John Isner made his second final yesterday at the Heineken Open in Auckland. He made his first back in 2007 in the Washington, DC Legg Mason Classic. In that tournament, he had won five consecutive third-set tiebreaks before he lost to Andy Roddick in straight sets in the final. This week, he didn't have to play a single third-set tiebreak until the final against Arnaud Clement. But he almost didn't get there.
Isner was cruising on serve, having taken the first set and serving to get into a second-set tiebreak. That was how he had beaten Albert Montanes in the semis. But Clement is a more accomplished hardcourt player than Montanes was, and his experience started to show. Leading 6-5, Clement did the impossible and broke Isner to take the match to a decisive third set.
In the third, Isner was serving again at 5-6, and he got down a break point, which happened to be a match point. It seemed like the pressure of winning his first title had gotten to him, and Clement might take his first title since 2006. (Oddly enough, Clement's last win came at the DC tournament where Isner made the final a year later) But Isner showed that he is developing and maturing as a player, and he saved the break point with a clutch serve-and-volley play followed by a decisive smash. The way he saved the break point was key, since it wasn't a Clement error or an easy ace. It gave him the confidence to run away with the tiebreak, 7-2. Congrats to the big man.
I was surprised to see that the final in Sydney was nowhere near as exciting. Gasquet could not find his form again, after he had looked flat against Benneteau in the semis. Richard had been playing amazing tennis for the first three rounds, but then he lost his edge. He still managed to beat his countryman, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to beat a fired-up Baghdatis in the final. Gasquet started the match by giving his serve away, and never managed to break Baggy in that set. The match was tighter in the second, after a rain delay, but Gasquet couldn't bring his best in the tiebreak.
This isn't a bad loss for Gasquet, since Baghdatis is a former top-ten player who looks like he's on his way back. This is Gasquet's first final since 2008, but he hasn't won a title since 2007. He needs to be able to get back to that next level, which we know he's capable of doing, in order to be back among the game's elite.
But kudos to Baghdatis, who was able to come back from his exhausting semifinal with Mardy Fish in excellent form. After quite a few years of playing sub-standard tennis, he looks like he's the real deal. I would say that the other players in his section of the draw at the Australian Open should watch out.
Showing posts with label auckland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label auckland. Show all posts
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Finals Week 2 - Best Match of the Year So Far!
I'm not talking about the Serena Williams - Elena Dementieva final in Sydney, which actually turned out to be a bit of a dud, but the men's semifinal which preceded it. Marcos Baghdatis and Mardy Fish went on for nearly three hours and two tiebreak sets. In the end, it was decided on an error from Fish - but not a shotmaking error. In fact, he had hit a spectacular cross-court pass that probably would have forced Baghdatis to miss his shot, but Fish challenged the call on the baseline. In the end, the "in" call had been correct, and Fish lost the point.
This was at 3-all in the third set tiebreak, and Baghdatis won both of his points on serve, giving him three match points. Fish gamely defended the first two on his own deal, but lost the third. It was the 243rd point of the match, and it was a fitting end. Despite how well Fish fought, Baghdatis had been slightly better the entire day. Both players were on their games for nearly the entire match, and there was some spectacular shot-making. Baggy's backhand half-volley winner from the baseline springs to mind, as does Fish's sacrificial diving volley on break point. Great match, all around. Bother players should be encouraged going into the AO with that kind of performance.
However, I don't give Baghdatis too much of a shot against Gasquet, who had a much easier time against Julien Benneateau even though he wasn't playing very well. But Baghdatis has to be tired, and Gasquet should be relatively fresh. It could be a good final, though.
But there's a chance it will be as much of a letdown as the highly-touted women's final. Serena seemed hobbled, and Dementieva was solid, winning 6-3, 6-2. Serena still has not won a regular tour event since April 2008, and Dementieva should have some confidence going into next week's major, having beaten the world's top two players. If it were anyone but Serena, I would say this hurts her chances of defending her title in Melbourne, but I've learned that her performance outside the slams really has no impact on her performance in them.
In Auckland, the last two seeds fell, with John Isner beating Albert Montanes and Arnaud Clement beating Philipp Kohlschreiber. Isner and Clement have now each beaten three seeds and will meet in the final for the first time. Isner is more than a foot taller than Clement, but this will be tight. Clement hasn't won a title since 2006, and Isner hasn't won a title ever. This is only his second final, after he made a dream run to the Washington final in 2007 in one of his first pro tournaments. I'm picking the big man to win his first title, but Clement is such a smart player, anything could happen.
This was at 3-all in the third set tiebreak, and Baghdatis won both of his points on serve, giving him three match points. Fish gamely defended the first two on his own deal, but lost the third. It was the 243rd point of the match, and it was a fitting end. Despite how well Fish fought, Baghdatis had been slightly better the entire day. Both players were on their games for nearly the entire match, and there was some spectacular shot-making. Baggy's backhand half-volley winner from the baseline springs to mind, as does Fish's sacrificial diving volley on break point. Great match, all around. Bother players should be encouraged going into the AO with that kind of performance.
However, I don't give Baghdatis too much of a shot against Gasquet, who had a much easier time against Julien Benneateau even though he wasn't playing very well. But Baghdatis has to be tired, and Gasquet should be relatively fresh. It could be a good final, though.
But there's a chance it will be as much of a letdown as the highly-touted women's final. Serena seemed hobbled, and Dementieva was solid, winning 6-3, 6-2. Serena still has not won a regular tour event since April 2008, and Dementieva should have some confidence going into next week's major, having beaten the world's top two players. If it were anyone but Serena, I would say this hurts her chances of defending her title in Melbourne, but I've learned that her performance outside the slams really has no impact on her performance in them.
In Auckland, the last two seeds fell, with John Isner beating Albert Montanes and Arnaud Clement beating Philipp Kohlschreiber. Isner and Clement have now each beaten three seeds and will meet in the final for the first time. Isner is more than a foot taller than Clement, but this will be tight. Clement hasn't won a title since 2006, and Isner hasn't won a title ever. This is only his second final, after he made a dream run to the Washington final in 2007 in one of his first pro tournaments. I'm picking the big man to win his first title, but Clement is such a smart player, anything could happen.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Semifinals Week 2
There was one big upset yesterday, and one almost-upset. In Auckland, John Isner avenged his defeat at the Hopman Cup by Tommy Robredo, beating the Spaniard in three tight sets. Isner hit twenty aces, but even more surprisingly, broke Robredo three times! I'd consider this a very impressive win for the big American, and while I don't put him in contention for winning the Aussie Open (that field is big enough already) I do think he can build on his win over Andy Roddick last September by upsetting another big seed.
The near-upset came at Sydney, when Serena Williams was nearly defeated by Aravane Rezai. Down a set and 5-3, Rezai served for the match, but couldn't close the door. Afterward, she said she wasn't impressed by Serena, and that she could have won. If Serena had been the one to break her while she was serving, or if she had gotten the break on a net cord winner or something, I could see her saying this. As it stands, she gave it away when she had the match in hand, so it seemed pretty classless to denigrate her opponent after choking. Still, it was an impressive performance when I had considered the match to be a mere formality.
The other semifinal was supposed to be more competitive, but turned out to be boring. Dementieva plowed through Azarenka, setting up the best final that we could have asked for. Serena and Dementieva played one of the best matches on the women's tour last year, so they could rival the Clijsters-Henin final of last week. Serena's looking to break her streak of not winning a regular tour event, while Dementieva wants everyone to know that she's in the hunt at the Aussie Open, this year. It's a big match.
Also in Sydney, the last seed on the men's side fell, when Baghditis beat Lleyton Hewitt in three tight sets. It wasn't quite as epic as their clash at last year's Aussie Open, but it was an impressive performance from both. Hewitt looked like the Hewitt of old during the first set, but then Baggy played like the guy who made the 2006 final in the next two.
Hewitt was the second-last Australian in the draw, but the last one didn't hang around much longer. Thirty-year old Peter Luczak fell to Mardy Fish in the night match, in another tight contest. In the end, Fish made a few too many shots, Luczak made a few too many errors, and he went to the drop shot well a few too many times. Still, an impressive show from the Aussie who is experiencing his greatest ever run after most players are considering retirement.
As a result, Fish plays Baghdatis in a rematch of last week's Brisbane first round. That was a tough one, with Baggy winning 7-5, 7-5, and as John Isner has just demonstrated, a player can lose one week and win the next. That should be an exciting semifinal.
The other semi could be the match that Serena-Rezia should have been, as Richard Gasquet faces Julien Benneteau. They played at this tournament, two years, and Gasquet won easily. He should do so, again. If "Baby Fed" doesn't win this match, he's going to be very disappointed with his showing.
