2016 Sarasota, Gwangju and Barletta Challenger Recaps Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Sarasota
Top seed Denis Kudla was upset by his countryman Noah Rubin in the first round, losing a marathon three-set match after missing a match point, 7-5 2-6 7-6(8). Rubin followed up with a win over Gonzalo Lama in the second round, after which he was convincingly beaten Guilherme Clezar, 6-3 6-0. Fifth seed Tim Smyczek lost to Frances Tiafoe in the first round, 6-4 6-3, although that wasn’t really an upset. Third seed Gerald Melzer was the only seed in the top half to move past the first round, eventually beating Clezar in the semi-final after the Brazilian was forced to retire down in the third set at 6-7(4) 6-4 3-2, because of a quad strain.
In the bottom half, second seed Diego Schwartzman couldn’t break his patch of bad form in recent times, losing to Henri Laaksonen in the second round, 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4. Laaksonen lost to Mischa Zverev in the quarterfinal, 2-6 6-3 7-5, after which the older brother of Alexander also dispatched sixth seed Bjorn Fratangelo in the semi-final, 6-2 6-4. Zverev continued his great run in the final against Melzer, Jurgen’s younger brother, beating the Austrian 6-4 7-6(2) in this battle of lesser-known brothers. It meant the fifth career title for Zverev, rising thirty-one spots to #131 in the rankings. Melzer rose ten spots to #112, a career high ranking.
Challenger Sarasato: Stark! Mischa Zverev gewinnt das Endspiel in drei Sätzen gegen Gerald Melzer!! #Tennispic.twitter.com/rVM90viRfW
Judging by top seed Ricardas Berankis’ scorelines in this tournament, you would think he played a Futures event. The skill gap between the world #80 and his opponents, all ranked outside of the top 150, was simply too high. Little can be said. Berankis dropped only fourteen games on his way to the semi-final and not a lot was added to that count when he faced two seeded players in Di Wu (#4) and Grega Zemlja (#6, beat #2 seed Tatsuma Ito 6-4 6-3 in the semi-final), respectively beating them 6-4 6-1 and 6-3 6-2 to win his sixth title. He rose eighteen ranking spots, landing at a career high #62. Zemlja rose twenty-eight spots to #161.
The top two seeds were far from upholding their seeding in this event. Rogerio Dutra Silva, the top seed, lost 7-6(5) 6-4 to Jurgen Zopp in the quarterfinal, while second seed Roberto Carballes Baena lost 5-7 6-4 6-4 to Alessandro Giannessi in the second round. Zopp lost his semi-final to eighth seed Elias Ymer, who turned twenty last week, 6-2 6-4. Third seed Adam Pavlasek recovered well from his tough victory over Marton Fucsovics in the second round, 5-7 6-4 6-3, beating qualifiers Lorenzo Sonego and Enrique Lopez-Perez respectively 6-2 6-0 and 6-1 6-3 to reach the final. There Ymer was too strong, however, with the Swede winning 7-5 6-4 to take down his second title. He rose nineteen spots to a career high ranking of #123, while Pavlasek rose twelve spots to #108, a career high ranking as well.
The last direct acceptance is Gonzalo Lama, ranked 225th.
Second round match-up to watch
(6) Bjorn Fratangelo – Dennis Novikov
Fratangelo
In the first round Novikov had a solid 6-4 6-4 win over former world #20 Dmitry Tursunov, who despite not having played a lot of matches since returning from injury is still a tricky opponent. Both men have displayed similar form this year, so perhaps their personal match-up is what will decide this match. They have played each other three times, with Fratangelo prevailing every time. It has been close, however, 3-6 7-6(3) 6-1 at the Lexington Challenger on hardcourt and 3-6 6-3 6-2 at the Caltanissetta Challenger on clay, both last year.
Top Half
Third seed Gerald Melzer is the only seed to have survived the first round, granting him with a big opportunity to reach the final. His toughest challenger on the way to the final will probably be Frances Tiafoe, who reached the second round by beating fifth seed Tim Smyczek, 6-4 6-3. Melzer, who is playing the best tennis of his career, should be too solid for Tiafoe at this point. Melzer has already won three Challengers this year and came close to beating the eventual winner Juan Monaco in the first round of Houston last week, losing 2-6 7-6(3) 4-6.
Bottom Half
Second seed Diego Schwartzman had one of the most horrifying performances you will ever see at Houston last week, when he lost 0-6 0-6 to Marcos Baghdatis in the first round. He is desperate to recover from it and made a good start by only dropping four games in his opening round against qualifier Jose Hernandez-Fernandez. Viewing last week’s performance as an incident, he should be above the rest of his opponents in this half. He will face the winner of Facundo Arguello – Mischa Zverev in the quarterfinal and likely Fratangelo in the semi-final, all of whom he is a firm favorite against.
