Darian King Defaulted After Linesman Injured @CVilleTennis Steve Fogleman, Tennis East Coast
Darian King Defaults
Edward Corrie won a first-round match today at the Charlottesville Men’s Pro Tennis Challenger at the Boar’s Head Resort, but in most peculiar fashion. After taking the first set, 6-3, from Darian King of Barbados, Corrie shook off a break and took King to a second set tiebreak. King, who had been animated and argumentative throughout, lost a point at 2-5 in the breaker. Disgusted, he very aggressively tossed his racket behind him toward the curtain. What happened next is a bit of a mystery. It needn’t have been, but it was.
The sound caused by the racket hitting the curtain was very loud and echoed throughout the cavernous indoor facility. As all eyes turned to the sight of the boom, the linesman behind King fell over and let out a cry. I raced over to Court 7, where King grabbed his racket and quickly left the scene of the accident. He went to the net and told a curious Corrie, “She’s fine”. He stayed at the net for several minutes, apparently ready to keep playing. The linesman remained down for at least five minutes. The longer she remained on the ground, King told anyone who would listen that “I didn’t hit her”. Finally, Challenger Supervisor Keith Crossland came over and told King that he would likely be defaulted for his negligence. King appealed and asked to go to the match video. Crossland initially allowed this request, and I thought for a minute that he might go “under the hood” like an NFL referee. King was upset that the camera operator could not pull up a replay, and Crossland said, “Maybe we’ll watch it later”. As King stormed off to the locker room, he continued his Not Guilty plea.
“I did not hit her!”, he proclaimed, as he disappeared into the toilet-and-shower sanctuary.
One twitter user who was watching the feed said that King’s racket hit her in the neck. After speaking with several onlookers, the consensus was that the racket hit the linesman on the ricochet off of the curtain. Tournament officials indicated that they believed the linesman would be alright. Still, what a loveless job.
I mentioned that it needn’t have been a mystery. Last year, I was aggressively forbidden to shoot a point at this same Challenger by Keith Crossland, due to “video rights”. Yeah, right. Like anyone watches this stuff except us tennis junkies. So I comply. I can’t find a link anywhere online to show you what happened. If I had been allowed to shoot video, you know I would have had it on youtube within the hour. And the mystery would’ve been solved before dinner. Way to go, Crossland!
UPDATE: Our own Chris De Waard just sent me a youtube link from someone who stole the feed. Maybe Crossland should go after him for being such a terrible scofflaw. Thanks to that scofflaw, you can now judge for yourself.
2014 ATP Eastbourne, ‘s-Hertogenbosch Previews & Picks Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
It’s the week before Wimbledon and many players are choosing to make their final preparations for the next slam in the pair of 250 grass court tournaments this week.
ATP Eastbourne
Aegon International
ATP World Tour 250
Eastbourne, Great Britain
June 16-June 21, 2014
Prize Money: € 503,185
Top 4 seeds (Who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Richard Gasquet (14)
2: Alex Dolgopolov (19)
3: Feliciano Lopez (29)
4: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (31)
It is the week before Wimbledon, so not the strongest field in Eastbourne, but the tournament should be competitive.
First Round matchups to watch:
Donald Young vs. (WC)James Ward
This is the only match of interest in round 1 that I see. Young comes off a successful string of play on clay, including a third round French Open appearance, and he will look to improve his relatively poor record on grass in Eastbourne. He faces the Brit wild card Ward who has had some success on grass, and they have never met before. It should be a close match and a good warm-up for Young.
Top Half:
Top seed Richard Gasquet is struggling and is perhaps carrying a shoulder injury into this tournament. He could quite possibly fall to Bernard Tomic in his first match and the draw would open up from there.
