We're down to the last eight in Rome. The action today was, for the most part, not too terribly exciting. Only one match went three sets, and it wasn't because of the thrilling tennis. Ernests Gulbis was trying almost as hard as he did on Monday to choke away a match that he was playing well enough to win, and his opponent Filippo Volandri nearly let him, but he wasn't sufficiently solid to take the third set either. Gulbis advances to the quarterfinal and faces the winnner (if you can call him that) of the only match to go fewer than two sets.
That's right. Ivan Ljubicic apparently injured his rib during the warm-up in his match against Feliciano Lopez, and was forced to withdraw. Great result for Lopez, who really had no business making it to this stage. And how thrilled is he to see Ernests Gulbis, who almost gave away both of his previous matches, rather than Roger Federer? If Ernie plays the way he can, he should win, but if he gets overwhelmed by the situation, then it will be tough for him.
They'll be playing for the honor of facing the winner of Rafael Nadal vs. Stanislas Wawrinka, which is to say - they'll be playing to face Nadal. Credit to Wawrinka, who upset Robin Soderling, but the Swede was playing jaded after all the tennis he's played lately. And in that condition, who can get too excited about probably getting a revenge beatdown from Nadal? Soderling definitely didn't tank, but I doubt that his heart was entirely in it today. And who could blame him? Best of luck to Stan, who staged the best win of his career here a couple years ago when he beat Roger Federer, but I don't give him too much chance against Nadal. He would have to play perfect and then get a Nadal who's somewhat off his game. In his match today, Hanescu was the best I've ever seen him play for stretches, but Nadal still dispatched him with ease. Good luck, Stan.
While there's only a single seed left in the top half of the draw, and he could probably beat the other three players if they were all working together, the bottom half of the draw is still loaded with top players. The first quarterfinal is JW Tsonga against David Ferrer, who have never faced each other on tour before. One's a big hitter, the other's a big returner. I give Ferrer the edge on this surface, but it could go either way.
The other quarterfinal is even tighter. Novak Djokovic, still the number two player in the world, squares off against a guy who is putting together a spectacular run this season so far, Fernando Verdasco. "Hot Sauce" made the final in Monte Carlo and won Barcelona, so he's playing well. Djoko, on the other hand, hasn't been showing his best stuff with any consistency since his win in the Davis Cup against the US. He's been great for a match or two, but then he falls apart again. The Serb hasn't beaten a player ranked inside the top 15 all year. The thing is, though, that he hasn't had the chance to play that many, either. He could start to get his year back on track with a win here against Verdasco. Should be a fun one, though.
Showing posts with label feliciano lopez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label feliciano lopez. Show all posts
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Week 5 Wrap-up and Week 6 Preview
Well, there were certainly a handful of surprise finalists in last week's tournaments, and some surprise winners as a result. In Johannesburg, top seeds Monfils and Ferrer both lost in the semis, leaving the surprising final match-up of Lopez and Stephane Robert. The more experienced player won this one, as Lopez took the second title of his career. His previous title came all the way back in 2004, so this was quite a drought. It was an encouraging result by Robert as well, having made his first ATP final after reaching 24 at the level of the challengers and futures. He's playing the best tennis of his career at age 29.
The other surprise finalist was Tomaz Bellucci, who managed to unseat Fernando Gonzalez in the semifinals at his home tournament and then beat clay court veteran Juan Monaco in the final. The young Brazilian is making an assault of the top levels of the game. He hasn't had any shocking upsets or performances that are bringing him a great deal of attention, but he's quietly improving and winning more and more matches. Clay is his favorite surface, so watch for him at the French Open this year.
A young player who is earning his attention is Croatian Marin Cilic, who somehow managed to fight off fatigue and red-hot challenger player Michael Berrer to defend his second title of the year. That's incredibly impressive for a player who should be exhausted after his past few weeks. Kudos to Cilic for his spectacular start of the year.
On the challenger circuit, Bernard Tomic won his second career title on the challenger circuit, while Carsten Ball was upset by American Ryan Sweeting.
Looking ahead to the next week, some of the top players are back in action. With last week's lineups a bit on the weak side, it's good to see a handful of the big dogs on the court once again.
