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Unstoppable Mikhail Youzhny Continues Unbeaten Run In Dubai Qualifying

Posted by Admin on February 22, 2016
Posted in: Adam Addicott, ATP, ATP Qualifying, Dubai. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Unstoppable Mikhail Youzhny Continues Unbeaten Run In Dubai Qualifying
Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic

As Novak Djokovic makes his final preparations for this week’s Dubai Tennis Championships, there were mixed fortunes for the seeded players in the qualifying draw.

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Heading the 16-player field was Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. The former world No.8 has climbed 49 places in the rankings this year after winning three consecutive Challenger titles across Asia (two in Bangkok and one in Manila). Youzhny, who reached the final of the tournament in 2007, kicked-off his campaign against Ireland’s Sam Barry. The Irishman is currently ranked 399th in the world and recently won a Futures title in Sunderland, Great Britain. Barry was no match for Youzhny as the world No.78 overcame a close opening set to win 7-6(1), 6-2.

Awaiting the Russian in the final qualifying round was Georgian fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who defeated Belgium’s Yannick Mertens in straight sets during his opening round. Despite struggling with his first serve, the top seed booked in place in the main draw with a 6-2, 6-4, win. Getting 43% of his first serves in, Youzhny claimed 69% of his service points to extend his 2016 winning streak to 17.

Speaking about Youzhny performance, tournament vice-chairman Colm McLoughlin spoke of his delight for the Russian.

“We are delighted that Mikhail Youzhny has successfully negotiated the qualifying rounds here, and he did so without the loss of a set to emphasise that he is very much back in form after a disappointing season last year,”  McLoughlin said.

Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano produced a surprise win to reach the first round in Dubai. Starting against Turkish wildcard Cem İlkel, the world No.142 endured a second set scare before winning 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. The reward for the Fabbiano was a meeting with second seed Ivan Dodig. During their marathon encounter, which lasted 13 minutes short of three hours, Fabbiano converted 6/10 break points to win 6-7(1), 6-4,6-2. The Italian will now play in his third ATP main draw this year.

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Kyle Edmund

Kyle Edmund’s hopes of continuing his strong start to the year was ended by unseeded Croat Franko Skugor. The Brit reached his first ATP quarterfinal at the start of the year in the Doha Open and claimed his fourth Challenger title in Dallas, USA. Edmund began his Dubai quest with a 6-3, 6-4, win over Czech veteran Radek Stepanek. Meanwhile, Skugor defeated eighth seed James Ward 6-3, 6-4.

Despite there being over 100 places separating Edmund and Skugor, the Croat saved 5/5 break points to seal a straight sets victory (6-4, 6-2). The score appears one-sided, however, Skugor won just 11 points more than his opponent (63 to 52).

Finally, Lucas Pouille dropped just six games in his successful qualifying campaign. In his first match the Frenchman played a little-known Dutch wildcard Roy de Valk, winning 6-1,6-0, in less than 40 minutes. After his easy opening match, Pouille faced fifth seed Ruben Bemelmans. The Belgian was forced to dig deep in his three sets win over Mischa Zverev in the first round.   The first round efforts invested by the fifth seed had an effect on him during his match against Pouille. The world no. 91 fired 7 aces and faced no break points during his 6-2, 6-3, triumph.

Brazilian joy for Facundo Bagnis and Gastão Elias in Sao Paulo Qualifying

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After the trials and tribulations of the Rio Open, the focus remains in Brazil at this week’s ATP 250 tournament in Sao Paulo. Headlined by France’s Benoit Paire, the tournament will feature six top 50 players. Prior to the main draw getting underway, a series of epic matches occurred during the qualifying draw for the tournament.

Top seed Facundo Bagnis secure his place in the main draw with a duo of wins over fellow Argentine players. Four Argentine players featured in the qualifying draw, three of which was drawn in the same section as Bagnis.  In his first round he faced world No. 156 Nicolas Kicker. Kicker recently came close to winning his first Challenger title after reaching the final at the San Domingo Challenger. His recent form continued in São Paulo after taking the first set against Bagnis before the top seed battled back to win 5-7,6-4,6-2.

The next Argentine for Bagnis was fifth seed Facundo Arguello. Arguello defeated Brazil’s Orlando Luz 6-4,6-2, in his opening match. Converting 4/9 breaks point against Arguello, Bagnis eased to a 6-3,6-3 victory.

Portuguese sixth seed Gastao Elias endured two three-set battles to reach the main stage of the tournament. At last week’s Rio Open the world No.141 qualified for the main draw before losing to surprised finalist Guido Pella.

Elias’ second Brazilian qualifying campaign started with a tough 3-6,6-3,6-2, triumph over wildcard Jose Pereira. Impressively the sixth seed won 80% of his service points during the first round. Next up for Elias was Chile’s Hans Podlipnik-Castillo, who stunned second seed Rugerio Dutra Silva in the first round. In a three-hour marathon, Elias edged past the Chilean player 7-6(5), 5-7,6-2.

Another Argentine success occurred for eight seed Maximo Gonzalez. His opening match against Italy’s Filippo Volandri came to an unfortunate end. After over two hours of play, the Italian retired at 5-5 in the final set due to an abdominal tear. Awaiting Gonzalez in the final round was Spanish third seed Roberto Carballes Baena. Baena produced a three sets win over Brazil’s Joao Souza in the first round. After dropping the first set, Gonzalez converted 5/7 break points to stun the third seed 4-6,6-3,6-3 to progress to the main draw. There was some consultation for Baena after he received a lucky loser position in the main draw following Guido Pella’s withdrawal.

