The finals for the last tournament before Wimbledon have been set, and to be honest, they're not really that exciting. The players who wanted to get ready for Wimbledon seem to have already left - the four players remaining in Eastbourne and the Netherlands are not what you would call favorites at next week's grand slam, though they are interesting matches, in their own way.
In s'Hertogenbosch, Sergiy Stakhovsky beat Xavier Malisse for a spot in the final, where he'll face Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, after he got a hard-fought win over Benjamin Becker in the semis. Stakhovsky has won two titles already in his career, and despite that Tipsarevic is the more accomplished player generally, he has yet to win his maiden title. It would be a huge win for Janko, and I have to admit I hope he gets it. He's one of my favorite players to watch, when he's on his game, and it's surprising to me that he hasn't been able to put an entire good week together to win a tournament. Stakhovsky won their only meeting at the tour-level, but Tipsarevic beat the Ukrainian, more recently, in the final of a challenger event. It should be an interesting match.
In Eastbourne, Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who has a 14-11 match record on grass heading into this tournament, faces former champion Michael Llodra. It's been qutie a run for Garcia-Lopez, who is definitely a clay-court player, while Llodra has done well on grass in the past. I have to think that this is Llodra's match to win or lose. His style of play is much better situated to the conditions on court.
On the women's side, the two likely winners in the finals are facing relatively mid-level competition. Victoria Azarenka, who has not had a great year, notched up some pretty good wins - Radwanska, Clijsters, and Bartoli - on her way to the final, where she faces the Ekaterina Makarova, who is like Tipsarevic in that she is aiming for her first title. I expect Azarenka to take the title, though, as she is definitely the more accomplished player, recent form notwithstanding.
The other final may prove to be similarly one-sided. Justine Henin has not even dropped a set or been taken to a tiebreak by any of her opponents thus far, and even though Petkovic is her sternest challenge yet, it would be a surprise to me if Justine could lose this match. The bigger worry is getting to London and getting adjusted to Wimbledon in time for her opening round match, at this point. We'll see how that goes.
Showing posts with label llodra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label llodra. Show all posts
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Week 8 Preview
First of all, kudos to Sam Querrey for successfully turning his season around, beating the two hottest Americans on tour (and the only two ranked above him) in winning his first title of the season and third overall. This was also his first title in which he beat a player ranked higher than him in the final. No shame for Isner, though, who has continued his strong season. Both of them then teamed up to win the doubles title. Not a bad run for both!
The same thing happened in Marseille, where Llodra beat the higher-ranked Benneteau and then went on to win the doubles title with his opponent, who became his partner. Shame for Benneteau, who remains titleless, but Llodra did one better than his run last year.
Also, props to Juan Carlos Ferrero, who looked like he was going to fall to David Ferrer once again, only to come back and win in three to get his second title in as many weeks. Is the former number one getting back to his top ten form? He hasn't finished a year in the top ten since 2003.
Looking ahead to the next week, the Dubai field has suffered a bit, as Nadal and Del Potro are out with injury, while Roddick and Federer also withdrew in the past few days. It's still the strongest tourney since the Australian Open, with world #2 Djokovic as the new favorite. Unfortunately for the Djoker, he has his nemesis Tsonga in his quarter, who faces last week's Marseille winner in the first round. That was Llodra, by the way.
Other first round matches of interest are Gilles Simon and Marcos Baghdatis. Simon has yet to win a match on tour this year, and this will only be his second. That's a tough one to get back on track with. In addition to four of the top ten players, there are a bevy that seem like they really ought to be in the top twenty, and could make a breakthrough here, with some of the biggest names out of the tourney.
There are some big names out of the tournament on U.S. soil this week as well. In Del Ray beach, the Americans are going to have trouble repeating the feat they had at Memphis this week. The only seeded American is slumping James Blake, ranked 55 in the world. And he faces another American, Taylor Dent, in the first round. Tommy Haas half-counts, and he's the top seed. Also worthy of note, Kei Nishikori returns to action here after more than a year off for injury. He opens against Benjamin Becker. Really, this is the weakest field of the week, so anyone could conceivably run away with the title.
The reason the field is so weak is that the two Americans who made the final in Memphis decided to run down to Mexico to play on the clay, dedicating themselves to playing their best - and maybe getting ready for the Davis Cup match against Serbia. An impressive move by both Isner and Querrey. It's particularly interesting for Querrey, who must have gotten late entry and is unseeded. He'll open against Fernando Gonzalez, in what probably amounts to the best first-round match of the week.
Another first round match of interest is Richard Gasquet against Carlos Moya, which should be a fun one to watch. Ferrer and Ferrero are both in the draw, as are Verdasco, Almagro, and Montanes. These are some of the best clay-courters on tour, so keep an eye on them for the next couple of months. After the Indian Wells-Miami double, that is.