Gasquet comes off an opening match loss in Halle and Tomic showed some renewed play in Queens with a round 1 win and a 3 set loss in round 2. Tomic beat Gasquet at Wimbledon last year in 4 tight sets, though Gasquet is 4-0 in matches on other surfaces and crushed Tomic (even while not healthy) at the French a couple of weeks ago. Tomic must beat Andrey Golubev first, I might add, and one of those three players will face Young/Ward or Martin Klizan/Federico Delbonis in the quarters. Delbonis is a clay courter and Klizan has a very poor record on grass, but he appears to be in form as he had a strong clay court season.
Young or Ward have a great chance at the quarterfinals or better. Klizan beat Tomic on clay last month
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is another in-form player who is beginning his grass court campaign this season at a tournament where he is a former finalist. GGL will face Denis Istomin or Mikhail Kukushkin in round 2, and neither player looks overly imposing, so I’m tipping GGL vs Edouard Roger-Vasselin in a competitive quarterfinal. ERV won a couple of rounds in Queens and after a qualifier, he will face Jarkko Nieminen/Santiago Giraldo in round 2. Nieminen retired in his last match and Giraldo is sort of an unreliable player right now. He beat ERV on hard courts two years ago, but I don’t think that result matters that much. As for the predicted quarterfinal, GGL won a 10-8 fifth set against ERV at Wimbledon 2 years ago, but ERV beat him at the Aussie open this year (and GGL has two probably unimportant wins on clay as well), so it should be close and I’m leaning towards ERV to reach the semis.
Bottom Half:
Alex Dolgopolov will face Sam Querrey or Kyle Edmund in his first match. Dolgo gave a walkover in his last match in Queens and may not be entirely together.
I feel Querrey has a nice chance at the quarterfinals here. Dolgopolov leads the h2h 2-1 between them in all hard court meetings.
Dolgo/Querrey could face defending finalist Gilles Simon in the quarters or perhaps Julien Benneteau, who was upset in the opening round of Queens, or Yen-Hsun Lu, who reached the quarterfinals in Halle but gave a walkover in his last match. Simon plays a qualifier and then Benneteau/Lu. Gilles showed some renewed form at the French, unlike he has all season really and I like him as a semifinalist here.
Current Queens finalist Feliciano Lopez is the defending champ here in Eastbourne. If he doesn’t pull out because of fatigue, he will face Dan Evans or a qualifier in his first match. Should he not be exhausted, expect him in the quarters against one of Ivo Karlovic/Jeremy Chardy/Carlos Berlocq/qualifier. Karlovic lost in round 2 in Halle, but he is a two-time champion here and has a 12-1 record overall.
Given the other choices, the semifinalist should come down to Lopez/Karlovic and how fatigued is Lopez. His form has looked great in Queens and he could get on a winning a streak.
Dark Horse: Bernard Tomic/Edouard Roger-Vasselin
I feel one of these two players will be the finalist here from the top half of the draw: Tomic can play very well on grass but he’s horribly inconsistent, while ERV has a lower ceiling for peak play, but is less likely to see his game entirely collapse. In three head to head meetings, all on grass amazingly, Tomic has won twice and ERV has won once, the last meeting coming in 2011. Either one of them is a dark horse to take the title regardless.
Predictions Semis:
Roger-Vasselin d. Tomic
Karlovic d. Simon
I just went over ERV-Tomic. While I like Karlovic by a hair over Simon (because he won a h2h grass meeting in 2007 between the two and also won their most recent meeting in 2011), I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Simon made the final again, but Ivo is who I’m picking.
Final:
Karlovic d. Roger-Vasselin
Ivo beat ERV in Newport last year and has a 2-1 overall h2h lead. The final could go either way, but I like the big serving Croat as a titlist this week.
ATP ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Topshelf Open
ATP World Tour 250
‘s-Hertogenboch, the Netherlands
June 15-June 21, 2014
Prize Money: € 426,605
Top 4 seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: David Ferrer (7)
2: Fernando Verdasco (23)
3: Roberto Bautista Agut (28)
4: Marcel Granollers (30)
Holland just annihilated the Spanish in the World Cup and local celebrations cannot be sitting well with the four top seeds here, all Spanish players.