The other most important thing to note is that Juan Martin Del Potro pulled out of his match against JW Tsonga at the AAMI Kooyong exhibition tournament, citing a wrist injury. He's been troubled by tendinitis before, so maybe he's just being careful. Then again, this could affect his chances at next week's Open. So the final at Kooyong will be Verdasco, who breezed past Djokovic (pun intended, they were playing in ridiculous winds) and Tsonga. Both players have done well at the Australian Open, but both also have a lot to prove.
The near-upset came at Sydney, when Serena Williams was nearly defeated by Aravane Rezai. Down a set and 5-3, Rezai served for the match, but couldn't close the door. Afterward, she said she wasn't impressed by Serena, and that she could have won. If Serena had been the one to break her while she was serving, or if she had gotten the break on a net cord winner or something, I could see her saying this. As it stands, she gave it away when she had the match in hand, so it seemed pretty classless to denigrate her opponent after choking. Still, it was an impressive performance when I had considered the match to be a mere formality.
The other semifinal was supposed to be more competitive, but turned out to be boring. Dementieva plowed through Azarenka, setting up the best final that we could have asked for. Serena and Dementieva played one of the best matches on the women's tour last year, so they could rival the Clijsters-Henin final of last week. Serena's looking to break her streak of not winning a regular tour event, while Dementieva wants everyone to know that she's in the hunt at the Aussie Open, this year. It's a big match.
Also in Sydney, the last seed on the men's side fell, when Baghditis beat Lleyton Hewitt in three tight sets. It wasn't quite as epic as their clash at last year's Aussie Open, but it was an impressive performance from both. Hewitt looked like the Hewitt of old during the first set, but then Baggy played like the guy who made the 2006 final in the next two.
Hewitt was the second-last Australian in the draw, but the last one didn't hang around much longer. Thirty-year old Peter Luczak fell to Mardy Fish in the night match, in another tight contest. In the end, Fish made a few too many shots, Luczak made a few too many errors, and he went to the drop shot well a few too many times. Still, an impressive show from the Aussie who is experiencing his greatest ever run after most players are considering retirement.
As a result, Fish plays Baghdatis in a rematch of last week's Brisbane first round. That was a tough one, with Baggy winning 7-5, 7-5, and as John Isner has just demonstrated, a player can lose one week and win the next. That should be an exciting semifinal.
The other semi could be the match that Serena-Rezia should have been, as Richard Gasquet faces Julien Benneteau. They played at this tournament, two years, and Gasquet won easily. He should do so, again. If "Baby Fed" doesn't win this match, he's going to be very disappointed with his showing.
The other most important thing to note is that Juan Martin Del Potro pulled out of his match against JW Tsonga at the AAMI Kooyong exhibition tournament, citing a wrist injury. He's been troubled by tendinitis before, so maybe he's just being careful. Then again, this could affect his chances at next week's Open. So the final at Kooyong will be Verdasco, who breezed past Djokovic (pun intended, they were playing in ridiculous winds) and Tsonga. Both players have done well at the Australian Open, but both also have a lot to prove.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Week 2 Quarterfinals
It seems like most of the tour has shut down in anticipation of the Australian Open starting next week.
In Sydney, the men's draw has just fallen apart. Two seeds withdrew, and five of the remaining lost by the third round. The only seed remaining is Lleyton Hewitt, who unfortunately has to play one of the other contenders in the quarterfinals, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. You may remember that Hewitt and Baghdatis played a match at the Australian Open last year that went until 4:30 in the morning. It seems unlikely that this meeting will be quite as epic, but the winner will have a good chance of winning the tournament.
The other two players who have a realistic shot at the win are Mardy Fish, who would play the winner of Hewitt-Baggy in the semis, and Richard Gasquet, who is all alone in his half of the draw. If he doesn't make the final at least, this week will be a disappointment. The other three players left in his half are Starace, Benneateau, and Mayer, fine players all but Gasquet needs to be able to beat them without too much trouble if he wants to get back to the top tier of the game.
The women's side of the draw remains a bit more competitive, with three seeds making it to the semifinals. Serena Williams blew through her opponent Vera Dushevina 2 and 2, which is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that Elena Dementieva beat Dinara Safina by almost that same margin. Now Williams plays Rezai in a formality of a match, while Dementieva plays Azarenka for the chance to face Serena in the final. It seems like Serena's victory should be a foregone conclusion, but she hasn't won a regular tour title (discounting grand slams or end-of-year championships) since April of 2008. She sure looks poised to break that streak, though.
In Auckland, there's an interesting quarterfinal match between John Isner and Tommy Robredo, which is a rematch of their tough three-setter last week in the Hopman Cup. Robredo came out on top in that contest, but he's played a lot more tennis in the interim. It could be a good match.
Finally, I've just set up a twitter account, from which I'll be posting updates to this blog as well as live commentary on some matches, in the future. Check me out at http://twitter.com/matchpointace !
In Sydney, the men's draw has just fallen apart. Two seeds withdrew, and five of the remaining lost by the third round. The only seed remaining is Lleyton Hewitt, who unfortunately has to play one of the other contenders in the quarterfinals, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. You may remember that Hewitt and Baghdatis played a match at the Australian Open last year that went until 4:30 in the morning. It seems unlikely that this meeting will be quite as epic, but the winner will have a good chance of winning the tournament.
The other two players who have a realistic shot at the win are Mardy Fish, who would play the winner of Hewitt-Baggy in the semis, and Richard Gasquet, who is all alone in his half of the draw. If he doesn't make the final at least, this week will be a disappointment. The other three players left in his half are Starace, Benneateau, and Mayer, fine players all but Gasquet needs to be able to beat them without too much trouble if he wants to get back to the top tier of the game.
The women's side of the draw remains a bit more competitive, with three seeds making it to the semifinals. Serena Williams blew through her opponent Vera Dushevina 2 and 2, which is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that Elena Dementieva beat Dinara Safina by almost that same margin. Now Williams plays Rezai in a formality of a match, while Dementieva plays Azarenka for the chance to face Serena in the final. It seems like Serena's victory should be a foregone conclusion, but she hasn't won a regular tour title (discounting grand slams or end-of-year championships) since April of 2008. She sure looks poised to break that streak, though.
In Auckland, there's an interesting quarterfinal match between John Isner and Tommy Robredo, which is a rematch of their tough three-setter last week in the Hopman Cup. Robredo came out on top in that contest, but he's played a lot more tennis in the interim. It could be a good match.
Finally, I've just set up a twitter account, from which I'll be posting updates to this blog as well as live commentary on some matches, in the future. Check me out at http://twitter.com/matchpointace !
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Noteworthy upsets and withdrawals plus Aussie Open quallies!
The second week of the season has featured a few surprising upsets and not-so-surprising withdrawals, but I'd imagine the tournament organizers were none too happy to see these players out of their tournaments before Wednesday.
Nalbandian withdrew from Auckland before playing his match against Kohlschreiber, which I think puts the Argentine in doubt for the Australian Open, since this would have been his only tune-up event. Gael Monfils also withdrew from Sydney, which is not so much of a surprise, considering how heavily he was taped last week in Brisbane. Vera Zvonerava also stopped her match against Elena Vesnina after only six games with an ankle injury. This is on top of Justine Henin and Roger Federer withdrawing from their events, earlier in the week.
In Sydney, Evgeny Korolev beat Sam Querrey in the first round, which will mean that the recently-injured American will be 0-2 going into the first grand slam of the year, which is certainly not the way he would have wanted to start out his year, I'm sure. The Bryan Brothers also lost to first time doubles pairing Wassen and Zeballos, which was definitely a shock. On the women's side, Dominika Cibulkova beat third-seeded (and ranked) Svetlana Kuznetsova, Aggi Szavay beat Jelena Jankovic, and Na Li beat fourth-seed Caroline Wozniacki, so the upset bug is all over.
It just goes to show that some of the top players have trouble finding their form at the very start of the season, which is why the Australian Open often has the most surprising winners and finalists of any of the grand slams.
With all these upsets and withdrawals, some players are getting an easy route through their tournaments. Serena Williams can't face another seed until the final, for example. Others are not so lucky. The bottom quarterfinal of the women's draw in Sydney will feature Elena Dementieva against Dinara Safina, which has the potential to be an exciting match, or at least a good bellwether of how these two players' years are starting.
In Kooyong, the organizers were apparently unable to woo either of the Andys into playing the full three days, so they ended up replacing Roger Federer with Ivan Ljubicic, who is a fine player, but probably not what they had hoped for this year. So the Kooyong matchups are Djokovic-Haas, Fernando-Fernando, Soderling-Tsonga, and Ljubicic-Del Potro. It will be interesting to see who out of that group of top players has started the year on form.
