2014 Sport1 Open Update: Zeballos and Huta Galung among quarterfinalists
Chris de Waard, Tennis East Coast

There was a slight sense of panic lurking around Scheveningen, as the tournament was getting delayed by heavy rain, completely flushing out play on Tuesday. To make it even worse, the predictions were the same for Wednesday, but it turned out to be better than anticipated and play started around 14:00 local time.

Third seed Thomaz Bellucci was having all kinds of problems against Yannick Mertens from Belgium, dropping the first set but eventually coming through 4-6 6-1 6-4. Playing on Court 9 at a Challenger must have been a disheartening experience for the former world number 25, who has played in the biggest stadiums the sport has to offer. After the match, Bellucci claimed to have struggled with the heavy conditions and that he was not happy with his level of play. Nevertheless, he was glad to go through and was excited to still have an opportunity to emulate the performance of his coach, Francisco Clavet, who won this tournament exactly twenty years ago.

Over at Court 8, a very exciting match was being played between two players who triumphed over Nadal last year, Zeballos and Darcis. It’s a shame that this match was not played on a televised court, because it surely deserved a bigger crowd than it had. Zeballos won the high quality affair in three sets, 7-6(5) 3-6 6-4, after which he jumped in the air and let out a loud ‘Vamos!’.

On Court 1, a tragic encounter between Martin Fischer from Austria and Frenchman Gregoire Burquier ended with Burquier missing three match points in the second set and getting bageled in the third after he clearly struggled to mentally deal with his missed opportunities. The match ended 5-7 7-6(3) 6-0. Burquier’s countryman, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, had more luck as he ousted Uladzimir Ignatik 5-7 6-4 6-1.

The day ended on a remarkable note as the match of first seed Robin Haase against qualifier Dino Marcan (ranked #494) got suspended due to bad light at 5-2* in Marcan’s favor. On first sight, that’s not really remarkable, of course, but it already happened at 19:45 local time while under normal circumstances play could have gone on for another hour or two. This just shows how rough the weather conditions were. As play resumed the following day, Haase got back to *4-5, but he missed several game points and dropped the set 6-4. After that, however, his opponent wasn’t troubling him any longer and he won the match 4-6 6-3 6-0.

The stage was now set for the rematch of last year’s final between Haase and Huta Galung, which once again ended in Huta Galung’s favor. Huta Galung took down the first set in a tiebreak and was leading 5-2* in the second when he started to get tight, playing a horrendous game while he was serving for the match at *5-3. Haase won three games in a row and led 30-0 on Huta Galung’s serve at 5-5, but it wasn’t enough as Huta Galung still managed to hold serve and immediately break Haase in the next game to come through in two sets, 7-6(4) 7-5. With this result the #1 seed, playing at his home tournament, was knocked out in the second round.

Other results included Martin Fischer yet again escaping from the jaws of defeat, as he beat Herbert 3-6 7-5 6-2 after being down 3-6 *4-4 0-30. Another escape artist was seventh seed Andreas Beck, who came back after being *2-5 down in the first set against Lopez-Perez. He ended up saving two set points and taking down the tiebreak 10-8, after which the second set ended in a much easier 6-2 in Beck’s favor. Third seed Bellucci won’t be following in his trainer’s footsteps, as he went down 7-5 1-6 5-7 against Matteo Viola. Bellucci saved two match points at *6-5 in Viola’s favor, but on his third match point Viola ripped a backhand winner after an epic and gruesome 40-stroke rally.

The day ended with Zeballos being involved in another epic match, as he beat compatriot and second seed Diego Schwartzman 6-3 3-6 7-5. The matches clearly took their toll on Zeballos, as he was barely able to walk to the net after taking down the match point, which followed one of the many long rallies in this match.

The quarterfinal line-up is an interesting mix of seeds and surprises, as unseeded Martin Fischer will take on last year’s winner Jesse Huta Galung, fourth seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov will face fifth seed David Goffin, seventh seed Andreas Beck will meet unseeded Matteo Viola and the eighth seeded Brazilian Joao Souza will try to push unseeded Horacio Zeballos into further physical torture.

Scheveningen (@Sport1Open) Challenger Update
Chris de Waard, Tennis East Coast

A solid field has landed in Scheveningen (The Hague) this week to play the Sport1 Open, with a total of twelve current and former top 100 players being in the mix to take Jesse Huta Galung’s crown, who beat Robin Haase in last year’s final.