First Round matchups to watch:
Nicolas Mahut vs. (WC)Kimmer Coppejans
Defending champion Nicolas Mahut could have trouble against young Belgian wild card Kimmer Coppejans, who is untested on grass. Mahut comes off a round 2 loss in Queens that was close and though I still think he will prevail, this match is a good opportunity for Coppejans to show his mettle.
Kenny De Schepper vs Steve Johnson
Johnson leads the h2h 2-0 and their last meeting at the Le Gosier challenger, the final of it in fact, was a crazy 3 setter that ended with a 7-2 final set tiebreak. De Schepper is 4-2 on grass this year, Johnson is 3-2, as both players have shown they can do well on the surface, albeit with different styles. This match is a toss-up to me, but I’ll go with the rising and much improved Johnson to ride his forehand to victory over the big serving Frenchman for the third time.
Top Half:
Two time Den Bosch champion David Ferrer faces a qualifier in round 1 and then a qualifier or Alejandro Gonzalez in round 2. Ferrer should be safe for the quarterfinals against one of Igor Sijsling/Thiemo De Bakker/Bradley Klahn/Dmitry Tursunov. He should watch out for Tursunov as the Russian vanquished him twice last season in their only meetings.
Sijsling is also a bit of a home threat here, but given Tursunov just beat him in Queens I like Tursunov over Klahn and Sijsling over De Bakker and then Tursunov over Sijsling as the path to the quarterfinals. Ferrer to avenge his Tursunov defeats last year is my pick for semifinalist out of this section.
Marcel Granollers is not a good grass court player, but Benjamin Becker, a former champion here, has lost five straight matches and is in terrible form right now. Granollers should get through to round 2 to face Dudi Sela or Benoit Paire, both of whom are also struggling: Paire 2-6 since coming back from injury and Sela 2-8 since Indian Wells. One of these four out-of-form players will be able to win two matches and reach the quarterfinals as a much needed boost for their morale and ranking.
Strapped to a chair, I’d take Granollers by a hair.
One of Granollers/Becker/Sela/Paire will face one of Lukas Rosol/JL Struff/Dusan Lajovic/Vasek Pospisil in the quarters. Rosol is just starting his grass campaign. Struff was poor in Halle. Lajovic took a set off an in form Feliciano Lopez. Though Pospisil finally broke his post-AO losing streak, he was poor in his very next match.
I like Rosol to get through all the way to the semifinals from the top half.
Bottom Half:
Fernando Verdasco, who has had some success on grass, will face Paul-Henri Mathieu, who gave Andy Murray a competitive run in Queens. Dasco dominates PHM in the h2h, so he should be through to face either Jesse Huta Galung or Aleksandr Nedovyesov. Nedo is struggling, so I think JHG will be willed to victory by the home fans and Verdasco will reach the quarterfinals.
Verdasco should also be safe for the semis as his possible opponents are not overly imposing: Jurgen Melzer is struggling a bit and faces current and surprise Halle finalist Alejandro Falla, who will probably be gassed after playing so much in Halle, and then the winner gets Victor Hanescu or a qualifier.
The qualifier has a good chance for the quarters.
Bautista Agut will face his countryman Daniel Gimeno Traver and then the struggling Matt Ebden or a qualifier. Look for RBA to get a real test in the quarters against Mahut/Coppejans or Johnson/De Schepper. I like RBA vs Mahut. The h2h is split, with all of their meetings coming on indoor hard on the challenger tour.
Given this is grass, I tip towards Mahut a bit to reach the semis.
Dark Horse: Lukas Rosol
The in-form Czech I have making the semis. His match with Ferrer will be tough. Ferrer beat him twice last year and leads the h2h 3-0, so he probably comes up short from there, but I expect him to have a good showing this week.
Predictions Semis:
Ferrer d. Rosol
Verdasco d. Mahut
I just broke down Ferrer-Rosol and Verdasco is 3-0 career against Mahut including a win on grass, so it should be an all-Spanish final.