2016 Wroclaw, Morelos and New Delhi Challenger Recaps Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Wroclaw
Top seed Evgeny Donskoy held match points against Jeremy Chardy in the first round of the glamorous 500 event in Rotterdam a week earlier, but it was back to the grind for him in Wroclaw this week. He started off well in his first two matches, but then the Rotterdam scenario repeated itself against Konstantin Kravchuk in the quarterfinal, with the seventh seed winning 7-6(4) 6-7(9) 6-4. In the second section veteran Marco Chiudinelli began an excellent run by beating Daniel Evans, fifth seed Mirza Basic and Alexander Kudryavtsev to set up a semi-final encounter with Kravchuk. It didn’t stop there for Chiudinelli, as he ousted Kravchuk in two tight sets, 7-6(8) 7-6(4).
In the bottom half another veteran would have a dream run. Jan Hernych, 36, came through qualifying and immediately made an impact in the main draw by beating third seed Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round, 4-6 6-2 7-6(5). Eventually he went all the way to the the semi-final, where he met second seed Dustijn Brown, who cruised tot he draw and didn’t drop a set. That would change against Hernych, however, as the 36-year-old beat Brown 7-6(5) 6-4 for a place in the final, his first since 2012. There the younger of the two would prevail in the veteran encounter. Chiudinelli, 34, won 6-3 7-6(9) to claim his first Challenger title since 2009. He gained thirty-seven ranking spots and landed at #146, while Hernych rose eighty-one spots to #269.
Morelos
The tournament lost its top seed beforehand as Victor Estrella Burgos withdrew and ninth seed Giovanni Lapentti took his spot. Lapentti lost his first round to Alessandro Giannessi, who took full advantage of the opportunity and reached the semi-final after beating sixth seed Alexander Sarkissian 2-6 6-1 6-3. There he faced fourth seed Alejandro Gonzalez, who had no problem getting rid of Giannessi in a 6-3 6-1 beatdown.
In the bottom half the top seeds held their own, resulting in both second Horacio Zeballos and third seed Gerald Melzer reaching the semi-final without too many problems along the way. They fought out a major battle, with Melzer eventually coming through in three hard-fought sets, 6-7(1) 6-3 6-4. The final against Gonzalez was easier for he Austrian, winning 7-6(4) 6-3 to take down his fourth Challenger title. He also reached a career high ranking of #116, rising twenty spots. Gonzalez rose eleven spots to #143.
Another top seed who didn’t get far here, with Yuki Bhambri getting upset by Joris De Loore in the first round, 6-4 7-6(4). De Loore lost the next round to Flavio Cipolla 6-4 7-6(2), who in his turn lost 6-3 6-2 to third seed Stephane Robert in the semi-final. Robert faced fourth seed Saketh Myneni in the final, who decimated second seed Kimmer Coppejans with the same score in the semi-final, 6-3 6-2.
So the final came down to two players who absolutely trashed the opposition on their way. Robert won his quarter- and semi-final respectively 6-2 6-0 and 6-3 6-2, while Myneni did so 6-4 6-1 and 6-3 6-2. Robert would be the one to continue the trend however, as the 35-year-old beat Myneni 6-3 6-0 to close out his spectacular run and win his seventh Challenger title, and the first one in five years. He rose twenty-two ranking spots to #139, while Myneni rose eight spots to #158.
Opponents Wilt as Qualifying Continues @CroatiaOpenUmag, Ballboy Caught Texting Stefano Berlincioni for Tennis Atlantic
Fognini Cincinnati (Photo: Dave Gertler)
Umag, Croatia July 19, 2015–Yesterday evening, I met Fabio Fognini’s father at the elevator and as soon as he saw me told me, “Stefano, it’s too hot here, I’m dying!” Fulvio Fognini is as funny as Fabio and he is right: Umag is really like hell these days. By the way, at the end of the day after the Ivanisevic-Coric exhibition, which was funny and had packed stands, I met Fabio playing darts with a friend of his and later, Bagnis arrived with Gonzalez!
Fabio congratulated Facundo for the Pan-Am Games gold medal and asked who were his opponents and if Argentina paid him for the medal. For the records, Fabio lost the 1st darts match and was saying “porcodiaz” (his typical expression) every three words, very funny and relaxed.
Today, matches surprisingly started at 11 am, a bit late in my opinion considering the insane heat.
Trinker def. Mitak 61 61
As expected, Trinker disposed very easily of the local wild card, who is no amateur but cannot compete at this level. The Austrian kept the focus for the whole match showing a good form again.
Gerald Melzer in action today: didn’t serve very well but was enough. He also got a warning for racquet abuse #umagpic.twitter.com/ZYn7XTYYkc
As I said in yesterdays’ report, Surchenko was absolutely not impressive yesterday but today was very pumped and played two times better than yesterday, serving much better and hitting quite hard. Melzer was a bit surprised at the beginning, but after getting broken he cruised until 6-1. He lost focus and went down 0-2 in second set, even getting a bit angry (destroyed a racquet) but managed to regroup and win quote comfortably. Not a stunning performance though.
Marcora def. Trinker 46 44 ret.
This was on paper one of the closest matches of the day. The first set was decided by a double fault of Marcora facing break point on 4-4 and he looked in control of the match, even leading by a break early in the second set. He was more solid from the baseline and very motivated, grunting loudly after every shot. In the middle of the second set, he started showing problems with his wrist/arm and began losing points with blatant errors so he decided to give up at 4-4.
