2014 ATP Bangkok, Como Challenger Recaps Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
Bangkok
Top seed Go Soeda fought through his US Open disappointment, where he lost in the first qualifying round against Oscar Hernandez, to comfortably go through to the semi-final without dropping a set. However, he got upset by unseeded 18 year old Hyeon Chung, who went through after a tough three set match, 6-4 2-6 6-4. This tournament was a great place to be for the new generation, as another unseeded youngster in the other half of the draw made a deep run as well: 20 year old Jordan Thompson.
Thompson showed incredible form as he didn’t just beat the higher ranked opponents on his path: he obliterated them. First up was second seed James Duckworth in the second round, as the Australian fell 6-2 6-4 to his younger countryman. In the quarterfinal, sixth seed Kyle Edmund had no chance as Thompson comfortably beat him 6-3 6-1. A similar pattern followed in the semi-final, when third seed Luca Vanni fell 6-1 6-3.
An all-youngster final between Chung and Thompson it was, in which Chung went down 2-5 in the first set, but ultimately ousted Thompson 7-6(0) 6-4 to win his first title on the Challenger tour. Needless to say that their rankings will rise significantly after this success: Thompson jumps approximately 50 spots from his current ranking of #278, while Chung will crack the top 200 for the first time and lands around 185th spot, a jump of 65.
Como
Prior to the tournament the biggest question was where qualifier Viktor Troicki would end up in the draw, since that was bound to change the entire dynamic. He ended up in top seed Facundo Arguello’s quarter, which set them up for a bombshell meeting in the quarterfinal. They both made it there and Troicki showed he is the former top 20 player between them, comfortably winning 6-3 6-2. Another qualifier on the comeback trail, Jurgen Zopp, finally showed some good form and set up a semi-final meeting with Troicki after he took out two seeds playing in their home country: fourth seed Filippo Volandri (6-3 6-1) and sixth seed Potito Starace (3-6 7-6(4) 6-0).
In the bottom half, the seeds fell like flies, as #3 seed Adrian Ungur and #7 seed Marco Cecchinato lost in the first round, while #2 seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert and #5 seed Victor Hanescu lost only one round later. Louk Sorensen and Ilija Bozoljac took advantage as they made it to the semi-final, in which Sorensen scraped by Bozoljac 4-6 6-2 6-4.
However, Troicki was clearly the man of the tournament as he beat Zopp 6-3 6-4 and Sorensen 6-3 6-2 to take the first title of his comeback and his third overall Challenger title. This, of course, means a huge ranking jump for the Serb, rising from 408 to around 260. Sorensen posted a new career high ranking as he broke the top 200 for the first time, landing around the 185th ranking spot.
2014 Bangkok & Como Challenger Previews Chris DeWaard, Tennis East Coast
It’s not only about the US Open this week, with two Challengers on the schedule. One in Thailand on hardcourt and the other in Italy, on clay.
Chang-Sat Bangkok Open 2014
ATP Challenger Tour
Bangkok, Thailand
August 25-31
Prize Money: $50,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Go Soeda (107)
2: James Duckworth (155)
3: Luca Vanni (170)
4: Thomas Fabbiano (227)
5: Matt Reid (236)
6: Kyle Edmund (237)
7: Yasutaka Uchiyama (242)
8: Elias Ymer (244)
The last direct acceptance is exceptionally high here: Congsup Congcar, ranked 2078th.
First round match-ups to watch
Danai Udomchoke – Hyeon Chung
Udomchoke has had a long career in the shadow of Thailand’s most successful player, Paradorn Srichaphan, which saw him reach a career high ranking of #77 in early 2007. This happened after arguably the greatest tournament of his career, the Australian Open, where he beat 24th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round and took a set off Novak Djokovic in the third round. You can watch a great point he won against Djokovic in that match below. A year earlier, he pushed #3 seed David Nalbandian to the brink in their first round match, falling 2-6 2-6 6-1 7-6(4) 1-6.
