't a bad match-up, and could be a fun match. I'll take another look at these draws a few rounds in, to see how things have developed.
Showing posts with label davis cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label davis cup. Show all posts
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Davis Cup Saturday
Of the ten Davis Cup ties relating to the World Group that are taking place this weekend, four have already reached their conclusion. Three of the playoff rubbers: Germany has beaten South Africa, Romania has beaten Ecuador, and - in the only real surprise, Kazakhstan has trounced Switzerland. I expect that Stan Wawrinka, the player who really needed to put in a strong performance for Switzerland with Roger Federer out of the picture, was still exhausted and possibly nursing an injury from his run at the U.S. Open. It's not the first time this has happened, though, as Switzerland actually dropped out of the World Group as recently as 1998. Federer didn't help the Swiss come back from that a few years ago - I wonder if he'll do it next year.
In the World Group semifinals, France stormed to a 3-0 victory against Argentina. On the day of the first singles, it looked like Nalbandian was going to outplay Gael Monfils, but then Nalby just went away in the third set, and from that point on, Argentina was never even in the tie. France made it to their first final since 2002.
They'll face either Serbia or the Czech Republic - their rubber was tied at the end of the singles. Djokovic was forced to withdraw, and Troicki lost to Stepanek. But then Tipsarevic turned in one of his best career performances to beat Berdych in four sets. A really strong performance from Janko. Unfortunately for the Serbian fans, despite Djokovic's presence in the doubles, the Czechs won in straights, so they'll have the advantage going into the final day. It will be interesting to see if Djokovic plays singles, and how well he can play. If he does play up to his potential and manages to win, the match between Stepanek and Tipsarevic could be the deciding one, and that's an intriguing one.
As for the as-yet undecided playoff matches, the one that I have the most interest in is - as you might expect - the U.S. against Colombia. In an effort to counter the U.S. players' strengths at every turn, they not only decided to play the rubber on clay, but also decided to use pressureless balls. While it may have been tough for the U.S. players to deal with, it hasn't been easy for the Colombians either. In Mardy Fish's five-set win over Alejandro Falla, the two of them hit nearly 200 unforced errors. But Fish adjusted to the conditions, while Sam Querrey, who followed him, just couldn't get his game together in the adverse conditions. It wasn't an encouraging performance, but I can understand. While pressureless balls and clay courts make for some difficult back-court rallies, they don't make much difference up at net - which was why I favored Fish and Isner in the doubles match, and it turn out to be the case that they pulled out the win. If there's one thing that Isner's used to, after all, it's altitude. I don't know if Querrey's going back out for the reverse singles (I wouldn't be surprised if they subbed in Isner instead) but I think the odds of the Americans picking up one of those two points is pretty good.
Australia may be up two points to one over Belgium, so it may seem like their victory is assured. But Lleyton Hewitt is out of the reverse singles with a wrist injury, so it seems that either Peter Luczak or Carsten Ball will need to win a singles match to get the Australians, too. It's a break for the Belgians, but it's still a tough ask, to win both points on the final day of a Davis Cup match.
For example, I have to doubt that the Italians have a chance of winning both points against Sweden, particularly since that would mean that Potito Starace would have to beat Robin Soderling. That's not looking too likely to me.
India and Brazil had the most exciting first day of the whole weekend, despite it being an outright disaster for the home team. India lost both matches in five-set thrillers, but they bounced back in the doubles - not really a surprise, as Bhupathi and Paes are one of the great doubles teams of our era. Since the first singles matches were so close, there's a chance - not a big chance, but a slight one - for an Indian comeback tomorrow. But I see the Brazilians coming through.
And Israel and Austria are resuming action after taking a day off for Yom Kippur. It's tough to see Austria coming back from 2 points to 1 down, but if Melzer can beat Sela (a likely event) it would all come down to young Andreas Haider-Maurer against the veteran Harel Levy. That would be a deciding rubber that would be fun to see.
Davis Cup weekends are full of fun action. There were some good matches in the regional competition as well - Canadian teen Milos Raonic beat a vet from the Dominican Republic 9-7 in the fifth, which is a great result for him. Korea won the first two points of their tie against the Philippines, and both of their singles players were teenagers. Encouraging signs for the Korean team. And the young Lithuanian player Ricardas Berankis beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovakia, then contributed to a five-set doubles win as well. He could win the whole tie himself!
In the World Group semifinals, France stormed to a 3-0 victory against Argentina. On the day of the first singles, it looked like Nalbandian was going to outplay Gael Monfils, but then Nalby just went away in the third set, and from that point on, Argentina was never even in the tie. France made it to their first final since 2002.
They'll face either Serbia or the Czech Republic - their rubber was tied at the end of the singles. Djokovic was forced to withdraw, and Troicki lost to Stepanek. But then Tipsarevic turned in one of his best career performances to beat Berdych in four sets. A really strong performance from Janko. Unfortunately for the Serbian fans, despite Djokovic's presence in the doubles, the Czechs won in straights, so they'll have the advantage going into the final day. It will be interesting to see if Djokovic plays singles, and how well he can play. If he does play up to his potential and manages to win, the match between Stepanek and Tipsarevic could be the deciding one, and that's an intriguing one.
As for the as-yet undecided playoff matches, the one that I have the most interest in is - as you might expect - the U.S. against Colombia. In an effort to counter the U.S. players' strengths at every turn, they not only decided to play the rubber on clay, but also decided to use pressureless balls. While it may have been tough for the U.S. players to deal with, it hasn't been easy for the Colombians either. In Mardy Fish's five-set win over Alejandro Falla, the two of them hit nearly 200 unforced errors. But Fish adjusted to the conditions, while Sam Querrey, who followed him, just couldn't get his game together in the adverse conditions. It wasn't an encouraging performance, but I can understand. While pressureless balls and clay courts make for some difficult back-court rallies, they don't make much difference up at net - which was why I favored Fish and Isner in the doubles match, and it turn out to be the case that they pulled out the win. If there's one thing that Isner's used to, after all, it's altitude. I don't know if Querrey's going back out for the reverse singles (I wouldn't be surprised if they subbed in Isner instead) but I think the odds of the Americans picking up one of those two points is pretty good.
Australia may be up two points to one over Belgium, so it may seem like their victory is assured. But Lleyton Hewitt is out of the reverse singles with a wrist injury, so it seems that either Peter Luczak or Carsten Ball will need to win a singles match to get the Australians, too. It's a break for the Belgians, but it's still a tough ask, to win both points on the final day of a Davis Cup match.
For example, I have to doubt that the Italians have a chance of winning both points against Sweden, particularly since that would mean that Potito Starace would have to beat Robin Soderling. That's not looking too likely to me.
India and Brazil had the most exciting first day of the whole weekend, despite it being an outright disaster for the home team. India lost both matches in five-set thrillers, but they bounced back in the doubles - not really a surprise, as Bhupathi and Paes are one of the great doubles teams of our era. Since the first singles matches were so close, there's a chance - not a big chance, but a slight one - for an Indian comeback tomorrow. But I see the Brazilians coming through.
And Israel and Austria are resuming action after taking a day off for Yom Kippur. It's tough to see Austria coming back from 2 points to 1 down, but if Melzer can beat Sela (a likely event) it would all come down to young Andreas Haider-Maurer against the veteran Harel Levy. That would be a deciding rubber that would be fun to see.
Davis Cup weekends are full of fun action. There were some good matches in the regional competition as well - Canadian teen Milos Raonic beat a vet from the Dominican Republic 9-7 in the fifth, which is a great result for him. Korea won the first two points of their tie against the Philippines, and both of their singles players were teenagers. Encouraging signs for the Korean team. And the young Lithuanian player Ricardas Berankis beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovakia, then contributed to a five-set doubles win as well. He could win the whole tie himself!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Davis Cup Preview
I thought I was going to have all day to make a post about the Davis Cup, but somehow, Austria and Israel are already underway - the wonders of time zones and intercontinental play. So I'll take a look at what we can expect this weekend.