Looking to the Aussie Open qualifying draw, there are some very interesting first-round matches. The quallies are incredibly important to the players in them, because getting a few rounds in a grand slam is the best way to rack up a chunk of points for the following year, but you have to win these mini-tournaments to have a chance. Here's my list of significant match-ups:
Xavier Malisse-Alex Kuznetsov, Marc Lopez-Donald Young, Josselin Ouanna-Joseph Sirianni, Yuki Bhambri-Jan Minar, Ryler DeHeart-Stefan Koubek, Grigor Dimitrov-Robert Kendrick, and Peter Polansky-Marcel Ilhan. Sixteen out of these 128 players will get into the main draw, which is a tough cut. There are a ton of up-and-coming players here, as well as more establish challenger pros who are knocking at the door of the top 100. It should be fun to see who makes it through.
Nalbandian withdrew from Auckland before playing his match against Kohlschreiber, which I think puts the Argentine in doubt for the Australian Open, since this would have been his only tune-up event. Gael Monfils also withdrew from Sydney, which is not so much of a surprise, considering how heavily he was taped last week in Brisbane. Vera Zvonerava also stopped her match against Elena Vesnina after only six games with an ankle injury. This is on top of Justine Henin and Roger Federer withdrawing from their events, earlier in the week.
In Sydney, Evgeny Korolev beat Sam Querrey in the first round, which will mean that the recently-injured American will be 0-2 going into the first grand slam of the year, which is certainly not the way he would have wanted to start out his year, I'm sure. The Bryan Brothers also lost to first time doubles pairing Wassen and Zeballos, which was definitely a shock. On the women's side, Dominika Cibulkova beat third-seeded (and ranked) Svetlana Kuznetsova, Aggi Szavay beat Jelena Jankovic, and Na Li beat fourth-seed Caroline Wozniacki, so the upset bug is all over.
It just goes to show that some of the top players have trouble finding their form at the very start of the season, which is why the Australian Open often has the most surprising winners and finalists of any of the grand slams.
With all these upsets and withdrawals, some players are getting an easy route through their tournaments. Serena Williams can't face another seed until the final, for example. Others are not so lucky. The bottom quarterfinal of the women's draw in Sydney will feature Elena Dementieva against Dinara Safina, which has the potential to be an exciting match, or at least a good bellwether of how these two players' years are starting.
In Kooyong, the organizers were apparently unable to woo either of the Andys into playing the full three days, so they ended up replacing Roger Federer with Ivan Ljubicic, who is a fine player, but probably not what they had hoped for this year. So the Kooyong matchups are Djokovic-Haas, Fernando-Fernando, Soderling-Tsonga, and Ljubicic-Del Potro. It will be interesting to see who out of that group of top players has started the year on form.
Looking to the Aussie Open qualifying draw, there are some very interesting first-round matches. The quallies are incredibly important to the players in them, because getting a few rounds in a grand slam is the best way to rack up a chunk of points for the following year, but you have to win these mini-tournaments to have a chance. Here's my list of significant match-ups:
Xavier Malisse-Alex Kuznetsov, Marc Lopez-Donald Young, Josselin Ouanna-Joseph Sirianni, Yuki Bhambri-Jan Minar, Ryler DeHeart-Stefan Koubek, Grigor Dimitrov-Robert Kendrick, and Peter Polansky-Marcel Ilhan. Sixteen out of these 128 players will get into the main draw, which is a tough cut. There are a ton of up-and-coming players here, as well as more establish challenger pros who are knocking at the door of the top 100. It should be fun to see who makes it through.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Week 1 Champions and Week 2 Preview
The remaining two finals from the first week of the 2010 ATP season have been contested. In Chennai, defending champion Marin Cilic beat Stan Wawrinka in two tiebreak sets. It was a close match, and really In Brisbane, Andy Roddick beat defending champion Radek Stepanek in two tiebreaks. Really, there was very little to choose between these two players. Cilic served at 57%, Wawrinka at 59%. They both won 61% of their second-serve points. They both converted two break chances. The only difference, in the end, was that Cilic won 72% of points on first serve, while Wawrinka won only 62%. Still, a close match, and both players should be encouraged by their performance this week.
In Brisbane, the match between Roddick and Stepanek went to two tiebreaks as well, but the second-set was absolutely bizarre. Stepanek went away and Roddick went to a 5-1 lead thanks to a pair of double faults on break points by Radek, only to be broken twice while serving for the match. Roddick's play didn't drop a great deal (it did drop, though) but Stepanek raised his game and changed his strategy to frustrate and bamboozle Roddick.
In the tiebreak, Roddick made it to 6-2, and then lost five consecutive match points to get back to six-all. He had another match point at 8-7, when Stepanek put himself out of his misery and double-faulted again. This has to be disappointing for both players. Roddick has to be shaken that he couldn't close out after getting two huge leads, and Stepanek has to be upset that he couldn't take advantage of Roddick being off his game and clearly in a bad mental state. That said, a win is a win, and Roddick will be happy to lift his first trophy since early last year. Roddick now has the longest active streak of years with at least one tournament win.
Looking ahead to the second week of the season, it's a tale of two tiers. In Sydney and Auckland, which both hosted women's events last week, there are ATP tournaments which feature a good list of mid-range talents. But all of the top players are either taking the week off or playing in the Kooyong exhibition. No top ten player is in official action, this week.
Of course, that's not to say that there won't be some exciting tennis. In Sydney, Monfils, Wawrinka, Berdych, Hewitt and Querrey lead the field and are the favorites to make it deep into the tournament, but there are a handful of dangerous floaters in the draw. Mardy Fish opens against Carsten Ball, while Baghdatis starts against Nick Lindahl. Fish will have his hands full, but Baggy shouldn't have any trouble getting through his wildcard opponent. Chennai semifinalist Dudi Sela is also in the draw, as is Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who opens against Feliciano Lopez.
In Auckland, the top seed is Tommy Robredo, fresh off his Hopman Cup win, who is joined by three other Spaniards to make up the top four: Ferrer, Ferrero, and Almagro. The seeds also feature Monaco and Montanes, so you might be forgiven for thinking that this could be a claycourt tournament. It's a pretty wide open draw, and there's a chance for some lower-ranked players to make a deep run.
John Isner opens against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, which should be an interesting match-up. Isner will surely be hoping to start his year as well as he ended last year, and will be looking to forget his modest results at the Hopman Cup last week. Swiss number 3 Marco Chiudinelli and Tomaz Bellucci face each other in the first round as well, for the privilege of facing the winner of the best first-round match-up of the week.
I'm speaking, of course, about David Nalbandian's return to competitive tennis, in which he faces German Phillip Kohlschreiber. It will be fascinating to see how Nalbandian is feeling. Has he recovered from his surgery? Has he worked on his fitness in the off-season? Will his unearthly timing and shotmaking have survived his long layoff? Only time will tell.
Kooyong is an interesting story this week. Federer opted not to play at the last minute, and it's still not clear who is going to take up that last spot. The other players in the field are Djokovic, Del Potro, Gonzalez, Tsonga, Soderling, Haas, and Verdasco. That's a strong field, no question. But it doesn't have Roddick, Murray, Nadal, Davydenko, or Federer. The draw won't be released until the 12th, so they'll have to fill in the last spot by then. I'm interested to see what the organizers do to deal with this unusual situation.
On the women's side, there's another sharp difference in the field between the two tournaments going on this week. Sydney features eight of the top nine players in the world, with only Venus Williams not present. In Hobart, on the other hand, the top seed is 27th-ranked Annabel Medina-Garrigues. Since the winner in Sydney takes home nearly $100K, while the Hobart champion gets only $37K, this may not be a surprise. But this also means that most people are going to be watching Sydney.
Play started earlier than I thought it would, and Russians Kuznetsova and Dementieva have already moved on to the second round. It's really tough to see anyone but the top seeds making it to the semis or final here, since the top of the field is just so tough. It will be interesting to watch Dinara Safina and see if she can recover from how dismally she finished up 2009, or if that was just the first step in a precipitous decline. I hope to see her bounce back and even break through to win a slam in 2010.
In Brisbane, the match between Roddick and Stepanek went to two tiebreaks as well, but the second-set was absolutely bizarre. Stepanek went away and Roddick went to a 5-1 lead thanks to a pair of double faults on break points by Radek, only to be broken twice while serving for the match. Roddick's play didn't drop a great deal (it did drop, though) but Stepanek raised his game and changed his strategy to frustrate and bamboozle Roddick.
In the tiebreak, Roddick made it to 6-2, and then lost five consecutive match points to get back to six-all. He had another match point at 8-7, when Stepanek put himself out of his misery and double-faulted again. This has to be disappointing for both players. Roddick has to be shaken that he couldn't close out after getting two huge leads, and Stepanek has to be upset that he couldn't take advantage of Roddick being off his game and clearly in a bad mental state. That said, a win is a win, and Roddick will be happy to lift his first trophy since early last year. Roddick now has the longest active streak of years with at least one tournament win.
Looking ahead to the second week of the season, it's a tale of two tiers. In Sydney and Auckland, which both hosted women's events last week, there are ATP tournaments which feature a good list of mid-range talents. But all of the top players are either taking the week off or playing in the Kooyong exhibition. No top ten player is in official action, this week.