2007 was also the last year in which the now 33 year old Udomchoke was ranked inside of the top 100. Currently he is ranked just outside the top 300 at #308 and one has to wonder how long he will keep playing. Perhaps he can make a final run at his home event here. He will take on the South Korean youngster Chung, who is fifteen years his junior and ranked 249th.
Top Half
Last week, top seed Go Soeda was involved in what arguably was the upset of the year, losing 6-3 6-3 as the second seed to Oscar Hernandez in the first round of qualifying at the US Open. Hernandez had been retired for four years and came back on a protected ranking to solely play the qualifying tournaments of Grand Slams. During his professional days, he was known to be awful on hardcourt (5-32 on the main tour), so his win was an enormous surprise and quite humiliating for Soeda. However, Soeda thrives at Challenger level and should be able to brush off that loss here with a deep run.
Perhaps eighth-seeded Elias Ymer can threaten him, although it is yet to be seen how he performs on hardcourt, since the strides he has made this year have solely come on clay. I can’t see the other two seeds, Thomas Fabbiano and Yasutaka Uchiyama, threatening Soeda. A run by Udomchoke is a possibility to consider and would be a nice surprise.
Bottom Half
James Duckworth heads this half and should be a comfortable favorite to reach the final, fighting it out with Kyle Edmund in the quarterfinal for that spot. Matt Reid and Luca Vanni will battle it out in the other section for a semi-final spot against a variety of low ranked Indian and Thai players, which should be no problem for them. However, against Duckworth or Edmund, I see them as a solid underdog.
Predictions
Semis:
Soeda > Udomchoke
Duckworth > Vanni
Final:
Duckworth > Soeda
Udomchoke lets his hometown inspire him to make a good run, but Soeda will simply be too solid for the veteran. The quarterfinal between Duckworth and Edmund will be the real final, as I can see Edmund beating Soeda in the final as well.
Citta Di Como 2014
ATP Challenger Tour
Como, Italy
August 25-31
Prize Money: €35,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Facundo Arguello (121)
2: Pierre-Hugues Herbert (136)
3: Adrian Ungur (137)
4: Filippo Volandri (148)
5: Victor Hanescu (150)
6: Potito Starace (156)
7: Marco Cecchinato (160)
8: Andrea Arnaboldi (172)
The last direct acceptance is Christian Lindell, ranked 285th. Viktor Troicki is in the qualifying draw and is very likely to make it into the main draw.
First round match-ups to watch
(5) Victor Hanescu – Jan Hajek
Long time top 100 player Hanescu (33) looks to have dropped out of it for good this year and currently is barely holding onto a top 150 position at #150. Fellow veteran Hajek (31) has made an even bigger drop this year and currently resides exactly 200 spots lower at #350 after starting the year at #105. A big contrast to only a year ago, when he played Federer in the third round of a 500 event. This may very well be the last couple of months on tour for both gentleman and perhaps they can make something interesting out of this match, as both their previous encounters went into a dramatic decider, both won by Hanescu: 6-7(8) 6-4 7-5 and 5-7 6-1 6-4.
Top Half
As expected from a European Challenger the field is a lot more in balance than its Asian counterpart this week. Facundo Arguello heads the field and will be challenged by three Italian seeds in his half, Andrea Arnaboldi, Filippo Volandri and Potito Starace. Volandri and Starace are projected to battle it out in the quarterfinal, just like two weeks ago in Cordenons. However, it is yet to be seen if Volandri is fit enough, considering he retired from that match in the second set. I can’t see a lot of suprises coming from the non-seeded players, so an Arguello – Starace semi-final is very likely here. Unless, of course, Viktor Troicki qualifies and lands in this half, in which case anything can happen considering he would be among the top seeds. For my predictions, considering there is a 75% chance he draws a spot in the bottom half, I’m going to assume that will be the case.
Bottom Half
Pierre-Hugues Herbert leads this half, but he has been in poor form lately, so there might well be a surprise finalist coming out of this half. #7 seed Marco Cecchinato is projected to play him in the semi-final and I think the young Italian should be marked a favorite there. From the upper section, #3 seed Adrian Ungur should prevail over his countryman Hanescu. Ungur won a Challenger three weeks ago in San Marino, which should give him a confidence boost.