The same thing happened in Marseille, where Llodra beat the higher-ranked Benneteau and then went on to win the doubles title with his opponent, who became his partner. Shame for Benneteau, who remains titleless, but Llodra did one better than his run last year.
Also, props to Juan Carlos Ferrero, who looked like he was going to fall to David Ferrer once again, only to come back and win in three to get his second title in as many weeks. Is the former number one getting back to his top ten form? He hasn't finished a year in the top ten since 2003.
Looking ahead to the next week, the Dubai field has suffered a bit, as Nadal and Del Potro are out with injury, while Roddick and Federer also withdrew in the past few days. It's still the strongest tourney since the Australian Open, with world #2 Djokovic as the new favorite. Unfortunately for the Djoker, he has his nemesis Tsonga in his quarter, who faces last week's Marseille winner in the first round. That was Llodra, by the way.
Other first round matches of interest are Gilles Simon and Marcos Baghdatis. Simon has yet to win a match on tour this year, and this will only be his second. That's a tough one to get back on track with. In addition to four of the top ten players, there are a bevy that seem like they really ought to be in the top twenty, and could make a breakthrough here, with some of the biggest names out of the tourney.
There are some big names out of the tournament on U.S. soil this week as well. In Del Ray beach, the Americans are going to have trouble repeating the feat they had at Memphis this week. The only seeded American is slumping James Blake, ranked 55 in the world. And he faces another American, Taylor Dent, in the first round. Tommy Haas half-counts, and he's the top seed. Also worthy of note, Kei Nishikori returns to action here after more than a year off for injury. He opens against Benjamin Becker. Really, this is the weakest field of the week, so anyone could conceivably run away with the title.
The reason the field is so weak is that the two Americans who made the final in Memphis decided to run down to Mexico to play on the clay, dedicating themselves to playing their best - and maybe getting ready for the Davis Cup match against Serbia. An impressive move by both Isner and Querrey. It's particularly interesting for Querrey, who must have gotten late entry and is unseeded. He'll open against Fernando Gonzalez, in what probably amounts to the best first-round match of the week.
Another first round match of interest is Richard Gasquet against Carlos Moya, which should be a fun one to watch. Ferrer and Ferrero are both in the draw, as are Verdasco, Almagro, and Montanes. These are some of the best clay-courters on tour, so keep an eye on them for the next couple of months. After the Indian Wells-Miami double, that is.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Week 7 Finals Preview
The finals are set for this week 7, and there's going to be at least one new title-winner this year. In France, they've got an all-countrymen final, but it doesn't feature any of the top three Frenchman in the draw, including Tsonga, Monfils, and Simon. But the French crowd should be pretty happy with their final between Benneteau (the eighth seed) and Llodra, who made the final here last year. This is Benneteau's fourth singles final, and he has yet to win one. Llodra lost this final last year, but he has three to his name. His last came in Rotterdam in 2008, where he had beaten Soderling in the final. Coincidentally, Soderling was Llodra's victim in the quarters here in Marseille.
I'm surprised that these two Frenchmen, both in their late twenties, have never played each other on tour before. They played in a futures tournament ten years ago which Llodra won, but it's tough to put much stock in that. Benneteau had the harder road, facing Monfils and Tsonga, while Llodra had to face the relatively minor foe Mischa Zverev in the semis. But Benneteau is the higher-ranked player here, and has been on better form so far this year. This is largely a pick-em, and I hope it will be a good match. It's been a good week for both players, as they are both also in the doubles final, playing together. It should be interesting for them to play that right after completing the singles.
In Buenos Aires, they've got the best match-up they could have hoped for in the final, once David Nalbandian withdrew from the tournament with injury before his quarterfinal against Albert Montanes. Ferrer then steamrolled a well-rested Montanes in the semis, after beating Igor Andreev that same morning, when matches had been pushed back due to rain. Really, that's an astounding performance from Ferrer, to play two-matches in one day, the second against a very well-rested opponent, and win it 6-1, 6-1. He'll be facing Juan Carlos Ferrero, last week's winner in Costa do Sauipe. The only set dropped by either of these players was by Ferrero, inexplicably, in the quarters against Santiago Ventura. The Ferrer-Ferrero rivalry, which is my second-favorite in the sport, name-wise, after Wozniak-Wozniacki, has been pretty one-sided. Ferrer is 5-1 against the older, more experienced Spaniard. Add to that the fact that last year, Ferrer was the highest-ranked player who did not win a title, and the "Bulldog" will be eager to notch his first tour win since the Netherlands in 2008.