Final:
Ferrer d. Verdasco
A super-weird h2h between a pair with no grass court meetings. Ferrer got a win on clay last year and is on a 5 match winning streak in the rivalry, but going back to 2010 Verdasco had winning streaks of as many as three straight matches in the rivalry with a whole bunch of meetings on clay. Down to the wire, I like Ferrer in 3 sets in the final.
Qualifier Mahut Wins 1st Career Title at 31 in s’Hertogenbosch, Lopez Wins Eastbourne
ATP s’Hertogenbosch
Qualifier Nicolas Mahut blitzed through both qualifying and the main draw to win his first career ATP title in the Netherlands. #240 Mahut beat Stan Wawrinka in the final 6-3, 6-4, and at the age of 31, surprised a whole lot of fans and pundits. In his post-match interview, he mentioned that just six months ago he wasn’t sure if he would play professionally again. He now his has his first title in three tries.
Mahut also beat Ricardas Berankis, Andrey Kuznetsov, Evgeny Donskoy and Xaiver Malisse in the main draw, while Wawrinka beat Steve Darcis (who replaced Igor Sijsling as a lucky loser), Paolo Lorenzi, Jeremy Chardy and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Max Mirnyi and Horia Tecau beat Andre Begemann and Martin Emmrich to take the doubles title.
ATP Eastbourne
Feliciano Lopez toppled Gilles Simon 7-6, 6-7, 6-0 and at the age of 31 wins his 3rd career title and his first title in 3 years. Lopez, who was also a finalist in Memphis, beat Jarkko Nieminen, Juan Monaco, Fernando Verdasco and Ivan Dodig before Simon. Simon, in his first final of the year, beat Kyle Edmund, Bernard Tomic, and Andreas Seppi.
Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares beat Colin Fleming and Jonathan Marray to take the doubles title.
2013 ATP Eastbourne, ‘s-Hertogenbosch Previews Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
The final grass court tune-ups before Wimbledon will be the joint event in Eastbourne and Den Bosch in the Netherlands.
ATP Eastbourne
Aegon International
Eastbourne, UK
June 17-June 22, 2013
Prize money: €468,460
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Milos Raonic
2: Gilles Simon
3: Philipp Kohlschreiber
4: Juan Monaco
A stronger field brings 4 of the top 20 and a seed cutoff overall of 31.
First round matchups to watch:
Jarkko Nieminen vs. Feliciano Lopez
Nieminen comes off a 2nd round loss at Queen’s club while Lopez lost in the 3rd round of the same event. The h2h is 6-2 in favor of the man from Finland and thus this match should favor him, but the style clash makes it a quality one to watch. Nieminen beat Lopez at Wimbledon last year in their only grass court meeting.
Bernard Tomic vs. (wc)James Ward
Tomic continues to struggle, as expected, having lost 4 straight and 5 of his last 6 matches. Still, this is a surface on which he excels. Ward is a likeable journeyman ranked outside the top 200 who lost a heartbreak 3 set match to Ivan Dodig in the opening round of Queen’s club, an event which also found him the recipient of a wild card. Tomic is far and above the better player, but with his personal circumstances, Wardy will have a shot at an upset.
Top Half:
Milos Raonic will look to recover from a crushing loss to Gael Monfils in Halle, a match in which he played some of his worst tennis in a long time. He opens with Denis Istomin or Ivan Dodig, and the winner will get one of Fabio Fognini, Grega Zemlja, Martin Klizan or Viktor Troicki.
Juan Monaco will have the task of playing the Lopez/Nieminen winner and if he were to prevail he will get Alex Dolgopolov, Fernando Verdasco, Albert Ramos or a qualifier.
Bottom Half:
Gilles Simon will play wild card Kyle Edmund or a qualifier, then most likely Kevin Anderson (if Big Kev can beat Julian Benneteau and Tomic/Ward).
Halle quarterfinalist Philipp Kohlschreiber will play Radek Stepanek or Marinko Matosevic then a pair of qualifiers, Paul-Henri Mathieu or Andreas Seppi in a tailor-made section for the German.
