This brief relapse into clay-court tennis is moving along nicely, and we're down to the last eight in each of the two tournaments taking place this week. The only top five seed who hasn't made it to this stage of the tournament is Nikolay Davydenko, who lost in a tight match to Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Davydenko is still not having a great time after his injury lay-off. Other than that, the rest of the players that you would expect to have made it this far have done so.
But the way the match-ups have broken down, the only two seeded players meeting tomorrow are at the bottom of their respective draws, but those are also the best match - on paper - by far. Tommy Robredo, who's been on quite a slide lately, meets Fernando Verdasco, who also hasn't been making much noise since before the French Open. They're 4-4 against each other, but this is only their third meeting on clay, which is a bit of a surprise to me. It should be a good match.
That's in Bastad, and in Stuttgart, Albert Montanes gets Jurgen Melzer, who might just be bound for the top ten if he can keep up the sort of form he's had lately. I give him the edge over Montanes, for sure.
Other than those two matches, I think the seeded players have the advantage in all of their matches, and Swiss number three Marco Chiudinelli may make it to the semifinals in place of Davydenko.
Another reason that this little stretch of the tennis calendar is somewhat dead is that this is also the World Team Tennis season, such as it is. It's a really strange little league, filled mostly with fourth or fifth-tier players, while each team has one or two stars to draw the crowds. I saw the Bryan Brothers play tonight in Kansas City, and it was a really weird experience. In addition to the Bryans, I saw Ricardo Mello, Rik De Voest, Martin Damm, Chanelle Scheepers, Carly Gullickson, and Jarmila Groth. All fine players, but it became immensely clear once Damm and De Voest took on the Bryans in doubles that they were on a completely different tier. It was great to see the Bryans in action, but it sure didn't last very long.
I'm looking forward to things to pick up a bit - and next week's inaugural tennis tournament in Atlanta (after Indianapolis lost its sponsor) just got a big boost as Andy Roddick agreed to play. He was doing so great in the U.S. earlier this year, his performance dipped a bit in Europe. Here's hoping he can get back to his prior level next week.
Showing posts with label bryans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bryans. Show all posts
Friday, July 16, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Week 8 Review
With another week of tennis in the bag, we had one new titlist and a pair of matches that had just taken place a week before, with the results switched. This next week is a short week, with only Davis Cup taking place on the men's side, so I'll have some other things to talk about in the next few days. But first, to look back on the previous week.
The final in Acapulco was perhaps the most exciting, as it was a rematch of last week's final in Buenos Aires, which the elder Spaniard had won in three, despite a pretty bad head-to-head against his opponent. Ferrer was denied his first title since 2008 in Argentina, but he would not be denied again in Mexico, which would be his last chance on clay for a month. But ultimate, Ferrero was just too tired from having won 14 straight matches, and wilted in the third set to go down 1-6. After his run, Ferrero's ranking is up to 14, his highest since 2004. Both Spaniards should be excited for the European Clay Court swing in April.
In Dubai, we also had a repeat match in the final, with Youzhny against Djokovic. They had played in last week's semis in Rotterdam, with the Russian eking out a win in two tiebreak sets. He then went on to retire against Soderling in the final, so it may be surprising that he was able to make a sustained run to the finals again this week in Dubai. He didn't look like he was going to be able to mount the same kind of resistance though, going down a set and a break in short order before heavy rain began to fall and the match was delayed until the following day. He staged a comeback, winning the second set 7-5, but still lost in three. Youzhny is now 5-9 in career finals, while Djokovic is 17-11. It's pretty clear which record you would prefer. Both players should be eager for the upcoming pair of hard court Masters Series events.
But the most exciting final of the weekend was a first-time match-up between Ivo Karlovic (who turned 31 on the day of the match) in his first final since 2008, and Ernests Gulbis, in his first final since, well, ever. Gulbis, for those who don't know, has been a very highly-touted player for several years, with an enormous amount of talent but maybe not the dedication to win. This is not only his first title, but it's his first ATP final. Karlovic didn't play his best today, but Gulbis played the way people have thought he was capable for quite a while. He broke one of the best servers in the game five times in nine service games.
The question will be whether this was the first step in a real emergence, or whether it was a fluke, somewhat like his quarterfinal run at the French Open in 2008. He'll have a week to digest his victory and then see if he can make a dent at Indian Wells or Miami. But there's really no reason for him not to make it to the top 20.