Of course, we're at the Davis Cup World Group semifinals, with four teams remaining. Argentina plays France and Serbia plays the Czech Republic. Despite not featuring the biggest Davis Cup nations - well, mostly Spain - from recent years, this is a pretty great line-up.
Unfortunately for Serbia, their best and linchpin player may not be at his freshest, having just played in a tough but losing grand slam final, which was even delayed a couple days. You've got to give the Serbs their doubles point, with Nenad Zimonjic on their team, against relatively weak Czech opposition on that front. But the tie will come down to precisely two factors - the first is how tired Novak Djokovic is after the past two weeks, and whether Radek Stepanek is finally back near his top form. He was on a prolonged injury layoff this year, and hasn't played particularly well since. But if he can get one point, and Tomas Berdych (who should be quite well-rested, losing in the first round at the U.S. Open) can win both his singles matches, I see a victory in the cards for the Czechs. But if Djokovic can build on his recent success, then there's no reason that this tie shouldn't go the Serbs' way. The home field advantage may help Tipsarevic and Troicki, who could be the players that determine the victory.
The other tie is arguably more difficult to call. The Argentine squad may be without Juan Martin Del Potro, but David Nalbandian has been the player of the year for the Davis Cup, thus far. He's absolutely dominated in the first two rounds, winning three singles matches and a doubles match. He hasn't even dropped a set yet, going 12-0 in those four matches. But he doesn't have the strongest back-up, as three of the four players for the Argentines are clay-court specialists. If Nalbandian can win both of his matches, I think that the Argentines may be able to get one more point - but that's no easy task. I think that this tie may come down in no small part to how well Frenchman Michael Llodra can play, since he was forced to retire in the third round of the U.S. Open against Tommy Robredo. But he had beaten Tomas Berdych earlier in the tournament. This one will be exciting, especially the matches featuring David Nalbandian - can he win a Davis Cup this year all on his own? The Argentines are also going for their third straight win on the road, which is tough to imagine.
While those two rubbers are undoubtedly important, there's a lot more Davis Cup action taking place this week, what with the World Group play-offs. These teams are playing each other for a chance at playing in the main tournament next year, and there are some big match-ups to look for.
As I noted, Austria and Israel are already in action. This tie should will down to one player - Austrian Jurgen Melzer. He's the best player in the arena, but he's also the only Austrian player of note. If this were in Austria, I'd give it to them easy. But it's more difficult in Tel Aviv. Dudi Sela already won the first point for the Israelis, and despite being down a set, Harel Levy is playing quite well. You may remember last year when they defeated Sweden and Russia, so the Israeli players seem to thrive in the Davis Cup format. While Austria is the slight favorite just based on the quality of their players, this could be an upset due to more intangible factors.
The U.S. is probably the biggest team in the playoff. The Americans haven't been in the World Group playoff since 2005. This time, they're playing at altitude in Colombia. Now they may be playing on red clay, which will favor the Colombians from the back of the court, but the thin air will allow the big serves of Isner, Querrey, and Fish to fly through the air. Despite less-than-stellar records on the surface, all three of the American singles players (soon-to-step down coach Pat McEnroe wanted to ensure we got those singles points, rather than getting a sure-fire doubles point with the Bryan Brothers) can play tennis on any surface. The Colombians have some solid players - Alejandro Falla nearly ousted Federer at Wimbledon, recall? But the rankings of their top two players are in the 60s, and that should be enough difference in the quality of play. It's not a sure thing, but the Americans haven't dropped out of the World Group since 1988, and I don't see it happening here, despite the lack of Roddick or the Bryans for the U.S. team.
The other notable absence at the Davis Cup playoffs is Roger Federer, who won't be playing for Switzerland against Kazakhstan. While you may think that it should be an easy win for the Swiss, the Kazakh contingent is deceptively talented. Andrey Golubev is in the top 50, and Kukushkin and Korolev are both in the top 100. Switzerland also has three players in the top 100, but one of them won't be showing up for the tie. This is the first World Group playoff for Kazakhstan, and once again - the big issue will be how Stan Wawrinka's feeling, after his long run at the U.S. Open. There's some upset potential here as well, though.
While the Swiss top player may be sitting out, the top Australian player is back. Lleyton Hewitt is here to help his country face the Belgian team, for a chance to get back into the World Group. If you can believe it, the Australians haven't been in the World Group since 2007. The last chance they had they were forced to play Chile without Hewitt in action, and were soundly defeated. I like their chances much better this time, as they'll only have to face the Belgian squad, which has Olivier Rochus as its top player. I'm surprised the Belgians picked outdoor hardcourt as the surface, since Hewitt loves that surface and young Aussie player Carsten Ball's serve should work wonders on it. I pick the Aussies here.
The Germany-South Africa contest might have been tight, but unfortunately, the South Africans are lacking their top player. Young giant Kevin Anderson won't be in action, and while the Germans don't have Tommy Haas either, Philipp Kohlschreiber should be able to shoulder the load against Rik de Voest and Izak Van Der Merwe.
The match-up between Sweden and Italy could be interesting. Italy has a pair (or perhaps a trio) of midlevel players, while Sweden has one top five player. In the Davis Cup format, you might prefer to have a few good players rather than just one great one (just ask Australian or Great Britain) but I'm not so sure.
I'll admit to being unable to muster too much excitement about the other two ties being contested this weekend. But I lean towards Brazil over Indian (Tomaz Bellucci is headed for the top 20) and I have no idea who's going to win between Romania and Ecuador, but no matter who wins, everybody else in the World Group is hoping to get them in the first round.
Of course, we're at the Davis Cup World Group semifinals, with four teams remaining. Argentina plays France and Serbia plays the Czech Republic. Despite not featuring the biggest Davis Cup nations - well, mostly Spain - from recent years, this is a pretty great line-up.
Unfortunately for Serbia, their best and linchpin player may not be at his freshest, having just played in a tough but losing grand slam final, which was even delayed a couple days. You've got to give the Serbs their doubles point, with Nenad Zimonjic on their team, against relatively weak Czech opposition on that front. But the tie will come down to precisely two factors - the first is how tired Novak Djokovic is after the past two weeks, and whether Radek Stepanek is finally back near his top form. He was on a prolonged injury layoff this year, and hasn't played particularly well since. But if he can get one point, and Tomas Berdych (who should be quite well-rested, losing in the first round at the U.S. Open) can win both his singles matches, I see a victory in the cards for the Czechs. But if Djokovic can build on his recent success, then there's no reason that this tie shouldn't go the Serbs' way. The home field advantage may help Tipsarevic and Troicki, who could be the players that determine the victory.
The other tie is arguably more difficult to call. The Argentine squad may be without Juan Martin Del Potro, but David Nalbandian has been the player of the year for the Davis Cup, thus far. He's absolutely dominated in the first two rounds, winning three singles matches and a doubles match. He hasn't even dropped a set yet, going 12-0 in those four matches. But he doesn't have the strongest back-up, as three of the four players for the Argentines are clay-court specialists. If Nalbandian can win both of his matches, I think that the Argentines may be able to get one more point - but that's no easy task. I think that this tie may come down in no small part to how well Frenchman Michael Llodra can play, since he was forced to retire in the third round of the U.S. Open against Tommy Robredo. But he had beaten Tomas Berdych earlier in the tournament. This one will be exciting, especially the matches featuring David Nalbandian - can he win a Davis Cup this year all on his own? The Argentines are also going for their third straight win on the road, which is tough to imagine.