Of course, that's not to say that there won't be some exciting tennis. In Sydney, Monfils, Wawrinka, Berdych, Hewitt and Querrey lead the field and are the favorites to make it deep into the tournament, but there are a handful of dangerous floaters in the draw. Mardy Fish opens against Carsten Ball, while Baghdatis starts against Nick Lindahl. Fish will have his hands full, but Baggy shouldn't have any trouble getting through his wildcard opponent. Chennai semifinalist Dudi Sela is also in the draw, as is Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who opens against Feliciano Lopez.
In Auckland, the top seed is Tommy Robredo, fresh off his Hopman Cup win, who is joined by three other Spaniards to make up the top four: Ferrer, Ferrero, and Almagro. The seeds also feature Monaco and Montanes, so you might be forgiven for thinking that this could be a claycourt tournament. It's a pretty wide open draw, and there's a chance for some lower-ranked players to make a deep run.
John Isner opens against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, which should be an interesting match-up. Isner will surely be hoping to start his year as well as he ended last year, and will be looking to forget his modest results at the Hopman Cup last week. Swiss number 3 Marco Chiudinelli and Tomaz Bellucci face each other in the first round as well, for the privilege of facing the winner of the best first-round match-up of the week.
I'm speaking, of course, about David Nalbandian's return to competitive tennis, in which he faces German Phillip Kohlschreiber. It will be fascinating to see how Nalbandian is feeling. Has he recovered from his surgery? Has he worked on his fitness in the off-season? Will his unearthly timing and shotmaking have survived his long layoff? Only time will tell.
Kooyong is an interesting story this week. Federer opted not to play at the last minute, and it's still not clear who is going to take up that last spot. The other players in the field are Djokovic, Del Potro, Gonzalez, Tsonga, Soderling, Haas, and Verdasco. That's a strong field, no question. But it doesn't have Roddick, Murray, Nadal, Davydenko, or Federer. The draw won't be released until the 12th, so they'll have to fill in the last spot by then. I'm interested to see what the organizers do to deal with this unusual situation.
On the women's side, there's another sharp difference in the field between the two tournaments going on this week. Sydney features eight of the top nine players in the world, with only Venus Williams not present. In Hobart, on the other hand, the top seed is 27th-ranked Annabel Medina-Garrigues. Since the winner in Sydney takes home nearly $100K, while the Hobart champion gets only $37K, this may not be a surprise. But this also means that most people are going to be watching Sydney.
Play started earlier than I thought it would, and Russians Kuznetsova and Dementieva have already moved on to the second round. It's really tough to see anyone but the top seeds making it to the semis or final here, since the top of the field is just so tough. It will be interesting to watch Dinara Safina and see if she can recover from how dismally she finished up 2009, or if that was just the first step in a precipitous decline. I hope to see her bounce back and even break through to win a slam in 2010.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Finals Week 1 - Top Players Stumble!
As several of the first tournaments of the week have already been decided (two finals remain to be played), the most interesting thing about the outcomes is how two of the top players in the world seemed to have their victories firmly in-hand, only to let them slip away.
In the Hopman Cup, Andy Murray and Laura Robson were playing Spain for the championship. Before play started, it was easy to guess that Laura Robson would drop her singles match, but then Murray would win his and the pair would win their doubles point. That was how it had gone for most of the week. Laura Robson had lost all of her singles matches, while Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez had yet to drop a set. So when Robson came out on fire and beat Martinez Sanchez in straights, the victory for Great Britain was all but assured.
And then, Murray came out and took the first set from Tommy Robredo 6-1. Imagine the surprise and disappointment that Murray must have felt as he dropped the last two sets, and then proceeded to lose the mixed doubles in two as well. What seemed like a sure thing somehow managed to slip away, in a surprising loss for the Brit. Since this was his only warm-up to the Australian Open (I believe), it's unfortunate that he has to go in on that sort of a defeat.
Another player who isn't going to be thrilled with the result of his last match before the Australian Open was Rafael Nadal. He faced Nikolay Davydenko, who had beaten Federer in the semifinals, and took the first set from the Russian in imperious fashion, losing only one point on serve and breaking Davydenko there times. After that, the match started. The second set went to a tiebreak and Nadal had two match points, but Davydenko pulled it out 10-8. Nadal was then up a break in the decider, but Davydenko leveled and then took the match.
Davydenko becomes one of four people to beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament, and is riding the longest winning streak on tour. After years of leading the second tier of top players, he seems to have finally reached his proper place among the elite. After his win at the 2009 year end championships in London, and then this display in Doha, Nikolay has to be among the favorites in the Australian Open. There's no reason he can't win, if he can continue this run.
In Brisbane, there was another cracker of a match between Belgians Clijsters and Henin, which went to a third-set tiebreak. While Henin also had match points, Clijsters came out on top, just barely. Considering that this is her first match back after 20 months of retirement and Clijsters is the most recent slam winner on the WTA tour, this is an exciting omen for Henin's comeback. Unfortunately, she has withdrawn from next week's tournament in Sydney. Regardless, she's demonstrated that she's ready to make a run at the Aussie Open, and I'm no sure no one wants to see her in their section of the draw.
The other final in Brisbane will feature Radek Stepanek, who breezed passed a physically-uncomfortable Gael Monfils, and Andy Roddick, who had a much tougher time against Tomas Berdych. Despite having not dropped serve all week long, Roddick was broken in the first game of the match, and then again in the second. He lost the first set 6-1, while failing to convert on four break points.
In the second set, he tightened up his game, raising his first serve winning percentage from 50 to 76 and breaking one time in six tries. After evening the match, Roddick pulled himself together even further. In the final set, he won 82% of his first serve points and 86% on his second. He broke again, and managed to edge out a tough win in three.
In the final, we'll have to the battle of Radek versus Roddick, which is always exciting. They've played six times, with the American winning five, but Stepanek beat Roddick in a tough semifinal in San Jose last year. It should be an exciting match, and I know that Andy would like to get his first title in his first outing this season, but Stepanek is eager to complete his first successful title defense.
In Chennai, last year title-winner is also in the final again, facing Swiss number two Stanislas Wawrinka. Stan "the Man" is 4-0 against Cilic, but they haven't played since 2008, and he has matured a great deal in that time. It should be a fine match, as well.
One last note - Yanina Wickmayer has finished her successful rejoinder to her suspended suspension, by beating top seed Flavia Pennetta in Auckland. Also, that turns out to have been a fine use of a wildcard. The draws are out for next week's tournaments, and I hope to take a look at those tomorrow.
In the Hopman Cup, Andy Murray and Laura Robson were playing Spain for the championship. Before play started, it was easy to guess that Laura Robson would drop her singles match, but then Murray would win his and the pair would win their doubles point. That was how it had gone for most of the week. Laura Robson had lost all of her singles matches, while Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez had yet to drop a set. So when Robson came out on fire and beat Martinez Sanchez in straights, the victory for Great Britain was all but assured.
And then, Murray came out and took the first set from Tommy Robredo 6-1. Imagine the surprise and disappointment that Murray must have felt as he dropped the last two sets, and then proceeded to lose the mixed doubles in two as well. What seemed like a sure thing somehow managed to slip away, in a surprising loss for the Brit. Since this was his only warm-up to the Australian Open (I believe), it's unfortunate that he has to go in on that sort of a defeat.
Another player who isn't going to be thrilled with the result of his last match before the Australian Open was Rafael Nadal. He faced Nikolay Davydenko, who had beaten Federer in the semifinals, and took the first set from the Russian in imperious fashion, losing only one point on serve and breaking Davydenko there times. After that, the match started. The second set went to a tiebreak and Nadal had two match points, but Davydenko pulled it out 10-8. Nadal was then up a break in the decider, but Davydenko leveled and then took the match.
Davydenko becomes one of four people to beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament, and is riding the longest winning streak on tour. After years of leading the second tier of top players, he seems to have finally reached his proper place among the elite. After his win at the 2009 year end championships in London, and then this display in Doha, Nikolay has to be among the favorites in the Australian Open. There's no reason he can't win, if he can continue this run.
In Brisbane, there was another cracker of a match between Belgians Clijsters and Henin, which went to a third-set tiebreak. While Henin also had match points, Clijsters came out on top, just barely. Considering that this is her first match back after 20 months of retirement and Clijsters is the most recent slam winner on the WTA tour, this is an exciting omen for Henin's comeback. Unfortunately, she has withdrawn from next week's tournament in Sydney. Regardless, she's demonstrated that she's ready to make a run at the Aussie Open, and I'm no sure no one wants to see her in their section of the draw.
