Taro Daniel and Facundo Bagnis Triumph During Rio Open Qualifying Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
As the Rio de Janeiro Olympics swiftly approach, players will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the Brazilian climate at this week’s Rio Open. Headed by the Spanish duo of Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer, qualifying for the main draw of the tournament was a tough task in itself for the 16-strong field.
France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu was the top seed in the draw. The 34-year-old entered the tournament with good form after recently reaching the final of the Montpellier Open, the tenth ATP final of his career. Unfortunately for Mathieu he failed to win his first ATP title since 2009 after losing to Richard Gasquet.
Switching from hard to clay didn’t appear too troublesome for Mathieu in his opening match against Brazilian world No.155 Andre Ghem. Despite dropping his service twice (one in each set) the top seed broke his opponent four times to secure the 6-3, 6-4, win. The win moved Mathieu to a showdown with Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Traver has played in 21 ATP Challenger finals, 20 of which has been on clay. Mathieu’s Brazilian journey came to an unfortunate end after he retired at 2-2 in the second set due to a yet to be confirmed injury, elevating Gimeno-Traver to the main draw.
There was better news for Japanese second seed Taro Daniel. Daniel, who has an American father and a Japanese mother, started his Rio campaign against Brazilian youngster Orlando Luz. The 18-year-old won the Wimbledon Boys’ doubles title in 2014 and is also a two-time Youth Olympic medalist (gold in doubles and silver in singles). The world No.94 was made to battle in both sets before winning 6-3, 6-4, after 90 minutes on the court. Next up for Daniel was clay court specialist Facundo Argüello. Unlike many other players, the Argentine has played on clay continuously since the start of 2016. Arguello reached the second round after defeating Blaz Rola 3-6, 6-2,6-1. The final encounter was a roller coaster journey for Daniel, who recovered from a set down to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Argentinian pride was restored by third seed Facundo Bagnis, who survived a two-hour opening match. Facing compatriot Maximo Gonzalez, the world No.97 battled to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. The next opponent for him was Spain’s Albert Montanes. The Spanish sixth seed also endured a testing opening match, winning 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-0 against Brazil’s José Pereira. The opening set between Bagnis and Montanes was highly competitive as the Argentine broke his opponent for the second time of the match to seal the opening set. Bagnis then had to fight back at the start of the second set after being broken to love. Staging a successful comeback, the third seed broke Montanes twice in the second set to lead 6-4, 5-2, before his opponent surprisingly retires. Similar to Mathieu, there were no details concerning the nature of his retirement.
Grabbing the final spot was Portugal’s Gastao Elias. During the Argentina Open the world No.113 produced some outstanding tennis against Dominic Thiem. The problem for the Portuguese player was this his inconsistent play got the better of him as Thiem clinched the win in three sets. Elias continued his encouraging form in Rio with a first round win over Chile’s Hans Podlipnik (6-2, 6-2). The reward for his was a showdown with home favorite Rogerio Dutra Silva. Silva appeared on course to a crushing win after taking the first set in 34 minutes, however, Elias triumphantly battled back to win 1-6, 7-5,6-2. Elias won 56% of his service points, firing six aces against Silva.