This was also a good week for the Bryan brothers, who won their 600th match as a doubles pair and won the title in Del Ray. This should help them on their way to the Davis Cup match in Serbia, but unfortunately, their compatriots did not do terribly well in Mexico. Querrey and Isner failed to win a match, but at least that gave them plenty of time to get to the new courts and get used to the conditions. They can only hope that Djokovic will be a bit tired from winning the tournament.
I'll have a full Davis Cup preview before the thing starts up on Friday, and I hope to have some other things up in the meantime.
The final in Acapulco was perhaps the most exciting, as it was a rematch of last week's final in Buenos Aires, which the elder Spaniard had won in three, despite a pretty bad head-to-head against his opponent. Ferrer was denied his first title since 2008 in Argentina, but he would not be denied again in Mexico, which would be his last chance on clay for a month. But ultimate, Ferrero was just too tired from having won 14 straight matches, and wilted in the third set to go down 1-6. After his run, Ferrero's ranking is up to 14, his highest since 2004. Both Spaniards should be excited for the European Clay Court swing in April.
In Dubai, we also had a repeat match in the final, with Youzhny against Djokovic. They had played in last week's semis in Rotterdam, with the Russian eking out a win in two tiebreak sets. He then went on to retire against Soderling in the final, so it may be surprising that he was able to make a sustained run to the finals again this week in Dubai. He didn't look like he was going to be able to mount the same kind of resistance though, going down a set and a break in short order before heavy rain began to fall and the match was delayed until the following day. He staged a comeback, winning the second set 7-5, but still lost in three. Youzhny is now 5-9 in career finals, while Djokovic is 17-11. It's pretty clear which record you would prefer. Both players should be eager for the upcoming pair of hard court Masters Series events.
But the most exciting final of the weekend was a first-time match-up between Ivo Karlovic (who turned 31 on the day of the match) in his first final since 2008, and Ernests Gulbis, in his first final since, well, ever. Gulbis, for those who don't know, has been a very highly-touted player for several years, with an enormous amount of talent but maybe not the dedication to win. This is not only his first title, but it's his first ATP final. Karlovic didn't play his best today, but Gulbis played the way people have thought he was capable for quite a while. He broke one of the best servers in the game five times in nine service games.
The question will be whether this was the first step in a real emergence, or whether it was a fluke, somewhat like his quarterfinal run at the French Open in 2008. He'll have a week to digest his victory and then see if he can make a dent at Indian Wells or Miami. But there's really no reason for him not to make it to the top 20.
This was also a good week for the Bryan brothers, who won their 600th match as a doubles pair and won the title in Del Ray. This should help them on their way to the Davis Cup match in Serbia, but unfortunately, their compatriots did not do terribly well in Mexico. Querrey and Isner failed to win a match, but at least that gave them plenty of time to get to the new courts and get used to the conditions. They can only hope that Djokovic will be a bit tired from winning the tournament.
I'll have a full Davis Cup preview before the thing starts up on Friday, and I hope to have some other things up in the meantime.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Week 6 Thursday Update
Week 6 continues to move along, with a few upsets taking place. I'm hoping that Andy Roddick survives his match against Leonardo Mayer tonight, because I've got tickets to see him tomorrow. Fingers are crossed. But let's see what else is going on, before heading to San Jose.
In Rotterdam, Djokovic is cruising. He beat Chiudinelli 4 and 2 after his first-round opponent retired in the second set, and then the player he was supposed to play in the third round, Florian Mayer (no relation to Leonardo) pulled out of the tournament. He's on his way to the semis, having played only three sets of tennis! It's a shame that Mayer had to withdraw, because he had a good win yesterday over fifth-seed Tommy Robredo. He'll face the winner of Monfils-Youzhny, a tasty little quarterfinal match-up. Youzhny beat Djokovic in the semis here last year, so if the Russian comes through, I'm sure the new world number 2 will be looking for revenge.
In the bottom half, Soderling will play Julien Benneteau, and there are still too excellent second-round matches to player. Marcos Baghdatis, after an excellent win over James Blake (what was he doing in the Netherlands?) plays Nikolay Davydenko. The winner there will face the winner of Andreas Seppi and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer. Still some good tennis to play in Rotterdam.
In Costa do Sauipe, the dirtballers are continuing to ply their trade. Horacio Zeballos still is not doing that well in his first year seriously playing the top tier of the tour. He's now 0-4 on the season, if I'm not mistaken. The jump from dominating the challengers to playing well at the top level is a tricky one to make. Richard Gasquet also pulled out of the tournament before it started, which sure doesn't help his comeback efforts. Hometown favorite Bellucci is still going strong, as are clay-court veterans Juan Carlos Ferrero, Igor Andreev, and Albert Montanes.