Leonardi knew that his opponent would have not been so slow on court as Santiago Gonzalez yesterday and the ball speed difference was very clear from the beginning. It has to be said that Leonard played at a very decent level but Bagnis was really too much for him.
Gonzalez def. Leite 62 64
I could not watch many games of this match as I arrived in the middle of second set. Leite looked fresher and after being broken on 62 *32, he made a sign to his wife as if he was going to quit because exhausted. He kept fighting until the end of the set but was quite lucky because he managed to break Leite on 4-4 from 30-0 with the Brazilian missing a winner by one centimeter.
Trevisan def. Skugor 36 61 76
I arrived at the match at 4-1 second set and Skugor fully tanked the service game and especially the return game, not even trying to return. He was not injured though, just saving energy for the third set under Umag’s terrible Sun.
Ballkid had no balls for Trevisan because he was texting on a mobile that the guy behind him brought to him. pic.twitter.com/yprpyOL4HZ
The last set was quite entertaining with great winners from both sides as they are players who don’t like to wait for their opponent’s errors. At 3-3, Trevisan asked for a MTO because he was exhausted due to the heat and he needed more ice on his neck and head. He had a few break chances at 3-3 and he even had to save match points at 4-5. With both players almost down to no legs, the match went to a final tiebreak where Trevisan won 6 points in a row from *0-1 down, playing very aggressive and deserving the win. The Italian almost lost control of his nerves when he was serving to stay in the match because in the middle of the game, the ballkid had no balls for him to serve because he was texting on a mobile phone that a guy from the stands passed to him. A very unusual scene. He stopped texting, gave back the mobile and the guy disappeared from the stands in five seconds. Maybe some very urgent issue but still very strange.
Last little note: I attended Paolo Lorenzi practicing with Andre Sa and it was really amazing to see the intensity of Lorenzi during training.
Another day with insane heat is finished then and tomorrow, thankfully, matches will start at 5 pm.
2015 Roland Garros Men’s Qualifying Preview and Predictions Chris de Waard, Tennis Atlantic
The start of the Roland Garros men’s main draw is nearing, but first we will have 128 players competing in the qualifying draw, who will be battling it out for sixteen coveted spots in that main draw.
2015 RG Men’s Qualies Predictions
Top 16 seeds (of 32 total)
1: Hyeon Chung
2: Alexander Zverev
3: Facundo Bagnis
4: Blaz Rola
5: Dustin Brown
6: Luca Vanni
7: Norbert Gombos
8: James Ward
9: Alejandro Gonzalez
10: Kimmer Coppejans
11: Alejandro Falla
12: Adrian Menendez-Maceiras
13: Guido Pella
14: Aleksandr Nedovyesov
15: Tobias Kamke
16: Austin Krajicek
First round match-ups to watch:
(4) Blaz Rola – Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo
Ramirez Hidalgo is 37, but has only improved since the start of this year. Almost out of the top 250 in February, he now is ranked inside of the top 200 again after two semi-finals and two quarterfinals on the Challenger circuit. He is also exactly the type of player Rola might struggle with at this moment. Rola is coming off bad losses against world #515 Rogerio Dutra Silva and #250 Giovanni Lapentti in his last two tournaments.
This is the biggest chance of one of the highest seeds getting knocked out. Brown has been struggling the entire year, first one the main tour and recently even at the Challengers. Daniel knew a rocky start to the year, changing his schedule in an attempt to become more capable on hardcourts, but ever since switching back to clay his results have improved, with the highlight being his title at Vercelli last month.
(11) Alejandro Falla – Lamine Ouahab
Ouahab very nearly made the cut and it will be interesting to see how he will perform here. He is obviously infamous for only bringing his best tennis when he plays in Morocco, repeating that this year with three Futures titles, a Challenger title and a quarterfinal at the ATP 250 of Casablanca, where he beat world #24 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round.
(14) Aleksandr Nedovyesov – Yuki Bhambri
An unfortunate draw for Nedovyesov, drawing a Bhambri who is arguably playing the best tennis of his career, after struggling with injury for a long time. Bhambri comes off a clay final in Samarkand, where he lost to Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Edmund has shown good consistency on clay in recent times, reaching three Challenger quarterfinals in a row, but it’s clear that it’s not his best surface. This is not the case for Melzer, who just comes off a dream run at the ATP 250 event of Munich, where he beat #42 Pablo Andujar (by retirement), #44 Dominic Thiem and took a set off #26 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semi-final.
First quarter
18-year-old top seed Hyeon Chung is currently ranked #69 and came into the qualifying event after missing the entry deadline due to a misunderstanding from the Korean tennis association, with the Roland Garros organization making a very unique exception in handing him a wildcard. Naturally, Chung is the big favorite to qualify, with perhaps Nikoloz Basilashvili being the only player that can threaten him on a good day.