Predictions
Semis:
Troicki > Arguello
Cecchinato > Ungur
Final:
Cecchinato > Troicki
Top seed Arguello hasn’t had the best of showings on European clay this year, even losing in straight sets to world number 379 Roman Jebavy in his last tournament. If Troicki ends up in the bottom half, he plays Cecchinato in the semi-final, which would determine the winner of the tournament.
Cecchinato has been sniffing at main tour success lately, but coming up short in deciding sets on a lot of occasions. Here at a Challenger in his home country, he should feel less pressure and prevail. He has posted good results in Italy this year, with three semi-finals and a final in clay Challengers.
Sousa Wins 1st Title In Kuala Lumpur, Raonic Improves World Tour Finals Standing in Bangkok
ATP Kuala Lumpur
Joao Sousa is at a career high ranking of 52 after taking his first career ATP title 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 over Julian Benneteau. The title is also the first ATP title for a Portuguese player. Benneteau is once again a runner-up, dropping to 0-9 career in ATP finals. He had a match point in this one, but unraveled shortly after.
Sousa has had a tremendous year and a great past couple of weeks: he beat Ryan Harrison, Pablo Cuevas, David Ferrer and Jurgen Melzer as an SE here. Benneteau beat Michal Przysiezny, Pablo Andujar, Adrian Mannarino and Stanislas Wawrinka.
Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen took the doubles title over Pablo Cuevas/Horacio Zeballos.
ATP Bangkok
Milos Raonic helped his chances to qualify for the world tour finals with a 7-6, 6-3 final victory over Thomas Berdych in Bangkok.
Raonic beat Marinko Matosevic and Feliciano Lopez, then Richard Gasquet in the semis to reach the final. Berdych beat Roberto Bautista-Agut, Rendy Lu and Gilles Simon.
With his 5th ATP title, Raonic is now just 180 points behind Jo Wilfried Tsonga for 10th place in the World Tour Finals.
Jamie Murray and John Peers took the dobules title over Tomasz Bednarek/Johan Brunstrom.
Montreal, September 28, 2013 – Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) advanced to his ninth career final and third of 2013 on Saturday at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, an ATP World Tour 250 event.
The 22-year-old Canadian, seeded third in the tournament, avenged his tough five set loss to Richard Gasquet in the Round of 16 at the U.S. Open last month with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over the Frenchman in the semifinals. Raonic hit 23 aces, won 81 percent of his first serve points, and managed to break Gasquet’s serve twice in the match.
Raonic will attempt to win the fifth title of his career on Sunday when he takes on top seed and world no. 6 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the championship match. Raonic won their only previous meeting last year in Cincinnati in three sets.
2013 ATP Bangkok & Kuala Lumpur Previews & Predictions
The Asian swing of the ATP world tour starts with strong fields for 250s in Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, both on indoor hardcourts.
ATP Bangkok
Thailand Open
ATP World Tour 250
Bangkok, Thailand
September 23-September 29, 2013
Prize Money: $567,530
Top 4 seeds (Who all receive first round byes)
1: Tomas Berdych
2: Richard Gasquet
3: Milos Raonic
4: Gilles Simon
The original top seed, Andy Murray, withdrew earlier this week and will probably be out the rest of the year due to much-needed back surgery.
First round matchups to watch:
Ivo Karlovic vs. Bernard Tomic
Not a whole lot of first round showdowns for this tournament, but this one could be interesting. Karlovic lost to Sam Querrey in Metz, while Tomic comes off helping the Aussies make the DC world group. He has had a poor year, dogged by personal issues, and this one could honestly go either way based upon the unpredictable form of both players.
Top Half:
Tomas Berdych starts against Roberto Bautista Agut or a qualifier. Assuming he wins that, a probably easier match against one of Rendy Lu, Evgeny Donskoy, Lukas Rosol or Lukasz Kubot will be in order. Rosol was finally able to win back-to-back matches in St. Petersburg.
Metz champion Gilles Simon faces the Tomic/Karlovic winner and then most likely Jarkko Nieminen in the quarters, assuming the Fin beats a slumping Igor Sijsling, and Robin Haase/Daniel Gimeno-Traver.