Over in San Jose, Sam Querrey finally won his first match of the year, breezing past Teimuraz Gabashvili in straight sets. He'll next face compatriot Taylor Dent, which is a winnable match, and should feature some spectacular serving. If he gets past Dent, he'll face either American veteran Michael Russell or (more likely) Belgian Xavier Malisse, who upset defending champ Radek Stepanek in the first round. Looks like Malisse may finally be ready to make use of his overturned ban.
Roddick plays Leonardo Mayer tonight, as I mentioned, and if he makes it through, he'll face Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. Roddick leads the head-to-head 4-2, with one win coming earlier this year. It was a tight win for Roddick, as Berdych blew him off the court in the first set, 6-1.
In the bottom half of the draw, Denis Istomin upset Tommy Haas, who apparently didn't benefit too much from his dual German-American citizenship. Istomin faces Philipp Kohlschreiber, who has an excellent chance of making the final here. The draw was already top-heavy, and two of the four seeds in the bottom half (Haas, already mentioned, and Jeremy Chardy) have already lost. The only player standing in his way is Fernando Verdasco. It seems unlikely that Benjamin Becker or Bjorn Phau might make it to the final, but it's possible!
It's also worthy of note that the Bryan Brothers continued to do pretty poorly at this tournament, which they've never won despite playing eight (now nine) times. They lost in the quarterfinal the unlikely team of Benjamin Becker and Leonardo Mayer. The Bryans are now 7-9 at this tournament, a pretty poor record for the number one doubles team at an American hard-court event!
In Rotterdam, Djokovic is cruising. He beat Chiudinelli 4 and 2 after his first-round opponent retired in the second set, and then the player he was supposed to play in the third round, Florian Mayer (no relation to Leonardo) pulled out of the tournament. He's on his way to the semis, having played only three sets of tennis! It's a shame that Mayer had to withdraw, because he had a good win yesterday over fifth-seed Tommy Robredo. He'll face the winner of Monfils-Youzhny, a tasty little quarterfinal match-up. Youzhny beat Djokovic in the semis here last year, so if the Russian comes through, I'm sure the new world number 2 will be looking for revenge.
In the bottom half, Soderling will play Julien Benneteau, and there are still too excellent second-round matches to player. Marcos Baghdatis, after an excellent win over James Blake (what was he doing in the Netherlands?) plays Nikolay Davydenko. The winner there will face the winner of Andreas Seppi and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer. Still some good tennis to play in Rotterdam.
In Costa do Sauipe, the dirtballers are continuing to ply their trade. Horacio Zeballos still is not doing that well in his first year seriously playing the top tier of the tour. He's now 0-4 on the season, if I'm not mistaken. The jump from dominating the challengers to playing well at the top level is a tricky one to make. Richard Gasquet also pulled out of the tournament before it started, which sure doesn't help his comeback efforts. Hometown favorite Bellucci is still going strong, as are clay-court veterans Juan Carlos Ferrero, Igor Andreev, and Albert Montanes.
Over in San Jose, Sam Querrey finally won his first match of the year, breezing past Teimuraz Gabashvili in straight sets. He'll next face compatriot Taylor Dent, which is a winnable match, and should feature some spectacular serving. If he gets past Dent, he'll face either American veteran Michael Russell or (more likely) Belgian Xavier Malisse, who upset defending champ Radek Stepanek in the first round. Looks like Malisse may finally be ready to make use of his overturned ban.
Roddick plays Leonardo Mayer tonight, as I mentioned, and if he makes it through, he'll face Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. Roddick leads the head-to-head 4-2, with one win coming earlier this year. It was a tight win for Roddick, as Berdych blew him off the court in the first set, 6-1.
In the bottom half of the draw, Denis Istomin upset Tommy Haas, who apparently didn't benefit too much from his dual German-American citizenship. Istomin faces Philipp Kohlschreiber, who has an excellent chance of making the final here. The draw was already top-heavy, and two of the four seeds in the bottom half (Haas, already mentioned, and Jeremy Chardy) have already lost. The only player standing in his way is Fernando Verdasco. It seems unlikely that Benjamin Becker or Bjorn Phau might make it to the final, but it's possible!
It's also worthy of note that the Bryan Brothers continued to do pretty poorly at this tournament, which they've never won despite playing eight (now nine) times. They lost in the quarterfinal the unlikely team of Benjamin Becker and Leonardo Mayer. The Bryans are now 7-9 at this tournament, a pretty poor record for the number one doubles team at an American hard-court event!
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, July 27, 2008
Finals day at the Rogers Masters Cup
Well, that may not have been the prettiest day of semifinals that I've ever seen, but it certainly was exciting.