We might see an early repeat of that final, since the two are projected two play each other in the second round. For that to happen, Haase needs to get past Croatian qualifier Dino Marcan, while Huta Galung is up against fellow Dutchman Boy Westerhof, who entered this tournament on a wild card.

As I walked onto the venue to catch the action of the first day it immediately struck me how casual Challengers are compared to ATP events. I barely passed the entrance and I had already bumped into Taro Daniel, who was hanging out and talking to someone before his match. As I collected my press badge, Robin Haase queued up behind me for his own and his brother’s credentials. Haase entered the doubles tournament with his 33-year-old brother Eric, a very competent amateur player, but they couldn’t pull out the win and lost 6-3, 6-1 to another Dutch couple, Stephan Fransen and Wesley Koolhof. Throughout the day, I kept seeing players all around me as I walked around the venue.

The first day started out with an encounter between two young Belgians, fifth seed David Goffin and Kimmer Coppejans, which ended in a blow-out victory of 6-1 6-3 for the older of the two, Goffin, who reached the fourth round at Roland Garros in 2012 as a qualifier, but now is ranked outside of the top 100 yet again.

In the second round, Goffin will face Serbian Filip Krajinovic, who beat Dutch wild card Tim van Rijthoven 6-2, 6-4. 17-year-old Van Rijthoven looked completely out of his element in the first set, which isn’t surprising when you realize he made his debut at Challenger level and was still playing at Wimbledon three days ago, where he lost in the quarterfinal of the junior’s tournament. Unfortunately, his biggest weapon display before the second set was hitting a ballboy in the face with his serve during warm-up, who had to be substituted. In the second set, he finally seemed to have adapted to the radically different conditions, but it’s clear he isn’t ready for this level yet, although he showed a lot of potential and I’m sure we will see more of his blistering single-handed backhand in the future. This should please Davis Cup captain Jan Siemerink, who was watching him from the stands and is in dire need of promising youngsters.

Over at court 1, a very high quality affair was developing between Italian Matteo Viola and Japanese Taro Daniel, who played a first set that would’ve been more at its place at ATP 250 level. 21-year-old Daniel is the least stereotypical Japanese you will ever see. A 6’3’’ clay court specialist who was born in New York and lives in Valencia is something that immediately tickles your interest. The two offered a vintage clay court match with many grueling rallies, which unfortunately only stayed interesting in the first set. Daniel went down *1-4 in the first set and managed to fight himself all the way back 5-5* 40-0, at which point Viola played some of his greatest points of the match and topped it off with an exquisite dropshot to save the final break point against him.

In the tiebreak, a similar scenario developed with Daniel once again going down *1-4 and fighting himself back, eventually saving three set points before winning the tiebreak 9-7. After that, the match went out like a candle with Daniel’s movement looking hampered, something he took a MTO for in the third set to receive treatment on his upper right leg. One has to think he needs to do some serious work on his physique before he can really do damage at the ATP level. It shouldn’t be a problem as his ground strokes are very sound already. It’s clear he has the talent and strokes to become a factor at the highest level. However, his serve will need some work to fulfil the potential of his height. Nevertheless, Viola ended up winning the match 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-1 and he will play third seed Thomaz Bellucci or Yannick Mertens in the second round.

Over at Center Court, the day ended with seventh seed Andreas Beck never being in doubt against Martin Alund (6-2 6-4), who seems a long way from the time he took a set off Nadal on the surface, which was only a year and a half ago. He made a show out of his loss though, constantly swearing, complaining and making fun of himself, getting some laughs from the crowd. Day one action ended with fourth seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov, who beat Federer/Wawrinka in doubles at their Davis Cup meeting in April, taking on 30 year old Dutch wild card Matwé Middelkoop, who has been out of the running for over six months due to major shoulder surgery and made his comeback at a Futures event two weeks ago. Middelkoop played to his abilities, gave everything he had and almost managed to take the match into a decider, but eventually Nedovyesov came through in straights, 6-2, 7-6(5).

Day two seems to be very promising and includes the following clashes: Ignatik – Herbert, Bellucci – Mertens, Schwartzman – Crivoi, Huta Galung – Westerhof and Haase – Marcan. The match of the day in my eyes will be played between Horacio Zeballos and Steve Darcis, who last year both made a name for themselves by beating Nadal. Zeballos pulled it off in the final of Viña del Mar in February, while Darcis ousted him in the first round of Wimbledon. Darcis didn’t come out of that match unharmed, as he hurt his shoulder and has been struggling with it ever since. He had surgery in October, was out for eight months and made his comeback last month. Hopefully the former world number 44 stays with us in good health for many years to come.