While those two rubbers are undoubtedly important, there's a lot more Davis Cup action taking place this week, what with the World Group play-offs. These teams are playing each other for a chance at playing in the main tournament next year, and there are some big match-ups to look for.
As I noted, Austria and Israel are already in action. This tie should will down to one player - Austrian Jurgen Melzer. He's the best player in the arena, but he's also the only Austrian player of note. If this were in Austria, I'd give it to them easy. But it's more difficult in Tel Aviv. Dudi Sela already won the first point for the Israelis, and despite being down a set, Harel Levy is playing quite well. You may remember last year when they defeated Sweden and Russia, so the Israeli players seem to thrive in the Davis Cup format. While Austria is the slight favorite just based on the quality of their players, this could be an upset due to more intangible factors.
The U.S. is probably the biggest team in the playoff. The Americans haven't been in the World Group playoff since 2005. This time, they're playing at altitude in Colombia. Now they may be playing on red clay, which will favor the Colombians from the back of the court, but the thin air will allow the big serves of Isner, Querrey, and Fish to fly through the air. Despite less-than-stellar records on the surface, all three of the American singles players (soon-to-step down coach Pat McEnroe wanted to ensure we got those singles points, rather than getting a sure-fire doubles point with the Bryan Brothers) can play tennis on any surface. The Colombians have some solid players - Alejandro Falla nearly ousted Federer at Wimbledon, recall? But the rankings of their top two players are in the 60s, and that should be enough difference in the quality of play. It's not a sure thing, but the Americans haven't dropped out of the World Group since 1988, and I don't see it happening here, despite the lack of Roddick or the Bryans for the U.S. team.
The other notable absence at the Davis Cup playoffs is Roger Federer, who won't be playing for Switzerland against Kazakhstan. While you may think that it should be an easy win for the Swiss, the Kazakh contingent is deceptively talented. Andrey Golubev is in the top 50, and Kukushkin and Korolev are both in the top 100. Switzerland also has three players in the top 100, but one of them won't be showing up for the tie. This is the first World Group playoff for Kazakhstan, and once again - the big issue will be how Stan Wawrinka's feeling, after his long run at the U.S. Open. There's some upset potential here as well, though.
While the Swiss top player may be sitting out, the top Australian player is back. Lleyton Hewitt is here to help his country face the Belgian team, for a chance to get back into the World Group. If you can believe it, the Australians haven't been in the World Group since 2007. The last chance they had they were forced to play Chile without Hewitt in action, and were soundly defeated. I like their chances much better this time, as they'll only have to face the Belgian squad, which has Olivier Rochus as its top player. I'm surprised the Belgians picked outdoor hardcourt as the surface, since Hewitt loves that surface and young Aussie player Carsten Ball's serve should work wonders on it. I pick the Aussies here.
The Germany-South Africa contest might have been tight, but unfortunately, the South Africans are lacking their top player. Young giant Kevin Anderson won't be in action, and while the Germans don't have Tommy Haas either, Philipp Kohlschreiber should be able to shoulder the load against Rik de Voest and Izak Van Der Merwe.
The match-up between Sweden and Italy could be interesting. Italy has a pair (or perhaps a trio) of midlevel players, while Sweden has one top five player. In the Davis Cup format, you might prefer to have a few good players rather than just one great one (just ask Australian or Great Britain) but I'm not so sure.
I'll admit to being unable to muster too much excitement about the other two ties being contested this weekend. But I lean towards Brazil over Indian (Tomaz Bellucci is headed for the top 20) and I have no idea who's going to win between Romania and Ecuador, but no matter who wins, everybody else in the World Group is hoping to get them in the first round.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Newport and Davis Cup Wrap-up, Week 28 Preview
At the Campbell's Hall of Fame tennis championships, Mardy Fish won a tightly contested match against Olivier Rochus to take the title. This was a very impressive and steady performance from Fish, who has a pretty abysmal record in finals. Fortunately for him, Olivier Rochus's is not much better. The American recovered from being frustrated at some line calls at the end of the first set to win the second two cleanly enough - he got one break in each of the second two sets. In the final game of the match, Fish saved two break points - the first ones that Rochus had since the very first set.
It's a big win for Fish, who lost the Queens final about a month ago, and will hopefully bode well for the rest of his year, and the next few years of his career. It's unfortunate to think about, but as Fish is now 29 years old and has had a lot of injury problems, so he probably can count the number of good tennis years he has left on one hand. If he can keep up this form, though, I can see him making it back to the top 30, top 20, with pretty high confidence.
As for the Davis Cup, the action today was pretty exciting. Nikolay Davydenko overcome a slow start against Argentine Eduardo Schwank to beat him in four sets and redeem himself after losing his first singles match and playing his part in losing the doubles point as well. However, there was nothing he could do to help Mikhail Youzhny against David Nalbandian, who played like a man possessed this weekend. When is Nalby going to get back in action on the main tour, because he demolished both Davydenko and Youzhny, each in three sets, by blasting winners from every part of the court. I want this guy back in the top 20, where he belongs!
In Croatia, Marin Cilic put up a spirited effort against Novak Djokovic, and the crowd nearly rushed on court to break Djokovic's legs if they could have. The Croatians were warned numerous times to keep quiet, lest their man be docked a point. It was the last thing that Cilic needed, because he had enough trouble just handling Djokovic's stunning ground-stroke depth. There was nothing Cilic could do - this was the best I've seen Djokovic play in a long time. He was actually playing like the number two player in the world. We'll see if he can keep up that form during the U.S. hardcourt season.
Looking ahead to this next week, we have a strange, carryover week of clay court tournaments, before the U.S. hard court season starts in earnest. The tournaments in Bastad and Stuttgart are on the red clay. This Indian Summer of the clay court season has some interesting match-ups on offer. I'll do a quick overview of each.
In Stuttgart, Davydenko, Melzer, and Monfils are all in action. Also, an odd wildcard went to Dustin Brown, who was playing on grass this week in Newport. It'll be interesting to see how his net-rushing, big-serving game works on clay. The stronger field is probably in action at Bastad, where all the top Spanish players (minus Rafael Nadal) are going to try to forget about their recent Davis Cup loss. While hometown boy Soderling is the top seed, he'll need to navigate a field with Ferrer, Almagro, Verdasco, and Robredo. It'll be fun to see the last bit of clay-court tennis until next year.
It's a big win for Fish, who lost the Queens final about a month ago, and will hopefully bode well for the rest of his year, and the next few years of his career. It's unfortunate to think about, but as Fish is now 29 years old and has had a lot of injury problems, so he probably can count the number of good tennis years he has left on one hand. If he can keep up this form, though, I can see him making it back to the top 30, top 20, with pretty high confidence.
As for the Davis Cup, the action today was pretty exciting. Nikolay Davydenko overcome a slow start against Argentine Eduardo Schwank to beat him in four sets and redeem himself after losing his first singles match and playing his part in losing the doubles point as well. However, there was nothing he could do to help Mikhail Youzhny against David Nalbandian, who played like a man possessed this weekend. When is Nalby going to get back in action on the main tour, because he demolished both Davydenko and Youzhny, each in three sets, by blasting winners from every part of the court. I want this guy back in the top 20, where he belongs!
In Croatia, Marin Cilic put up a spirited effort against Novak Djokovic, and the crowd nearly rushed on court to break Djokovic's legs if they could have. The Croatians were warned numerous times to keep quiet, lest their man be docked a point. It was the last thing that Cilic needed, because he had enough trouble just handling Djokovic's stunning ground-stroke depth. There was nothing Cilic could do - this was the best I've seen Djokovic play in a long time. He was actually playing like the number two player in the world. We'll see if he can keep up that form during the U.S. hardcourt season.