The second section knows a similarly big favorite in Alexander Zverev, also 18. Up until recently this might not have been the case due to Zverev’s results being seriously lacking, but recently he has really picked up his game. This saw him winning the Heilbronn Challenger and entering the top 100 last week. He faces Horacio Zeballos in the first round, who is a shadow of his former self and lost 6-4 6-2 to Zverev in the first round last week. The other players in this section don’t have clay as their favorite surface and perhaps Marius Copil is the only one who can threaten Zverev, in the final qualifying round.
Third seed Facundo Bagnis has been playing on green clay in the United States in the lead-up to Roland Garros, with very mixed results. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him go out against one of Renzo Olivo, Andrea Arnaboldi or Denis Kudla in the final qualifying round. Arnaboldi and Kudla face off in a very interesting first round clash, in which Arnaboldi has to be marked the slight favorite, despite Kudla being the seeded player (#30).
The fourth quarter is a highly interesting one, with a bunch of players who could go through. As said, Rola and Ramirez Hidalgo face off in the first round, but Roberto Carballes Baena, Elias Ymer and Thiemo de Bakker are placed in this section as well and might be more likely than fourth seed Rola to go through, with De Bakker coming off a final in Bordeaux last week. Although the Dutchman is highly inconsistent and might well return to mediocrity this week. Carballes Baena plays Peter Gojowczyk in the first round, but the German is just coming back from a lengthy injury lay-off and it’s far from certain if he is healthy enough to be a factor here. Carballes Baena might just have the consistent game to come through this section.
To qualify from this quarter: (1) Chung, (2) Zverev, Arnaboldi and Carballes Baena
Second quarter
As mentioned, fifth seed Brown has a horror draw against Daniel, with the Japanese clay court specialist actually being the slight favorite in their match. The main draw spot will highly likely be reached by someone in the top section, with Marton Fucsovics also being in the mix. The bottom section is headed by Michal Przysiezny and is unlikely to produce someone who can threaten the three candidates from the top half.
Sixth seed Luca Vanni has been one of the revelations this season, making a breakthrough out of virtually nowhere at Sao Paulo, where he reached the final and almost took down the title, but eventually fell to Pablo Cuevas after a long battle. He has a tricky opening round against Adrian Ungur, but should come through and reach the main draw after beating the highly unpredictable Andrey Golubev in the final qualifying round.
Seventh seed Norbert Gombos heads a section that could go either way. Outside of him, Yoshihito Nishioka and Guilherme Clezar all have a fair shot at qualifying as well. #23 seed Farrukh Dustov is in atrocious form at the moment and is unlikely to play a role. Given that Gombos and Clezar aren’t in the best form of their lives either, this might be a golden opportunity for 19-year-old Nishioka to come through.
The eighth section is very hard to predict, with a wide variety of players having a shot at going through. James Ward and James McGee don’t have clay as their best surface, with with highly unpredictable players like Christian Lindell, Christian Garin and Daniel Munoz-De La Nava being their competition, being solid might just prove to be enough.
To qualify from this quarter: Daniel, (6) Vanni, Nishioka and (28) Munoz-De La Nava
Third quarter
Ninth seed Alejandro Gonzalez heads this section, but he comes off a demolition job in the first qualifying round of Rome, where he lost 6-2 6-0 to Thomaz Bellucci. The other seed here, Albert Montanes, seems to be heading towards retirement, which makes this an interesting opportunity for Andre Ghem or Antonio Veic, who face off in the first round. With Ghem being the more consistent of the two, this might be a golden opportunity for the 32-year-old to qualify for his first Roland Garros, although Gonzalez will still be the favorite to go through.
Tenth seed Kimmer Coppejans is hard to ignore in the next section, playing the tennis of his life. Last month he reached two Challenger finals on clay, winning one of them and it’s unlikely that anyone in his section will trouble him. Radu Albot might come close, but he is more at home on hardcourts.
As mentioned, eleventh seed Alejandro Falla faces off against cult hero Lamine Ouahab in the first round. If we pretend that Ouahab is a normal player this is a draw from heaven for him, if he beats Falla he is projected to play Niels Desein/Maxime Authom and Rui Machado/Alexander Kudryavtsev, but since Roland Garros isn’t played in Morocco it’s just as likely he will lose 6-2 6-2 to Falla. Nevertheless, given that this section has no other stand-out favorite, I might as well let my hopes guide me and predict him to go through.
Closing this quarter is a section headed by Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, the 29-year-old Spaniard who is making an unexpected rise and is playing the tennis of his life, nearing the top 100. Based on recent form I have to go with Gerald Melzer, however, who is also a lot more at home on clay than Menendez-Maceiras. Nicolas Jarry, Potito Starace and Kyle Edmund are dangerous outsiders in this section.
To qualify from this quarter: (9) Gonzalez, (10) Coppejans, Ouahab and Melzer
Fourth quarter
Thirteenth seed Guido Pella has been in more than excellent form, taking down titles in San Luis Potosi and Sao Paulo, plus reaching a final and semi-final in Heilbronn and Santos, making him the big favorite to advance from this section. Pella has an interesting rivalry with Facundo Arguello, the other seed here and the only one who could potentially threaten him, with their head to head being 3-3. They have met twice this year, remarkably with Pella taking the first meeting 6-4 6-3 and Arguello the second one 6-2 6-3. Nevertheless, Pella should be marked the favorite.
