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2014 ATP Clay Court Season In Review

Posted by Admin on August 6, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Rogers Cup. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

2014 ATP Clay Court Season In Review
Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast


In review: The 2014 ATP Clay Court Season

After Kitzbuhel concluded last week, the clay court calendar portion of the 2014 ATP season came to an end. With that conclusion, we can now review which players performed the best, and which players underachieved on the dirt this season. Clay courts comprise a large portion of the ATP calendar so there is a much larger sample size to draw from compared to, say, the grass court season.

Biggest clay court surprise: Leonardo Mayer

27 year old journeyman Argentine Leonardo Mayer has transformed himself into a top 30 player this season and his best results have come on clay. He posted 18 wins on the surface compared to just 10 losses this season at the ATP level and scored wins over household names David Ferrer, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Joao Sousa and Tommy Robredo on the surface; he also pushed top 6 player Tomas Berdych to three sets in Oeiras.

He reached his first career final in Vina Del Mar, but fell short against Fabio Fognini there, and he finally got his maiden title in Hamburg over Ferrer in 3 sets. Winning that final set tiebreak ended a long journey to the top 30 for Leo and he remains an under recognized and underappreciated Argentine player. With Del Potro perpetually injured and Nalbandian now retired, Argentine will have to look to the likes of Mayer to carry Davis Cup and national hopes for a while. He reached the third round of the French Open and had quarterfinal appearances in both Oeiras and Nice to round out his best results on clay for 2014.

Honorable mentions for clay court surprise: Carlos Berlocq, Santiago Giraldo, Kei Nishikori, Roberto Bautista Agut

Carlos Berlocq joins his countryman Mayer as a surprising player this season. He won an ATP title for the second year in a row, this time coming in Oeiras where he upset and outlasted Tomas Berdych. The loud and flamboyant dirtballer also posted quarterfinals in Nice and a semifinal in Bastad to compliment his win in Oeiras. This highlights an overall 16-9 record on clay at the ATP level for 2014. He tends to get overmatched in the masters level and grand slam events but against a 250 level field he often flourishes. Notable opponents he defeated this year on clay include Andreas Seppi, Milos Raonic, Ferrer and Lleyton Hewitt at the French, along with the aforementioned Berdych.

Santiago Giraldo, a shotmaking Colombian with a huge forehand, has also had some of the best success of his career this season. He went 19-11 on clay and though he did not win a title, he reached the final in Barcelona, his second career final, along with semis in Houston and Vina Del Mar, and a pair of quarterfinals in Madrid and Stuttgart. Giraldo beat top players Tommy Robredo, Andy Murray, Nicolas Almagro, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga this season. Giraldo joins Mayer as a first time top 30 player after success on clay.

Kei Nishikori had an underappreciated clay court season this year, partially due to the fact that he had to battle injuries during that portion of the season, He played just three tournaments but posted a 10-2 record in them with a title in Barcelona and a final in Madrid, where he took a set off Nadal but had to retire during the third set of the match. He had top tier wins over Roberto Bautista Agut, Marin Cilic, Ferrer, Ernests Gulbis, and Raonic among his 10 overall and should he be able to stay healthy he has shown himself to be a threat on clay.

Bautista Agut is the last player I’ll discuss. He went 12-5 on clay and won his first title on the surface in Stuttgart over Lukas Rosol. Success on clay has helped him reach the top 20 for the first time in his career and he beat Robredo, Fernando Verdasco, and Fognini this year on the surface. RBA doesn’t play prototypical Spanish tennis but he’s still a top performing Spaniard on red clay.

Biggest upset: ATP Barcelona quarterfinals: Nicolas Almagro d. Rafael Nadal 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4

The powerful Spaniard Almagro had been outclassed by his much more successful countryman Nadal eight previous times on clay. Finally, Nico was able to get a victory against perhaps the greatest clay courter of all time. The first set was a routine affair, but Almagro fought back hard and Rafa played poorly, resulting in Nadal’s first loss on clay after winning the first set in over six years. Nadal had his chances to close out the match in the second, and didn’t face break points himself, but he couldn’t convert and the tiebreak went against him, giving Almagro an opening he took advantage of by winning a decisive fifth and final break in the third set to seal the victory. Nadal struggled to win his service points, and at the time, many were deeply worried about how he was playing going into the French Open. The fact Rafa did win the French perhaps makes this victory by Almagro look even more improbable and top quality, given Rafa showed his career wasn’t in serious decline yet.

