There were several wild matches to wrap up in the past weekend of tennis, and a couple enticing tournaments on the horizon, so I won't waste any time.
I was at the San Jose tournament for the quarterfinals, which turned out to be an excellent day of tennis. The semifinal between Roddick and Querrey turned out to be the match of the week, though. Roddick won in three sets despite never even getting a break point against Querrey's serve. Tough loss for the young American, but he's shown that he's clearly recovered from last year's injury and ready to be a force again this year. He emphasized that fact by winning the doubles title with Mardy Fish.
Unfortunately, all that tennis turned out to be a little much for Andy Roddick, who lost the final to Verdasco, who had a much easier road to the final. While Roddick was facing Querrey and Berdych, the Spaniard only had to get through Uzbek Denis Istomin and 19-year old Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis. Not really equal competition on each side of the draw, in the end. Still, a strong performance from Roddick, who hopefully won't be too exhausted to perform well in Washington (more on that in a moment).
The finals at the other two tournaments this week weren't quite at the same level, even though though they did also each feature a player who had spent all of his energy just getting to that stage.
In Rotterdam, Youzhny had to retire against Soderling after the Russian had upset Djokovic in the semis, while Soderling notched his first big win of the year over the top-ranked Russian who had been the hottest three-set player on the tour, Nikolay Davydenko. Good for Soderling, who started off the year in poor form, to get things back on track.
In Costa do Sauipe, Ferrero breezed past Lukas Kubot, who apparently used up everything he had to beat Igor Andreev in the semifinals. Kubot managed only one game against the top seed. I was expecting Ferrero to face local favorite Tomaz Bellucci in the semis, but Bellucci was upset by another Brazilian player, the journeyman pro Ricardo Mello. Alas, Mello couldn't mount recapture that magic in the semis.
Looking ahead to next week's action, the next red clay tournament of the year in Buenos Aires features many familiar faces from the past two weeks. Ferrero is back, but Bellucci is taking the week off. The top seed this week is Spaniard David Ferrer, and there are also a handful of fresh faces, including wildcards Carlos Moya and Gaston Gaudio. Gasquet is supposed to be back in action this week, as well as the wayward Argentine, returning to play on home soil at least, David Nalbandian. He's been out of action for almost a year, so I'm eager to see how he does here.
In Marseille, last week's champion Soderling is back in action, as is finalist Youzhny, assuming he can recover from whatever forced him to retire. Tsonga, Monfils, and Benneteau make up the home-crowd seeds, and they're joined by Marcos Baghdatis and Tommy Robredo. Baggy is having a great year, but still hasn't quite reached his top ten form. Robredo hasn't done much of anything since winning the Hopman Cup over Andy Murray. The draw is filled out with a bevy of French and European players, including Arnaud Clement, the Rochus brothers, and Denis Istomin, who flew over from San Jose.
Speaking of San Jose, Roddick and Verdasco are the top seeds once again in Memphis, but who knows how tired they'll be. Surprisingly, Roddick plays unseeded James Blake in his first-round match, and James just had to fly back from the Netherlands. Why are these guys jetting around so much? Verdasco's opener isn't much easier, as he faces young, big-hitting Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. The other seeds in the draw are mostly familiar faces, except for John Isner, who's back in action after his great start to the year.
Isner opens against American teen and qualifier Ryan Harrison. Surprisingly, Harrison qualified while "The Donald" Young fell short. There are a ton of interesting first-round matches here, though. Querrey plays Rajeev Ram, who beat him at the Newport final last year. Radek Stepanek opens against Kevin Anderson, Jarkko Nieminen plays Dudi Sela, Benjamin Becker plays Ivo Karlovic, and Xavier Malisse plays Tommy Haas. That's a lot of matches between players of very comparable skill levels, as of late. There could be some firecrackers in there. And if Roddick and Verdasco are tired from their play in San Jose, this tournament could bust wide open.
Showing posts with label costa do sauipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label costa do sauipe. Show all posts
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Week 5 Wrap-up and Week 6 Preview
Well, there were certainly a handful of surprise finalists in last week's tournaments, and some surprise winners as a result. In Johannesburg, top seeds Monfils and Ferrer both lost in the semis, leaving the surprising final match-up of Lopez and Stephane Robert. The more experienced player won this one, as Lopez took the second title of his career. His previous title came all the way back in 2004, so this was quite a drought. It was an encouraging result by Robert as well, having made his first ATP final after reaching 24 at the level of the challengers and futures. He's playing the best tennis of his career at age 29.
The other surprise finalist was Tomaz Bellucci, who managed to unseat Fernando Gonzalez in the semifinals at his home tournament and then beat clay court veteran Juan Monaco in the final. The young Brazilian is making an assault of the top levels of the game. He hasn't had any shocking upsets or performances that are bringing him a great deal of attention, but he's quietly improving and winning more and more matches. Clay is his favorite surface, so watch for him at the French Open this year.