Completing the quartet of qualifiers is seventh seed Blaz Rola. The Slovakian was four points away from losing in the first round before he achieved his marathon win over local talent Andre Ghem – 7-6(4),4-6,7-6(3). In the next round he played world No.218 Gianluca Nasco, who upset fourth seed Andrej Martin. Nasco won six Futures titles on clay last year. The Italian was on course to producing another surprise win after taking the opening set against Rola. Despite the promising start, Rola recovered to seal the win 3-6,6-0,6-4.

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Taro Daniel and Facundo Bagnis triumph during Rio Open qualifying

Posted by Admin on February 15, 2016
Posted in: Adam Addicott, ATP, ATP Qualifying, Rio. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Taro Daniel

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

Clay-Court Specialists Cecchinato and Bagnis Dominate @ArgentinaOpen Qualifying

Posted by Admin on February 8, 2016
Posted in: Adam Addicott, ATP, ATP Qualifying. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Clay-Court Specialists Marco Cecchinato and Facundo Bagnis Dominate Argentina Open Qualifying
Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Argentina 2015 HD TA Background

This year’s Argentina Open will see the king of clay, Rafael Nadal, kick-off his clay court season. As Argentine fans wait for the arrival of Nadal, the were treated to a series of entertaining matches over the weekend in the qualifying draw.

Half of the entrants in this year’s 16-strong qualifying draw were from the home country, however, only one Argentine successfully qualified to the main draw. 25-year-old Facundo Bagnis has already won two clay court titles this year. On the Challenger circuit Bagnis has claimed back-to-back titles in Bueno Aires, Argentina, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bagnis, seeded second in the draw, started his qualifying run with a roller coaster 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-0, win over Pedro Cachin. Next up for the second seed was Slovenia’s Blaz Rola. Rola dropped only two games in his opening match against home player Hernan Casanova. Ranked 49 places higher than Rola in the rankings, Bagnis eased himself to the 7-5, 6-1, win. During his second round match, the Argentine won 72% of his service points.

Italian top seed Marco Cecchinato was also impressive during his two qualifying rounds. The world No.91 was yet to win a match this year going into Rotterdam after falling at the first hurdle in his three previous tournaments. In the first round in Buenos Aires the top seed eased past world No.378 Juan Ignacio Galarza 6-1, 6-2. Awaiting him in the second round was another home player, fifth seed Facundo Arguello. Cecchinato won 68% of his service points and saved 7/7 break points to beat Arguello 6-3, 7-5, to book his place in the main draw.

Argentina Open 2016

 

Albert Montanes reached the main draw without dropping a set. After some intense off-season training, the 35-year-old didn’t start his 2016 season until the end of January at the Bucaramanga Challenger in Colombia, where he lost in the first round. He won his first match of the year at the Ecuador Open after defeating Jozef Kovalík in the first round. In Argentina, Montanes first match was against Brazilian world No.275 Jose Pereira. Despite there being over 100 places separating the two players, Montanes was made to battle before clinching the match 7-6(5), 7-6(6). In his final qualifying match, the Spaniard faced Italy’s Filippo Voladri. The fourth seed fired six aces during his straightforward 6-3, 6-4, win over Volandri.

Finally, Portugal’s Gastao Elias will play in his first ATP World Tour main draw since last year’s Portugal Open after his double win in qualifying. Opening up against world No.317 Tomás Lipovsek Puches, the sixth seed was pushed harder than expected during his 6-2, 7-6(4) first round win. Then in the final round of qualifying, he faced Guilherme Clezar. Clezar produced a shock 6-3, 6-2, win over third seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver in his first round match. Eilas required an hour and 50 minutes to edge past Clezar, winning 7-5,7-6(9).

 

First round matches

Q Marco Cecchinato ITA – Juan Monaco ARG (first meeting)
Q Gusta Elías POR – Daniel Munoz de la Nava ESP (Elias trails the head-to-head 0-1)
Q Albert Montanes ESP – Nicolas Almagro ESP (Montanes leads the head-to-head 5-2)
Q Facundo Bagnis ARG – Renzo Olivo ARG (Bagnis leads the head-to-head 4-1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015 ATP Atlanta (@BBTAtlantaOpen) Weekend Qualifying Wrap: Americans and Veterans Prevail

Posted by Admin on July 26, 2015
Posted in: Atlanta, ATP, BB&T Atlanta Open, On Site, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2015 ATP Atlanta (BB&T Atlanta Open) Weekend Qualifying Wrap: Americans and Veterans Prevail
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

Somdev Devvarman vs. Treat Huey

Somdev Devvarman vs. Treat Huey

Qualifying rounds 1 and 2 were completed over the weekend at the 2015 BB&T Atlanta Open. The side courts were utilized for qualifying (grandstand, Court 1, and one of the practice courts), as stadium court was used for the Commodores concert Saturday night and now after finishing touches the showcase court is ready for use for play on Monday when the main draw begins.

The conditions played a major factor in the match results, as it was blisteringly hot and sunny over both days, with only the occasional breeze making things more hospitable for players, officials, and spectators alike. All of the players who battled hard in their matches, win or lose, serve as a testament to the grit and will required to reach the ATP level in professional tennis, as all the qualifying participants certainly hope to reach that level, or get back to it.

Saturday Recap

On Saturday two of the young gun Americans, Jared Donaldson and Tommy Paul won hard fought matches, while 15 year old Trent Bryde shocked in his round 1 qualifying win, and Reilly Opelka didn’t have as much luck as his three fellow Americans and fell in defeat.