An all-French final, an all-Spanish final, and in Memphis, an all-American final. Sam Querrey and John Isner, the two young guns of U.S. Tennis, will be facing here for the first time. They've had very different years up to this tournament, with the tall man winning his first title and going 8-1 to get here. On the other hand, Querrey was 3-4, and is just now getting his record above 500. Querrey is recovering from a pretty terrible arm injury that ended his season last year, so it's good for him to make the final here. While he was struggling to get his year kick-started, Isner was on fire, and ultimately replaced Querrey as the number 2 American behind Andy Roddick. This should also be an interesting match, as these two players are close, and will be playing together in the final after they play against each other in the singles, just like Benneteau and Llodra. I don't know of the last time that's happened twice in the same week, but it hasn't happened recently, to the best of my knowledge.
It's also worth mentioning that Venus Williams won her first title of the year in Dubai, which was also her first successful title defense since Wimbledon in 2007-2008. She beat Victoria Azarenka in the final, and did not drop a set en route to the title. Azarenka may have been the seed that she faced, but it was still an impressive run. Sharapova also won in Memphis without dropping a set, and never even played a tiebreak. She was taken to 7-5 only once, by Elena Baltacha. It's a great way to kick-start the year for both players.
The women's final in Bogata has not yet been decided, and it doesn't feature any big-name players like Sharapova or Venus. But it does have a 20-year old Colombian player named Mariana Duque Marino who may be making her first big splash on the tour level. She's won a bundle of lower-tier ITF titles, but has yet to make much noise at the top. She faces German Angelique Kerber, who is also going for her first overall WTA title. With the home crowd's support, Marino may have the advantage over another first-time finalist. But that's why you play the tennis.
I'm surprised that these two Frenchmen, both in their late twenties, have never played each other on tour before. They played in a futures tournament ten years ago which Llodra won, but it's tough to put much stock in that. Benneteau had the harder road, facing Monfils and Tsonga, while Llodra had to face the relatively minor foe Mischa Zverev in the semis. But Benneteau is the higher-ranked player here, and has been on better form so far this year. This is largely a pick-em, and I hope it will be a good match. It's been a good week for both players, as they are both also in the doubles final, playing together. It should be interesting for them to play that right after completing the singles.
In Buenos Aires, they've got the best match-up they could have hoped for in the final, once David Nalbandian withdrew from the tournament with injury before his quarterfinal against Albert Montanes. Ferrer then steamrolled a well-rested Montanes in the semis, after beating Igor Andreev that same morning, when matches had been pushed back due to rain. Really, that's an astounding performance from Ferrer, to play two-matches in one day, the second against a very well-rested opponent, and win it 6-1, 6-1. He'll be facing Juan Carlos Ferrero, last week's winner in Costa do Sauipe. The only set dropped by either of these players was by Ferrero, inexplicably, in the quarters against Santiago Ventura. The Ferrer-Ferrero rivalry, which is my second-favorite in the sport, name-wise, after Wozniak-Wozniacki, has been pretty one-sided. Ferrer is 5-1 against the older, more experienced Spaniard. Add to that the fact that last year, Ferrer was the highest-ranked player who did not win a title, and the "Bulldog" will be eager to notch his first tour win since the Netherlands in 2008.
An all-French final, an all-Spanish final, and in Memphis, an all-American final. Sam Querrey and John Isner, the two young guns of U.S. Tennis, will be facing here for the first time. They've had very different years up to this tournament, with the tall man winning his first title and going 8-1 to get here. On the other hand, Querrey was 3-4, and is just now getting his record above 500. Querrey is recovering from a pretty terrible arm injury that ended his season last year, so it's good for him to make the final here. While he was struggling to get his year kick-started, Isner was on fire, and ultimately replaced Querrey as the number 2 American behind Andy Roddick. This should also be an interesting match, as these two players are close, and will be playing together in the final after they play against each other in the singles, just like Benneteau and Llodra. I don't know of the last time that's happened twice in the same week, but it hasn't happened recently, to the best of my knowledge.
It's also worth mentioning that Venus Williams won her first title of the year in Dubai, which was also her first successful title defense since Wimbledon in 2007-2008. She beat Victoria Azarenka in the final, and did not drop a set en route to the title. Azarenka may have been the seed that she faced, but it was still an impressive run. Sharapova also won in Memphis without dropping a set, and never even played a tiebreak. She was taken to 7-5 only once, by Elena Baltacha. It's a great way to kick-start the year for both players.
The women's final in Bogata has not yet been decided, and it doesn't feature any big-name players like Sharapova or Venus. But it does have a 20-year old Colombian player named Mariana Duque Marino who may be making her first big splash on the tour level. She's won a bundle of lower-tier ITF titles, but has yet to make much noise at the top. She faces German Angelique Kerber, who is also going for her first overall WTA title. With the home crowd's support, Marino may have the advantage over another first-time finalist. But that's why you play the tennis.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