A young player who is earning his attention is Croatian Marin Cilic, who somehow managed to fight off fatigue and red-hot challenger player Michael Berrer to defend his second title of the year. That's incredibly impressive for a player who should be exhausted after his past few weeks. Kudos to Cilic for his spectacular start of the year.
On the challenger circuit, Bernard Tomic won his second career title on the challenger circuit, while Carsten Ball was upset by American Ryan Sweeting.
Looking ahead to the next week, some of the top players are back in action. With last week's lineups a bit on the weak side, it's good to see a handful of the big dogs on the court once again.
The weakest field is actually in Brazil, where Juan Carlos Ferrero is the top seed at 22 in the world, and the eighth-seed is Richard Gasquet, who is ranked outside the top 50. Despite the lack of top players, there could be some firecracker matches in the late rounds. In addition to Ferrero and Gasquet, who are both trying to get as much preparation for the French Open as possible, Bellucci is in the draw. He made the final here last year, in his own back yard, so he'll be wanting to go one step further. Igor Andreev is also here, undoubtedly anxious to beat someone into
submission after having Federer on the ropes in the first round of the Aussie Open. Horacio Zeballos is also there, trying to justify his relatively high ranking with some results of note on the tour level.
Next week will also be Novak Djokovic's first tournament after moving to number 2 in the world rankings, at Rotterdamn. This is really a loaded draw, despite the lack of last year's champion Andy Murray. Davydenko and Soderling are also there, as well as Monfils and Youzhny. Not to mention the most appetizing opening round of the whole week, unseeded Marcos Baghdatis against unseeded James Blake. They've each been involved in some of the best matches of the year. Davydenko also opens against Feliciano Lopez, fresh off a victory. Amazingly, the winners of those matches will play each other in the second round. The magic of the draw...
I'm a bit surprised to see Blake in Rotterdam, actually, since he could easily have been at the tournament in San Jose, where most of the other Americans are. Roddick, Querrey, Odesnik, Fish, Dent, Ginepri, Britton, Ram, Russell, and a few others. That's pretty much every American even near the top of the game, except for Blake and Isner. The Americans will have to compete with some tough foreign resistance, though. Last year's champ Radek Stepanek is in the draw, as is Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych. You'll also find Tommy Haas, who just got dual German-American citizenship a week or two ago. I wonder if he'll get more support this way?
The other surprise finalist was Tomaz Bellucci, who managed to unseat Fernando Gonzalez in the semifinals at his home tournament and then beat clay court veteran Juan Monaco in the final. The young Brazilian is making an assault of the top levels of the game. He hasn't had any shocking upsets or performances that are bringing him a great deal of attention, but he's quietly improving and winning more and more matches. Clay is his favorite surface, so watch for him at the French Open this year.
A young player who is earning his attention is Croatian Marin Cilic, who somehow managed to fight off fatigue and red-hot challenger player Michael Berrer to defend his second title of the year. That's incredibly impressive for a player who should be exhausted after his past few weeks. Kudos to Cilic for his spectacular start of the year.
On the challenger circuit, Bernard Tomic won his second career title on the challenger circuit, while Carsten Ball was upset by American Ryan Sweeting.
Looking ahead to the next week, some of the top players are back in action. With last week's lineups a bit on the weak side, it's good to see a handful of the big dogs on the court once again.
The weakest field is actually in Brazil, where Juan Carlos Ferrero is the top seed at 22 in the world, and the eighth-seed is Richard Gasquet, who is ranked outside the top 50. Despite the lack of top players, there could be some firecracker matches in the late rounds. In addition to Ferrero and Gasquet, who are both trying to get as much preparation for the French Open as possible, Bellucci is in the draw. He made the final here last year, in his own back yard, so he'll be wanting to go one step further. Igor Andreev is also here, undoubtedly anxious to beat someone into
submission after having Federer on the ropes in the first round of the Aussie Open. Horacio Zeballos is also there, trying to justify his relatively high ranking with some results of note on the tour level.
Next week will also be Novak Djokovic's first tournament after moving to number 2 in the world rankings, at Rotterdamn. This is really a loaded draw, despite the lack of last year's champion Andy Murray. Davydenko and Soderling are also there, as well as Monfils and Youzhny. Not to mention the most appetizing opening round of the whole week, unseeded Marcos Baghdatis against unseeded James Blake. They've each been involved in some of the best matches of the year. Davydenko also opens against Feliciano Lopez, fresh off a victory. Amazingly, the winners of those matches will play each other in the second round. The magic of the draw...
I'm a bit surprised to see Blake in Rotterdam, actually, since he could easily have been at the tournament in San Jose, where most of the other Americans are. Roddick, Querrey, Odesnik, Fish, Dent, Ginepri, Britton, Ram, Russell, and a few others. That's pretty much every American even near the top of the game, except for Blake and Isner. The Americans will have to compete with some tough foreign resistance, though. Last year's champ Radek Stepanek is in the draw, as is Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych. You'll also find Tommy Haas, who just got dual German-American citizenship a week or two ago. I wonder if he'll get more support this way?
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