First round matches
Q Taro Daniel JAP – Inigo Cervantes ESP
Q Facundo Bagnis ARG – Pablo Cuevas URA
Q Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP – Juan Monaco ARG
Q Gastao Elias POR – Santiago Giraldo COL
2015 Challenger Tour Finals Preview and Predictions
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Challenger Tour
Sao Paulo, Brazil
25-29 November 2015
Indoor Clay
Prize Money: $220,000
Entrants (ATP/Challenger ranking in parentheses)
1: Paolo Lorenzi (68/3)
2: Guido Pella (76/4)
3: Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava (87/2)
4: Marco Cecchinato (89/7)
5: Inigo Cervantes (98/8)
6: Radu Albot (120/10)
7: Farrukh Dustov (161/9)
8: Guilherme Clezar (186/>50)
A strong field will compete for the Challenger Tour Finals title, with seven of the top ten Challenger players of 2015 entering this event. Missing are #1 Hyeon Chung, #5 Yuki Bhambri and #6 John Millman, all of whom prefer to play on hardcourts and unsurprisingly aren’t travelling to the other side of the world to compete in a clay event. For the third year in a row the wild card has been awarded to Guilherme Clezar, who made an unexpected fairytale run last year when he beat countryman Joao Souza 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(7) and Blaz Rola 6-4 6-3 to qualify for the semi-final. There he continued his spectacular run, fighting off Victor Estrella Burgos in undoubtedly the Challenger match of the year, 7-6(4) 6-7(0) 7-6(12). After losing 6-2 6-3 to Diego Schwartzman in the final he unfortunately wasn’t able to build on this result, as he finished 2015 outside of the top 50 in the Challenger standings.
Groups
Group A
Paolo Lorenzi
Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava
Inigo Cervantes
Farrukh Dustov
Group B
Guido Pella
Marco Cecchinato
Radu Albot
Guilherme Clezar
Round Robin Match-Ups To Watch
Paolo Lorenzi – Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava
The Challenger Tour is often announced as a breeding ground for new talent, but these two 33-year-olds couldn’t be further from that description. However, for Muñoz-De La Nava 2015 meant his first ever entrance into the top 100, so he surely is a new face in that way. The Spaniard, citing confidence and fitness as the biggest components of his sudden rise, achieved it in an impressive manner, starting the season outside of the top 200. After a slow start to the season he won the Napoli Challenger in early April and reached five more finals after that, taking down additional titles in Moscow and Meknes. He faced Lorenzi once this year, in the semi-final of Cortina, where the Italian comfortably won 6-2 6-4.
Lorenzi also won the final, claiming one of his four titles this year. Lorenzi is a late-bloomer as well, but has been hovering around the top 100 for six years now, reaching a career high ranking of #49 in March of 2013. He has sixteen career Challenger titles and 335 match wins, which he wants to add to in the coming years. If his health allows it, he wants to play four more years and reach 400 career wins. He can make a head start in Sao Paolo, starting the tournament as the favorite and in the conditions he loves the most, playing on an indoor clay court at high altitude.
Guido Pella – Marco Cecchinato
25-year-old Pella is no stranger to the Challenger Tour Finals, having won the event in 2012 and cracking the top 100 for the first time because of it. However, he experienced a setback and even dropped out of the top 200 just over a year ago. Now firmly back into the top 100, he aims to reach the top 50 in 2016. He feels that he is now ready for it mentally, saying that he wasn’t mentally strong enough to maintain a top 100 position when he was younger. Having won four titles this year, his most impressive victory came last week in Montevideo, where he beat home player and world #40 Pablo Cuevas 6-3 6-2 in the semi-final. In the final he beat fellow Challenger Tour Finals competitor Cervantes 7-5 2-6 6-4, coming into Sao Paulo on a high.
23-year-old Cecchinato made his debut in the top 100 this year after reaching the semi-final in San Benedetto. He can be called the king of consistency, reaching the semi-final of twelve Challengers this year, even though it only led to one final and one title. To reach one of those semi-finals, in Caltanissetta, he managed to double bagel fellow Challenger Tour Finals competitor Clezar.
Group A
Dustov is the clear outsider in this group and it’s hard to see him win a match. The last match he played on clay was three months ago in Como, when he got humiliated by world #735 Carlos Gomez-Herrera in the first round, 6-1 6-1. Given the circumstances, surface and altitude, Lorenzi should have an edge here, but Muñoz-De La Nava likes these circumstances as well. He grew up in Madrid, where he managed to beat world #22 Sam Querrey in 2010, while he was still ranked outside of the top 300. Muñoz-De La Nava also told that he has had Sao Paulo as a big goal since midway through the season, so he should be very motivated. Cervantes is well in this race too, however, with a big win over world #73 Diego Schwartzman in the semi-final of Montevideo last week, before falling 7-5 2-6 6-4 to Pella.
