John Isner will aim for a 5th Atlanta Open title when he faces off with Ryan Harrison, the opponent he defeated in the 2017 final. On semifinal Saturday in Atlanta both semifinals went the distance as Isner defeated Matt Ebden, and Harrison overcame Cam Norrie.
In the first singles match of the day it too Isner 2 hours to put away Ebden as the Australian put up a valiant fight. Isner won 6-4 6-7 6-1 firing 26 aces on a day where his inconsistency gave Ebden some openings but it still wasn’t enough for the underdog. In the opening set Ebden was broken in his second service game as Isner got off to a good start. Ebden generated one break point chance and could have gotten back on serve but Isner erased it and then served out two more service games to take a one set lead.
In the second set Ebden again went down an early break. Under significant pressure against the home favorite it looked as if he might throw in the towle, but instead Isner slipped and got broken to keep things on serve. Ebden held his nerve in every service game to force a tiebreak from there. In that tiebreak Isner surrendered a 3-1 minibreak lead to lose the tiebreak 8-6. Ebden saved a match point on his serve in the tiebreak.
The third set saw Isner shut the door though, Ebden’s resistance wilted after he was broken for 2-0 and then failed to take a break point chance to get things back on serve. Ebden was broken one more time and then Isner served his way into the final at 15.
In the night match Harrison struggled against Norrie at the start but recovered his form to win 2-6 6-3 6-2 in almost 2 hours. Harrison was steady on serve despite the poor start as Norrie’s game fell to pieces in sets 2 and 3. Harrison was erratic in the opener, he was broken in the opening game, then once more late in the set as Norrie had no comparable pressure on his own serve.
In the second set Norrie had a chance to go up a set and a break but Harrison wiped away two break point chances. He seized the momentum from there, breaking Norrie and then serving things out to force a third set. Norrie was broken twice in the final set, including in the opening game as the third was one way traffic.
Harrison will also contest the doubles final. Along with his partner Rajeev Ram he’ll take on Nick Monroe and J.P. Smith in the final. Harrison/Ram defeated Raja/Skupski in straights while Monroe/Smith edged Arneodo/Chardy in a third set super tiebreak.
John Isner reached his 9th straight BB&T Atlanta Open semifinal, extending his streak of having never lost before the semifinals since the Atlanta Open began in 2010. Isner got past Mischa Zverev in the quarterfinals 7-5 4-6 6-1 in an hour and a half. The American #1 fired 21 aces and won all but two of his first serve points against the German veteran.
The opening set was a relatively swift one, Isner made a late push to break in the final game of the set, generating three break point chances and finally securing the set. Set 2 saw Zverev take advantage of his one and only opening in the match as he broke Isner for a 3-2 lead and was rock solid on serve to force a third set. Things went off the rails for Zverev though from there, Isner broke open a 5-0 lead and closed out the third set losing just three points on serve.
Isner is now slated to face Australia’s Matt Ebden in the semifinals. In the one routine match of the day Ebden took advantage of a discombobulated Marcos Baghdatis to ease into the semis 6-3 6-2. Baghdatis played a poor match similar to the ones that has characterized his late career decline. He won just 38% of his second serve points and generated just one break point chance that Ebden saved in the contest. Ebden broke for 2-0, and snuffed out a break point chance in the final game of the first set to take it 6-3. Baghdatis again surrendered an immediate break in the second set and under constant pressure from the clean hitting Ebden he was broken once more to allow Ebden an easy win.
Ryan Harrison and Cam Norrie face off in the other semifinal. Norrie upset Nick Kyrgios as Kyrgios retired to a chorus of boos down 7-5 3-0 in nearly an hour. Kyrgios struggled throughout the match and played surprisingly passively throughout the contest, eventually giving up as he loomed doomed to defeat against the fast rising Norrie. Norrie was steady on serving erasing the three break point chances he faced as things slipped away from Kyrgios after he failed to break in a pair of games where he had an opportunity in the opening set. After being broken twice in the match (first at 5-6 and second at 0-1) he shook hands with the umpire and walked off the court.