Clay court breakthroughs: Dominic Thiem, Alex Zverev and Dusan Lajovic

A trio of young players found maiden ATP success on clay, while new Austrian number one Dominic Thiem was a mere 12-8 on clay at the ATP level. He went 4-0 in qualifying matches on the surface and won multiple main draw matches in Barcelona, Madrid and Hamburg. He finally reached his first career ATP final on home soil in Kitzbuhel and appears very close to his first career ATP title. Thiem had notable wins over Radek Stepanek and Stan Wawrinka this year on clay.

Alex Zverev, a teenager, notably made the semifinals in Hamburg, a one off showing but clearly a sign of things to come for the young German. Zverev had wins over Mikhail Youzhny and Giraldo en route. I have a feeling Thiem vs. Zverev may develop into a clay court rivalry in the future. Both players have things to work on but we could have a Germany vs. Austria French Open final come 2018 or beyond.

Dusan Lajovic established himself as a top 70 player with a strong clay court season. He also established himself as the Serbian number 2 behind Djokovic and should feature on their Davis Cup team for quite some time. He went 14-11 in both ATP main draw action and qualifying on clay this season and along with quarters in Hamburg and Bastad, he reached the round of 16 at the French Open, his best ever result in a major. He didn’t beat many top names this season but he still proved he can grind out matches to increase his ranking.

Clay Court Disappointments: Tommy Robredo, Stan Wawrinka, Gilles Simon, Joao Sousa and Andreas Seppi

The well-liked veteran Spaniard Robredo went just 15-12 this year on clay after going a tremendous 25-10 on the surface in 2013. His age may finally be catching up with him as he reached just one final, one semi and one quarterfinal this season along with posting seven early round exits. Once he finishes this season he will have a lot to think about going into to 2015.

Wawrinka did not have a terrible clay court season, but he underachieved after high expectations were placed on him after winning his first grand slam in Australia at the start of the year. He won Monte Carlo, but that was the only highlight of his 6-3 clay court season. He had a trio of surprising early exits in Madrid, Rome and the French Open, and next season he will have much to gain during the clay court portion of the year. He posted a 43-17 record on clay over the previous two seasons before this one and has the ability to do much better than he did in 2014.

Veteran Frenchman Gilles Simon has struggled to stay healthy in 2014 and he had a disappointing clay court season that has contributed to his fall from the top 30. He won consecutive matches in a clay court tournament just twice this season and failed to beat any players ranked above him on the surface. He also had bad losses to Teymuraz Gabashvili, Lukasz Kubot and Pablo Andujar. He was a subpar 8-9 on the surface overall in 2014. ‘

After a breakthrough 2013, top Portugese player Joao Sousa was a disappointing 7-13 on clay in 2014, struggling against ATP level competition on the surface. He reached one quarterfinal and one final but suffered ten opening match exits and eleven early round exists overall with multiple losses to players ranked below him. Sousa will need to improve considerably and adjust his game if he hopes to be more successful on clay in the future.

After struggling on clay in 2013, Italian veteran Andreas Seppi did so again in 2014. He is just 18-22 on the surface over the past two seasons and was 11-12 this season. He failed to reach a semifinal in any clay court tournament this year.

First time winners: Federico Delbonis, David Goffin and Pablo Cuevas

23 year old Argentine Federico Delbonis won his maiden title in Sao Paulo and has been successful on clay overall this season, posting an 18-13 ATP record. He later made a final in Nice, semifinals in Casablanca and a quarterfinal in Stuttgart to complement his Sao Paulo victory. Delbonis also showed his prowess on the red stuff last season when he reached the final in Hamburg and he should be a name to watch in many clay court tournaments to come.