Group B
For Albot the same goes as with Dustov. He hasn’t been playing well in his last couple of tournaments and the last time he played on clay was over three months ago in Prague. Although he managed to reach the final there, he did it without beating a top 300 player. Then again, at least he played matches, Cecchinato is a big question mark given that he played his last match a month and a half ago. It might indicate that he isn’t taking the tournament all that seriously. After Clezar’s poor 2015 it’s hard to predict him to repeat his miracle run of last year. The man got double bageled by fellow group member Cecchinato this year, after all. Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me either, last year he came into the tournament on exactly the same note. But realistically you can’t go around predicting him to come in third or fourth.
Predictions
Group A:
Lorenzi
Muñoz-De La Nava
Cervantes
Dustov
Group B:
Pella
Albot
Cecchinato
Clezar
Semi-finals:
Lorenzi d. Albot
Pella d. Muñoz-De La Nava
As you can see some of the higher ranked players are missing, but a lot of those absences aren’t surprising. #1 Gilles Muller and #5 Go Soeda are far from admirers of clay, while #6 David Goffin hasn’t played the mandatory ten events to be eligible for this event. He is also ranked 22nd at the moment, of course, so he probably wouldn’t have entered anyway. #8 Albert Ramos-Vinolas and #10 Jan-Lennard Struff not competing might be a surprise, but then again, the schedule isn’t very convenient with both of them having played their last match in QR1 of the Paris Masters three weeks ago.
Groups
Group A
Simone Bolelli
Victor Estrella Burgos
Andreas Haider-Maurer
Maximo Gonzalez
Group B
Diego Schwartzman
Blaz Rola
Joao Souza
Guilherme Clezar
Round-robin match-ups to watch
Simone Bolelli – Victor Estrella Burgos
This is a heavyweight match-up between the two favorites to take down the title, there is a good chance we will see them face off in the final again. However, if they tire each other out too much, Schwartzman, who has an easier group, might take advantage. Estrella Burgos and Bolelli have never met each other, but you have to give Bolelli an edge here. Especially when they get entangled in backhand rallies I expect Bolelli to put a lot of pressure on Estrella Burgos’ defensive slices. Bolelli hasn’t played on clay since the first week of August, but he has time to find his rhythm since it will be the final encounter of the group.
Diego Schwartzman – Joao Souza
Schwartzman has had a great year, reaching six Challenger finals and winning four of them and climbing up to a career high ranking of #76. Souza has been less fortunate in finals, racking up a 1-3 record. However, he clearly had a great year, climbing fifty ranking spots to #90. They faced off once this year, in the final of the San Juan Challenger, with Schwartzman winning 7-6(5) 6-3. However, this tournament is played at the club where Souza grew up, so that might inspire him to make it a closer encounter this time around.
Group A
I have mentioned that Bolelli and Estrella are the favorites, but the competition isn’t too shabby. The last match Haider-Maurer played was in QR2 in Basel against Bolelli, with the Italian only barely scraping through: 3-6 6-4 6-3. Both players are very well-rounded, so a similar close encounter on clay wouldn’t be surprising. The wild card in this group is Gonzalez. It’s hard to predict what he is going to do. When is he on, he is as good as any of these guys, but he can just as easily have a bad day and become a walk-over. This happened at the Guayaquil Challenger last week, where he got hammered by Facundo Arguello: 6-4 6-0.
Group B
This group is likely to be unbalanced, with Brazilian wild card Clezar being ranked significantly lower than the other three. I expect Schwartzman to come through as the group winner, but the battle between Rola and Souza for the second spot is going to be really interesting. They met once this year, on clay, with Rola winning 3-6 7-6(2) 6-3. No doubt their match here will be just as close. Perhaps Souza’s home advantage can get him through this time.