The other final in Brisbane will feature Radek Stepanek, who breezed passed a physically-uncomfortable Gael Monfils, and Andy Roddick, who had a much tougher time against Tomas Berdych. Despite having not dropped serve all week long, Roddick was broken in the first game of the match, and then again in the second. He lost the first set 6-1, while failing to convert on four break points.
In the second set, he tightened up his game, raising his first serve winning percentage from 50 to 76 and breaking one time in six tries. After evening the match, Roddick pulled himself together even further. In the final set, he won 82% of his first serve points and 86% on his second. He broke again, and managed to edge out a tough win in three.
In the final, we'll have to the battle of Radek versus Roddick, which is always exciting. They've played six times, with the American winning five, but Stepanek beat Roddick in a tough semifinal in San Jose last year. It should be an exciting match, and I know that Andy would like to get his first title in his first outing this season, but Stepanek is eager to complete his first successful title defense.
In Chennai, last year title-winner is also in the final again, facing Swiss number two Stanislas Wawrinka. Stan "the Man" is 4-0 against Cilic, but they haven't played since 2008, and he has matured a great deal in that time. It should be a fine match, as well.
One last note - Yanina Wickmayer has finished her successful rejoinder to her suspended suspension, by beating top seed Flavia Pennetta in Auckland. Also, that turns out to have been a fine use of a wildcard. The draws are out for next week's tournaments, and I hope to take a look at those tomorrow.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Davydenko on top - Semifinals Week 1
While Soderling's loss to Ginepri may have been the first big upset of the year, the first time the world number one loses is always an upset, just by definition. Federer's loss to Davydenko may have been less surprising, since the Russian just won their most recent meeting at the World Tour Finals at the end of last season, but it is a bit unexpected since Federer had a 12-0 record against him before that.
In the first set, Nikolay put 100% of his first serves into play. Twenty-seven out of twenty-seven, which is just an unbelievable statistic. Davydenko gets Nadal in the final, who breezed past Serbian Viktor Troicki. They also played at the last event in 2009, and Davydenko came out on top. Although I've been a doubter in the past, the Russian may finally be developing the confidence to really make a run to a grand slam title. If he handles Nadal as well as he took care of Federer, it'll definitely put him in contention at the Aussie Open.
The semifinals at all four events this week were all populated by top 5 seeds. In Doha, 4th seed Youzhny was missing. In Chennai, it was top seed Soderling. But in Brisbane, all four top seeds have made it this far. Berdych had his hands full with Tomaz Bellucci, but his experience got him through in three. That said, this was one of the best matches I've seen Bellucci play, and he was just points from victory. I think he has the potential to be a top-ten player.
The other quarter in Brisbane was billed as a tougher contest, but was actually less competitive. Roddick and Gasquet both played well in a match that featured tremendous serving, clutch volleying, and and superb shot-making from the back of the court, as well. But Roddick managed a break in the first set (needing eight chances to do so) and then secured the match in the second-set tiebreak. The Frenchman is playing well, but he has yet to return to his top form. Roddick will play Berdych in the semis, and the pair has a close head-to-head record. It should be a good match.
Also in Brisbane, the women's final has been decided, and it was the match-up that everyone was hoping for. Kim Clijsters will take on her compatriot Justine Henin, back to a final in her first tournament in nearly two years. They've played a great deal in the past, with Henin coming out on top more often than not, but you have to give the edge to Clijsters based solely on recent form.
There's a third Belgian woman in a final this week, amazingly. Yanina Wickmayer will face top-seeded Flavia Pennetta in Auckland. It's good to see her shaking off the minor drug scandal that could have proved to be quite a distraction at the end of last season.
In Chennai, Janko Tipsarevic, who has been frustrated by the success of his compatriot Djokovic (or at least his own relative lack of it) beat young Dutch player Thiemo De Bakker, who has had an amazing run in his first tournament of the year. He'll playing defending champ Marin Cilic in the semis, for the privilege of playing the winner of Dudi Sela and Stan Wawrinka. It's tough to bet against a Wawrinka-Cilic final at this point, but as we've seen, upsets do happen.
In the first set, Nikolay put 100% of his first serves into play. Twenty-seven out of twenty-seven, which is just an unbelievable statistic. Davydenko gets Nadal in the final, who breezed past Serbian Viktor Troicki. They also played at the last event in 2009, and Davydenko came out on top. Although I've been a doubter in the past, the Russian may finally be developing the confidence to really make a run to a grand slam title. If he handles Nadal as well as he took care of Federer, it'll definitely put him in contention at the Aussie Open.
The semifinals at all four events this week were all populated by top 5 seeds. In Doha, 4th seed Youzhny was missing. In Chennai, it was top seed Soderling. But in Brisbane, all four top seeds have made it this far. Berdych had his hands full with Tomaz Bellucci, but his experience got him through in three. That said, this was one of the best matches I've seen Bellucci play, and he was just points from victory. I think he has the potential to be a top-ten player.
The other quarter in Brisbane was billed as a tougher contest, but was actually less competitive. Roddick and Gasquet both played well in a match that featured tremendous serving, clutch volleying, and and superb shot-making from the back of the court, as well. But Roddick managed a break in the first set (needing eight chances to do so) and then secured the match in the second-set tiebreak. The Frenchman is playing well, but he has yet to return to his top form. Roddick will play Berdych in the semis, and the pair has a close head-to-head record. It should be a good match.
Also in Brisbane, the women's final has been decided, and it was the match-up that everyone was hoping for. Kim Clijsters will take on her compatriot Justine Henin, back to a final in her first tournament in nearly two years. They've played a great deal in the past, with Henin coming out on top more often than not, but you have to give the edge to Clijsters based solely on recent form.
There's a third Belgian woman in a final this week, amazingly. Yanina Wickmayer will face top-seeded Flavia Pennetta in Auckland. It's good to see her shaking off the minor drug scandal that could have proved to be quite a distraction at the end of last season.
In Chennai, Janko Tipsarevic, who has been frustrated by the success of his compatriot Djokovic (or at least his own relative lack of it) beat young Dutch player Thiemo De Bakker, who has had an amazing run in his first tournament of the year. He'll playing defending champ Marin Cilic in the semis, for the privilege of playing the winner of Dudi Sela and Stan Wawrinka. It's tough to bet against a Wawrinka-Cilic final at this point, but as we've seen, upsets do happen.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Week 1 - Justine Henin's Comeback Underway
The first truly significant event of the 2010 season has occurred, and it went just as most people expected. Justine Henin, after more than 15 months away from professional tennis, didn't look rusty at all in her first match back on tour, against number 2 seed Nadia Petrova. The only part of her game that wasn't quite on was her serve. In the first set, she was serving at only 40%, and she started off worse than that. She ended up at 47% for the match, so she was getting back into her groove. Even though she was missing a lot of first serves, it was very effective when she got it in. She hit six aces and lost only three points off that shot during the entire match.
Petrova did not play poorly, either. She served at 70% with only one double fault, and there were some excellent rallies, but in the end Henin's touch and movement made her just too strong. She'll next face the qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, whose name you'll be forgiven for not recognizing. Henin shouldn't have any trouble until she reaches the quarters, where she has a chance of facing Ana Ivanovic, who had a good win against Jelena Dokic in the first round. Ivanovic is trying to get back to her top form after a poor 2009, and a deep run in this tournament would get that underway nicely. Both are on the opposite side of the draw from Kim Clijsters, who breezed through her opening round, so that could be a blockbuster final.
The other notable results on the women's side are the wins by two wildcards in Auckland. Thirty-nine year old Kimiko Date Krumm defeated Chakvetadze while giving up only three games. Additionally, Yanina Wickmeyer defeated Julia Goerges in two, having had no apparent ill effects from the doping (well, testing) scandal at the end of last season. Her countryman Xavier Malisse did not fare quite as well, losing in the final round of qualifying in Brisbane.
There were some interesting results from the qualifying rounds, though. American minor-leaguer Ryler DeHeart, who faced Nadal in the U.S. Open in 2008, beat second qualifying seed Karol Beck. He's rewarded with a match against 38-year old Younes el Aynaoui, which is a winnable match. Yuki Bhambri, a spectacular junior champion from 2009, lost in the final round of the quallies in Chennai to the same Irish player who beat Donald Young, Louk Sorenson.
Also in Chennai, Thiemo de Bakker beat Rajeev Ram in a rout, the 21-year old Dutch player winning 6-1, 6-1 against the eighth seed. Winning so easily is impressive, since de Bakker has mostly played on the challenger tour, and has an ATP record of only 9-13. Maybe this will be his breakout year. He'll likely Janko Tipsarevic in the third round, as the Serbian beat former world number one Carlos Moya in the first. Defending champ Marin Cilic also won, and he's in that half of the draw.
In Doha, Ernests Gulbis won his first-round match, and if this year is going to be anything like last year, that means he'll lose in round two. Ivo Karlovic also won his first round against Fabio Fognini, but here's an interesting stat - Dr. Ivo only had seven aces in 10 service games, while Andy Roddick had 15 during his win over Peter Luczak in Brisbane. This may be the only time during the course of the year when the American leads in the ace race.