Ryan Harrison didn’t have it so easy against next gen star Hyeon Chung. Harrison dropped the first set 7-6 and had to comeback for a 6-7 6-2 7-6 victory in a match that was decided by the slightest of margins. Harrison kept hope alive of defending his finalist points from last year after a two and a half hour war where his superior serve made all the difference. Harrison wasn’t broken in the match, saving 5 chances that Chung generated, and he won 83% of his first sere points.
Despite failing to break Harrison in the opening set Chung played a better tiebreak to get off to the best start. However Harrison instantly got himself back into the contest breaking Chung in the first game of set 2 and then taking another break to finish things 6-2. In the third set it looked like Chung would take the advantage as he had three break points in the 6th game, but Harrison won that long game and then almost broke Chung in the next one. Both players would serve their way into a tiebreak where minibreaks were the order of the day. Harrison took a 6-4 lead in the breaker and finally put things away 7-5 as Chung gave up the deciding point on his serve.
In doubles Arneodo/Chardy and Harrison/Ram advanced in straight sets as Bambridge/O’Mara and Bryan/Tiafoe went down in defeat.
Saturday features Isner vs. Ebden first up with Harrison vs. Norrie to follow. The doubles semifinals are Arneodo/Chardy vs Monroe/Smith and Raja/Skupski taking on Harrison/Ram. Isner and Harrison met in the final last year, while Ebden and Norrie are seeking the first ATP titles of their career. Ebden has one previous final on his resume, while Norrie has none.
Four singles matches were completed on Thursday at the BB&T Atlanta Open as the quarterfinals were set for 2018. Cam Norrie sprung the upset of the day as the ATP #73 came back from a set down to upset the ATP #43 Jeremy Chardy 5-7 6-4 6-4 in a closely fought battle. Norrie was stronger on a serve in a match that featured few breaks. Chardy erased two break point chances early in the first then broke late to take a one set lead. Norrie finally broke Chardy in the second set then squared things up with a steady performance. In the third Chardy was broken right away and was unable to recover as the fast rising Brit showed the improvements in his game over the last few months.
Marcos Baghdatis has once again posted a good run of results in Atlanta. By a score of 7-5 6-1 Baghdatis crushed young gun American Frances Tiafoe who served up 9 double faults and had an awful serving day. Tiafoe got an early break in the first but things quickly unraveled for the young American. Baghdatis generated 13 break point chances and broke 5 times in the match.
Australians Matt Ebden and Nick Kyrgios also reached the quarterfinals. Ebden was reliable under hot, fast conditions in the noon match as he defeated local favorite Donald Young 6-4 6-4. Ebden won all but 5 of his first serve points as he got late a break in the second set to close the match out and avoid having to spend more time on court than he had to.
Kyrgios needed less than an hour to aggressively dismantle Noah Rubin 7-5 6-2. NK fired 15 aces and won over 80% of his points on serve as Rubin started well but quickly unraveled after surrendering a break in the last game of the first set. Kyrgios moved around the court with ease and was able to hit from attacking positions for most of the match.
Raja/Skupski defeated Norrie and Taylor Fritz in the lone doubles match on the day.
The men’s quarterfinals in singles feature Ebden vs. Baghdatis, John Isner vs. Mischa Zverev, Norrie vs. Kyrgios, and Ryan Harrison vs. Hyeon Chung all taking place tomorrow.
The remaining doubles quarterfinals are Bryan/Tiafoe vs. Harrison/Ram and Arneodo/Chardy vs. Bambridge/O’Mara. Monroe/Smith and Raja/Skupski have already reached the semifinals.
Grass Court Season Concludes With ATP 250 Newport Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The ATP 250 in Newport at the Tennis Hall of Fame concludes the grass court season and begins the North American summer of tennis. Here is your look at all the action.