Donaldson maintained his composure, and confident attitude against Gastao Elias on grandstand, the first set lasted over an hour, though things were comfortably on serve up to 4-4. At that point Donaldson generated a break point and three deuce points against the Elias serve, only to fail to convert, and face a break point of his own at 4-5 serving, that game likewise going to three deuces before Donaldson held on.

The young American and his more experienced Portuguese rival both played high quality tennis overall, showing deft touch. Donaldson, given his background on fast surfaces was the more aggressive player, coming to net more often, while Elias moved well and imparted spin on the ball, given his background on clay. The first set went to a tiebreak, and serve proved relatively meaningless in that tiebreak with a total of five minibreaks created. Eventually Elias won three points in a row to get it to 6-3, and though he needed three set points, he did close out the first set.

Donaldson was disappointed but resolute as he battled back, perhaps helped by superior conditioning for the American summer weather. He broke Elias for 3-1 in set 2, and after saving a break point that would have given the break away in the next game, he would sail through the set without facing another breakpoint, closing it 6-3, after failing to convert three break point chances 4-1 up.

Jared Donaldson was clutch

Jared Donaldson was clutch

Set three took a similar path as the previous two sets, play was calm and on serve until Elias got broken easily for 4-3 Donaldson, Donaldson would have two break points in the next game to go up 5-3, and then Elias was mentally and physically beaten at that point, getting broken on Donaldson’s third match point of the game the result finishing 6-7(5) 6-3 6-3. One thing to note is both players served poorly in terms of first serve % and the number of double faults they posted, but still generally held their serves.

Prior to that match Tommy Paul beat what is ranking wise the second best player in his American high school recruiting class, Walker Duncan 6-3 7-6(9) in a little over an hour and a half. Duncan had a lot of fans in the stands as he’s a local player and a future Georgia Bulldog, but the fans certainly respected the play of Tommy as well, and overall it was an exciting atmosphere for a round 1 qualifying match.

Both players started very tight and their serves were not up to ATP quality by any measure, Duncan especially as he posted just one ace and six double faults in the match. Duncan, who made efforts to get the crowd into the match and on his side, started out the stronger of the two players, as he had a break point at 2-3. However when he had a chance to put the point away and go up 4-2, he slipped and fell on the court instead, and after that the momentum entirely shifted to Paul’s favor.

The Jersey boy decked out in Nike apparel broke Duncan in the next game as Walker totally went off the boil and seemed to check out mentally. From 2-3 Duncan lost the next four games rather routinely, and after the first set it looked like he might be headed for the showers rather quickly.

However, to his credit the teenager fought back and pulled himself back into the match. Paul, who is a good mover and plays good defensive tennis, would have improved his chances by being more aggressive and moving up the court, as Duncan’s big hitting, including a powerful forehand, started to do damage in the second set, as he kept the errors down, unlike set 1. Duncan’s impressive power got him a break for 2-1, but he would give up that break serving 3-2, and from there things were straightforward on serve until 5-5.

The end of the second set is where things got rather hairy, and the match was hanging in the balance, Paul got broken again and Duncan had a chance to serve out the set and force a third set, a third set he may well have won, but with his poor serve he couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Paul broke and forced a tiebreak and though Duncan would have two more set points, Paul finally advanced on his 4th match point, taking it 11-9 after multiple minibreaks of serve.

Paul is a talent but needs to add weapons to his game to compliment his defense and strong footwork while Duncan has firepower from the baseline but must improve his serve and work on playing with controlled aggression, rather than just aggression. Still on hard courts at least, they both showed signs of promise, and it will be interesting to see how they develop.

Paul signing for fans post win

Paul signing for fans post win with @sharkotennis standing by

Trent Bryde, 15, joined ranks with Felix Auger Aliassime, a 14 year old Canadian, as notable young teens to win against major pro opponents. Bryde shocked veteran journeyman Catlin Gard 7-6(4) 6-2 as Gard was 5-2 up in the first set and collapsed from there, winning just three more games the rest of the match.

Shuichi Sekiguchi is making his move at this BB&T Atlanta Open, and his wins over the weekend have moved him one match away from qualifying for his first ATP main draw tournament. The Japanese player has a game similar to his national counterparts, and many Asian men’s players. He’s a speedy counterpuncher who relies on moving his opponents around the court, but lacks the size and strength to impose himself, and thus has to stick to the baseline, and rallies over big serves. This approach worked deceptively well against the big American young gun Reilly Opelka, who is built similar to players such as John Isner and Kevin Anderson. Opelka, with is tall frame, is a big server, and has a powerful forehand to go with that, but his footwork was lacking, and he struggled to adjust his body around the court as Sekiguchi absorbed his power and moved the ball around.

Opelka winces from a tight shoulder

Opelka winces from a tight shoulder

Opelka failed to generate a break point until the last game of the match and appeared to be bothered by pain in his shoulder/neck throughout, as he kept rolling his head and shoulder and wincing while toweling off. Sekiguchi broke at 3-2 in set 1 (the set finished 6-4), and then one final time for 5-4 in set 2, as he saved two break points, likely caused by nerves, and served out the match 6-4 6-4.