One last thing to note - the Hopman cup has not gone well for the Americans, with Oudin and Isner losing both their singles matches and their doubles match to the Spaniards. Isner's match with Robredo was a tough one, with two out of the three sets going to tiebreaks, but the big-serving American couldn't quite pull it out, in the end.
Petrova did not play poorly, either. She served at 70% with only one double fault, and there were some excellent rallies, but in the end Henin's touch and movement made her just too strong. She'll next face the qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, whose name you'll be forgiven for not recognizing. Henin shouldn't have any trouble until she reaches the quarters, where she has a chance of facing Ana Ivanovic, who had a good win against Jelena Dokic in the first round. Ivanovic is trying to get back to her top form after a poor 2009, and a deep run in this tournament would get that underway nicely. Both are on the opposite side of the draw from Kim Clijsters, who breezed through her opening round, so that could be a blockbuster final.
The other notable results on the women's side are the wins by two wildcards in Auckland. Thirty-nine year old Kimiko Date Krumm defeated Chakvetadze while giving up only three games. Additionally, Yanina Wickmeyer defeated Julia Goerges in two, having had no apparent ill effects from the doping (well, testing) scandal at the end of last season. Her countryman Xavier Malisse did not fare quite as well, losing in the final round of qualifying in Brisbane.
There were some interesting results from the qualifying rounds, though. American minor-leaguer Ryler DeHeart, who faced Nadal in the U.S. Open in 2008, beat second qualifying seed Karol Beck. He's rewarded with a match against 38-year old Younes el Aynaoui, which is a winnable match. Yuki Bhambri, a spectacular junior champion from 2009, lost in the final round of the quallies in Chennai to the same Irish player who beat Donald Young, Louk Sorenson.
Also in Chennai, Thiemo de Bakker beat Rajeev Ram in a rout, the 21-year old Dutch player winning 6-1, 6-1 against the eighth seed. Winning so easily is impressive, since de Bakker has mostly played on the challenger tour, and has an ATP record of only 9-13. Maybe this will be his breakout year. He'll likely Janko Tipsarevic in the third round, as the Serbian beat former world number one Carlos Moya in the first. Defending champ Marin Cilic also won, and he's in that half of the draw.
In Doha, Ernests Gulbis won his first-round match, and if this year is going to be anything like last year, that means he'll lose in round two. Ivo Karlovic also won his first round against Fabio Fognini, but here's an interesting stat - Dr. Ivo only had seven aces in 10 service games, while Andy Roddick had 15 during his win over Peter Luczak in Brisbane. This may be the only time during the course of the year when the American leads in the ace race.
One last thing to note - the Hopman cup has not gone well for the Americans, with Oudin and Isner losing both their singles matches and their doubles match to the Spaniards. Isner's match with Robredo was a tough one, with two out of the three sets going to tiebreaks, but the big-serving American couldn't quite pull it out, in the end.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Tennis 2010 Week 1 - Looking at the Draws
In my last post, I forgot to look at the two women's tournaments that kick the first week of the season off, as well. This was a mistake for a number of reasons, the most exciting of which is that the women's tournament in Brisbane features the return of former number one and seven-time grand slam winner Justine Henin. She opens her comeback with a tough match, facing second seed and twentieth-ranked Nadia Petrova in the first round. I'm sure the Belgian would have preferred somebody a little lower in the rankings, since she may well be rusty after nearly two years off.
However, if she can get past Petrova (Justine does lead their head-to-head 11-2), then she should find herself with relatively smoother sailing. If she makes it all the way to the final, she has a chance of facing Kim Clijsters, who is the top seed for the event! If they play in the final, I expect they'll play a few more times over the course of the year. The other first-round match to keep an eye on is Ana Ivanovic against Jelena Dokic. I'd expect the winner of that match to make the semis.
The other women's tournament of week 1, in Auckland, does not feature as much star power, but it still has some fascinating storylines to watch. My favorite is the continued resurgence of Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm, whose return from retirement is really much more impressive than Henin's. She opens against Chakvetadze. The other interesting storyline here features the top two Italian players, Schiavone and Pennetta (the number one seed), who are hoping they can build on their Fed Cup win last year by starting 2010 off strong.
Moving on to the men's tourneys, the field in Chennai is arguably the weakest. When world #79 Rajeev Ram is your eighth seed, you know that you don't have the toughest draw in the world. Top seed Soderling shouldn't have too much trouble marching through, despite the presence of some tough players. Former world number 1 Carlos Moya was given a wildcard to the event, and he faces Tipsarevic in the first round. Number eight seed Ram faces the Dutch young player Thiemo De Bakker, who is playing his tenth tour-level match. Last year's finalist and local hope Somdev Devvarman opens with the semifinal that he would have played last year, if Rainer Schuettler hadn't withdrawn with an injury. And defending champion Marin Cilic is the number two seed. All signs point to a Cilic-Soderling final, but of course, anything can happen.
By the way, Soderling ended up losing to Nadal in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition event, in two tough sets. That's impressive, since the Swede won their last match comfortably at the year-end championships. Nadal may have been able to use the time off (brief though it was) to get back to fighting fit form. Meanwhile, Federer had to play a consolation match for third place against Ferrer, which he easily won. Guess that invalidates my theory about Federer not giving it his all against Soderling so he could get ready for Doha, doesn't it?
The draw at Doha has three real contenders and a handful of dangerous, slightly crazy, but very entertaining mid-level players. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko are the one, two, and three seeds. Gulbis, Karlovic, and Koellerer are all scattered throughout the draw, along with 38-year old Younes El Aynaoui, who was given a wildcard. He was playing on the Champions tour last year! He opens against a qualifier, which is about as much as he could hope for. It seems unreasonable to bet against a Federer-Nadal final here, though. Particularly since defending champ Andy Murray opted not to return and instead played in the Hopman Cup.
In Brisbane, on the men's side, Roddick seems to be the number one seed mostlikely to lose before the final. The health of his knee is still a question mark, and there are a ton of lurkers in the draw. Big-serving Aussie lefty Carsten Ball could be Roddick's second round opponent, and he could be followed by Jarkko Nieminen or Richard Gasquet, who are playing one of the most enticing opening round matches.
Other opening rounds to watch are Sam Querrey-James Blake, Marcos Baghdatis-Mardy Fish, and Gael Monfils-Taylor Dent. As if that weren't enough, the draw also features defending champ Radek Stepanek, the other great Aussie hope Bernard Tomic, Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil and Jeremy Chardy from France. This tournament could unfold any number of ways, and it's much harder to get a sense of who will come out on top than at the other two tournaments this week.
However, if she can get past Petrova (Justine does lead their head-to-head 11-2), then she should find herself with relatively smoother sailing. If she makes it all the way to the final, she has a chance of facing Kim Clijsters, who is the top seed for the event! If they play in the final, I expect they'll play a few more times over the course of the year. The other first-round match to keep an eye on is Ana Ivanovic against Jelena Dokic. I'd expect the winner of that match to make the semis.
The other women's tournament of week 1, in Auckland, does not feature as much star power, but it still has some fascinating storylines to watch. My favorite is the continued resurgence of Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm, whose return from retirement is really much more impressive than Henin's. She opens against Chakvetadze. The other interesting storyline here features the top two Italian players, Schiavone and Pennetta (the number one seed), who are hoping they can build on their Fed Cup win last year by starting 2010 off strong.
Moving on to the men's tourneys, the field in Chennai is arguably the weakest. When world #79 Rajeev Ram is your eighth seed, you know that you don't have the toughest draw in the world. Top seed Soderling shouldn't have too much trouble marching through, despite the presence of some tough players. Former world number 1 Carlos Moya was given a wildcard to the event, and he faces Tipsarevic in the first round. Number eight seed Ram faces the Dutch young player Thiemo De Bakker, who is playing his tenth tour-level match. Last year's finalist and local hope Somdev Devvarman opens with the semifinal that he would have played last year, if Rainer Schuettler hadn't withdrawn with an injury. And defending champion Marin Cilic is the number two seed. All signs point to a Cilic-Soderling final, but of course, anything can happen.
By the way, Soderling ended up losing to Nadal in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition event, in two tough sets. That's impressive, since the Swede won their last match comfortably at the year-end championships. Nadal may have been able to use the time off (brief though it was) to get back to fighting fit form. Meanwhile, Federer had to play a consolation match for third place against Ferrer, which he easily won. Guess that invalidates my theory about Federer not giving it his all against Soderling so he could get ready for Doha, doesn't it?