David Goffin snagged a maiden title in Kitzbuhel at the tail end of the clay court season after getting red hot on the ATP Challenger Tour prior. Goffin, who had that run to the fourth round as a qualifier at the 2012 French Open, and has seen his once promising career fade from the spotlight since then, returned to the challenger tour to find his game and hopefully he will be able to keep himself at the ATP level this time. Goffin is undersized and many players were able to hit him off the court at the top level but perhaps he has rediscovered a path to success for himself given the limitations of his physical stature.

Lastly, Pablo Cuevas, who has overcome multiple knee and shoulder injuries and built his ranking back up to ATP status from the challenger tour, won his maiden title at 28 years old in Bastad, then followed it up with a title in Umag a couple of weeks later. Cuevas makes his living on clay and has been rapidly improving as of late. He pushed Fernando Verdasco to five sets at the French Open and has wins over Robredo, Fognini, Seppi, Sousa, and Verdasco this season. Cuevas’ rise is a testament to his tenacity and the work he has put into his game.

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Men’s Semifinals and Women’s Final Set @PortugalOpen

Posted by Admin on May 3, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Portugal Open, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Men’s Semifinals and Women’s Final Set @PortugalOpen
Manuel Traquete, Tennis East Coast

The final Saturday of the Portugal Open will feature the women’s final and the men’s semifinals, all on center court. The day will open with Svetlana Kuznetsova facing the #1 of the tournament Carla Suarez Navarro in the final. Kuznetsova is far past her best days, but has played a very good week in Portugal, showing why she is a former Roland Garros champion (2009). Her game has proved too powerful and solid for the field so far on the slow Oeiras clay.

Still, it’d be perhaps fair to claim she will enter the final as the slight underdog – albeit one with good chances – against Carla Suarez Navarro, one of the best clay courters and a player who’s often praised and got the Portuguese crowd on her side due to her beautiful technique and game. The head to head is 3-1 for the Russian, but the only time they met on clay was back in 2008, when Suarez Navarro was still young and not established as a top player. In any case, it should be a great final to conclude another very good Portugal Open edition on the women’s side.

On the men’s side, the #1 seed Tomas Berdych survived a very good performance from Mayer to book a spot in the semifinals, even from a break down in the deciding set. His opponent will be Victor Hanescu, who beat the last Portuguese player standing in Gastão Elias. On paper, Berdych is the overwhelming favorite to reach the final since when both play at their usual level the Czech does pretty much everything better than Hanescu, with better technique, more power and more consistency. It’ll take a strong performance from Hanescu and a less than stellar one by Berdych for any other outcome other than Berdych playing the final on Sunday.

The Czech should be very eager to win his 10th ATP level title, as well as to gain some momentum ahead of Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, tournaments where he aims to perform well and maybe even win.

The other semifinal might look weak on paper, but both Carlos Berlocq and Daniel Gimeno-Traver have been playing great tennis this week and haven’t even dropped a set on their way, although they’ve done it mostly on the outside courts in matches that were not broadcast on TV/stream. Yesterday, Berlocq secured his first ever win over a top 10 player in Milos Raonic, with one of his best ever performances, dominating Raonic from the baseline and doing a more than decent job returning his booming serve. Making an ATP final is not a chance that comes around every day for a player of Berlocq’s level/ranking, especially when the semifinal is against a player he has a positive H2H of 4-1 against, so it’s doubtful that he will be satisfied with simply recording his first ever top 10 scalp knowing that a chance (albeit small, with Berdych still in the draw) for a second ATP title in Bastaad last year is there. Gimeno-Traver also played amazingly yesterday, easily disposing of his countryman Marcel Granollers 6-1 6-2 on Centralito, firing winners of both wings at will, even off his usually unreliable backhand. If he can sustain that level, you have to imagine that there’s not much Berlocq can do despite the H2H. Despite his inconsistency, when in form, Gimeno-Traver has a very big serve and one of the best forehands on tour, capable of hitting winners from anywhere in the court. On paper, he also stands a better chance in a potential final with Berdych due to having a higher peak level of play.

All that said, this is a very unusual matchup for an ATP level semifinal. Berlocq has merely reached two finals in his career (won one), while Gimeno-Traver has never reached an ATP level final – both players are bound to be both excited and nervous before this unique opportunity, which might affect the quality of play.