2014 Izmir, Meknes, Trnava, Campinas & Quito Challenger Previews Chris De Waard, Tennis East Coast
Turkey, Morocco, Slovakia, Brazil and Ecuador will provide the venues for this week’s Challenger events, with all of them except for Izmir in Turkey (hardcourt) being played on clay.
Izmir Cup
ATP Challenger Tour
Izmir, Turkey
15-21 September
Prize Money: €106,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Malek Jaziri (96)
2: Filip Krajinovic (107)
3: Alexander Kudryavtsev (132)
4: Evgeny Donskoy (135)
5: Ante Pavic (138)
6: Marsel Ilhan (142)
7: Iliya Marchenko (148)
8: Alexander Zverev (150)
The last direct acceptance is Mirza Basic, ranked 304th.
First round match-ups to watch
(1) Malek Jaziri – (PR) Philipp Petzschner
Petzschner comes off his best week after coming back from injury, reaching the semi-final of the Istanbul Challenger, where he lost in three sets to Tatsuma Ito. Jaziri, on the other hand, lost in the first round of that same tournament to #310 Fabrice Martin 6-4 6-2. We may well see the top seed leave the tournament in the first round for the second week in a row.
Ilija Bozoljac – Borna Coric
Coric is rumored to carry a minor knee injury, but he played a Davis Cup match this weekend on clay, losing in straights to Robin Haase. Prior to that he had a great result on hardcourt, however, reaching the second round of the US Open after beating world number 27 Lukas Rosol. With Bozoljac anything could happen, but a lot of people are hoping Coric will prevail to set up a second round match with another 17 year old: Alexander Zverev.
Top Half
This is a tricky half to predict, with a lot of outsiders having a chance to make a deep run. I’d rate #4 seed Evgeny Donskoy the favorite, but he doesn’t have an easy draw with Mirza Basic, Konstantin Kravchuk/Hiroki Moriya and Ante Pavic being on his path. In the top section, I have the feeling Petzschner will upset top seed Jaziri, making a run to the semi-final to face off with Donskoy.
Bottom Half
A second round match-up between 17 year olds Alexander Zverev and Borna Coric would be really interesting, but Coric has a tricky opener against Ilija Bozoljac. #3 seed Alexander Kudryavtsev also had a bad draw, facing off against Egor Gerasimov in the first round, against whom he lost in straight sets only two months ago. In the bottom section, #2 seed Filip Krajinovic should be able to get through, although Ruben Bemelmans is a dangerous floater when he is on his game. If Krajinovic does well at this tournament, it could mean he enters the top 100 for the first time.
Predictions
Semis:
Donskoy > Petzschner
Krajinovic > Zverev
Final:
Krajinovic > Donskoy
Krajinovic is the player who looks the most consistent and stable at the moment, which should get him through this tournament and into the territory of direct qualification for main tour events. He comes off a great Davis Cup weekend, where he beat Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri to secure a 3-2 victory for his team, so his confidence level should be high.
Morocco Tennis Tour Meknes
ATP Challenger Tour
Meknes, Morocco
15-20 September
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Pablo Carreno Busta (74)
2: Albert Ramos-Vinolas (75)
3: Damir Dzumhur (113)
4: Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (163)
5: Roberto Carballes Baena (213)
6: Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (218)
7: Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (222)
8: Lucas Pouille (225)
The last direct acceptance is Yannik Reuter, ranked 295th.
First round match-ups to watch
(8) Lucas Pouille – Gerard Granollers
Pouille comes off a good run in Szczecin, where he reached the semi-final and fell to the eventual winner Dustin Brown. Granollers just fell short in his last two first round matches, losing in three sets both times. However, with 42% of his ranking points to defend in the remainder of the year, Granollers desperately has to make something happen.