The draw at Doha has three real contenders and a handful of dangerous, slightly crazy, but very entertaining mid-level players. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko are the one, two, and three seeds. Gulbis, Karlovic, and Koellerer are all scattered throughout the draw, along with 38-year old Younes El Aynaoui, who was given a wildcard. He was playing on the Champions tour last year! He opens against a qualifier, which is about as much as he could hope for. It seems unreasonable to bet against a Federer-Nadal final here, though. Particularly since defending champ Andy Murray opted not to return and instead played in the Hopman Cup.
In Brisbane, on the men's side, Roddick seems to be the number one seed mostlikely to lose before the final. The health of his knee is still a question mark, and there are a ton of lurkers in the draw. Big-serving Aussie lefty Carsten Ball could be Roddick's second round opponent, and he could be followed by Jarkko Nieminen or Richard Gasquet, who are playing one of the most enticing opening round matches.
Other opening rounds to watch are Sam Querrey-James Blake, Marcos Baghdatis-Mardy Fish, and Gael Monfils-Taylor Dent. As if that weren't enough, the draw also features defending champ Radek Stepanek, the other great Aussie hope Bernard Tomic, Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil and Jeremy Chardy from France. This tournament could unfold any number of ways, and it's much harder to get a sense of who will come out on top than at the other two tournaments this week.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Surprisingly Good Quarterfinal Day!
Considering the strength of the draws in Auckland and Sydney this week, I'm really surprised at how good the quarterfinals are today.
All of the seeds are through in Auckland, except for Juan Monaco and Albert Montanes, who lost to Viktor Troicki and John Isner, respectively. I already know the outcome of one match, and American Sam Querrey upset Nicolas Almagro. Good for the big-serving American! We've also got Kohlschreiber (defending champion) against number two seed David Ferrer. Troicki is up against Juan Martin del Potro, who should move through comfortably, and Isner is up against Robin Soderling. Lots of aces are on the way in that way, but Soderling is much more solid in the rest of the game, so I'd expect him to move through.
In Sydney, you've got some big upsets - Gasquet over Gilles Simon, Hewitt over Fish and then Tipsarevic, and Mario Ancic over Tommy Robredo. Jarkko Nieminen also beat Chris Guccione, who ousted Tomas Berdych earlier. Three spectacular semis: Djokovic-Ancic, Tsonga-Nieminen, and Nalbandian-Hewitt. Gasquet has the easiest time with surprising quarterfinalist Jeremy Chardy. I'll take Djoko, Tsonga, Nalby, and Gasquet into the semis. And that's a pretty enticing pair of matches, too!
In Kooyong, Ljubicic is having some trouble - his best days are definitely behind him, as he even lost to slumping Marcos Baghdatis. Federer is currently in the process of thumping Fernando Verdasco, and later in the day we'll see Moya v. Cilic (two players at opposite positions in the arc of their careers) and, presumably, Wawrinka v. Gonzalez, even though it isn't on the schedule. It's quite a motley crew of players out there, this year. Not a lot we can glean about the AO from the play at Kooyong.
I'm getting a DVR for my cable tomorrow so that I can watch as much of the Australian Open as is humanly possible. I'm rather excited.
All of the seeds are through in Auckland, except for Juan Monaco and Albert Montanes, who lost to Viktor Troicki and John Isner, respectively. I already know the outcome of one match, and American Sam Querrey upset Nicolas Almagro. Good for the big-serving American! We've also got Kohlschreiber (defending champion) against number two seed David Ferrer. Troicki is up against Juan Martin del Potro, who should move through comfortably, and Isner is up against Robin Soderling. Lots of aces are on the way in that way, but Soderling is much more solid in the rest of the game, so I'd expect him to move through.
In Sydney, you've got some big upsets - Gasquet over Gilles Simon, Hewitt over Fish and then Tipsarevic, and Mario Ancic over Tommy Robredo. Jarkko Nieminen also beat Chris Guccione, who ousted Tomas Berdych earlier. Three spectacular semis: Djokovic-Ancic, Tsonga-Nieminen, and Nalbandian-Hewitt. Gasquet has the easiest time with surprising quarterfinalist Jeremy Chardy. I'll take Djoko, Tsonga, Nalby, and Gasquet into the semis. And that's a pretty enticing pair of matches, too!
In Kooyong, Ljubicic is having some trouble - his best days are definitely behind him, as he even lost to slumping Marcos Baghdatis. Federer is currently in the process of thumping Fernando Verdasco, and later in the day we'll see Moya v. Cilic (two players at opposite positions in the arc of their careers) and, presumably, Wawrinka v. Gonzalez, even though it isn't on the schedule. It's quite a motley crew of players out there, this year. Not a lot we can glean about the AO from the play at Kooyong.
I'm getting a DVR for my cable tomorrow so that I can watch as much of the Australian Open as is humanly possible. I'm rather excited.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A note on the state of tennis broadcasting
I don't have a lot to say about play from today. The problem with the tennis season while it's taking place in Australia at the beginning of the year is that play is already taking place when I get home from work and want to write about it. Do I write about the day before? Or the play that's already started? It's just tough for me to quite work out, so I can't do the end-of-day summaries that I like.
As for the updates for today, Del Potro beat Gulbis and Querrey beat Gilles Muller in three. Tipsarevic beat Fish yesterday, who is now 0-2 on the season, and is currently up a break on Lleyton Hewitt, who struggled in his first round Julien Benneteau. Gasquet beat Tursunov, and Stepanek retired against qualifier Jeremy Chardy. It kind of interrupts your momentum if you win a tournament and then retire during you next match. Australian number 2 Chris Guccione upset perennial underachiever Tomas Berdych, as well. Djokovic managed an easy win against Paul-Henri Mathieu, which is good for him.
As for Kooyong, I know that the first two rounds are completed, but I have no idea who won them. I'll bet Federer beat Moya, but I don't know who would win between the badly-streaking pair of Baghdatis versus Wawrinka. I'll take both Fernandos to win later in the day, Verdasco over Cilic and Gonzalez over Ljubicic.
I'm cheating a bit on that prediction, though, because I'm watching live, streaming Kooyong action on www.channelsurfing.net, and I can see that Cilic is a bit flat while Verdasco is playing very well, so far. It may be shocking, but this is the first actual tennis I've been able to watch this year.
Unfortunately, I live in a building where my internet and cable providing options are extremely limited. Limited to one, in fact. And the one that I have does not offer the tennis channel, no matter how much I could offer to pay them. In addition, they don't make me eligible to enjoy the live streaming of espn360.com. That means that I don't have a lot of options to watch tennis, even though as you can see I'm a raving fanatic.
Fortunately, there are often chances to watch streaming tournaments of varying quality and dubious legality, and I take advantage of them whenever I can. Last year, I purchased live streaming for Wimbledon and the Masters Series events, and I would have done it for every Grand Slam (and almost every tournament) if I could have. This year, the ATP is expanding the scope of tournaments that their official video website will broadcast, and I couldn't be more happy. If ESPN doesn't want to show tennis, and if my cable provider doesn't want to show the Tennis Channel, I'm happy to get my fix however I can. I would pay $200 a year to watch streaming video from a tournament every week. Maybe more.
As for the updates for today, Del Potro beat Gulbis and Querrey beat Gilles Muller in three. Tipsarevic beat Fish yesterday, who is now 0-2 on the season, and is currently up a break on Lleyton Hewitt, who struggled in his first round Julien Benneteau. Gasquet beat Tursunov, and Stepanek retired against qualifier Jeremy Chardy. It kind of interrupts your momentum if you win a tournament and then retire during you next match. Australian number 2 Chris Guccione upset perennial underachiever Tomas Berdych, as well. Djokovic managed an easy win against Paul-Henri Mathieu, which is good for him.
As for Kooyong, I know that the first two rounds are completed, but I have no idea who won them. I'll bet Federer beat Moya, but I don't know who would win between the badly-streaking pair of Baghdatis versus Wawrinka. I'll take both Fernandos to win later in the day, Verdasco over Cilic and Gonzalez over Ljubicic.
I'm cheating a bit on that prediction, though, because I'm watching live, streaming Kooyong action on www.channelsurfing.net, and I can see that Cilic is a bit flat while Verdasco is playing very well, so far. It may be shocking, but this is the first actual tennis I've been able to watch this year.
Unfortunately, I live in a building where my internet and cable providing options are extremely limited. Limited to one, in fact. And the one that I have does not offer the tennis channel, no matter how much I could offer to pay them. In addition, they don't make me eligible to enjoy the live streaming of espn360.com. That means that I don't have a lot of options to watch tennis, even though as you can see I'm a raving fanatic.
Fortunately, there are often chances to watch streaming tournaments of varying quality and dubious legality, and I take advantage of them whenever I can. Last year, I purchased live streaming for Wimbledon and the Masters Series events, and I would have done it for every Grand Slam (and almost every tournament) if I could have. This year, the ATP is expanding the scope of tournaments that their official video website will broadcast, and I couldn't be more happy. If ESPN doesn't want to show tennis, and if my cable provider doesn't want to show the Tennis Channel, I'm happy to get my fix however I can. I would pay $200 a year to watch streaming video from a tournament every week. Maybe more.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Kooyong Classic!