In other Saturday results doubles specialist Treat Huey beat Ryan Haviland 7-6(8) 6-3, Yuichi Sugita joined Sekiguchi as Japanese winners, Sugita advancing over local favorite Kevin King 6-4 3-6 6-3 as King put up a hard fought in front of friends and family. Evan Song blitzed Takanyi Garanganga 6-4 6-1, Evgeny Korolev survived a surprisingly close match with Antonio Ruiz-Rosales 6-2 2-6 7-6(3), and Andrew Carter got an automatic walkover vs. Matias Castro.

Sunday Recap

Sunday saw the qualifying seeds take to the courts and most of them performed well. #1 qualies seed Denis Kudla rolled past Bryde 6-1 6-1 in what was a great learning example for the teen, Marinko Matosevic beat Carter 6-3 6-2, as he tries to find form and snap his run of poor results, Guido Pella was skillful against Song 6-2 7-6(5) as the difference in ranking showed, and Sugita played a better match than Saturday and got past the still maturing Paul 6-3 6-3. American Austin Krajicek also played a great match, while Evgeny Korolev continued to show rust, Krajicek winning 6-3 6-3.

Two seeds fell in defeat however, Matt Ebden struggled in the heat and Sekiguchi upset him 7-5 5-2, conditioning explaining the upset, and Jared Donaldson played an extremely hard fought match and toppled J.P. Smith, an opponent he had lost two twice previously this year, 6-7(5) 7-6(3) 6-4. The match was close throughout, and Donaldson has twice engineered clutch comebacks in his matches.

In regards to Donaldson, he’s not only a clutch, and talented tennis player, he also comes across as a true class act on and off the court. Respectful to opponents, ball kids, and the officials, and very accommodating with fans, including a family that is a bit of a legend at the BB&T Atlanta Open as they are the spirit of the tournament. After his win over Smith, Donaldson was approached by the famous group that I’ve cataloged previously on this site as the young man is a huge fan of John Isner, loudly declaring it to anyone within earshot during matches, and the girl simply supports young American men on the rise, formerly Ryan Harrison, and now Jack Sock (and of course Donaldson).

He posed with them for photos, autographed their items, and went above and beyond, as he handed out his sweatbands and headbands for the kids, who reacted with glee. He then kindly posed for a group photo, and quipped back “Jack Sock, not me?” when the girl said her favorite player was now Sock, and Donaldson overheard, resulting in laughter from everyone. Simply put it’s great to see a young talent have such a humble and friendly attitude, and it should serve him well and win him many new fans.

Donaldson with BB&T Atlanta Open Superfans (note the head and sweatbands from JD)

Donaldson with BB&T Atlanta Open Superfans (note the head and sweatbands from JD)

In the other interesting match of the day Somdev Devvarman beat another former University of Virginia player Treat Huey 7-5 6-3. The first set was long, though the points themselves were quick, but eventually Huey’s serve and volley game couldn’t stand up to Devvarman’s superior ground game as the Indian advanced to final round qualifying. Eight players remain in qualies, and are competing for the final four qualifying spots on Monday.

 

 

American Young Guns Donaldson, Paul Highlight @BBTAtlantaOpen 2015 Qualifying Draw

Posted by Admin on July 24, 2015
Posted in: Atlanta, ATP, BB&T Atlanta Open, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

American Young Guns Donaldson, Paul Highlight BB&T Atlanta Open 2015 Qualifying Draw
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

Tennis action from Atlantic Station in Atlanta, GA will begin tomorrow morning at 10 A.M. local time as the 2015 BB&T Atlanta Open (ATP Atlanta) kicks off with round 1 qualifying. The seven highest ranked players to enter qualifying receive byes into round 2, but two American young guns, Jared Donaldson, and Tommy Paul are not among those seeds, and thus will begin their qualifying campaigns tomorrow.

The 18 year old Rhode Islander Donaldson, who now resides in California, has scored ATP main draw wins on US soil in both Memphis and Newport this year and also has a challenger title in Maui, Hawaii, and a successful ATP qualifying campaign at London Queens on his resume this year. The American all-courter decided to turn pro in 2014, and has steadily risen up the rankings since then.

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He will open with 24 year old Gastao Elias of Portugal who has yet to break the top 100 in his career. Donaldson beat Elias on clay in both Houston and the Sarasota challenger this year, and given that’s Gastao’s preferred surface, Donaldson should be a favorite to win their matchup tomorrow as well. Elias is on a two match losing streak in singles and last played Davis Cup for Portugal (where they beat Finland on clay).

2015 French Open junior champion Tommy Paul (18) was formerly committed to the University of Georgia, but recently turned pro instead, and the young New Jersey resident is one of the top American junior players around. Paul will face off with a young American who does plan to go to UGA in the Fall Walker Duncan. The 19 year old will have local support as he’s from Atlanta, and he’s the #2 college recruit in the country right now, while Paul was the #1. Both of these Americans could have strong futures in the pro game, so it will be interesting to see the result of their matchup tomorrow.

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15 year old Trent Bryde, another Atlanta resident, and the national #5 recruit for his class gets a wild card and will face off with Catalin Gard, a Romanian journeyman who tends to bat around the challenger tour. The winner of that matchup gets Denis Kudla, who made a name for himself at Wimbledon this year where he reached the round of 16.

Below them in the draw, former Louisville Cardinal Andrew Carter faces Matias Castro of Argentina who prefers clay, and the winner of that will face Australian veteran Marinko Matosevic, who has endured an abysmal 3-17 season after previously being an ATP regular. Matosevic hasn’t won a match in months but barring disaster it’s hard to see him not reaching final round qualifying against Kudla, who likewise shouldn’t have trouble winning his first match.