The next section might go between two unseeded players, Yuki Bhambri and Jason Kubler, with Bhambri having the edge. Bhambri is severely underranked after coming back from injury, which he showed by reaching the Samarkand final last week. He is a favorite against fourteenth seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the first round and against the other players in this section as well, which includes Jurgen Zopp and Matthias Bachinger.
Fifteenth seed Tobias Kamke heads the by far weakest section of this draw, which also includes Evgeny Donskoy, Iliya Marchenko and Somdev Devvarman. Not only is Kamke on an eleven-match losing streak, none of the other players is strong on clay. Normally Pere Riba would be the favorite here, but he hasn’t played all year due to injury and is far from certain to be match fit. No matter who goes through, he will likely be a very easy opponent in the first round of the main draw.
The final section should be a prey for Marco Cecchinato, who won the Turin Challenger two weeks ago and is in excellent form. He has a very favorable draw against players who don’t favor clay, with the only competition perhaps coming in the final qualifying round, where he is projected to face Austin Krajicek or Filippo Volandri, both of whom will be a solid underdog against Cecchinato.
Monfils, Klizan Withdrawals Mar Exciting Monday of Action at 2015 @bmwopenbyfwuag Marc Imperatori for Tennis Atlantic
Zverev had too much variety for Gombos (photo credit: Marc Imperatori)
The third day of the BMW Open in Munich featured some bad news for the tournament organizers and fans. Title defender Martin Klizan and, just like in 2014, Gael Monfils had to withdraw. However, the rest of the day included good matches, great weather and lots of action on the practice courts.
First up, the final qualifying round was played. On center court Dustin Brown defeated his countryman Nils Langer in a close battle 6-3 4-6 7-6(7). Langer was 6-4 up in the decisive tie-break. When Langer had match point on serve, a bad bounce led to a mishit. Brown then got another mini-break to get a 7-6 lead before he double-faulted on match point. Yet he was able to close this match out when Langer missed a forehand at 7-8. In the post-match interview Brown admitted that he felt nervous due to suffering close losses in recent weeks.
The next match on CC was Mischa Zverev from Germany against the Norbert Gombos from Slovakia. This match really gave you some club tennis feeling. One player was mostly pushing (Zverev) and by pushing I really mean just putting the ball in play without great pace, spin or angle. And the other one (Gombos) went for very big shots but missed way too many. In the first set Gombos hit 8 Double Faults, all in all it was 13 (fitting that he ended the match with one). Some of the second serves were 3-4 meters wide. The final score was 7-6 6-2 in Zverev´s favour. He´s going to play against another German, Jan-Lennard Struff, in his R1 match tomorrow.
On court 1 Radek Stepanek faced Bastian Trinker from Austria. The match included some great points by both players but Trinker´s lack of experience against players of Stepanek´s calibre was obvious. With his ability to deal with fast and slow balls and his constant attempt to put his opponent under pressure, Stepanek was a really bad match-up for the Austrian. Stepanek won 6-2 6-2 and will face Farrukh Dustov from Uzbekistan in R1. Trinker on the other hand benefited from the late withdrawals. Due to getting a lucky loser spot he´ll face Fabio Fognini in R1. Both matches will be played tomorrow.
Trinker had an unorthodox return position against Steps (photo credit: Marc Imperatori)
The next match on this court included two lucky ones: Mikhail Ledovskikh and Gerald Melzer. The latter won 6-3 3-6 7-6(4). Ledovskikh got lucky by receiving a lucky loser spot to face Stakhovsky in R1 while Melzer got lucky by getting drawn in Monfils´ spot which means he got a bye in R1 and automatically qualified for R2.
In the meantime there was also a press conference with highest-ranked German Philipp Kohlschreiber. He was talking about his R1 opponent Jiri Vesely who´s in great shape but could also be tired, and his form, which is good since Indian Wells according to him. Additionally topics discussed by Peppo was the threat of Andy Murray, who is a great addition to the tournament, the tournament itself, which is very important to him. It was the first one he ever played and where he claimed his first ATP title, and about feeling pressure of defending points on clay in the next weeks. Kohlschreiber told that he used to feel lots of pressure when he was younger. Nowadays, he is more relaxed and likes to know that he played well at certain tournaments or seasons in the past.
Kohlschreiber spoke with the press today (photo credit: Marc Imperatori)
Afterwards the first main draw matches were played on Centre Court. First, two players who are both rising in the rankings faced off: Victor Estrella Burgos and Viktor Troicki. In the first set there were no breaks of serve, therefore the set was decided in a tie-break. A forehand unforced Error by Troicki gave Estrella Burgos a decisive mini-break to win the set. In the second set both players were very good on serve once again. At 3-3 a commercial side fence was flickering which lead to a 10 minutes break.