Surprisingly, both Andys are taking the week before the Australian Open off. This may not be too odd for Murray, but Roddick has played the Kooyong Classic exhibition for as long as can remember. He's the three-time defending champion there, and he's not playing it, this year. It's not as strong a field as it has been in the past, and Federer is leading the group. If he doesn't win every match he plays at this tournament, then his odds at the AO drop drastically.
He's up against Baghdatis, Marin Cilic, Ivan Ljubijic, the two Fernandos, Verdasco and Gonzalez, Carlos Moya, and Stan Wawrinka. Nobody in that group has beat him in the past year, if I'm not mistaken. Gonzo beat him at the end-of-year Masters in 2007, but that's it. Fed should decimate this field, if he's even a shadow of his former self.
In other news, the opening rounds at Auckland and Sydney have some interesting things going on. Sadly, Frank Dancevic (a player I root for whenever I get the chance) lost in the first round to Igor Andreev. The Canadian number one really deserves a break-out performance, one of these days. Nishikori retired with an injury agaisnt Juan Carlos Ferrero, and I hope he recovers in a week.
While Dancevic didn't do so well, both John Isner and Gilles Muller won their opening round matches in Auckland, with Isner beating seventh seed Albert Montanes. Ernests Gulbis also won his first-round match, which means he'll be playing Juan Martin del Potro, soon. Gulbis may have beaten a rusty Djokovic last week, but I'm not sure that lightning is going to strike twice.
He's up against Baghdatis, Marin Cilic, Ivan Ljubijic, the two Fernandos, Verdasco and Gonzalez, Carlos Moya, and Stan Wawrinka. Nobody in that group has beat him in the past year, if I'm not mistaken. Gonzo beat him at the end-of-year Masters in 2007, but that's it. Fed should decimate this field, if he's even a shadow of his former self.
In other news, the opening rounds at Auckland and Sydney have some interesting things going on. Sadly, Frank Dancevic (a player I root for whenever I get the chance) lost in the first round to Igor Andreev. The Canadian number one really deserves a break-out performance, one of these days. Nishikori retired with an injury agaisnt Juan Carlos Ferrero, and I hope he recovers in a week.
While Dancevic didn't do so well, both John Isner and Gilles Muller won their opening round matches in Auckland, with Isner beating seventh seed Albert Montanes. Ernests Gulbis also won his first-round match, which means he'll be playing Juan Martin del Potro, soon. Gulbis may have beaten a rusty Djokovic last week, but I'm not sure that lightning is going to strike twice.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Murray first victor of 2009!
Murray emerges from the battle of the Andys the clear winner, not being bothered by his back even a little bit. I think Murray might just be the favorite, going into the Australian Open, which is unusual, since he lost in the first round last year and there are about a half-dozen grand slam champs in the field that have a reasonable shot.
Schuettler pulled out of the tournament in Chennai, sending local wildcard Devvarman to the final in less than thrilling fashion, but it's still exciting for his run to continue! He's now up against Cilic in the final, and I think that Marin has to come out on top on this one. In Brisbane, Verdasco is a set up on Stepanek even as I type. I expect Fernando to win it. It should be a nice start to the season for both of them.
Fernando is also in the doubles final, against Marc Gicquel and Tsonga. That should be an interesting match. In Chennai, Wawrinka and Jean-Claude Scherrer (who?) are up against American duo Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram. I'm impressed to see Tsonga and Wawrinka stick to their doubles play even after they lost in singles. It paid off for Nadal - can it pay for them, too?
Looking ahead to next week, Djokovic asked for a wildcard into the tournament in Sydney, so he could get some more match play. A good idea, since it's probably not too terribly wise to start off the first Grand Slam of the year having played one match and lost it. He'll start against either P.H. Mathieu or Andreas Seppi. If he makes it to the semis, he could find Tsonga - they've got a fun rivalry going, so that would be fun.
The bottom half of the draw is relatively loaded, with Gasquet, Simon, Stepanek, Nalbandian, Fish, Hewitt, and defending champ Tursunov. It's tough to pick a likely semi from that group. But looking at some exciting first-round matches, you've got Gasquet-Tursunov and Fish against Tipsarevic. Nieminen against Feliciano Lopez could be fun, too.
In the Sydney quallies, there's only one round left to play, but one of my favorites is still up for a spot. Canadian Frank Dancevic just has to beat Alberto Martin. Go Frank! Kevin Anderson lost a tough three-setter to Denis Gremelmeyer, and Xavier Malisse has some good wins, too.
The other tournament taking place next week is in Auckland, and it features Juan Martin Del Potro as the number one seed. It isn't the most dynamic field, but there are some very interesting players that I hope to see do well. Kei Nishikori opens up against former number one Juan Carlos Ferrero. That's a tough first-round for the Japanese teen. Sam Querrey opens against a New Zealand wildcard ranked 463. Sam had better win that. Robby Ginepri also opens against a local wildcard ranked outside 400. Lucky draws for the Americans.
The other first-round matches I'm interested in are Viktor Troicki against Igor Kunitsyn and Ernests Gulbis against Marcel Granollers. If Gulbis can win that, he'll be rewarded with a match against Del Potro. Can he knock out the number one seed in two consecutive weeks?
As for the Auckland quallies, Gilles Muller, Bobby Reynolds, and John Isner are all one win from the main draw. I'd like to see them all in it. After Muller's fantastic run at the U.S. Open last year (I watched two of his wins in person), I want him to get a ranking where he can get some direct entrances into these tournaments.
Some players are resting up for the AO, which starts in a mere week's time. Others are getting some match play in. It's funny that the first major tournament of the year comes so quickly, once the season gets started. That's why, I think, the Australian Open has a tendency to produce more surprise winners than the other three grand slams. We'll see what happens this year.
Schuettler pulled out of the tournament in Chennai, sending local wildcard Devvarman to the final in less than thrilling fashion, but it's still exciting for his run to continue! He's now up against Cilic in the final, and I think that Marin has to come out on top on this one. In Brisbane, Verdasco is a set up on Stepanek even as I type. I expect Fernando to win it. It should be a nice start to the season for both of them.
Fernando is also in the doubles final, against Marc Gicquel and Tsonga. That should be an interesting match. In Chennai, Wawrinka and Jean-Claude Scherrer (who?) are up against American duo Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram. I'm impressed to see Tsonga and Wawrinka stick to their doubles play even after they lost in singles. It paid off for Nadal - can it pay for them, too?
Looking ahead to next week, Djokovic asked for a wildcard into the tournament in Sydney, so he could get some more match play. A good idea, since it's probably not too terribly wise to start off the first Grand Slam of the year having played one match and lost it. He'll start against either P.H. Mathieu or Andreas Seppi. If he makes it to the semis, he could find Tsonga - they've got a fun rivalry going, so that would be fun.
The bottom half of the draw is relatively loaded, with Gasquet, Simon, Stepanek, Nalbandian, Fish, Hewitt, and defending champ Tursunov. It's tough to pick a likely semi from that group. But looking at some exciting first-round matches, you've got Gasquet-Tursunov and Fish against Tipsarevic. Nieminen against Feliciano Lopez could be fun, too.
In the Sydney quallies, there's only one round left to play, but one of my favorites is still up for a spot. Canadian Frank Dancevic just has to beat Alberto Martin. Go Frank! Kevin Anderson lost a tough three-setter to Denis Gremelmeyer, and Xavier Malisse has some good wins, too.
The other tournament taking place next week is in Auckland, and it features Juan Martin Del Potro as the number one seed. It isn't the most dynamic field, but there are some very interesting players that I hope to see do well. Kei Nishikori opens up against former number one Juan Carlos Ferrero. That's a tough first-round for the Japanese teen. Sam Querrey opens against a New Zealand wildcard ranked 463. Sam had better win that. Robby Ginepri also opens against a local wildcard ranked outside 400. Lucky draws for the Americans.
The other first-round matches I'm interested in are Viktor Troicki against Igor Kunitsyn and Ernests Gulbis against Marcel Granollers. If Gulbis can win that, he'll be rewarded with a match against Del Potro. Can he knock out the number one seed in two consecutive weeks?
As for the Auckland quallies, Gilles Muller, Bobby Reynolds, and John Isner are all one win from the main draw. I'd like to see them all in it. After Muller's fantastic run at the U.S. Open last year (I watched two of his wins in person), I want him to get a ranking where he can get some direct entrances into these tournaments.
Some players are resting up for the AO, which starts in a mere week's time. Others are getting some match play in. It's funny that the first major tournament of the year comes so quickly, once the season gets started. That's why, I think, the Australian Open has a tendency to produce more surprise winners than the other three grand slams. We'll see what happens this year.
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