Zimbabwe’s #1 Takanyi Garanganga, another Atlanta resident, will open with former top recruit (class of 2011) Evan Song, an American, given Garanganga is an active player and Song sticks with the futures tour, he should be the favorite to advance, and setup a match with Argentina’s Guido Pella round 2. Pella, who prefers clay, was once a top 80 player but he now sits just outside of the top 100 at 25, and comes off a round 1 loss in Bogota to Sam Groth in 3 sets. Given his limited record on hard courts, he’s not guarantee to reach the final round of qualies, and regardless he’ll be a big underdog against Donaldson/Elias, or J.P. Smith.

Smith, a 26 year old Aussie, comes off one of his best career results as he upset Bernard Tomic and reached the semis in Newport. The former Tennessee volunteer qualified for both Delray Beach and Wimbledon this year, and he just beat Donaldson in Newport, which may give him an inside track to qualify, as Pella appears beatable.

One interesting non-American name in the qualifying is Evgeny Korolev, Korolev was once a top 50 player and has an ATP final on his resume, but outside of Davis Cup for Kazakhstan he hasn’t made waves in years, and he’s playing just his third event of 2015 in Atlanta, where he will open with futures level player Antonio Ruiz-Rosales of Mexico. Even while rusty one would presume Korolev, given his abilities, will work his way into round 2 and setup a meeting with Austin Krajicek who comes off a tough round 1 loss in Bogota, but at 25 has made his move up to the near ATP level finally this year. Krajicek has been struggling in singles as of late but he qualified in Memphis, Acapulco, and Miami, all on hard courts this past spring, and is surely looking to get back in form.

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Krajicek-Korolev could be interesting, as conditioning will certainly play a factor given how hot and humid it will be here in Atlanta with the sun beating down. In final round qualies they could meet Paul/Duncan or Kevin King/Yuichi Sugita. King is a tall former Georgia Tech standout who has been around the challenger tour for a while now, while Sugita qualified for Wimbledon and won matches in both Newport and Bogota, suggesting the Japanese journeyman baseliner is in good form. I’d presume Sugita would have enough to qualify over most likely Krajicek unless he wilts in the heat.

Matt Ebden didn’t win a tour main draw match until Wimbledon this year, but he’s 34-15 below that level, and he qualified for both Newport and Bogota in confident fashion, suggesting he’s playing into form going into Atlanta. Ebden is likely to have to face top American junior Reilly Opelka of Florida in round 2. Opelka won the 2015 Wimbledon junior title and he just recently turned pro. He will face off first against Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan who is a relatively solid 27-11 in challengers and futures this year. I have a hunch Opelka is good enough to beat Sekiguchi, but an inform Ebden with his steady baseline offense probably proves too much, as the Aussie should reach final round qualifying.

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The last seed in the bracket is another player who regularly has played in Atlanta, Somdev Devvarman of India (and the University of Virginia). Devvarman is now 30, but he’s been in great form in recent weeks, he won the Winnetka challenger in Illinois on hard court, and also helped India win their Davis Cup tie. While he’s unlikely to turn into an ATP regular at this point, he’s still made a decent career for himself and will almost assuredly beat doubles specialist Treat Huey or 34 year old Ryan Haviland, an American futures regular, in round qualifying round 2. Devvarman-Ebden should be interesting, but given Devvarman’s form and his 2-1 h2h edge, I favor him to qualify.

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Picks to qualify: 
Denis Kudla (d. Matosevic)
J.P. Smith (d. Pella)
Yuichi Sugita (d. Krajicek)
Somdev Devvarman (d. Ebden)

Tennis Atlantic will have on-site coverage from Atlanta all week, and be sure to keep checking the site for our latest reports from qualifying this weekend, and the main draw starting Monday.

Steen Kirby (Marseille)

Day 4 Qualifying Report From @RolandGarros 2015

Posted by Admin on May 23, 2015
Posted in: French Open, Guest Writer, On Site, Roland Garros. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Day 4 Qualifying Report From Roland Garros 2015
Stefano Berlincioni for Tennis Atlantic

My last day at Roland Garros, an unbelievable experience for me.

Started the day at Marco Cecchinato- Michael Berrer. The Italian was dictating every rally at the beginning of the match but as soon as he took the lead for 4-2 he had to face an improved Berrer. Cecchinato suddenly lost the plot and on 4-4 literally mentally checked-out and regrouped a bit only at 4-6 0-3. He kept shouting to his box “He is not missing a single ball”.

Later I witnessed the epic kiss on clay by Christian Lindell after he won against Jan Hernych

Other matches where I could catch only photos of match points were Margarita Gasparyan-Maryna Zanevska and Alexa Glatch-Katerina Bondarenko

I greatly enjoyed Gasparyan’s one handed backhand and Glatch’s classy tennis.

Elias Ymer played another solid match even if he almost choked in the end, here is the short video of final point

I watched for a while Gastao Elias-Facundo Arguello. Elias was very nervous from 7-5 5-2, he started being less aggressive and Arguello sensed his opponent choking. They went to the tiebreak where Arguello played terrible tennis and at changeover over made a sign to his box miming “We can go home now”. He double faulted on mp. Arguello will not be going home however, as he reached the main draw as a lucky loser, and his reward is Andy Murray. Elias will face Benoit Paire.

I moved to Luca Vanni-Andrey Golubev for their third set. Vanni was always the second best in rallies and had to save 0-30 on 0-0 and on 1-1 and also 15.40 on 3-3. He broke from nowhere Golubev on 4-3 and managed to hold without risks. He saved all the key points with his huge serve. At the end of the match as usual was very kind with everyone asking him an autograph or a selfie.