Dark Horse: Feliciano Lopez
Lopez is one of the better grass court players, and if he can get past Nieminen he has a very open draw with the clay courter Monaco and then either Verdasco or Dolgo being the likely quarterfinal opponent. In the semis, Raonic or someone else is perfectly beatable and at least in theory he could win the whole tournament.
Predictions Semis:
Lopez d. Raonic
Kohlschreiber d. Anderson
Lopez beat Raonic in their only meeting and Raonic isn’t playing that well. He simply has no one in his draw line to stop him early.
Kohlschreiber disappointingly only made the quarters in Halle, but he is still good on grass with nobody to stop him draw-wise. Anderson is having a good year and should get through his draw, but I’ll give the edge to Peppo since they have never played each other.
Final:
Kohlschreiber d. Lopez
The h2h actually favors Lopez 4-2, but Kohlschreiber seems to be the better player these days, and thus edge to him.
ATP s-Hertogenbosch
Topshelf Open
ATP World Tour 250
s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
June 16-June 22, 2013
Prize money: €410,200
Top 8 seeds
1: David Ferrer
2: Stanislas Wawrinka
3: John Isner
4: Benoit Paire
5: Jeremy Chardy
6: Marcos Baghdatis
7: Victor Hanescu
8: Daniel Gimeno-Traver
50 is the seed cutoff in a tournament without byes and 2 of the top 20 are here.
First round matchups to watch:
(1)David Ferrer vs. Xaiver Malisse
Ferrer has won Den Bosch twice and of course comes off his first ever slam final in Paris. He gets bad fortunes as the top seed in that he has to face Malisse, who is good on grass and pushed Del Potro to 3 sets at Queen’s club before losing. The h2h is 2-2 but they haven’t played in 3 years and never on grass. Ferrer is probably still the favorite but Malisse has to have some magic left.
(3)John Isner vs. Evgeny Donskoy
Isner and Donskoy will meet for the first time and it will be the only grass tune-up for either before Wimbledon. Donskoy is a solid ball striker who is on the rise, while Isner has had a roller coaster year but overall has disappointed. Isner should be a favorite on the fast surface but it could go 3 sets.
(4)Benoit Paire vs. Michael Llodra
Paire comes off a 2nd round loss to Denis Kudla at Queen’s Club while Llodra withdrew from his 2nd round match at the same event. This match is not only notable for the clash of styles on grass between the serve and volleyer Llodra and the drop shotter Paire, but also for the tension between these 2 players. When they met this year in Miami, Llodra taunted Paire, and Paire countered by firing verbal obscenities at his countryman. According to reports of the non-televised match, there was also a physical altercation that had to be broken up by the umpire and Paire said after, “I won’t ever talk to him again,” “He tried everything to upset me while I was dominating the game. He insulted me.” How this match will develop should be interesting.
(2) Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Igor Sijsling
Wawrinka is playing Den Bosch for the first time since 2005, while Sijsling comes off the 3rd round at Queen’s club. They have never met before and both players are on hot streaks overall. Wawrinka is of course in the top 10, and Sijsling is at a career high of 60. Wawrinka will have a slight edge but I wouldn’t put an upset past Sijsling in his home tournament.
Top Half:
The Ferrer/Malisse winner will play Edouard Roger-Vasselin or Rendy Lu, then could face Marcos Baghdatis/Carlos Berlocq, a qualifier, or Roberto Bautista Agut,
Isner/Donskoy will face Leo Mayer or Robin Haase and then it will be a qualifier, Ricardas Berankis, Andrey Kuznetsov or Dani Gimeno-Traver in what is a rather porous section.
Bottom Half:
Wawrinka/Sijsling will take on Thiemo De Bakker or Paolo Lorenzi and then one of Jeremy Chardy, Marius Copil, Rogerio Dutra Silva or a qualifier in a section from which the seeds should escape.
Paire/Llodra will play a qualifier or David Goffin and then Victor Hanescu/Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Daniel Brands/Jesse Huta Galung.