Looking ahead to this next week, we have a strange, carryover week of clay court tournaments, before the U.S. hard court season starts in earnest. The tournaments in Bastad and Stuttgart are on the red clay. This Indian Summer of the clay court season has some interesting match-ups on offer. I'll do a quick overview of each.
In Stuttgart, Davydenko, Melzer, and Monfils are all in action. Also, an odd wildcard went to Dustin Brown, who was playing on grass this week in Newport. It'll be interesting to see how his net-rushing, big-serving game works on clay. The stronger field is probably in action at Bastad, where all the top Spanish players (minus Rafael Nadal) are going to try to forget about their recent Davis Cup loss. While hometown boy Soderling is the top seed, he'll need to navigate a field with Ferrer, Almagro, Verdasco, and Robredo. It'll be fun to see the last bit of clay-court tennis until next year.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Newport Finals and Davis Cup Update
The Campbell's Hall of Fame tennis championship has gone pretty much as expected, since the middle of the week. Mardy Fish and Olivier Rochus are set to play each other in the final, as they were the only seeds left by the third round. They're 1-1 against each other, and their last match, in 2007 in Lyon, was just about as close possible. Three tiebreak sets, with the third set tiebreak going to 17-15. Rochus won that, but Fish won their earlier meeting, though that was all the way back in 2002. This match could really go either way, as neither player has a great record in finals. Fish is 3-11 while Rochus is 2-5. I lean towards Fish in this one, but neither result would surprise me.
As for the Davis cup, there have already been some surprising results. In an absolute shock, France beat Spain 3-0 in the first three matches of their Davis Cup tie. While I thought it was possible that France could pull the upset, I never would have imagined that it might go down like this. Monfils played brilliantly against Ferrer, showing a lot of toughness to come back from being so close to winning the match in the fourth set, only to ultimately have to go five. Normally, I would have figured that to be the type of match that Ferrer would win, but I give Le Monf a lot of credit for the guts he showed in toughing out what must have been an exhausting victory.
But the real surprise performance came from Michael Llodra, who upset Fernando Verdasco in the second singles match on Friday. Llodra served absolutely brilliantly, winning 72% of points on serve and only facing two break chances. On return, he manufactured an amazing 16 break chances. He may have only converted on 25% of them, but it was enough. That's a huge win for the 30-year old Frenchman, and he followed that up by playing a part of the doubles team that clinched the victory for the French, as he and Benneteau defeated Lopez and Verdasco. I'm really surprised that Spain, the two-time defending champion, fell at this stage. They had been without Rafael Nadal before, but their tennis talent is deep enough that it hadn't mattered much up to this point. I expect they'll continue to be a huge favorite in the coming years of the Davis Cup, but they're out until 2011. What a shock.
For the privilege of playing France, rather than Spain, Argentina is currently leading against Russia. The first match of the singles was a real thriller, as Nalbandian and Davydenko both just walloping the ball from every part of the court. It may not have been beautiful tennis, since they both missed the mark more often than they hit it, but it was exciting. I think Davydenko is still not fully recovered from his injury lay-off, as he lost that match in straight sets and then was also a part of the Russian's dropping the doubles point today. I'm surprised, I have to admit, that Argentina was able to win without Nalbandian playing, but that was a pretty convincing victory. I expect that they'll probably sub out Gabashvili for Davydenko in the reverse singles, and he may be able to win against Leonardo Mayer. That means the tie will come down to Nalbandian against Youzhny, which would be quite an interesting decider. We'll see if it comes down to that. It's possible that Nalbandian might win the Davis Cup this year, almost entirely by himself.
Croatia-Serbia has been interesting to watch thus far, and I've been pretty much spot-on with my predictions. Novak Djokovic and Nenand Zimonjic (along with doubles partner Tipsarevic) won easily, giving Serba a 2-1 advantage. Cilic is going to need to pull off a monumental upset against Djokovic to give Ljubicic a chance to pull of the upset. I don't think Djokovic is going to lose - he may not have played spectacular tennis in the last few months, but he did play amazing in the first round of the Davis Cup, and maybe his performance here could turn his year back around. Even though Djokovic is back up to number two, he hasn't even made a final since Dubai, and he hasn't beaten a player ranked inside the top 20 in that time, either. But Cilic has been underperforming since making the Aussie Open semis, too. This is a big match for both guys.
On the other hand, there's not much to say about the Czech Republic and Chile. Even without Berdych or Stepanek, the Czechs ran roughshod over their Chilean opponents. It was a beatdown, with Chile winning just one set in the doubles, and never getting closer then 6-3 in either singles match. In fact, both singles players won a combined total of eight games in six sets. Chile is in trouble without Gonzalez, is the message to take from this. We'll see if he's fit again by the time Davis Cup kicks up again in 2011, because otherwise, Chile might find themselves relegated out of the world group, pretty soon.
As for the Davis cup, there have already been some surprising results. In an absolute shock, France beat Spain 3-0 in the first three matches of their Davis Cup tie. While I thought it was possible that France could pull the upset, I never would have imagined that it might go down like this. Monfils played brilliantly against Ferrer, showing a lot of toughness to come back from being so close to winning the match in the fourth set, only to ultimately have to go five. Normally, I would have figured that to be the type of match that Ferrer would win, but I give Le Monf a lot of credit for the guts he showed in toughing out what must have been an exhausting victory.
But the real surprise performance came from Michael Llodra, who upset Fernando Verdasco in the second singles match on Friday. Llodra served absolutely brilliantly, winning 72% of points on serve and only facing two break chances. On return, he manufactured an amazing 16 break chances. He may have only converted on 25% of them, but it was enough. That's a huge win for the 30-year old Frenchman, and he followed that up by playing a part of the doubles team that clinched the victory for the French, as he and Benneteau defeated Lopez and Verdasco. I'm really surprised that Spain, the two-time defending champion, fell at this stage. They had been without Rafael Nadal before, but their tennis talent is deep enough that it hadn't mattered much up to this point. I expect they'll continue to be a huge favorite in the coming years of the Davis Cup, but they're out until 2011. What a shock.
For the privilege of playing France, rather than Spain, Argentina is currently leading against Russia. The first match of the singles was a real thriller, as Nalbandian and Davydenko both just walloping the ball from every part of the court. It may not have been beautiful tennis, since they both missed the mark more often than they hit it, but it was exciting. I think Davydenko is still not fully recovered from his injury lay-off, as he lost that match in straight sets and then was also a part of the Russian's dropping the doubles point today. I'm surprised, I have to admit, that Argentina was able to win without Nalbandian playing, but that was a pretty convincing victory. I expect that they'll probably sub out Gabashvili for Davydenko in the reverse singles, and he may be able to win against Leonardo Mayer. That means the tie will come down to Nalbandian against Youzhny, which would be quite an interesting decider. We'll see if it comes down to that. It's possible that Nalbandian might win the Davis Cup this year, almost entirely by himself.
Croatia-Serbia has been interesting to watch thus far, and I've been pretty much spot-on with my predictions. Novak Djokovic and Nenand Zimonjic (along with doubles partner Tipsarevic) won easily, giving Serba a 2-1 advantage. Cilic is going to need to pull off a monumental upset against Djokovic to give Ljubicic a chance to pull of the upset. I don't think Djokovic is going to lose - he may not have played spectacular tennis in the last few months, but he did play amazing in the first round of the Davis Cup, and maybe his performance here could turn his year back around. Even though Djokovic is back up to number two, he hasn't even made a final since Dubai, and he hasn't beaten a player ranked inside the top 20 in that time, either. But Cilic has been underperforming since making the Aussie Open semis, too. This is a big match for both guys.