Last ATP matches that I attended was Jared Donaldson-Nikoloz Basilashvili. It has been a great match, the best I watched in 4 days. Both played at great level and intensity, it is a pity that one of them could not qualify, both deserved. Donaldson lost 3 tough games from *2-1 to 2-4 in the third set and then he surrended.

I watched for a couple of other WTA matches: completely unimpressive Teliana Pereira (playing defensive and moonballing tennis, with also the bad habit of shouting a couple of seconds later than her shots) qualified over Laura Pous-Tio and Andrea Hlavackova won over Anatasia Rodionova in a match where you could smell the reciprocal “hate” in the air. In their last meeting they didn’t shake hands at the end of the match. I had to go to airport in the middle of second set

I had a tremendous time attending 2015 Roland Garros qualifying, and it was a pleasure to share my reports with the readers.

Scores

Referenced men’s matches
Berrer d. Cecchinato 6-4 6-2
Lindell d. Hernych 3-6 6-4 6-4
Elias d. Arguello 7-5 7-6
Ymer d. Carballes Baena 6-3 7-5
Vanni d. Golubev 6-4 3-6 6-3
Basilashvili d. Donaldson 6-2 4-6 6-2

Referenced women’s matches
Glatch d. Bondarenko 6-2 3-6 6-3
Gasparyan d. Zanevska 6-3 6-7 6-4
Pereira d. Pous-Tio 3-6 6-0 7-5
Hlavackova d. Rodionova 6-2 6-7 6-3

Day 3 Qualifying Report From @RolandGarros 2015

Posted by Admin on May 21, 2015
Posted in: French Open, Guest Writer, On Site, Roland Garros. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Day 3 Qualifying Report From Roland Garros 2015
Stefano Berlincioni for Tennis Atlantic

Finally a day without rain at Roland Garros! I started my day watching from my favorite spot in the stands Alex Zverev-Igor Sijsling and Elias Ymer-Blaz Rola.

The Swedish young gun Ymer confirmed the good impression I had against Marcora and gave a lesson to Rola until 6-2 5-0, then he lost focus and had to save a break point on 6-2 5-3. Apart from this little choke it was another solid performance for him. Ymer d. Rola 6-2 6-3

I could not believe my eyes watching Sijsling-Zverev tied on 6-6: The Dutchman had dictated every rally and was by far the best player on court. He missed a lot of easy shots during first set but managed to stay focused during tiebreak while Zverev was wasting mental energies discussing with umpire about marks.

As he often does, Sijsling fell apart from nowhere and in a few minutes he was 76 03. He is an unpredictable player, capable of big shots and big chokes. I went to other cours from there but came back to record Zverev’s reaction after the end of the match

Sijsling d. Zverev 7-6 2-6 7-5

I later attended Gastao Elias-Guido Pella, I arrived when Elias was 0-3 down third set but he fought on every single point and managed to comeback: he later saved a match point with a great serve. Pella won a 30 shot rally on 5-5 15-40 but then Elias broke him and served it out. It was an intense, and close match. Elias d. Pella 7-5 5-7 7-5

On the opposite court I could see Jana Cepelova having a MTO on 3-6 0-3 down..she lost 0-6 a few minutes later. Katerina Bondarenko d. Cepelova 6-1 6-0

I watched for a few games Maria Sanchez vs. Sesil Karatantcheva and I didn’t expect to see serve and volley, dropshots and stuff like this

Karatantcheva d. Sanchez 6-3 6-7 6-1

I later moved to Veronica Cepede Royg that had on paper a very tough match against Laura Siegemund but as I wrote yesterday she looked great against CiCi Bellis so I was looking for a confirmation of that, and found it. Cepede Royg was again extremely solid and defeated her opponent in straights.

Cepede Royg d. Siegemund 6-3 7-5

Jared Donaldson trashed the Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan as I expected: the (extremely loud) Indian gave everything on court but won only 2 games: The American Donaldson is in tremendous form. Donaldson d. Ramanathan 6-2 6-0

Meanwhile, on Suzanne Lenglen, Roger Federer was training with Benoit Paire

Andrea Arnaboldi- Pierre-Hugues Herbert resumed from 15-15 and they arrived to 25-26 with a pretty clear edge for Arnaboldi, as Herbert was not as clutch that said, credit to Herbert that played great risky tennis when needed.

Arnaboldi won the longest match in RG qualies with this winning return.

Arnaboldi d. Herbert 6-4 3-6 27-25

Quick impression from the huge serve of Beatriz Haddad Maia (who beat Nastassya Burnett 6-3 6-3) and for the amazing classy tennis of Alexa Glatch: her backhand slice his amazingly effective and I was glad to watch also two dropshot returns. The clean play produced a 7-6 6-2 victory for her over Ekaterina Bychkova.