Dark Horse: Michael Llodra
This tournament is hard to pick without qualifiers placed, because it really is the type of event where a qualifier could make a deep run given the lower ranks of the players and a whole lot of guys who are uncomfortable on grass. That being said, of the main draw players, Llodra, if he isn’t injured, could very well make a deep run. If he can get past Paire, he gets D Goff or a qualifier and then probably Daniel Brands or even Huta Galung in the quarters. All winnable. In the semis, both Wawrinka or Sijsling are beatable and even in the final, Ferrer/Malisse/Baghdatis/Isner are all beatable.
Predictions:
Semis:
Ferrer d. Isner
Llodra d. Sijsling
Ferrer should be able to cruise to the semis unless Baghdatis can catch fire. Isner really has nobody to stop him as well. Llodra, if uninjured, is dangerous and I think Sijsling upsets Wawrinka and wins from there.
Final:
Ferrer d. Llodra
Ferrer should make it the hat trick. He is 3-0 career against Llodra and beat Llodra last year in Paris on indoor carpet.
The Joint ATP/WTA Event held at the Racquet Club of Memphis in lovely Memphis, Tennessee will be holding its 38th edition. For the first time, Tennis East Coast will have some onsite coverage of the event. I will be there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday covering the Men’s and Women’s 1st and 2nd rounds with all the info and excitement you would expect of both the tennis action and the energy surrounding the event. With that, here is a preview of the Men’s main draw.
Top 8 seeds
1: Marin Cilic
2: Milos Raonic
3: John Isner
4: Sam Querrey
5: Kei Nishikori
6: Tommy Haas
7: Alexandr Dolgopolov
8: Fernando Verdasco
All seeds are ranked in the top 24 in the world and are closely clustered between 12 and 24 in the world. This makes for fierce competition. Since I’ll be there, I’ll go through the draw quarter by quarter explaining each matchup instead of the usual overview.
Cilic’s quarter
Zagreb champ Marin Cilic opens with his Davis Cup teammate Ivan Dodig. He has a 0-1 career record against Dodig even though he is ranked some 50 spots higher. Dodig’s best result is quarters in Zagreb this year.
Defending Memphis champ and Cilic’s opponent in the Zagreb final is Jurgen Melzer. He’ll begin his quest to repeat against Igor Sijsling, who comes off a nice upset victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Rotterdam. If Melzer and Cilic both advance, it would be a repeat of the Zagreb final in the 2nd round.
San Jose quarterfinalist Xaiver Malisse opens with a qualifier. Kei Nishikori, in his first tournament since the Australian Open, also draws a qualifier.
Querrey’s quarter
Sam Querrey is still in the running for the San Jose title. He’ll play the same guy he played in the San Jose quarterfinals, Alejandro Falla. Marinko Matosevic and Go Soeda will play each other for the right to face the winner of that rematch in the 2nd round.
Steve Johnson, also coming off quarters in San Jose, gets a qualifier. Alexandr Dolgopolov, who will likely be looking to get back into the top 20 with a good run, faces off with veteran German Bjorn Phau.
Isner’s quarter
John Isner, still in the running for the SAP Open crown as well, gets fellow hammering server Denis Istomin.
Up the draw, Lleyton Hewitt will face Yen-Hsun Lu. Hewitt has a 2-2 career record against Lu, including a win in Memphis during the 2011 tournament.
Lukasz Kubot, who is coming off an ankle injury, will face Ryan Harrison. Big Harry struggled through a 1st round loss in San Jose that can partially chalked up to the fact he had flu like symptoms. Fernando Verdasco, coming off a 1st round loss in San Jose, will look to regroup against a qualifier. Verdasco is already in Memphis and took part in the draw ceremony along with Marin Cilic.
Raonic’s quarter
Milos Raonic, still looking to repeat in San Jose is also the defending finalist in Memphis. The Canadian opens with Jack Sock, and the winner will face Florian Mayer (who can be streaky on indoors) or Dallas Challenger semifinalist James Blake.