Bottom Half:
Defending champ Richard Gasquet will play Lukas Lacko or a qualifier. Mikhail Youzhny awaits in the quarters, as the Russian needs to beat Paolo Lorenzi and Denis Istomin or Suk-Young Jeong, an up and coming wildcard from Korea.
Milos Raonic will face Marinko Matosevic or wild card Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul. In all likelihood, Raonic will duel Feliciano Lopez in the quarters. Lopez just has to get wins over wildcard Laslo Djere and a qualifier.
Dark Horse: Roberto Bautista Agut
Bautista Agut beat Berdych in Chennai at the start of this year and played well in St. Petersburg. His punchy style can force the Czech into errors if his form is off and he opens with a qualifier. If he upsets Berdych, the field is weak until the semis, where Simon/Nieminen would be his likely opponent, another winnable match.
Predictions
Semis:
Berdych d. Nieminen
Raonic d. Gasquet
Nieminen beat Berdych once indoors, but Berdych has won every other meeting, and I have Nieminen in the semis. Although his form wasn’t great before the US Open, he has had a break and plays well indoors. Simon will probably be tired. Gasquet beat Raonic at the US Open a few weeks ago, but indoors, I think the pendulum swings in favor of the Canadian with his serve.
Final:
Raonic d. Berdych
Raonic won their only head to head meeting in Cincy last year, and I just think he has a slight edge indoors, though this could go either way. Raonic is also fighting for a spot in the ATP World Tour Finals.
ATP Kuala Lumpur
Malaysian Open
ATP World Tour 250
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
September 23-September 29, 2013
Prize Money: $875,500
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: David Ferrer
2: Stanislas Wawrinka
3: Nicolas Almagro
4: Jurgen Melzer
First round matchups to watch:
(WC)Ryan Harrison vs. Joao Sousa
Harrison needed a wild card to enter the field here, as his ranking is back outside the top 100. He will get an interesting match against Sousa, who has had a great year and made the semis indoors in St. Petersburg. Depending on Sousa’s fatigue level, he may be a slight favorite.
(WC)Pablo Carreno-Busta vs. Alex Bogomolov
Carreno-Busta has had an amazing year and will begin transitioning to consistent ATP tour tennis at this point, starting with a wild card here to face Bogomolov. Bogey has inconsistent form while PCB is mostly known for his clay court prowess with no idea how his game will hold up indoors.
Top Half:
David Ferrer opens with a qualifier, then one of Harrison/Sousa, Nikolay Davydenko/Pablo Cuevas in the quarters. Davydenko could be streakily dangerous, but otherwise not a bad start for Ferrer.
Jurgen Melzer will face Horacio Zeballos or a qualifier, then one of Vasek Pospisil/Victor Hanescu/Federico Delbonis/Hyeon Chung in the quarters. Pospisil has a nice underdog chance to make a run here, otherwise it should be Melzer.
Bottom Half:
Stan Wawrinka will face Carlos Berlocq or Marcos Baghdatis to start. He beat Baghdatis at the US Open. In the quarters, Carreno-Busta/Bogomolov or Dmitry Tursunov/Qualifier await. Not the easiest draw, but not the worst either.
Nicolas Almagro was a sad sack 0-3 during the US Summer swing and is back for indoors in the fall against Daniel Brands or Adrian Mannarino, both of whom can be dangerous. The winner gets one of Julien Benneteau/Michal Przysiezny/Grega or Zemlja/Pablo Andujar in the quarters. Przysiezny comes off semis in St. Petersburg and Benneteau is struggling.
Dark Horse: Vasek Pospisil
Daniel Brands could also qualify for this honor, but I will give it to Pospisil. Let’s assume he can beat Hanescu and Delbonis/Chung, both of whom will be favored indoors. His test with Melzer would be big but is also winnable. Pospisil has the talent. The consistency is still lacking. His quality play in Canada’s Davis Cup ties indoors cannot be discounted. Melzer is unpredictable himself and has lost 3 straight matches.