Top Half:
Adrian Mannarino will begin against James Duckworth or Jordan Thompson, Mannarino is a great grass court player so he should beat Thompson and Gilles Muller to reach the semis. Muller’s path is Marcos Baghdatis, then Marcel Granollers or a qualifier. While Muller is usually good on grass, his poor form means Mannarino has a decided edge.
Steve Johnson did not have a good grass court season, but back in the States he should get past a qualifier or Christian Harrison before running into Alex De Minaur, one of the breakthrough young guns this year and a player who did have a great grass season. De Minaur should eke past the big serving Ivo Karlovic, then defeat Dudi Sela or a qualifier, with De Minaur favored to emerge from this section.
Mischa Zverev should ease past Donald Young/Vasek Pospisil and then defeat Denis Kudla after Kudla defeats Ruben Bemelmans and Ramkumar Ramanathan/qualifier. Zverev has won a title on grass this year and he has a great shot to do it again if he can get past a tough grass court player in Kudla.
Matt Ebden faces Bjorn Fratangelo or Tim Smyczek then should run into Sergiy Stakhovsky in the quarters. Stako will face Jason Jung, coming off success on the challenger tour, then Nicolas Mahut or Ryan Harrison, with Harrison likely falling victim to a tough section full of good grass court players. Ebden vs. Zverev is my bottom half semifinal.
Any of these four players could emerge as champion on this surface, but Mannarino and Zverev should make the final with Zverev continuing his recent success to lift another title.
Grass Court Season Kicks off With Libema Open 250 in the Netherlands Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
If you are tired of the red clay, you’re in for a treat starting Monday. The ATP grass court season begins with the 250 stop in the Netherlands that is a joint event with the WTA. Here is your look at the field with predictions for the week ahead.
Top Half:
The second round match between Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Jeremy Chardy looks to be a great one. Chardy has to defeat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez first to get there. I’ll go with Mannarino to find his form back on a faster surface and reach the quarters. At that stage Italy’s Andreas Seppi should be his opponent. Seppi will need to edge Mackenzie McDonald and Vasek Pospisil or Alex Bolt to get that far. Mannarino is my pick to reach the semis.
Matt Ebden is my dark horse pick this week. Pierre-Hugues Herbert comes off a doubles final in Paris and Gilles Muller is struggling (his round 1 and 2 opponents). Presuming he beats Muller he should defeat fellow journeyman Yuichi Sugita in the quarters. Sugita gets Nikoloz Basilashvili in round 1 (he struggles on grass), with Marius Copil or Aljaz Bedene to follow, both beatable opponents.
Tournament favorite Richard Gasquet draws Evgeny Donskoy or qualifier Franko Skugor in round 2. Gasquet should win and also defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarters. The Greek opens with local wild card Tallon Griekspoor, Malek Jaziri or Max Purcell will follow.
Ivo Karlovic vs. Robin Haase looks like a crucial round 1 match. I’ll back the struggling veteran Karlovic to win that and also defeat Marcos Baghdatis or Bernard Tomic to reach the quarters. Tomic has a great chance in theory, but he’s far from consistent these days. Look for Karlvoic to face Daniil Medvedev in the quarters. Medvedev is good on grass and should upset Fernando Verdasco in round 2 after defeating Yuki Bhambri in round 1. I’ll back Karlovic to reach the semis.
Mannarino beating Gasquet would be an upset but I’m not convinced Gasquet’s entirely fit and Mannarino is the type of player who badly needs points at the faster court tournaments like this.
Veterans Ferrer and Isner, Young Gun Rublev Claim ATP Titles Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Bastad
David Ferrer grinded his way to his first ATP title in two years, claiming a third career Bastad title 6-4 6-4 over Alexandr Dolgopolov, who also sorely needed the ranking boost gained from reaching an ATP final, even at the 250 level. Ferrer’s record turned positive this year overall after wins against Federico Delbonis, Dustin Brown, Henri Laaksonen and Fernando Verdasco, as since reaching the third round of Wimbledon he’s looking much better in terms of form.