On the other hand, there's not much to say about the Czech Republic and Chile. Even without Berdych or Stepanek, the Czechs ran roughshod over their Chilean opponents. It was a beatdown, with Chile winning just one set in the doubles, and never getting closer then 6-3 in either singles match. In fact, both singles players won a combined total of eight games in six sets. Chile is in trouble without Gonzalez, is the message to take from this. We'll see if he's fit again by the time Davis Cup kicks up again in 2011, because otherwise, Chile might find themselves relegated out of the world group, pretty soon.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Newport Mid-Week and Davis Cup Preview
Some interesting things happening in Rhode Island. Top seed Sam Querrey was felled by an absolutely inspired Dustin Brown - the Jamaican lost only one point off his first serve and served at 67%. Querrey may not have been at his absolute best, but credit to Brown for playing the best I've ever seen him. Unfortunately, he was unable to sustain that level, and fell rather tamely to Brian Dabul in the next round.
Rajeev Ram, the defending champion, was also upset in the second round to South African Raven Klaasen, who has a career ATP-level record of 5-2 over the past 8 years. I'm willing to bet that all of those matches are either in Davis Cup play or in the Johannesburg event. Credit to him for getting that win, but he also fell to Olivier Rochus in the quarterfinals.
Nicolas Mahut looked to be nursing a back injury in his second-round match against Frank Dancevic, but he didn't quit. He played it tough, but he seemed to be in pain whenever he went up to serve, and he ended up losing in two sets. All the same, is this guy an iron man or what?
In addition to Rochus, the only seed left in the draw is Mardy Fish, who has looked dominant, so far. I'm hoping he'll see young American Ryan Harrison in the semifinals. Harrison demolished Slovakian Karol Beck, seeded sixth, in the first round. I'm seeing a Mardy Fish-Olivier Rochus final, but since they're the only two seeds remaining and this tournament has been seeing quite an exodus of its top players, that may not play out.
In addition, tomorrow marks the first day of the second round of the 2010 Davis Cup. There are some interesting match-ups, but also some big-name players who are sitting this week out with injury. Let's look at who's in action:
France and Spain are two of the most dominant nations in tennis today, but both teams are missing their top players. Nadal and Tsonga are both on the sidelines, and unfortunately for France, Spain's B-team is more impressive than the second squad that France is putting up for action. The first singles match of the day is Gael Monfils and David Ferrer, which is an extremely appetizing match, and France's chances will depend largely on how well Monfils can play. He's the best player that's active on the French side, but his record in Davis Cup has not been great. After his first rubber with Ferrer, Michael Llodra takes on Fernando Verdasco. Since France is playing at home and on a hard court, I think the big-serving Llodra has an outside chance against "Hot Sauce," but it will depend in large part on his first-serve percentage. If Spain finishes day one with a 2-0 lead, the French are toast.
The second quartefinal is between Russia and Argentina, with Russia at home and again on hard courts. Since the majority of Argentine players prefer to play on clay, and last year's U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro is still out with injury, the Argentine squad doesn't look like they have much of a shot against the Russians. But they have a potential spoiler on their side - the recently-injured David Nalbandian, who saved Argentina in the first round against Sweden, is the country's only hope. He opens against Davydenko, which could be a cracker of a match. If both players are healthy, it may be the best match of the first day, but that's a big if. Nalbandian holds a slight 6-5 advantage over Davydenko, so we'll see how that one plays out. The second match of the day is Youzhny against Leonardo Mayer, which would be a big upset for Mayer.
In what is sure to be a hotly-contested, Eastern European fight, Croatia takes on Serbia, in Croatia. The Serbs have Nenad Zimonjic, so you can almost give them the doubles point already. The tie will likely hinge on whether either Marin Cilic or Ivan Ljubicic can upset Novak Djokovic. Both of the Croats had extremely lackluster Wimbledon campaigns, while Novak made it to the semifinals. He's clearly the form player here, but is he getting tired? This is another one that should be fun to watch how it plays out. Also, Serbia's number three player Janko Tipsarevic just recently got married, so maybe his tennis will be invigorated by that change in his life.
The last quarterfinal match-up is, honestly, a bit of a letdown. Chile takes on the Czech Republic, but Fernando Gonzalez, Tomas Berdych, and Radek Stepanek are all out of action. That leaves us with the scintillating match-ups of Nicolas Massu against Ivo Minar and Paul Capdeville against Jan Hajek. Considering that the match is taking place in Chile and Massu only seems to play well when he's playing for his country (see 2004 Olympics), I think the edge goes to the Chileans. But this is definitely the tie with the least star power in action.
Wimbledon's less a week gone, and things are already picking up again. Injuries aside, I love the packed tennis season, don't you?
Rajeev Ram, the defending champion, was also upset in the second round to South African Raven Klaasen, who has a career ATP-level record of 5-2 over the past 8 years. I'm willing to bet that all of those matches are either in Davis Cup play or in the Johannesburg event. Credit to him for getting that win, but he also fell to Olivier Rochus in the quarterfinals.
Nicolas Mahut looked to be nursing a back injury in his second-round match against Frank Dancevic, but he didn't quit. He played it tough, but he seemed to be in pain whenever he went up to serve, and he ended up losing in two sets. All the same, is this guy an iron man or what?
In addition to Rochus, the only seed left in the draw is Mardy Fish, who has looked dominant, so far. I'm hoping he'll see young American Ryan Harrison in the semifinals. Harrison demolished Slovakian Karol Beck, seeded sixth, in the first round. I'm seeing a Mardy Fish-Olivier Rochus final, but since they're the only two seeds remaining and this tournament has been seeing quite an exodus of its top players, that may not play out.
In addition, tomorrow marks the first day of the second round of the 2010 Davis Cup. There are some interesting match-ups, but also some big-name players who are sitting this week out with injury. Let's look at who's in action:
France and Spain are two of the most dominant nations in tennis today, but both teams are missing their top players. Nadal and Tsonga are both on the sidelines, and unfortunately for France, Spain's B-team is more impressive than the second squad that France is putting up for action. The first singles match of the day is Gael Monfils and David Ferrer, which is an extremely appetizing match, and France's chances will depend largely on how well Monfils can play. He's the best player that's active on the French side, but his record in Davis Cup has not been great. After his first rubber with Ferrer, Michael Llodra takes on Fernando Verdasco. Since France is playing at home and on a hard court, I think the big-serving Llodra has an outside chance against "Hot Sauce," but it will depend in large part on his first-serve percentage. If Spain finishes day one with a 2-0 lead, the French are toast.
The second quartefinal is between Russia and Argentina, with Russia at home and again on hard courts. Since the majority of Argentine players prefer to play on clay, and last year's U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro is still out with injury, the Argentine squad doesn't look like they have much of a shot against the Russians. But they have a potential spoiler on their side - the recently-injured David Nalbandian, who saved Argentina in the first round against Sweden, is the country's only hope. He opens against Davydenko, which could be a cracker of a match. If both players are healthy, it may be the best match of the first day, but that's a big if. Nalbandian holds a slight 6-5 advantage over Davydenko, so we'll see how that one plays out. The second match of the day is Youzhny against Leonardo Mayer, which would be a big upset for Mayer.
In what is sure to be a hotly-contested, Eastern European fight, Croatia takes on Serbia, in Croatia. The Serbs have Nenad Zimonjic, so you can almost give them the doubles point already. The tie will likely hinge on whether either Marin Cilic or Ivan Ljubicic can upset Novak Djokovic. Both of the Croats had extremely lackluster Wimbledon campaigns, while Novak made it to the semifinals. He's clearly the form player here, but is he getting tired? This is another one that should be fun to watch how it plays out. Also, Serbia's number three player Janko Tipsarevic just recently got married, so maybe his tennis will be invigorated by that change in his life.