Veterans Feliciano Lopez and Benjamin Becker (a Memphis semifinalist last year) will serve it up for a spot in the 2nd round. If Becker and Raonic both advance it would be a rematch of the 2012 semifinal matchup.
Tommy Haas, still battling for the title in San Jose as well, opens with Evgeny Donskoy.
Dark Horses: Igor Sijsling and Lukasz Kubot
Sijsling played superbly in his win over Tsonga in Rotterdam and really displayed the range of his talent when he puts it all together. He won’t have an easy first couple of rounds but he will have good shots at upsets.
Kubot was playing pretty well before his ankle injury suffered during Davis Cup and is solid indoors. Given the form of the players in his draw line, Harrison and Verdasco quarters or better is a good possibility.
Predictions
Semis:
Cilic d. Dolgopolov
Raonic d. Isner
Cilic was solid in Zagreb and given this is also an indoor hard court tournament, he should be in good shape here. He won’t have a super easy draw the whole way, likely getting Nishikori in the quarters. Dolgo and Querrey should slug it out in the quarters, but I’ll give an edge to the more rested Dolgopolov.
Raonic is playing well and is beastly indoors, while Isner is also solid but still not quite 100% in terms of his level of play. However, Isner has a somewhat easier draw to make the semis.
Final
Cilic d. Raonic
It could well be a slugfest but I’ll give a slight edge to Cilic, simply because he won’t have played as many matches if they both make it this far.
2012 Unicef Open, Eastbourne ATP Recap
By Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
Unicef Open
Top seed David Ferrer smashed and served his way to a title in Den Bosch today, beating Pierre Luc-Duclos, Leonardo Mayer, sizzling Igor Sijsling, Benoit Paire and surprise finalist/qualifier Philipp Petzschner. Ferrer beat him in the final, 6-3 6-4.
Petzschner beat Dimitry Tursunov, Mate Pavic, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Xaiver Malisse to reach the final. Paire beat seeded player Lukasz Kubot, while Malisse beat 2 seed Viktor Troicki.
Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau won the doubles title over Juan Cabal and Dmitry Tursunov.
ATP Eastbourne
Andy Roddick shocked nearly everyone and rekindled his mojo to take the title in Eastbourne over Andreas Seppi, 6-3 6-2. Roddick held his own against Sam Querrey, Jeremy Chardy, Fabio Fognini and Steve Darcis en route to the final and gave fans glimpses of his former top 10 self.
Seppi did well for himself in beating Carlos Berlocq, Phillip Kohlschreiber by retirement and surprise semi-finalist Ryan Harrison to reach the final. Darcis beat Aussies Matt Ebden and Marinko Matosevic to reach the semis. Matosevic had knocked off top seed Richard Gasquet.
The “Flemchins”, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, took the doubles title on home soil over fellow Brit duo Jamie Delgado and Ken Skupski.
Tommy Haas continued his shocking run of stellar play, taking the Halle title today over fellow veteran Roger Federer, 7-6 6-4. The world number 87, who recently broke back in the top 100 at the age of 34, rolled over Bernard Tomic, Tomas Berdych in 3 sets and countryman Philip Kohlschreiber (who had shocked Nadal in his previous round match to reach the final) before taking it to Federer.
Haas showed more than glimpses of his former top 10 self: beating players much his junior and showing not only grit but also great skill on the grass, just as he had shown on clay in Paris and Munich.
Federer will go home disappointed but he still beat Florian Mayer, survived in 3 sets over big bomber Milos Raonic (who couldn’t close him out) and shellacked Mikhail Youzhny to reach yet another final on grass.
Aisam Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer won the doubles title over Treat Huey and Scott Lipsky.
ATP London Queen’s Club
Yet another aggressive David Nalbandian outburst gave Marin Cilic the title in the AEGON Championships, even though he was down 6-7 4-3. The incident occurred when Nalbandian kicked an advertising board in rage around a lines judge and accidentally injured him in the process, causing the linesman’s leg to bleed profusely.