Dolgopolov also went above .500 this season overall, he defeated Leonardo Mayer, Horacio Zeballos, Karen Khachanov, and Andrey Kuznetsov, looking healthy in the process.
Julian Knowle and Philipp Petzschner defeated Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop in the doubles final.
ATP Newport
Overall, John Isner would have preferred more from his grass court season, but the 32 year old won Newport, and in the process gained his first ATP title in two years. His victims at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships were Sam Groth, Dennis Novikov, Bjorn Fratangelo, and surprise finalist Matt Ebden 6-3 7-6.
Ebden, a 29 year old qualifier, reached his first ever ATP final, Rajeev Ram, Lukas Lacko, Tobias Kamke, and Peter Gojowczky were the players he defeated en route, as Newport has a habit of generating interesting upsets. Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi and Rajeev Ram beat Matt Reid and J.P. Smith in the doubles final.
ATP Umag
Andrey Rublev was much more than a lucky loser in Umag, he now wears the title of champion, as he won his maiden ATP title over Paolo Lorenzi 6-4 6-2. Rublev defeated Carlos Berlocq, Andrej Martin, Fabio Fognini, and Ivan Dodig as well last week. Lorenzi beat Aljaz Bedene, Jiri Vesely, and Alessandro Giannessi, it was his second ATP final this season, although he’s lost both.
Guillermo Durán and Andres Molteni defeated Tomislav Draganja and Marin Draganja in the doubles final.
Matt Ebden, Hiroki Moriya Shine During Shenzhen Qualifying Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
Matt Ebden
The Shenzhen Open is the first out of three Chinese ATP tournaments which will take place over the next month. Headlined by Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic, the ATP 250 tournament is a golden opportunity for the lower ranked players to grab some crucial ranking points during the final part of the 2015 season.
In the qualifying tournament world No.133 Matthew Ebden headed the field after Austin Krajicek was moved to the main draw following Richard Gasquet’s withdrawal. In his first match Ebden played little known American Nicholas Alexander Reyes. 20-year-old Reyes has won 5 main draw matches in his career and is ranked over 1000 places below Ebden at 1494th. Despite the enormous rankings gap, the match was a much closer encounter as the Australian took the match 6-3, 7-6 (1). In the final round he played New Zealand’s Michael Venus. Venus defeated sixth seed Lee Duck-hee in the second round after saving a match point during a second set tie-break. Venus was unable to reproduce another upset as Ebden cruised to take the match 6-2, 6-2. Ebden has claimed one Challenger title this year which was at the Aegon Surbiton Trophy in June.
The only other seeded player to successfully qualify for the main draw was Japanese 5th seed Hiroki Moriya. Moriya defeated 19-year-old Xia Haitong in his opening match (6-1,6-3) to set up an encounter with France’s Johan Tatlot. Tatlot reached world No.5 in the junior rankings last year and is currently ranked 359th in the world. Tatlor stunned third seed Chen Ti in the second round by winning 6-4,1-6,6-4. Moriya experienced a tough start to the match as he trailed 2-4 before taking five out of the next six games to take the first set. In the second set the world No.219 broke in the penultimate game of the match to win 7-5, 6-3, after eighty minutes. Moriya is yet to win a title this year and has a 2015 main draw win-loss of 9-22.
Out of the seven Chinese entrants into the qualifying draw, only one was successful. 18-year-old Zhang Zhizhen produced one of the best wins in his career by beating 4th seed Luke Saville to reach the final stage of qualifying. In the final he played Sergey Betov from Belarus. Betov is currently ranked 73rd in the doubles rankings after claiming four titles on the Challenger circuit this year. The home player was too powerful for Betov as the 18-year-old booked his place in the main draw with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Earlier this year Zhezhen claimed his first Futures title at a F10 event in France.
Finally, Takuto Niki enjoyed a milestone competition to reach the main draw. The 27-year-old beat China’s Chen Long in the first round to face 8th seed Mikhail Elgin in the second round. 33-year-old Elgin has won four Future titles this year. Despite being the underdog, Miki stunned the eight seed by winning 6-4, 7-5. The Japanese player was able to continue his winning momentum by defeating China’s Sun Fajing in the final round. He will now play in the main draw of an ATP event for the first time in his career.