The last quarterfinal match-up is, honestly, a bit of a letdown. Chile takes on the Czech Republic, but Fernando Gonzalez, Tomas Berdych, and Radek Stepanek are all out of action. That leaves us with the scintillating match-ups of Nicolas Massu against Ivo Minar and Paul Capdeville against Jan Hajek. Considering that the match is taking place in Chile and Massu only seems to play well when he's playing for his country (see 2004 Olympics), I think the edge goes to the Chileans. But this is definitely the tie with the least star power in action.
Wimbledon's less a week gone, and things are already picking up again. Injuries aside, I love the packed tennis season, don't you?
Monday, March 8, 2010
Davis Cup First Round Complete
The first round of the Davis Cup for 2010 is (nearly) complete, and things went largely as expected. The favorites breezed through and most of the tight ties were tight. The only home teams to lose were Belgium, facing last year's finalists the Czech Republic, and Sweden, who fell to an Argentina that was energized almost exclusively by David Nalbandian. While his return had not been very impressive thus far, this bodes well for the next phase of his career. The Americans put up a really tough fight against the Serbians, but in the end, the red clay and the away team status kept them from making it to the next round.
Chile has not yet wrapped up its tie with Israel, but I think that Gonzalez or Massu should be able to pick up the final point tomorrow.
Now, we head back to the United States for the double Masters Series hardcourt tour. This is a ten-day tournament, so it has a weird schedule and starts on (I think) Thursday, this week. I'll take a look at the draw as soon as I see.
A few random notes - Cyprus and Bulgaria both won their ties, entirely on the play of Marcos Baghdatis and Grigor Dimitrov. Australia kicked butt, even sans Lleyton Hewitt.
Also, Mario Ancic made it to the final of a Futures tournament in Texas this week, then lost to 372nd rank Artem Sitak. Maybe it's a bit too early to call it a comeback?
Chile has not yet wrapped up its tie with Israel, but I think that Gonzalez or Massu should be able to pick up the final point tomorrow.
Now, we head back to the United States for the double Masters Series hardcourt tour. This is a ten-day tournament, so it has a weird schedule and starts on (I think) Thursday, this week. I'll take a look at the draw as soon as I see.
A few random notes - Cyprus and Bulgaria both won their ties, entirely on the play of Marcos Baghdatis and Grigor Dimitrov. Australia kicked butt, even sans Lleyton Hewitt.
Also, Mario Ancic made it to the final of a Futures tournament in Texas this week, then lost to 372nd rank Artem Sitak. Maybe it's a bit too early to call it a comeback?
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Davis Cup First Round, Day 2
The first week of the Davis Cup is about to wrap up. Three of the eight matchups have already drawn to a close, and at least four of the remaining five will finish tomorrow, and I expect that the fifth one will as well.
The ones that are already done, and none of them are surprises, are Croatia over Ecuador, the Czech Republic over Belgium, and France over Germany. What may be a bit of a surprise is that neither Russia nor Serbia closed out their ties. Both the Indians and Americans fielded strong doubles teams - well, at least the Americans tried to.
Mike Bryan came down with food poisoning, which meant that the Americans' best hope of getting the doubles point was in jeopardy. Amazingly, big John Isner stepped up and replaced the ailing Bryan, and served superbly in the Americans' defeat of Zimonjic and Tipsarevic. Kudos to Isner, but he'll need to build on that confidence to have a chance in the match against Novak Djokovic, tomorrow. If he somehow manages to win, I do give the Americans of making an impossible comeback, because Querrey has a real chance against Troicki. But it's a huge ask for Isner.
India managed their doubles point against Russia, but that was really their only chance. Russia's taking this one. I expect that the coach may replace Kunitsyn with Andreev for the second singles match just to be safer, but it probably won't matter.
Switzerland has about as much chance to win both singles points tomorrow as the United States does, but it's still a chance. Don't look for a first-round upset of the defending champs this year.
Argentina-Sweden is the most interesting match-up for tomorrow. Argentina is actually up 2-1, when Nalbandian joined in for the doubles and won the point with relative ease. I'm curious to see if he'll get put in the tie for one of the reverse singles. It seems like a sure thing, but I'm not 100% on his health. This one is a toss-up.
Chile is a day behind the other matches, but it's almost certain that the tie will end tomorrow as well. Massu and Gonzalez both won in four sets. They'll team up for the doubles point tomorrow, and almost certainly will win. They're a gold-medal winning team, as you may recall.
There's still a lot of tennis to play, though, so we'll just see what happens tomorrow.
The ones that are already done, and none of them are surprises, are Croatia over Ecuador, the Czech Republic over Belgium, and France over Germany. What may be a bit of a surprise is that neither Russia nor Serbia closed out their ties. Both the Indians and Americans fielded strong doubles teams - well, at least the Americans tried to.
Mike Bryan came down with food poisoning, which meant that the Americans' best hope of getting the doubles point was in jeopardy. Amazingly, big John Isner stepped up and replaced the ailing Bryan, and served superbly in the Americans' defeat of Zimonjic and Tipsarevic. Kudos to Isner, but he'll need to build on that confidence to have a chance in the match against Novak Djokovic, tomorrow. If he somehow manages to win, I do give the Americans of making an impossible comeback, because Querrey has a real chance against Troicki. But it's a huge ask for Isner.
India managed their doubles point against Russia, but that was really their only chance. Russia's taking this one. I expect that the coach may replace Kunitsyn with Andreev for the second singles match just to be safer, but it probably won't matter.
Switzerland has about as much chance to win both singles points tomorrow as the United States does, but it's still a chance. Don't look for a first-round upset of the defending champs this year.
Argentina-Sweden is the most interesting match-up for tomorrow. Argentina is actually up 2-1, when Nalbandian joined in for the doubles and won the point with relative ease. I'm curious to see if he'll get put in the tie for one of the reverse singles. It seems like a sure thing, but I'm not 100% on his health. This one is a toss-up.
Chile is a day behind the other matches, but it's almost certain that the tie will end tomorrow as well. Massu and Gonzalez both won in four sets. They'll team up for the doubles point tomorrow, and almost certainly will win. They're a gold-medal winning team, as you may recall.
There's still a lot of tennis to play, though, so we'll just see what happens tomorrow.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Davis Cup First Round, Day One
With the first day of tennis for this year's Davis Cup complete, things have gone largely as expected. There are a few minor surprises, but I'll note the things that have progressed as one might have thought they would, first.
Russia lost only one set against India, with Kunitsyn losing the first in a tiebreak to Devvarman before winning in four. The Czechs didn't even lose one set to Belgium, with Berdych even serving Olivier Rochus a bagel in the second. Croatia is up two rubbers to none, but Karlovic had to work for it. Nicolas Lapentti took him to five sets, but he came out on top in the end.
France is up 2-0 on Germany, with the team only dropping one set as well, which Tsonga lost to Benjamin Becker. Serbia is also up 2-0 over the USA, with Querrey and Isner both falling in four sets. They were both hard-fought matches, but the big Americans just weren't as suited to or as comfortable as their opponents on the clay.
Chile and Israel have yet to start their tie yet, but will get underway tomorrow. That leaves the two ties which are - so far - the most competitive. Sweden is 1-1 against Argentina, which is most surprising because Nalbandian has not stepped on court for the Argentine team yet. Leonardo Mayer showed a lot of class in getting his first Davis Cup win against Joachim Johansson. It will be interesting to see if the Argentine captain then swaps out one of his singles players for Nalbandian, and if so - which one.