Day 4 Review, Day 5 Preview @PortugalOpen

Posted by Admin on May 2, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Portugal Open, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Day 4 Review, Day 5 Preview @PortugalOpen
Manuel Traquete, Tennis East Coast

Portugal Open

As always, May 1st was by far the best attended day of the week of the Portugal Open, it being a public holiday in Portugal. Centralito was probably as full as its ever been, enough to encourage Gastão Elias to sensationally upset recent Casablanca winner and Monte Carlo quarterfinalist Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 3-6 6-2.

By his own admission, Elias played one of his best ever matches to repeat his Portugal Open quarterfinal performance of last year.

His quarterfinal opponent will be Victor Hanescu, who defeat Pablo Carreno Busta in 3 tight sets. While the Romanian is the favorite, he’s not exactly an unbeatable opponent for Gastão, who will definitely fancy his chances to reach his first ATP semifinal if he keeps his level up from yesterday.

Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic made their Portugal Open 2014 debuts and they won their respective matches with unsurprising ease, both with the same score: 6-3 6-2 without getting broken. The Canadian didn’t even face a single break point. As is the case with most opponents, Pablo Cuevas never really found an effective way to return Raonic’s massive serve. Berdych will face Leonardo Mayer in the quarterfinals, after the Argentinian played yet another solid match to defeat Golubev 6-1 7-6. Mayer caused Berdych quite a lot of problems in the only time they met, last year at the Davis Cup, but the Czech is still a very strong favorite to progress. Raonic, on the other hand, is taking on Berlocq – who expectedly beat Lukas Kubot with relative comfort – in yet another match where his serve was simply too overwhelming for his opponent.

Portugal Open
The final and perhaps least interesting of the men’s quarterfinal had already been decided on Tuesday, with Daniel Gimeno-Traver facing Marcel Granollers, the latter being the favorite though few would be shocked if Gimeno-Traver came out with the win. Should logic prevail though, the semifinals will surely feature Berdych and Raonic, against one of Elias/Hanescu and Granollers/Gimeno-Traver respectively.

On the women’s side, Carla Suarez Navarro barely broke a sweat to defeat Polona Hercog 6-1 6-3, and the same can be said for Svetlana Kuznetsova’s surprisingly easy win over Eugenie Bouchard. While the Canadian might be the future, at the moment the 2009 Roland Garros winner just has too much skill and craft on a clay court for Bouchard to handle.

Kuznestova will now face Elena Vesnina in the semis. Vesnina is bound to be tired after playing the best match of this year’s women’s event in the quarters – a back and forth grueling match that saw her eliminate Roberta Vinci 7-6 4-6 7-5 in almost 3 hours. Kuznetsova looks in better shape to reach Saturday’s final. Suarez Navarro is overwhelmingly favored to be there as well as her opponent, Irina Camelia-Begu. ICB was the winner of an improbable quarterfinal clash between qualifiers.

Day 3 Review, Day 4 Preview @PortugalOpen

Posted by Admin on May 1, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Portugal Open, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Portugal Open – Day 3 Review, Day 4 Preview
Manuel Traquete, Tennis East Coast

DSC00265

Day 3 at the Portugal Open saw the conclusion of the women’s round of 16 and only three men’s matches.

Due to Gastão Elias’s final in a Brazilian challenger last week, his first round matchup with Volandri was postponed until yesterday afternoon. Despite all the tennis he has played lately though, Gastão looked quite sharp in this match and had break points in all but one of Volandri’s service games (where he still got to deuce). He was aggressive all match long and got it done 6-4 6-3 despite some of his usual choking in some points, including an excruciatingly long and possibly deciding game at 4*-3 in the second set. In order to repeat his quarterfinal performance from last year, Elias will now have to beat #4 seed Guilhermo Garcia Lopez on the same stage Frederico Gil did in 2010 during his dream run: the Centralito. Garcia-Lopez is the obvious favorite, but Gastão is showing some good form and he will have nothing to lose so an upset might potentially be in the cards if the factors align.