The main draw matches:
Matthew Ebden (AUS) v Víctor Estrella Burgos (DOM) – This will be the second time that the two players have met and the first since 2012. In their first encounter Ebden took the match 6-3, 6-2.
Hiroki Moriya (JPA) v Ricardas Berankis (LTU) – First meeting.
Takuto Niki (JPA) v Bai Yan (CHN) – First meeting.
Zhang Zhizhen (CHN) v Go Soeda (JPA) – First meeting.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Former NCAA star Sarkissian to make ATP Main Draw debut in Bogota (Weekend Qualifying Wrap Up Bogota/Bastad) Steen Kirby and Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
ATP Bogota Qualifying
2015 Claro Open Colombia Qualifying Recap
2014 NCAA championship runner-up Alexander Sarkissian, a graduate of Pepperdine University, highlights the list of qualifiers for the ATP Bogota main draw. Three other players booked their spots in the draw via qualifying on Monday alongside him.
Sarkissian, who has been fantastic this season, posting a 43-15 record at primarily the futures level, with a few challengers mixed in, including Gimcheon where he took the title on hard courts, beat Juan Montes and Facundo Mena by a combined score of 24-7 in games. The California native will now face the unseeded John Millman in a winnable round 1 match, as he makes his ATP main draw debut. Given his results since turning pro, and his success in college, I’m sure we will see more of him in the future at the ATP level.
26 year old doubles specialist Marcelo Demoliner,a Brazilian, will also be making a surprise appearance in an ATP main draw. Demoliner beat Jesus Francisco Felix, Marco Chiudinelli, a Swiss veteran, and former GA Tech product Kevin King to qualify. His first round match will be against Illya Marchenko, another unseeded hard courter.
23 year old Alejandro Gomez will be making his ATP main draw debut in front of supportive home fans, Gomez beat Andres Molteni in a close three setter in round 2, and prior to that beat Felipe Rojas in straights. He completed qualifying with a routine win over Juan Ignacio Londero. Gomez is unlikely to find much success in his debut as his first round opponent is the accomplished veteran Marcos Baghdatis.
Last but not least, qualifying top seed and grass court specialist Matt Ebden also found success on the quick courts in Bogota. He beat doubles specialist Colin Fleming in three sets, and then beat Juan Sebastian Gomez to qualify. Ebden will get a winnable round 1 match against Tatsuma Ito to start off with.
Top seed Paul-Henri Mathieu was one of four men to successfully qualify for the main draw of the 68th Swedish Open, which takes place on clay.
The Frenchman was impressive throughout the three rounds as he didn’t drop a set. After beating wild card Daniel Windahl and Australia’s Peter Luczak, who came out of retirement to play qualifying for fun, Mathieu set up a final round match against 5th seed Giovanni Lapentti. The Ecuadorian player is currently ranked 75 places below Mathieu. Lapentti, who hasn’t played in a Grand Slam since the 2009 US Open, best result of 2015 was a runner-up position at the ATP Cali Challenger last May. Mathieu experienced little difficulty as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-3, victory after an hour and 13 minutes.
31-year-old Rogério Dutra Silva qualified for his first ATP tournament main draw since April following a 6-2,6-4, win against Stéphane Robert. The Brazilian is yet to win a title in 2015 but came close in the ATP Milan Challenger, where he was runner up to Federico Delbonis. Prior to Robert, Silva also produced a solid win against tricky opponent Mischa Zverev. Zverev stunned Dominic Thiem and Andreas Seppi last month in Stuttgart but has recently encountered some disappointing results. Silva hasn’t won a main draw ATP level match since Sao Paulo in February 2014.