Estrella Burgos and Troicki hod to take a break (photo credit: Marc Imperatori)
At 5-4* Troicki served to stay in the match. Hitting two unforced errors and a double fault made him go down 15-40. The first match point was saved by great attacking tennis before he once again hit an unforced error so the Dominican won 7-6 6-4.
During the whole match it was interesting to see how Troicki, who is a very good counter-puncher, had troubles to create his own pace after Estrella´s low slices. Trying this (making Troicki hit slower balls) gave him enough time to run around his backhand to take advantage of his extra-ordinary forehand. That tactic worked pretty well for him and was, in my opinion, the main reason he won the match.
Estrella upset Troicki (photo credit: Marc Imperatori)
The last match of the day was a battle of young (Alexander Zverev) against old (Benjamin Becker). In the first set Becker was playing very aggressive. Zverev couldn´t quite deal with that hence Becker clinched the first set 6-4. In the next set things were completely different. It was a mixture of Zverev getting a better read on Becker´s game and Becker just playing worse (hitting many unforced errors). After 1-1 Zverev won 5 straight games to make it 6-1. After an early break by Zverev, Becker began to slightly up his level again until Zverev broke again in the seventh game of the set. Finally, Zverev won the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. His R2 opponent will be either Philipp Kohlschreiber or Jiri Vesely.
Zverev was strong from the back of the court against Becker (photo credit: Marc Imperatori)
Round 1 results:
Victor Estrella Burgos def. Viktor Troicki 7-6(4) 6-4
(WC)Alexander Zverev def. Benjamin Becker 4-6 6-1 6-2
Tomorrow the ten remaining R1 matches as well as well as some doubles matches (including Andy Murray/Rojer) are scheduled. With Mayer vs. Rosol, Kohlschreiber vs. Vesely and Tipsarevic vs. Tomic there are quite some interesting matches to follow.
Round 1 of the 2015 Davis Cup World Group was filled with drama as it brought out the best parts of the Davis Cup, with upsets, comebacks from 2 sets down, and passionate fan support at sites around the globe as players donned the national colors and put in their best effort on behalf of their country. Here is a review of all the action over this past weekend.
Argentina clawed back from 2-1 down in the tie as they were pushed to extra time at home against Brazil. The Friday singles rubbers were split, with Joao Souza winning the first rubber in five sets over Carlos Berlocq, and Leo Mayer claiming the second rubber for Argentina with a four set win over Thomaz Bellucci. Brazil won the doubles as expected as Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares took out Berlocq and Diego Sebastian Schwartzman in straights.
On Sunday, Mayer led the Argentinian battle back, he avoided a collapse from 2 sets up and beat Souza in the second longest match in tennis history, it went over 6 hours as he triumphed on his twelfth match point chance 15-13 in the fifth set. Every set went to at least 5-5 as both players were, as to be expected, exhausted at the end, with Mayer having just that extra edge.
Due to that 6 hour+ match, the final decisive rubber between Federico Delbonis and Bellucci was pushed into extra time on Monday morning, and Delbonis, inspired by Mayer’s triumph, defeated Bellucci in 4 sets, as the Brazilian veteran was the weak link for the team this time.
Kazakhstan d. Italy 3-2
The biggest upset of the weekend came in Astana, as Mikhail Kukushkin inspired his lower ranked Kazakh teammates to a victory over an erratic Italian team that proved to be in disarray by Sunday. Kukushkin beat Simone Bolelli in straights on Friday though Andreas Seppi evened up the tie with a win over Andrey Golubev in 4 sets. The Italians won the doubles rubber as Bolelli and Fabio Fognini beat Alex Nedovyesov and Golubev in four sets, giving them a 2-1 lead.
On Sunday, the Italian choke job was on however, Seppi lost to Kukushkin in a very poor showing, as he failed to take even a set, and then Fognini made matters worse losing in five sets to Nedovyesov from 2 sets to 1 up, after he gotten it back to 5-5 in the fifth set.
It wasn’t the best attended tie of the weekend, but the fans who were in attendance were greatly pleased to see their home boys advancing as Italy will have to fight off relegation now.
The one-two punch of Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil was too much for Kei Nishikori and Japan. Though Kei performed well, beating Pospisil in straights on Friday, and Raonic in 5 sets on Sunday, the rest of the Japanese team fared poorly. Raonic beat Ito in a straight set drubbing on Friday, Daniel Nestor teamed with Pospisil to win the doubles point in five sets over Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama, and Pospisil dispatched Soeda in a live fifth rubber without dropping a set.
As mentioned in my preview, one has to wonder what might have been for team Japan if they had selected their young guns, Yoshihito Nishioka and Taro Daniel, rather than journeyman veterans Soeda and Ito, in my mind it would have increased their chances to win the tie.
Belgium d. Switzerland 3-2
The highest ranked player on the Swiss team, Yann Marti, stormed off and quit the team after he was not selected to play on Friday singles, and his selfish behavior may have cost his nation the tie, as the severely underdog, and shorthanded Swiss performed admirably, forcing a live fifth rubber to be played on the road in Liege, Belgium.