Clothilde De Bernardi won another match that on paper should not have won. I was impressed by Anett Kontaveit’s power yesterday but the girl from Corse managed to dismantle it alternating hard hitting to moonballing. I didn’t expect De Bernardi to win against Larcher De Brito nor today so I would not be surprised at all if she will win tomorrow: she has a great support from the public and she seems to enjoy playing tennis. De Bernardi d. Kontaveit 2-6 6-4 6-4

I was curious to watch for the first time the talent of Ons Jabeur and she didn’t disappoint me, her volley and her dropshots were amazing but the lack of fitness cost her the match at the end of third set. She plays an aggressive and risky tennis so when tired errors come quite easily. She was very angry at the end of the match

Tereza Mrdeza d. Jabeur 6-3 2-6 9-7

At the end of this match I moved to Calvin Hemery- Radu Albot: I knew that Hemery saved 5 mps during second set and was leading by two breaks in the third. I came back when he got broken on *4-1 and was expecting him to choke so close to the biggest win of his career. He played superb games on *4-3 and on *5-4, playing with low margin but everything stayed in: Albot could not believe his eyes. At the end of the match Hemery was shaking his legs as at beginning of cramping: not sure if because of the tension or tiredness. Hemery plays a very aggressive tennis and has a good serve, one to watch for sure in next months. Hemery d. Albot 2-6 7-6 6-4

Machado upsets Sousa, Gasquet, Kyrgios make strides @EstorilOpen 2015 Tuesday

Posted by Admin on April 29, 2015
Posted in: ATP, Estoril, Guest Writer, On Site. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Machado upsets Sousa, Gasquet, Kyrgios make strides Estoril Open 2015 Tuesday
Manuel Traquete for Tennis Atlantic

Tuesday at the Estoril Open featured the end of the first round of the main draw, a total of 8 matches in 3 different courts.


The day started on a negative note for the Portuguese contingent with crowd favorite and 2-time quarterfinalist at this tournament Gastao Elias losing in 3 tight sets to Kenny de Schepper. In his post-match presser, Gastão mentioned his inability to hurt De Schepper with his shots and move him around as his biggest shortcoming and highlighted the two break points he squandered at 1-1 in the third set as the deciding moment of the match, with De Schepper riding the momentum from there. The man from Bordeaux will now face his countryman Richard Gasquet, who blew out Marinko Matosevic in the second set after a very tight opening set; asked about how he’s feeling on court after a prolonged absence due to injury, Gasquet said he’s feeling good but that he has no expectations of winning this tournament, where he was a finalist twice before, since he’s not ready to win titles yet.

(Q)de Schepper d. (WC)Elias 6-2 2-6 6-3

(5)Gasquet d. Matosevic 7-6(7) 6-1

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On court 3, Pablo Carreno Busta’s consistency from the baseline proved too much for the inexperienced Lestienne, who kept leaking errors on his way to a 3-6 1-6 defeat. Carreno Busta will now face Tommy Robredo in the second round. Next on court 3, the 2009 and 2010 champion Albert Montanes survived a tough 3-set battle against Martin Fischer to book a date with Gilles Muller in the second round. Another Spaniard advancing was Nicolas Almagro; the holder of 12 claycourt titles put in a very strong serving performance to defeat Stephane Robert in straights even if the rest of his game wasn’t really firing, which it will need to be in order to beat Leonard Mayer in the second round. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also prevailed over countryman Roberto Carballes Baena, with unexpected ease considering the former’s efforts last week and how close this matchup had been in the 2014 Casablanca semifinal. This time around though, Carballes Baena simply couldn’t defend against Garcia-Lopez’s superior serving and ballstriking skills and the Spaniard’s quest for back to back ATP titles will continue against the second seed of the tournament, Kevin Anderson.

Carreno Busta d. (Q)Lestienne 6-3 6-1

Montanes d. (Q)Fischer 6-4 4-6 6-3

Almagro d. Robert 6-3 7-6(4)

Garcia-Lopez d. (Q)Carballes Baena 6-2 6-2

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In the battle of the two highest ranked Portuguese players ever on center court (career high #35 for Joao Sousa and #59 for Rui Machado), it was the underdog who prevailed, with a gutsy, aggressive performance, while Sousa once again failed to live up to the pre-tournament hype and accused the pressure of playing in his home tournament again. Machado will now take on Croatian upstart Borna Coric, looking to reach his second QF at this event after doing so back in 2010.

Machado d. Sousa 7-6(5) 6-3

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The day ended with what will likely go down as the most memorable match of the 2015 Estoril Open, featuring Albert Ramos and Nick Kyrgios. The young Aussie got off to a fast start, breaking Ramos in the second game of the match and serving his way to a 6-3 first set win. In the second set, Ramos remained unable to return Kyrgios’s monster serves, but he somehow managed to stave off break points (including what looked like virtual match points at 5-5) and then faced with defeat at 5*-4 down in the tiebreak he managed to string two points on Kyrgios’s serve to force a decider. In the 3rd set, Kyrgios’s serve lost some potency and Ramos scored an early break and never really looked like being broken back until 5*-4, where, with his back against the wall Kyrgios produced an excellent return game to avoid elimination. He then had two match points of his own with Ramos serving at 5-6, but a terrible miss on a FH sitter on the second match point seemed to spell the end for Kyrgios who then threw away the next few points with bad errors to go into the tiebreak and get himself an early minibreak down.

That was when things really got real; Kyrgios threw the ball into the stands in frustration and he had already got two code violations, a third one would have resulted in a game penalty and thus outright losing the match. But the umpire didn’t give him the infraction, leading to Ramos practically begging him to do so for about 5 minutes, with the Portuguese crowd booing him for trying to get Kyrgios defaulted. To no avail, as he completely lost focus, the tiebreak and the match, being booed off the court as he exited the tournament, while Kyrgios goes on to face Krajinovic in the second round. I asked Kyrgios some questions in his press conference after the match, which you can find here

(7)Kyrgios d. Ramos 6-3 6-7(5) 7-6(3)

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Tomorrow, 4 round of 16 matches will be played, with Almagro and Leo Mayer starting a day in what must be considered a clash of two title candidates; Mayer is the current Hamburg champion and always a threat on the red clay, while Almagro’s career achievements on the surface speak for themselves despite his bad start to the year post-injury. Almagro won their two previous encounters on clay, but those happened when the Spaniard was at the peak of his career and Mayer yet to hit his stride, while the roles are now practically reversed and the Argentine must be considered the favorite in this battle of one handed backhands.