Andrea Arnaboldi endured a tough final match against Belarus’s Maxim Dubarenco to progress to the main draw. After a close opening set, which consisted of two breaks of service for the Italian, Arnaboldi battled to win 7-6(5), 6-3. The Italian was full of confidence coming into Bastad following his run to the last eight of a Challenger event in Todi, Italy. The 27-year-old justified his wild-card into the Italian event by defeating Victor Hanescu and Andrej Martin before prevailing to Matteo Donati.
Finally Julian Reister was the only man to beat two seeded players during the qualifying competition. In the second round, he produced a 6-3,6-4 win over 4th seed Renzo Olivo to set up a final match with 8th seed Constant Lestienne. World No.334 Lestienne reached his first ATP main draw in Estoril earlier this year. The Frenchman was however no match for Reister as the German won 6-4, 6-3.
Julien Reister GER v Alexander Zverev GER – First meeting
Rogerio Dutra Silva BRA v Federico Delbonis ARG – Rematch of the 2015 Milan Challenger final. On that occasion Delbonis won 6-1, 7-6 (6).
Andrea Arnaboldi ITA v Jerzy Janowicz POL – Janowicz won their only previous meeting which was at the 2010 Trani Challenger.
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA v Jeremy Chardy FRA – Chardy leads the head-to-head 3-1, however, their most recent meeting was in 2012.
2015 Kolkata, Kyota and Cherbourg Challenger Previews & Predictions Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Another week of clayless tennis on the Challenger tour, with tournaments taking place in India and France on hardcourt and on carpet in Japan.
Emami Kolkata Open 2015
ATP Challenger Tour
23-28 February 2015
Kolkata, India
Prize Money: $50,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: James Duckworth (112)
2: Alexander Kudryavtsev (129)
3: Ruben Bemelmans (144)
4: Somdev Devvarman (153)
5: Luke Saville (161)
6: Radu Albot (165)
7: Alex Bolt (167)
8: Kimmer Coppejans (183)
The last direct acceptance is Miki Jankovic, ranked 402nd.
First round match-up to watch
(4) Somdev Devvarman – Ramkumar Ramanathan
Last week’s New Delhi winner might be in trouble here against his almost ten-years-younger countryman. It is yet to be seen if one good week against relatively weak opposition is going to break Devvarman’s slump and Ramanathan showed last year that he can handle Devvarman. In Chennai, Ramanathan won 4-6 6-3 6-4 and he has a good shot at pulling it off again here.
Top Half
As I have mentioned in my recap, it’s dangerous to back top seed James Duckworth at the moment. He started a slump in sight of the top 100 and it’s hard to predict when he gets his mind straight again. His countryman Alex Bolt might trouble him enough in the quarterfinal to take him out, for example. In the second section Ruben Bemelmans has been displaying good form as of late, which should take him to the semi-final here, taking out his countryman Kim Coppejans in the quarterfinal in the process.
Bottom Half
Yuki Bhambri is the most dangerous player here, despite being unseeded. He seems to really struggle with Devvarman, so if he can avoid him in the semi-final I can see him taking down the title. In the quarterfinal he potentially faces second seed Alexander Kudryavtsev again, whom he took out in the first round last week. I can’t see anyone other than one of these three going through to the final, with Bhambri as the favorite to do so.
Predictions
Semis:
Bemelmans d. Duckworth
Bhambri d. Saville
Final:
Bhambri d. Bemelmans
This would be a rematch of the New Delhi semi-final of last week, when Bhambri won 4-6 6-3 7-5.
Shimadzu All Japan Indoor
ATP Challenger Tour
23 February – 1 March 2015
Kyoto, Japan
Prize Money: $50,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Go Soeda (82)
2: Tatsuma Ito (94)
3: Yuichi Sugita (131)
4: John Millman (149)
5: Hiroki Moriya (158)
6: Ze Zhang (180)
7: Michal Przysiezny (185)
8: Benjamin Mitchell (212)
The last direct acceptance is Yusuke Watanuki, ranked 505th. 38 year old Takao Suzuki received a wild card. The oldtimer played his first Challenger in 1992 and reached his career high ranking of #102 in 1998.