Henri Laaksonen deserves great credit for the fact the Belgians had to sub in their number one David Goffin, who originally wasn’t planning to play, in order to finish off that fifth rubber. Laaksonen was responsible for both Swiss rubber wins, as he beat Ruben Bemelmans on Friday from 2 sets to love down, Bemelmans collapsing down the stretch, and then beat Steve Darcis in the fourth rubber, also in five sets, as he outlasted the veteran serve and volleyer.
The Belgians earned wins from Darcis over Michael Lammer on Friday, from Bemelmans and Niels Desein over Adrian Bossel and Lammer in Saturday doubles, and as mentioned from Goffin over Bossel in straights, as Belgium had to scratch and claw against a journeyman team to book their place in the quarterfinals.
Australia d. Czech Republic 3-2 (3-1 live rubbers)
Team Australia did have to play live rubber tennis on Sunday, but they were the better team all weekend against the Czechs. Thanasi Kokkinakis added yet another massive accomplishment in his burgeoning career, the young Aussie was selected to open the tie for the Aussies, and he pulled off a brilliant fight back against Lukas Rosol from 2 sets to love down, to give Australia a 1-0 start. Kokkinakis struggled to deal with Rosol’s ballbashing for the first two frames, but won the final three sets 7-5 7-5 6-3, with late breaks sets 3 and four, to grab the victory, never losing belief in himself, as Rosol’s own belief eventually wilted. Bernard Tomic followed up the Kokkinakis triumph with a routine win over fellow young gun Jiri Vesely to put Australia 2-0 up.
The Czechs forced the Aussies to close off the tie on Sunday with an upset win in the doubles by Vesely and Adam Pavlasek over Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt in five sets, but Tomic secured the tie, defeating a struggling Rosol in straight sets in the fourth rubber.
The dead rubber was won by Jan Mertl to conclude the tie at 3-2 in favor of Australia, Mertl dispatching Sam Groth, who appeared to be ready to board his airplane.
France d. Germany 3-2 (3-0 live rubbers)
France got off to a great start and won their tie on Saturday against Germany, Gilles Simon had to survive an onslaught against Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening rubber, finally sneaking past the pesky Germany 10-8 in the fifth, but it was much easier for Gael Monfils, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in straights, and also for Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau, who secured the tie with a win in Saturday doubles over Benjamin Becker and Andre Begemann.
Kohlschreiber and Struff beat Simon and Mahut in the dead rubbers to conclude the tie at 3-2 in favor of the French.
Borna Coric lost a 2 sets to love lead against Viktor Troicki in the second Friday singles rubber, and that was the primary contributing factor to the Serbian sweep over the Croatian team. Novak Djokovic beat Mate Delic, and as mentioned, Troicki beat Coric in 5 sets. Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic locked the result of the tie on Saturday with a win over Marin Draganja and Franko Skugor in doubles.
Filip Krajinovic and Troicki won the dead rubbers over Skugor and Delic.
The quarterfinals in the World Group will feature France traveling to face Great Britain, Kazakhstan traveling to face Australia, Serbia going to Argentina and Canada heading to Belgium.
Action Outside The World Group
Santiago Giraldo and Colombia beat Pablo Cuevas and Uruguay 3-2, the inspiring Victor Estrella led the Dominican Republic past Barbados with a pair of wins and a 3-2 overall result, Michael Venus and New Zealand beat China 4-1.
In Europe, Russia beat Denmark 4-1 as Andrey Kuznetsov won two singles rubbers, Austria scratched past Sweden 3-2, from 1-2 down going into play on Sunday. Elias Ymer shocked Jurgen Melzer for a Friday singles win, but he couldn’t defeat Andreas Haider-Maurer on Sunday, and Gerald Melzer secured the tie with a fifth rubber win. Gerald chosen to start over his older, more accomplished brother Jurgen.
Martin Klizan went 3-0 between singles and doubles as Slovakia blanked Slovenia 5-0, Romania demolished Israel 5-0, as Marius Copil and Adrian Ungur both won twice, and Poland beat Lithuania 3-2, as Jerzy Janowicz scored two singles wins.
In group 2 action, the young Chilean squad swept Peru 5-0, Turkey beat South Africa 3-2 as Cem Ilkel, a 19 year old ranked outside of the worlds top 400 beat Ruan Roelofse 6-4 in the fifth set, and Marsel Ilhan scored two wins in singles. Last but not least, Joao Sousa led Portugal to a 4-1 win over Morocco.
Gerald Melzer was a good sport in agreeing to an interview with Steen Kirby following a loss in Tallahassee at the hands of Tim Smyczek. There is breaking news in this interview: 22-year-old Melzer may be the first ATP player to admit that he counts ranking points. He also said having a more famous older brother on tour is helpful, but as you might imagine, they don’t get to see each other very often.
You’ve won ten futures titles. Tell me about the difference between Futures and Challenger events.
It’s totally different. In Futures, today would have been enough. There’s a reason why (Smyczek) is #120 in the world. It’s tough. On Challengers, they don’t give you that much anymore. Not a lot of unforced errors and they fight in the end. It’s a different level.