The most interesting result of the first day in the world group (although it isn't quite a surprise) is that Spain and Switzerland are 1-1, with Wawrinka beating Almagro in the day's second five-setter. Ferrer turned the tide on Chiudinelli, beating him in straights, but the damage was already done. The doubles will be incredibly important, because while I don't think that Switzerland can get both of the points on the second day of doubles, they have a shot at one of them. It would be amazing if Spain lost in the first round at home this year - and by that, I mean that I don't see it happening. It's too much to ask of Stan "the Man," since he's only 1-4 in doubles play in his career in the Davis Cup, anyway.
The best match of the day, though, didn't even take place in the World Group. In Group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone, Poland played Finland, and Jarkko Nieminen beat Michael Przysiezny (ranked 137) by the score 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 7-6(7) 6-4. Nieminen may have saved match points in that fourth set tiebreak (I'm not sure) but he was on the verge of defeat for sure. I didn't see any match that went past 6-6 in the fifth in today's play (I may have missed it, I'll admit) so this was officially the closest match of the day.
A few other things worthy of note - Marcos Baghdatis breezed through his match for Cyprus, and Britain is 1-1 against Lithuania even without Andy Murray! Maybe if they can win, he'll be convinced to give it another shot. Latvia, however, is getting blitzed by Ukraine without recent titlist Ernests Gulbis. Australia is doing fine against Chinese Taipei without the injured Lleyton Hewitt, as well. Tomic and Luczak both won their matches. Grigor Dimitrov also got Bulgaria's only point against Monaco, which is a good result for the teen. Dimitrov, despite being only 18 years old, is 8-1 in Davis Cup play, including 7-0 in singles. Could we see Bulgaria in the world group, in the next few years?
Tomorrow, play really gets interesting. Quite a few teams will wrap up their ties with the doubles, but at worst, somebody will be one point from victory. This is some of the most exciting and interesting doubles action during the whole year. Enjoy!
Russia lost only one set against India, with Kunitsyn losing the first in a tiebreak to Devvarman before winning in four. The Czechs didn't even lose one set to Belgium, with Berdych even serving Olivier Rochus a bagel in the second. Croatia is up two rubbers to none, but Karlovic had to work for it. Nicolas Lapentti took him to five sets, but he came out on top in the end.
France is up 2-0 on Germany, with the team only dropping one set as well, which Tsonga lost to Benjamin Becker. Serbia is also up 2-0 over the USA, with Querrey and Isner both falling in four sets. They were both hard-fought matches, but the big Americans just weren't as suited to or as comfortable as their opponents on the clay.
Chile and Israel have yet to start their tie yet, but will get underway tomorrow. That leaves the two ties which are - so far - the most competitive. Sweden is 1-1 against Argentina, which is most surprising because Nalbandian has not stepped on court for the Argentine team yet. Leonardo Mayer showed a lot of class in getting his first Davis Cup win against Joachim Johansson. It will be interesting to see if the Argentine captain then swaps out one of his singles players for Nalbandian, and if so - which one.
The most interesting result of the first day in the world group (although it isn't quite a surprise) is that Spain and Switzerland are 1-1, with Wawrinka beating Almagro in the day's second five-setter. Ferrer turned the tide on Chiudinelli, beating him in straights, but the damage was already done. The doubles will be incredibly important, because while I don't think that Switzerland can get both of the points on the second day of doubles, they have a shot at one of them. It would be amazing if Spain lost in the first round at home this year - and by that, I mean that I don't see it happening. It's too much to ask of Stan "the Man," since he's only 1-4 in doubles play in his career in the Davis Cup, anyway.
The best match of the day, though, didn't even take place in the World Group. In Group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone, Poland played Finland, and Jarkko Nieminen beat Michael Przysiezny (ranked 137) by the score 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 7-6(7) 6-4. Nieminen may have saved match points in that fourth set tiebreak (I'm not sure) but he was on the verge of defeat for sure. I didn't see any match that went past 6-6 in the fifth in today's play (I may have missed it, I'll admit) so this was officially the closest match of the day.
A few other things worthy of note - Marcos Baghdatis breezed through his match for Cyprus, and Britain is 1-1 against Lithuania even without Andy Murray! Maybe if they can win, he'll be convinced to give it another shot. Latvia, however, is getting blitzed by Ukraine without recent titlist Ernests Gulbis. Australia is doing fine against Chinese Taipei without the injured Lleyton Hewitt, as well. Tomic and Luczak both won their matches. Grigor Dimitrov also got Bulgaria's only point against Monaco, which is a good result for the teen. Dimitrov, despite being only 18 years old, is 8-1 in Davis Cup play, including 7-0 in singles. Could we see Bulgaria in the world group, in the next few years?
Tomorrow, play really gets interesting. Quite a few teams will wrap up their ties with the doubles, but at worst, somebody will be one point from victory. This is some of the most exciting and interesting doubles action during the whole year. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Davis Cup 2010 First Round Preview
Tomorrow, the 2010 Davis Cup kicks off with all 16 teams in action. That means there will be 32 singles matches in the next three days and 8 doubles matches. Half of the teams in the World Group will be eliminated, while the rest will move on to the quarterfinals. There are some intriguing match-ups here, but with a surprising majority of the top players sidelined, maybe not the matches we would have anticipated when the draw first appeared. For example...
Spain v. Switzerland, in Spain on indoor red clay
Everyone expected this to be a meeting between Nadal and Federer. But neither player is in action this week. That leaves Switzerland with its number two man, Stan Wawrinka, in the lead spot. Thankfully, in the past year, the Swiss number 3 player Marco Chiudinelli has made some noise on the tour, and he may be a force in this tie. Especially considering that the Spaniards are down to their number four player to lead their singles. After Nadal, Verdasco and Ferrero are both out for the weekend as well, leaving David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo as the top two players. Surprisingly, Spain isn't sending out Robredo for the singles, opting instead for Nicolas Almagro. Robredo will be playing doubles, which makes sense. In addition to having the fifth highest-singles ranking, he has the highest doubles ranking among any of his countrymen. He'll be partnering with the second-highest ranked Spaniard in doubles, Marcel Granollers. For the Swiss, Wawrinka will be partnering Yves Allegro.
As Spain is the twice-defending champion of the Davis Cup scene, it's unlikely that they'll lose in the first round, despite missing many of their top players. Wawrinka needs to win both of his singles matches and hope that Chiudinelli can pull of an upset. If I were the Swiss captain, I would actually pull Wawrinka from the doubles and just consider that a lost point, rather than tiring out the team's anchor. Advantage to Spain, definitely.
France v. Germany, in France on indoor hard court
France has its top two players in action this week, which should help their chances immensely against Germany, which is without its Davis Cup stalwart Tommy Haas. The Germans are still fielding their next best options, with Kohlschreiber and Benjamin "Not Boris" Becker. It's going to be tough for them to do much against Tsonga and Monfils, though. Add to that the fact that the French have Llodra and Benneteau for the doubles, who have already won a title this year, and Germany will have a tough road to travel. Christopher Kas is a perfectly competent doubles player, but the French team will have to play well worse than their best for the Germans to have a chance here.
Russia v. India, in Russia on indoor hard court
One of the two stone-cold locks of the first round this year, Russia will never lose to India at home. Even without Safin, even without Davydenko, who withdrew with injury, Russia should have very little trouble. The Russian team is headed by Andreev and Youzhny, who should have no trouble with either Somdev Devvarman or Rohan Bopanna. Russia may lose the doubles point, as Bhupathi and Paes are both top 10 doubles players, but they will need an absolutely stunning performance to win even one singles point, much less two.
Croatia v. Ecuador, in Croatia on indoor hard court
This would be the other lock. Marin Cilic is one of the hottest players on tour at the moment, and Karlovic is deadly on this kind of surface, with no wind to worry about on his toss. And their opponents will be the hard-working but not especially accomplished Lapentti brothers, Nicolas and Giovanni. Tough to pick the Ecuadorians to win more than a point, here.