First round match-up to watch
(5) Hiroki Moriya – Matthew Ebden
Ebden has been regaining some form after his enormous losing streaks of last year, but is still far from the level that saw him reach the top 70 a year ago. However, his two meetings against Moriya in 2013 ended in two easy straight set victories, so perhaps he will take confidence from that. Moriya isn’t in good shape himself either, losing in the first round of all four of his Challengers this year, two weeks ago in Launceston even to a player ranked outside of the top 1000.
Top Half
It’s hard to look past top seed Go Soeda here. He lives for these Asian events, and especially in Japan, he is really strong. The seed in his half, Michal Przysiezny, is potentially very strong on this rapid surface, but in his current state he is a long shot. In the second section #6 seed Ze Zhang has an excellent opportunity to reach the semi-final, especially considering #3 seed Yuichi Sugita has been struggling with his form and injuries.
Bottom Half
I suspect this will come down to an encounter between #4 seed John Millman and #2 seed Tatsuma Ito for a place in the final. Millman has been out for a couple of weeks with injury, so he might be struggling in the early stages of the tournament, but he has been in excellent form lately and I actually think he can make the top 100 this year. Nevertheless, the Japanese tend to have these events on lockdown, so Ito surely won’t go down easily. If anyone can do it, it’s Millman, however, as he closed off 2014 by winning a Challenger in Yokohama. They have played each other twice in 2013, splitting the matches, with Ito winning in five sets at the Australian Open, while Millman won in straight sets at Brisbane. In 2012 they faced each other three times on the Challenger circuit, with Ito winning all the encounters.
Predictions
Semis:
Soeda d. Zhang
Millman d. Ito
Final:
Millman d. Soeda
Challenger La Manche – Cherbourg
ATP Challenger Tour
23 February – 1 March 2015
Cherbourg, France
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Kenny De Schepper (103)
2: Steve Darcis (115)
3: Andreas Beck (117)
4: Farrukh Dustov (118)
5: Nicolas Mahut (119)
6: Benoit Paire (121)
7: Norbert Gombos (124)
8: Niels Desein (155)
The last direct acceptance is Tristan Lamasine, ranked 230th.
First round match-ups to watch
(1) Kenny De Schepper – David Guez
Upset alert. These two faced each other in the final qualifying round of Marseille last week and Guez triumphed, 6-2 2-6 6-3. He continued his form into the main draw, where he pushed world #35 Jeremy Chardy to three sets, 6-4 3-6 2-6. All in all, I would say there is about a 50% chance we will lose the top seed in the first match.
(3) Andreas Beck – Taro Daniel
Daniel is related to the previous story as well, losing to De Schepper in the second qualifying round, 7-5 6-3. This will be his first Challenger of the year, trying his luck in ATP qualifying events before, but only succeeding in Montpellier. Beck hasn’t been very successful either in his prior tournaments this year, making this another possibility for a seed to bomb out in the first round.
Top Half
Given De Schepper’s first round draw, he isn’t a solid bet to go far here. Benoit Paire is in his quarter, so even if he does make it to the quarterfinal stage, he is likely to go out against his flamboyant countryman. Paire reached second rounds at Montpellier and Marseille, together with taking down a Challenger in Bergamo, so he looks to have regained a big chunk of his pre-injury form. In the bottom section, Farrukh Dustov will show if he can perform in back to back weeks after winning the Wroclaw Challenger and reaching the top 100 for the first time. Nicolas Mahut is also still a competitor to take into account.
Bottom Half
Second seed Steve Darcis looks like the safest bet to reach the final. He lost to an on-fire Dustov last week, and only very nearly, but is unlikely to encounter that kind of opposition until the final. However, Daniel Brands qualified into this event and potentially faces Darcis in the quarterfinal, which could be very dangerous if the German brings his pre-injury form. In the other section, Niels Desein has an excellent opportunity to build on his first Challenger title in Glasgow and reach the semi-final.