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The winner of this clash will face the winner of another one handed backhand clash between Gasquet and De Schepper; when asked by me what he needed to do to beat his countryman, who he’s never faced before, Gasquet said he had to ‘play well’ and while that sounds like an incredibly generic and cliché answer, it’s hard to argue that if Gasquet plays well he should win easily against his much lower ranked countryman, who’s simply not comfortable at all on the red clay.

The 1 seed of the tournament, Feliciano Lopez, will open up against Robin Haase and while the rankings would suggest an easy Lopez victory the truth is the Spaniard is quite prone to early losses in smaller events and he has lost both matches he’s played on clay against Haase so this one is far from a given. The winner of this match will face the winner of the first ever night session match in a Portuguese ATP event, between Nick Kyrgios and Flip Krajinovic; the edge seems to be with the Aussie in this one, but he could well be tired after his battle against Ramos today and Krajinovic has the weapons to make it difficult on a good day.

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2015 Maui, Bucaramanga, and Hong Kong Challenger Recaps

Posted by Admin on February 2, 2015
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard, USTA, USTA Pro Circuit. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

2015 Maui, Bucaramanga, and Hong Kong Challenger Recaps
Chris de Waard, Tennis Atlantic

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Maui Challenger

2015 Maui Challenger Recap

A lot of people were interested to see how Ryan Sweeting’s comeback at Challenger level would play out, but he clearly wasn’t ready to be competitive just yet, losing 6-3 6-0 to qualifier Nicolas Meister in the first round. Meister, however, would proceed to profit hugely from all seeds in the top half going out, making it all the way to the final without facing one. Meister beat fellow qualifier Takanyi Garanganga, who took out top seed Denis Kudla, in the quarterfinal and James McGee in the semi-final.

In the bottom half Ryan Harrison went through yet another disappointing loss, falling to Dennis Novikov in the first round. Jared Donaldson went on a great run, taking out second seed Bradley Klahn in the semi-final to reach the final without dropping a set. In the final Meister wasn’t a match for him either and got easily dispatched by Donaldson, outside of a small hiccup when he went up a double break in the second. Donaldson took down his first ever Challenger title after a 6-1 6-4 victory. Donaldson is now ranked inside of the top 200 for the first time, rising 73 spots to #178. Meister posts a new career high ranking just outside of the top 300 at #302.

The doubles draw held some controversy, as Wayne Odesnik and Michael Shabaz blatantly tanked the super-tiebreak of their second round match, giving absolutely no effort. See for yourself, it starts at the one hour mark and gets particularly ridiculous at 5-3, as Odesnik simply hits the ball to the ground and the team proceeds to get aced twice in a row http://new.livestream.com/ATP/royallahainachallenger2015stadium/videos/75406462

Bucaramanga Challenger

The tournament started off with a miracle that sent purists into a state of delight, as Enrico Becuzzi and Paolo Lorenzi entered the doubles draw as alternates, getting paired to Sam Barnett and Kevin Kim in the first round. Becuzzi and Barnett are the two most famous amateur players trying to make it as professionals, but as in their singles match two years ago, Becuzzi triumphed here as well, 6-1 6-4. In the second round they fell 6-1 6-2 to Martin Cuevas/Guido Pella. Another tanking controversy occured with Andre Ghem and Gerard Melzer, who blatantly gave away their doubles match in a 6-2 6-0 loss. In the singles draw Lorenzi got upset by Gerald Melzer in the second round, 6-4 3-6 6-3. Profiting from Lorenzi going out was Gastao Elias, who beat Melzer in the next round and went on to reach the final after beating Jordi Samper-Montana in the semi-final. Samper-Montana beat Kevin Kim in the first round, who was playing on a presumably bought wild card due to pairing up in doubles with the wealthy Barnett, considering the 36 year old Kim is unranked and has been effectively retired since 2012.

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In the bottom half #7 seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver annihilated #2 seed Victor Estrella-Burgos 6-0 6-4 in the quarterfinal, after which he beat Facundo Bagnis 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 for a place in the final against Elias. Another long three set match followed, with Gimeno-Traver once again coming out on top, 6-3 1-6 7-5. With that result Gimeno-Traver recaptured a spot inside of the top 100, rising 21 spots to #89. Elias rose 17 spots to #126.

Hong Kong Challenger

Quite remarkably not a single seed in the top half survived the first round. Top seed Ricardas Berankis fell to Saketh Myneni, #4 seed Jimmy Wang to Di Wu, #6 seed Yuichi Sugita to Matthew Ebden and #8 seed Hiroki Moriya to Niels Desein. None of them could really build on the upset, as the semi-finalists were Kyle Edmund and Yoshihito Nishioka. Edmund won their match 7-6(2) 6-0. In the bottom half #2 seed Tatsuma Ito did live up to his seeding, beating Hyeon Chung 6-4 6-0 for a place in the final. Both men didn’t drop a set on their way to the final, but Edmund clearly was the better player, comfortably beating Ito 6-1 6-2. Edmund rose to a career high ranking of #148, rising 44 spots. Ito marginally improved with three spots, landing at #86.

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Chris De Waard (Challenger Tour Finals)