Sweden v. Argentina, in Sweden on indoor hard court
This one looked like it could have been a rout, with Argentina's best players out of the picture, they were left with Horacio Zeballos and Leonardo Mayer leading the charge. But at the last minute, David Nalbandian rejoined the team. While his health may be an issue, he should at least give the Argentines a chance of escpaing this round and being one of the few possible home-court upsets this weekend. The Swedes have top player Robin Soderling but strangely enough, he's the only Swedish player in the top 100. For Argentina, Zeballos, Schwank, and Mayer are all inside the top 75, and Nalbandian is a former world number 3. If Nalbandian is healthy and able to play, the visiting team has a shot here.
Serbia v. United States of America, in Serbia on indoor clay courts
Tough first round for the Americans, especially without Roddick, Blake, or Mardy Fish. First-timers John Isner and Sam Querrey will face off against Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki. A win by Isner on either day would be an upset, but Querrey is the more experienced and capable clay court player. Unfortunately for the U.S., the doubles point isn't even a sure thing, as the Bryan Brothers will be facing Nenad Zimonjic, currently a part of the best doubles team in the world. If the U.S. can win the doubles, then either Querrey will need to upset Djokovic or Isner will need to upset Troicki. Otherwise, Serbia's through.
Belgium v. Czech Republic, in Belgium on indoor clay courts
This is an interesting match-up. One of the toughest home ties (the top teams seem to all have the home field advantage, except for the Czechs) the Belgians have four moderately good players on their squad, but no real stand-outs. The Rochus brothers, a recovering Xavier Malisse, and challenger regular Steve Darcis will be facing Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek, Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy. Dlouhy is an excellent doubles player, but there's not much to say about Hajek. Berdych's power will be slowed by the clay, somewhat, and Stepanek has not had a great year so far. It's tough to bet against the Czechs, as they just came back from an appearance in the finals last year, but the Belgians have a shot.
Chile v. Israel, in Chile on outdoor clay courts
The most poignant first-round match-up, for sure. After the recent earth-quake in Chile, how will the fans, the players, the stadium hold up to play there so soon? The Chileans have their best players, and they always play their best at home. Gonzalez, Massu, Capdeville and Aguilar are a tough team. The Israeli team is going to be struggling to match the effort they made last year, beating the Swiss in Sweden and then upsetting the Russians at home. This match will hinge entirely on how the Chileans, fans and players, are able to get into the tennis after such an enormous tragedy. I hope that this presents an opportunity for the country to come together for a short while and relish in international competition, the way they usually do. They actually need it now more than ever.
Spain v. Switzerland, in Spain on indoor red clay
Everyone expected this to be a meeting between Nadal and Federer. But neither player is in action this week. That leaves Switzerland with its number two man, Stan Wawrinka, in the lead spot. Thankfully, in the past year, the Swiss number 3 player Marco Chiudinelli has made some noise on the tour, and he may be a force in this tie. Especially considering that the Spaniards are down to their number four player to lead their singles. After Nadal, Verdasco and Ferrero are both out for the weekend as well, leaving David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo as the top two players. Surprisingly, Spain isn't sending out Robredo for the singles, opting instead for Nicolas Almagro. Robredo will be playing doubles, which makes sense. In addition to having the fifth highest-singles ranking, he has the highest doubles ranking among any of his countrymen. He'll be partnering with the second-highest ranked Spaniard in doubles, Marcel Granollers. For the Swiss, Wawrinka will be partnering Yves Allegro.
As Spain is the twice-defending champion of the Davis Cup scene, it's unlikely that they'll lose in the first round, despite missing many of their top players. Wawrinka needs to win both of his singles matches and hope that Chiudinelli can pull of an upset. If I were the Swiss captain, I would actually pull Wawrinka from the doubles and just consider that a lost point, rather than tiring out the team's anchor. Advantage to Spain, definitely.
France v. Germany, in France on indoor hard court
France has its top two players in action this week, which should help their chances immensely against Germany, which is without its Davis Cup stalwart Tommy Haas. The Germans are still fielding their next best options, with Kohlschreiber and Benjamin "Not Boris" Becker. It's going to be tough for them to do much against Tsonga and Monfils, though. Add to that the fact that the French have Llodra and Benneteau for the doubles, who have already won a title this year, and Germany will have a tough road to travel. Christopher Kas is a perfectly competent doubles player, but the French team will have to play well worse than their best for the Germans to have a chance here.
Russia v. India, in Russia on indoor hard court
One of the two stone-cold locks of the first round this year, Russia will never lose to India at home. Even without Safin, even without Davydenko, who withdrew with injury, Russia should have very little trouble. The Russian team is headed by Andreev and Youzhny, who should have no trouble with either Somdev Devvarman or Rohan Bopanna. Russia may lose the doubles point, as Bhupathi and Paes are both top 10 doubles players, but they will need an absolutely stunning performance to win even one singles point, much less two.
Croatia v. Ecuador, in Croatia on indoor hard court
This would be the other lock. Marin Cilic is one of the hottest players on tour at the moment, and Karlovic is deadly on this kind of surface, with no wind to worry about on his toss. And their opponents will be the hard-working but not especially accomplished Lapentti brothers, Nicolas and Giovanni. Tough to pick the Ecuadorians to win more than a point, here.
Sweden v. Argentina, in Sweden on indoor hard court
This one looked like it could have been a rout, with Argentina's best players out of the picture, they were left with Horacio Zeballos and Leonardo Mayer leading the charge. But at the last minute, David Nalbandian rejoined the team. While his health may be an issue, he should at least give the Argentines a chance of escpaing this round and being one of the few possible home-court upsets this weekend. The Swedes have top player Robin Soderling but strangely enough, he's the only Swedish player in the top 100. For Argentina, Zeballos, Schwank, and Mayer are all inside the top 75, and Nalbandian is a former world number 3. If Nalbandian is healthy and able to play, the visiting team has a shot here.
Serbia v. United States of America, in Serbia on indoor clay courts
Tough first round for the Americans, especially without Roddick, Blake, or Mardy Fish. First-timers John Isner and Sam Querrey will face off against Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki. A win by Isner on either day would be an upset, but Querrey is the more experienced and capable clay court player. Unfortunately for the U.S., the doubles point isn't even a sure thing, as the Bryan Brothers will be facing Nenad Zimonjic, currently a part of the best doubles team in the world. If the U.S. can win the doubles, then either Querrey will need to upset Djokovic or Isner will need to upset Troicki. Otherwise, Serbia's through.
Belgium v. Czech Republic, in Belgium on indoor clay courts
This is an interesting match-up. One of the toughest home ties (the top teams seem to all have the home field advantage, except for the Czechs) the Belgians have four moderately good players on their squad, but no real stand-outs. The Rochus brothers, a recovering Xavier Malisse, and challenger regular Steve Darcis will be facing Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek, Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy. Dlouhy is an excellent doubles player, but there's not much to say about Hajek. Berdych's power will be slowed by the clay, somewhat, and Stepanek has not had a great year so far. It's tough to bet against the Czechs, as they just came back from an appearance in the finals last year, but the Belgians have a shot.
Chile v. Israel, in Chile on outdoor clay courts
The most poignant first-round match-up, for sure. After the recent earth-quake in Chile, how will the fans, the players, the stadium hold up to play there so soon? The Chileans have their best players, and they always play their best at home. Gonzalez, Massu, Capdeville and Aguilar are a tough team. The Israeli team is going to be struggling to match the effort they made last year, beating the Swiss in Sweden and then upsetting the Russians at home. This match will hinge entirely on how the Chileans, fans and players, are able to get into the tennis after such an enormous tragedy. I hope that this presents an opportunity for the country to come together for a short while and relish in international competition, the way they usually do. They actually need it now more than ever.
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