Kiefer and Simon played the longest match of the tournament, and it really could have gone either way! But in the end, Kiefer's experience and Simon's exhaustion just made it too much for the young Frenchman. This wasn't an especially pretty match, as Simon wasn't hitting nearly as many beautiful backhand winners as he was against Federer, and Kiefer seemed to only play well from behind. Whenever he went up a break, the errors started again. Good for Kiefer, though - he made it to his first career Masters Series final after three previous trips to the semifinals, two of which took place at this very tournament! I attribute his success to his recent haircut, which is really a much better look for him, I must say. The folks at Tennis Served Fresh may disagree, but I like it!
The other semi lived up to its hype, for the most part. Murray gave Nadal his toughest run since their first meeting at the Australian Open, but Nadal was just too tough. The type of game that Murray was forced to play to stay in contention was so difficult to keep up, and eventually the errors did him in. What was up with Murray and Cedric Mourier arguing about the trainer at 6-5 in the first set? If you're Murray in that situation, you either need to insist on seeing the trainer, or you need to forget about it. It really bothered him in that tie break, and who knows what would have happened if he had managed to pull that one out? He didn't wilt like Gasquet in the second, so it could have made a huge difference.
But it didn't, and Nadal won. He hasn't been to the final of the Canada Masters since 2005, where he beat a 35-year old Andre Agassi. He won that in three, but he should have an easier time against 31-year old Kiefer. At this point, it's very difficult to see Rafa not continuing to dominate the hard court season like he did on clay. It may not have happened in years past, but he wasn't playing this well before. We may have traded one hegemonic tennis power for another! I'm calling today's final for Rafa, something like 6-3, 6-2.
Also worth noting: Bob and Mike Bryan are playing Nestor and Zimonjic, who just won Wimbledon. And it's actually being broadcast on www.atpmastersseries.tv! The first doubles match at the tournament that I'm going to get to watch. It should be exciting. Bob and Mike have had a lousy season by their standards, so maybe they can help redeem it with a win over the white-hot Nestor and Zimonjic.
And poor Jelena Jankovic! She had a chance to take the number one spot (again!) but she lost in the semis to Dinara Safina. I take Safina over Pennetta in the final, but that's another pretty exciting one. Should be closer than Nadal-Kiefer.
Kiefer and Simon played the longest match of the tournament, and it really could have gone either way! But in the end, Kiefer's experience and Simon's exhaustion just made it too much for the young Frenchman. This wasn't an especially pretty match, as Simon wasn't hitting nearly as many beautiful backhand winners as he was against Federer, and Kiefer seemed to only play well from behind. Whenever he went up a break, the errors started again. Good for Kiefer, though - he made it to his first career Masters Series final after three previous trips to the semifinals, two of which took place at this very tournament! I attribute his success to his recent haircut, which is really a much better look for him, I must say. The folks at Tennis Served Fresh may disagree, but I like it!
The other semi lived up to its hype, for the most part. Murray gave Nadal his toughest run since their first meeting at the Australian Open, but Nadal was just too tough. The type of game that Murray was forced to play to stay in contention was so difficult to keep up, and eventually the errors did him in. What was up with Murray and Cedric Mourier arguing about the trainer at 6-5 in the first set? If you're Murray in that situation, you either need to insist on seeing the trainer, or you need to forget about it. It really bothered him in that tie break, and who knows what would have happened if he had managed to pull that one out? He didn't wilt like Gasquet in the second, so it could have made a huge difference.
But it didn't, and Nadal won. He hasn't been to the final of the Canada Masters since 2005, where he beat a 35-year old Andre Agassi. He won that in three, but he should have an easier time against 31-year old Kiefer. At this point, it's very difficult to see Rafa not continuing to dominate the hard court season like he did on clay. It may not have happened in years past, but he wasn't playing this well before. We may have traded one hegemonic tennis power for another! I'm calling today's final for Rafa, something like 6-3, 6-2.
Also worth noting: Bob and Mike Bryan are playing Nestor and Zimonjic, who just won Wimbledon. And it's actually being broadcast on www.atpmastersseries.tv! The first doubles match at the tournament that I'm going to get to watch. It should be exciting. Bob and Mike have had a lousy season by their standards, so maybe they can help redeem it with a win over the white-hot Nestor and Zimonjic.
And poor Jelena Jankovic! She had a chance to take the number one spot (again!) but she lost in the semis to Dinara Safina. I take Safina over Pennetta in the final, but that's another pretty exciting one. Should be closer than Nadal-Kiefer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