For the Canadian, the semis are quite possible. They met last year In Kuala Lumpur, but Melzer retired early in set 2.
Predictions
Semis:
Ferrer d. Pospisil
Wawrinka d. Brands
Ferrer should probably cruise his way to the final. Wawrinka doesn’t have that tough of a draw and the other section is weak. I say Brands will get out of it.
Final:
Wawrinka d. Ferrer
Ferrer won their only indoor meeting, and has a solid edge in the h2h, but Wawrinka seems to be in great form and I think he will continue that and notch a title here.
August 2013 ATP Challenger Tour Recap: Carreno-Busta Continues Winning Ways
Rio De Janeiro Challenger (August 5-August 11, 2013)
Agustin Velotti took out the up and coming Blaz Rola for this clay court title. Velotti beat Eduardo Schwank in the semis, while Rola beat Emilio Gomez, who notably beat the tournament top seed Thiemo De Bakker.
San Marino Challenger (August 5-August 11, 2013)
Wild card Marco Cecchinato shocked a lot of people when he took care of Filippo Volandri in the final to take this challenger title on clay. Cecchinato took care of seeded players Jesse Huta Galung and Jiri Vesely before beating Jan-Lennard Struff in the semis. Volandri beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the semis.
Cordenons Challenger (August 12-August 18, 2013)
Pablo Carreno-Busta won yet another clay court challenger title, topping Gregoire Burquier in the final after defeating Pablo Lorenzi in the semis. Burquier beat Potito Starace in the semis.
Kazan Challenger (August 12-August 18, 2013)
Sergiy Stakhovsky found his game again after a post-Wimbledon hangover and won this hard court Russian challenger over Valery Rudnev after beating Alex Kudryavtsev in the semis. Rudnev reached the final by defeating Konstantin Kravchuk.
Meerbusch Challenger (August 12-August 18, 2013)
The Maserati challenger on clay was won by Jan Hajek in straights over Jesse Huta Galung, who continues his solid showing on the challenger tour this year. Hajek beat Miloslav Mecir in the semis while Huta Galung dispatched Pere Riba.
Bangkok Challenger (August 26-September 1, 2013)
Top seed Blaz Kavcic got back in the winner’s circle taking the title on hardcourts in Bangkok easily over Suk-Young Jeong. Kavcic beat Jimmy Wang in the semis while Jeong took care of Matt Ebden.
Como Challenger (August 26-September 1, 2013)
Pablo Carreno-Busta won his second title of the month, again on clay over the young Austrian Dominic Thiem. PCB beat Marco Crugnola, while Thiem beat Lorenzo Giustino.
Monaco, Gasquet take Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok titles
ATP Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Tournament 2 seed Juan Monaco earned his fourth title of 2012 and continued his strong year with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory over 7 seed Julien Benneteau. Pico was not regarded as the favorite going in, especially after his 1stround US Open loss and a ho-hum hard court season. He acquitted himself by beating Jimmy Wang, Vasek Pospisil, 3 seed Kei Nishikori in 3 sets (with a final set tiebreak) and finally Benneteau.
Benneteau made a nice run this week, earning wins over Carlos Berlocq, Matt Ebden, Alejandro Falla and top seed David Ferrer in a major semi final upset. Still, when the pressure was on, it was Monaco who capitalized. Benneteau is now a career 0-6 in ATP finals.
Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares won the doubles title over the Flemchins.
ATP Bangkok
2 seed Richard Gasquet drubbed 4th seeded countryman Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-1 to earn his first title in two years in Bangkok. Gasquet had lived on the edge in previous rounds, coming back from a set down against Grigor Dimitrov and Jarkko Nieminen. He also beat Bernard Tomic in a close one, but he took care of business in the final.
Simon raced to his 2nd ATP final of the year with wins over Go Soeda, countryman Gael Monfils and top seed Janko Tipsarevic. It was also another good Bangkok run for Flying Fin Nieminen, who upset 3 seed Milos Raonic to make the semis.
Yen Hsun-Lu and Danai Udomchoke, a wild card team, won the doubles title over Eric Butorac and Paul Hanley.
Tennis Atlantic 