Top Half
Top seed Carreno Busta is back for more after his victory in Seville last week and I see no reason why he shouldn’t reach another final here. The other seeds in this half are Lucas Pouille, Adrian Menendez-Maceiras and Roberto Carballes Baena, whom I can’t see threatening him. That shouldn’t be a surprise, given that the ranking of #4 seed Menendez-Maceiras is about 100 spots worse than Carreno Busta’s.
Bottom Half
What Carreno Busta is to the top half, Ramos-Vinolas is to the bottom half. The only one relatively close to his ranking is Damir Dzumhur, but he played Davis Cup on indoor hardcourt this weekend, so his form remains to be seen. Ramos faces Matteo Viola, last week’s Biella winner, in the second round, which could be a challenge, but he should be able to get through. Ramos lost to Viktor Troicki in a very close encounter in the final of the Baja Luka Challenger last week, so his form is good.
ATP Challenger Tour
Trnava, Slovakia
15-21 September
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Robin Haase (70)
2: Blaz Rola (93)
3: Pere Riba (110)
4: Albert Montanes (111)
5: Andreas Haider-Maurer (118)
6: Adrian Ungur (134)
7: Marton Fucsovics (140)
8: Victor Hanescu (143)
The last direct acceptance is Arthur de Greef, ranked 250th. Last week’s Biella semi-finalist Benjamin Balleret entered the tournament as a special exempt. Jan Hajek, Miloslav Mecir and Karol Beck entered the tournament on a wild card.
First round match-ups to watch
(PR) Steve Darcis – Marco Cecchinato
An interesting encounter between two players who could have well been seeded. Cecchinato picked up his form a bit as of late, reaching a quarter and a semi-final in his last two tournaments. Darcis played Davis Cup on indoor hardcourt this weekend, so it remains to be seen how he will adapt.
(5) Andreas Haider-Maurer – (SE) Benjamin Balleret
Will Balleret be able to continue his form after his unlikely lucky loser run to the semi-final last week? After losing to the world #1616 in qualifying, he got another chance and perhaps should’ve given himself more than a semi-final spot, considering he missed a match point in that match. Haider-Maurer comes off a tournament victory and a semi-final last week, so that’s not an easy customer to try and continue your form against.
Top Half
Top seed Haase should make it to the quarterfinal, but there Darcis, Cecchinato or Ungur will be a tough opponent against whom he could potentially lose. In the bottom section, Haider-Maurer should be able to continue his good form with another semi-final, especially considering #4 seed Albert Montanes isn’t playing his best tennis at the moment.
Bottom Half
#2 seed Blaz Rola ran into Viktor Troicki last week, and here his draw isn’t that pleasant either. In the second round he could face last week’s Biella runner-up Filippo Volandri, after which Mate Delic could wait for him, who had a solid Davis Cup weekend. In the top section, #3 seed Pere Riba has lost his previous two first round matches and is desperately looking for a turnaround. A lot of dangerous unseeded players are lurking here, among them Andrea Arnaboldi and Jason Kubler.
Predictions
Semis:
Haider-Maurer > Haase
Rola > Fucsovics
Final:
Rola > Haider-Maurer
Rola and Haider-Maurer played each other earlier this year on clay in Panama, with Rola winning 7-5 6-3.
Campeonato Internacional de Tenis de Campinas
ATP Challenger Tour
Campinas, Brazil
15-21 September
Prize Money: $40,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Diego Schwartzman (85)
2: Facundo Bagnis (98)
3: Facundo Arguello (116)
4: Gastao Elias (139)
5: Guido Andreozzi (166)
6: Axel Michon (179)
7: Guilherme Clezar (189)
8: Andre Ghem (194)
The last direct acceptance is Fernando Romboli, ranked 409th.
First round match-ups to watch
(7) Guilherme Clezar – Gonzalo Lama
Lama entered the top 200 for the first time this month and is well capable of upsetting the seed here. Clezar had a great semi-final run at San Marino last month, but has been a bit shaky in his last couple of matches.