The weakest field is actually in Brazil, where Juan Carlos Ferrero is the top seed at 22 in the world, and the eighth-seed is Richard Gasquet, who is ranked outside the top 50. Despite the lack of top players, there could be some firecracker matches in the late rounds. In addition to Ferrero and Gasquet, who are both trying to get as much preparation for the French Open as possible, Bellucci is in the draw. He made the final here last year, in his own back yard, so he'll be wanting to go one step further. Igor Andreev is also here, undoubtedly anxious to beat someone into
submission after having Federer on the ropes in the first round of the Aussie Open. Horacio Zeballos is also there, trying to justify his relatively high ranking with some results of note on the tour level.
Next week will also be Novak Djokovic's first tournament after moving to number 2 in the world rankings, at Rotterdamn. This is really a loaded draw, despite the lack of last year's champion Andy Murray. Davydenko and Soderling are also there, as well as Monfils and Youzhny. Not to mention the most appetizing opening round of the whole week, unseeded Marcos Baghdatis against unseeded James Blake. They've each been involved in some of the best matches of the year. Davydenko also opens against Feliciano Lopez, fresh off a victory. Amazingly, the winners of those matches will play each other in the second round. The magic of the draw...
I'm a bit surprised to see Blake in Rotterdam, actually, since he could easily have been at the tournament in San Jose, where most of the other Americans are. Roddick, Querrey, Odesnik, Fish, Dent, Ginepri, Britton, Ram, Russell, and a few others. That's pretty much every American even near the top of the game, except for Blake and Isner. The Americans will have to compete with some tough foreign resistance, though. Last year's champ Radek Stepanek is in the draw, as is Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych. You'll also find Tommy Haas, who just got dual German-American citizenship a week or two ago. I wonder if he'll get more support this way?
The other surprise finalist was Tomaz Bellucci, who managed to unseat Fernando Gonzalez in the semifinals at his home tournament and then beat clay court veteran Juan Monaco in the final. The young Brazilian is making an assault of the top levels of the game. He hasn't had any shocking upsets or performances that are bringing him a great deal of attention, but he's quietly improving and winning more and more matches. Clay is his favorite surface, so watch for him at the French Open this year.
A young player who is earning his attention is Croatian Marin Cilic, who somehow managed to fight off fatigue and red-hot challenger player Michael Berrer to defend his second title of the year. That's incredibly impressive for a player who should be exhausted after his past few weeks. Kudos to Cilic for his spectacular start of the year.
On the challenger circuit, Bernard Tomic won his second career title on the challenger circuit, while Carsten Ball was upset by American Ryan Sweeting.
Looking ahead to the next week, some of the top players are back in action. With last week's lineups a bit on the weak side, it's good to see a handful of the big dogs on the court once again.
The weakest field is actually in Brazil, where Juan Carlos Ferrero is the top seed at 22 in the world, and the eighth-seed is Richard Gasquet, who is ranked outside the top 50. Despite the lack of top players, there could be some firecracker matches in the late rounds. In addition to Ferrero and Gasquet, who are both trying to get as much preparation for the French Open as possible, Bellucci is in the draw. He made the final here last year, in his own back yard, so he'll be wanting to go one step further. Igor Andreev is also here, undoubtedly anxious to beat someone into
submission after having Federer on the ropes in the first round of the Aussie Open. Horacio Zeballos is also there, trying to justify his relatively high ranking with some results of note on the tour level.
Next week will also be Novak Djokovic's first tournament after moving to number 2 in the world rankings, at Rotterdamn. This is really a loaded draw, despite the lack of last year's champion Andy Murray. Davydenko and Soderling are also there, as well as Monfils and Youzhny. Not to mention the most appetizing opening round of the whole week, unseeded Marcos Baghdatis against unseeded James Blake. They've each been involved in some of the best matches of the year. Davydenko also opens against Feliciano Lopez, fresh off a victory. Amazingly, the winners of those matches will play each other in the second round. The magic of the draw...
I'm a bit surprised to see Blake in Rotterdam, actually, since he could easily have been at the tournament in San Jose, where most of the other Americans are. Roddick, Querrey, Odesnik, Fish, Dent, Ginepri, Britton, Ram, Russell, and a few others. That's pretty much every American even near the top of the game, except for Blake and Isner. The Americans will have to compete with some tough foreign resistance, though. Last year's champ Radek Stepanek is in the draw, as is Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych. You'll also find Tommy Haas, who just got dual German-American citizenship a week or two ago. I wonder if he'll get more support this way?
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