It not only made quite the mess but also resulted in Nalby being DQ’ed and Cilic taking the title to the shock of fans who proceeded to boo profusely all the way through the trophy ceremony. This is not the first time this year Nalbandian has suffered from a violent outburst, as he was fined $8,000 for throwing water at another tournament official during his first round match at the Australian Open. It was an unfortunate incident any way you look at it.
As for the rest of the tournament, it was a week of upsets as top 3 seeds Murray, Tsonga and Tipsarevic all fell before the quarterfinals to much lower ranked players. Nalbandian came from a set down to beat Vasek Pospisil, handled Ruben Bemelmans, came back from a set down to beat both Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Xaiver Malisse, and then rolled over refreshing youngster Grigor Dimitrov to reach the final.
Dimitrov punched above his weight this week as well, as he beat Bobby Reynolds, Nicolas Mahut (who upset Andy Murray in the previous round) and came from a set down to beat the big serving Kevin Anderson.
6 seed Cilic took care of Matt Ebden, Lukas Rosol, Yen Hsun-Lu (who beat Tipsy Tipsarevic in the previous round) and suprising Sam Querrey to reach the final. Querrey had beaten seeded players Julien Benneteau and Denis Istomin along with (Tsonga-eliminator) Ivan Dodig and Olivier Rochus.
The event was also marred by a lot of rain, as can be expected during the British summer and a lot of the match schedules became convoluted. Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor beat the Bryans for the 2nd week in a row to take the doubles title.
ATP Eastbourne
AEGON International
ATP World Tour 250
June 17- June 23 2012
€ 455,700
Top 4 seeds (who all receive 1st round byes)
1: Richard Gasquet
2: Marcel Granollers
3: Andreas Seppi*
4: Bernard Tomic
*Seppi will seek to defend his title in Eastbourne.
1st round matchups to watch:
Sam Querrey vs. Andy Roddick
Querrey, who comes off a semi final run at Queen’s Club, will take on a struggling Roddick, who is desperately trying to get his mojo back before Wimbledon. Both guys could use a good run here.
Yen-Hsun Lu vs. Julien Benneteau
Lu, ranked just inside the top 60, comes off a surprising quarterfinal run in London where he knocked off top 10 player Janko Tipsarevic, the hard serving Ivo Karlovic and vet Igor Kunitsyn all in 3 sets. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire against Marin Cilic, but will hopefully be rested up to take on 5 seed Benneteau.
Michael Llodra vs. Denis Istomin
Exciting serve and volleyer Llodra, a naturally adept player on grass, will take on Istomin. Istomin lost in the 2nd round at Queen’s Club to Querrey last week.
Top Half:
Top seed Gasquet will begin his Wimbledon tune up against either James Ward or a qualifier. He could then face Spaniard Pablo Andujar or the aggressive vet Marcos Baghdatis.
4 seed Bernard Tomic, who retired in the 1st round against Tommy Haas in Halle this week, will face either the winner of Fabio Fognini vs Albert Ramos and then could face the big servers Roddick/Querrey or Jeremy Chardy/Qualifier.
Bottom Half:
2 seed Marcel Granollers will actually be a likely underdog against Istomin/Llodra. The winner will face Benneteau/Lu, Ryan Harrison or a qualifier.
Defending champ and 3 seed Andreas Seppi will take on either Mikhail Kukukshkin or Carlos Berlocq. He would then have the unfortunate luck of getting a pretty sharp playing Philip Kohlschreiber, who comes off an upset of Nadal in Halle and is seeded 7th here. Peppo will play Go Soeda and then the Donald Young vs. Jamie Baker winner.
Dark Horse: Philip Kohlschreiber
In one of the weaker fields of the year, Peppo has a good chance to shine and continue the momentum from his upset of Nadal in Halle. Later, he fell to Tommy Haas in the semis but still played well against the streaking Haas. If he can get through Seppi, he has a very good chance to win the tournament as Tomic is struggling and Gasquet is, well, Gasquet…
Tennis Atlantic 