Top Half
Top seed Diego Schwartzman is having a great year, which saw him enter the top 100 for the first time. He should be a fair favorite to advance in this half, although players like Clezar, Facundo Arguello and Guido Andreozzi could pose a threat if they’re on their game. The safest bet here is a Brazilian or Argentinian advancing, since there are only two players with another nationality in this half.
Bottom Half
Second seed Facundo Bagnis is a bigger favorite to reach the final than Schwartzman. Perhaps a dangerous floater like Christian Lindell can trouble him, but I expect Bagnis to reach the final fairly comfortable. Fourth seed Gastao Elias comes off a Davis Cup tie in Russia and hasn’t been in the best of forms lately, so I don’t expect him to pose a threat.
Predictions
Semis:
Schwartzman > Arguello
Bagnis > Ghem
Final:
Schwartzman > Bagnis
XX Challenger ATP Trofeo Ciudad de Quito ‘Diario El Comercio’
ATP Challenger Tour
Quito, Ecuador
15-21 September
Prize Money: $40,000
The last direct acceptance is Juan Carlos Spir, ranked 433rd.
First round match-ups to watch
(3) Horacio Zeballos – Martin Cuevas
The younger brother of Pablo Cuevas will try to make something happen against the much higher ranked opponent here. Zeballos started the year inside of the top 70, but hasn’t been performing up to that level and now sits at #114.
Top Half
Nobody expected it to happen, but Victor Estrella Burgos even managed to hold his own at the main level this year, at the tender age of 34. With third rounds at Washington and the US Open and a semi-final at Bogota he has performed extremely well and posted a career high ranking of 69. In this field one has to mark him a favorite, especially considering he is 2-0 against #3 seed Zeballos, with both matches ending in straight sets. Perhaps fifth seed Austin Krajicek can cause another surprise, after winning Medellin Challenger out of nowhere two weeks ago. Last year Estrella won the title here, so he should feel really comfortable coming back.
Bottom Half
Second seed Joao Souza lost the final of the Medellin Challenger to Krajicek and in this half he should be favored to reach another final. He is likely to face Guido Pella in the semi-final, but he hasn’t been in great form and should be beaten quite easily by Souza. None of the other players in this half have been displaying a good enough form to be able to beat Souza, so any of them rising up to the occasion would be a big surprise.
Predictions
Semis:
Estrella Burgos > Zeballos
Souza > Pella
Final:
Souza > Estrella Burgos
Hard one to predict, since it can go either way. Souza leads the head to head 3-2, with three of those ending in three sets and one with Estrella retiring in the second set.
Newport, R.I.–July 11, 2013–36 year old Andre Sa is the oldest man playing here in Newport, and he passes some of his wisdom onto fellow Brazilian doubles partner Marcelo DeMoliner. The 24 year old DeMoliner is still working on his English, so Sa did all the talking after their 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 win over Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione today at the Hall of Fame Championships.
Sa made the final here in Newport in doubles in 2001, only to lose to a pair of twins with the last name of Bryan. Twelve years later, they met across the net in the first round of Wimbledon 2013 and faced another loss to the now-household name Bryans, who took the title at SW19.
“We were so looking forward to his first grand slam. Then the draw came out, and the rain. They’re (the Bryans) just too tough. The way they’re playing right now”, said an upbeat Sa.
This is his third tournament with DeMoliners. “It will be a nice test to see where this partnership will go.”
Sa is a completely different man than he was on his first trip to Newport in 2001. Now, Sa is married and traveling with his wife and 7-year-old daughter. But the only difference he’ll readily admit to is that given the constraints on his time, “I spend a lot less time on the court than I used to .
The secret to his longevity is modern science.
“So much has changed in the game from 10 years ago: the fitness, the recovery, the drink, the food, the diet. Now I see so many guys at 32 or 35 playing singles!”, he exclaimed.
His exit strategy is simple: Make it to Rio in 2016 to play for his home country in doubles.
“I’ve played the last three Olympics. A 4th one would be unbelievable, especially at home.”