Do you enjoy playing in the U.S.?
Yeah, definitely. I like the green clay, and especially to play the Americans on clay! Even though I lost today, I had a good week in Houston and the week after I played the semifinals in Panama. I hope I can keep it up.
Gerald Melzer
Your goals for 2013?
With those points, I’m like 235 now. It’s by far my career high. It would be nice to play all the Grand Slams and to finish the year under 200.
Are you friends with Austrian compatriot Dominic Thiem?
He’s a good friend of mine, he’s a good buddy. He’s playing really well and I’m sure he’s going to make his way on the tour.
You have a good record in doubles. Do you enjoy playing doubles and does it help the singles game?
Definitely it helps. I play just for fun. Too bad I couldn’t play the last weeks like in Panama because of qualies the next week. I think it definitely helps on the volleys and it’s fun.
Is it a boon or a bane to have a well-known ATP Pro like Jurgen Melzer as your brother?
There are two sides, but it definitely helps more than it affects my game. You know how it is up there. I can only take good stuff out of it.
Do you work at all with his coach and team?
I have my own coach. I actually never see my brother. I see him five to ten times per year. It happens sometimes that I don’t see him for five or six months.
2013 USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger Main Draw Preview
Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
The main draw for the Tally Challenger starts bright and early Monday, and here is a preview of the action that will be on tap this week. I’ll provide three days of on site coverage.
USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger
ATP Challenger Tour/USTA Pro Circuit
Tallahasssee, Florida, USA
April 28-May 4, 2013
Prize Money: $50,000
Top 8 seeds:
1: Michael Russell
2: Ryan Harrison
3: Wayne Odesnik
4: Jack Sock
5: Tim Smyczek
6: Steve Johnson
7: Denis Kudla
8: Mischa Zverev
7 of the 8 seeds are Americans, and they represent the crowded American pack between the top 100 and the top 150.
Russell’s quarter
Muscles Russell, coming off quarters in Savannah, will take on Suk-Young Jeong of Korea before facing the winner of Tennys Sandgren/Cedrik-Marcel Stebe. Russell just beat Sandgren in Savannah round 2. While the 22 year old German Stebe was formerly known as a very promising young talent, he has flatlined a bit in his career, hovering inside the top 200 but not having won consecutive matches since January. He was ranked as high as 71 last year.
Steve Johnson, who lost to Sandgren in Savannah, will play a qualifier, and the winner gets a qualifier or defending finalist Frank Dancevic of Canada. The only caveat about defending finalist being is that last year’s event was on hard court, and this year’s event is on Har-Tru clay. Dancevic is 1-2 in his last 3 matches, all on the Har-Tru clay challenge circuit.
Sock’s quarter
After breakthrough quarterfinals in Memphis, Sock has been a bit below average, and is on a two match losing streak heading into Tally. He will get the tough draw of Alex Kuznetsov, who of course won the Sarasota challenger and made the quarterfinals in Savannah. With those showings, Kuznetsov has nearly put a lock on the French Open wildcard spot and another win would clinch it for him. The winner gets current Florida State Seminole Dominic Cotrone, a wild card, or struggling Canadian Peter Polansky, who has lost two straight opening round matches.
Defending champ Tim Smyczek will face a qualifier, and the winner gets Gerald Melzer (the promising younger brother of well known ATP pro Jurgen Melzer) or current FAMU player Salif Kante, a wild card who hails from Senegal.
Odesnik’s quarter
Odesnik is the only other player in the running for the French Open Wild Card, but he would need at a minimum to make the final, and probably take the title, along with getting some help from Kuznetsov in the form of an early loss in order to have more overall points. With that in mind, he starts against Denys Molchanov, who he just beat in the Sarasota semis in 3 sets and the winner gets former Duke standout and wild card Reid Carleton, of Naples, Florida, or Savannah finalist Facundo Arguello. Odesnik just beat Arguello in Sarasota.
Denis Kudla is nearing his career high ranking inside the top 140 again, and he will open against Sarasota semifinalist Somdev Devvarman. The winner gets Bradley Klahn or Nicolas Barrientos.
Harrison’s quarter
Savannah champ Harrison will look to make a quick turnaround as he takes on Taro Daniel of Japan, who qualified in Savannah. The winner gets Alex Bogdanovic or wild card Austin Krajicek.
Veteran Mischa Zverev will take on Nikoloz Basilashvili and the winner gets Donald Young or a qualifier.
Predictions:
Semis:
Melzer d. Russell
Young d. Devvarman
Russell or Stebe should emerge from the first quarter, while Melzer is due for a good run and seems to be the freshest talent in the 2nd quarter, though Kuznetsov is playing great right now. Odesnik and Arguello are both good on clay but you would have to assume both are worn out from Savannah and Sarasota runs, and Devvarman has shown he can do well on Har-Tru.
Young is slowly improving this year, and you would also have to assume Harrison is going to be tired out from the Savannah title. Watch out for Taro Daniel as well.
Tennis Atlantic 