The second round of matches started yesterday, with Granollers prevailing over Montanes in a very tight 3-setter, where the 2009/2010 champion had a lot of opportunities to close things out but ended up missing another opportunity to go deep again at the Portugal Open. The other player already through to the quarterfinals is another Spaniard, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, who beat Rui Machado 6-3 7-6. DGT’s serve and forehand were more often than not too much for Machado to handle; by the time he seemed to finally adapt to Gimeno-Traver’s game somewhat it was already too late to do something in the match, although he was relatively close to taking the second set and forcing a third set.

Round 2 of the men’s draw will be concluded today; Berdych is the massive favorite to triumph over Devvarman at Center Court for obvious reasons and he should really win. Berdych has made a habit of shocking losses vs far inferior players, but Devvarman on clay is hardly a threat at all. Berdych won their only matchup 3 & 1 on a Harcourt on Chennai.

Portugal Open

Raonic should have more trouble against the talented but frequently injured and inconsistent Pablo Cuevas, but his serve and power should grant him a relatively safe passage to the quarterfinals.

On court 1, Victor Hanescu and Andrey Golubev will lock horns in the first match of the day; the names might not sound too appealing, but both can play incredible tennis on clay when inspired and could produce a very nice spectacle if they’re on their day.

Finally, Golubev and Mayer will face each other in a match that will be everything bar a classical clay-court match. Mayer is the favorite to outhit Golubev and reach the QFs on this surface, but with two players like these, consistency isn’t really something to be taken into account. It will all depend on what level they show on the day as both are capable of breathtaking hitting performances but equally of absolute shockers when they’re off. If you’re a betting man, you should really stay away from this match!

On the women’s side, only two of the seeds are missing the quarterfinals. Samantha Stosur and Lucie Safarova – defeated today in 3 sets by Polona Hercog in a match filled with unforced errors and poor serving throughout – and Kaia Kanepi – shockingly sent packing by the Romanian Begu. In the other matches of the day, logic prevailed with the #1 seed even delivering a double bagel to her opponent.

The quarterfinals promise to be really interesting, especially the first one and only on center court that will fit the seasoned veteran Kuznetsova to Canadian upstart Eugenie Bouchard. Can the Canadian make another breakthrough or will the Old Guard prevail even while not at their best? Suarez Navarro and Vinci are also clear favorites over Polona Hercog and Elena Vesnina, although both are playing pretty well so far and have a shot at going even further on current form. Finally, what should be on paper the tightest match of the round will be played on Court 2 and pit Timea Bacsinszky against Irina-Camelia Begu. The Romanian maybe emerges as an ever so slight favorite, but the match should be great and well contested throughout.

Day 2 Review, Day 3 Preview @PortugalOpen

Posted by Admin on April 30, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Portugal Open, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Day 2 Review, Day 3 Preview @PortugalOpen
Manuel Traquete, Tennis East Coast

Portugal Open (Photo: M. Traquete)

On the men’s side, this was a day of some surprising results, none more so than Rui Machado double-bagelling Dmitry Tursunov; while the Portuguese played a great match, Tursunov never really looked engaged and his movement and footwork were awful throughout. He only won 18 points in the entire match in what is surely one of the most bizarre matches we’ve ever seen.

The other Portuguese player in action on Center Court wasn’t so lucky, as Leonardo Mayer turned up to play and beat João Sousa 3-6 6-1 6-2 in a match where the Portuguese #1 definitely seemed to feel the pressure of playing before his home crowd. After winning the first set, he basically imploded and never really found his game again, allowing Mayer very comfortable wins in the following two sets. The final match on center court also saw a big upset with Lukas Kubot snapping his losing streak to beat Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3 7-5. The Russian was undone by his inability to convert break points (0/4) and couldn’t really follow up his excellent Barcelona run.

On the outer courts, experience beat youth on two occasions, with 30+ yo Carlos Berlocq and Daniel Gimeno-Traver beating young upstarts Taro Daniel and Alejandro Gonzalez respectively. Taro Daniel will be especially disappointed with his poor play on every big point, as well as the weaknesses shown in his forward movement – Berlocq basically won the point every time he used a drop shot, regardless of its actual quality.

Portugal Open (Photo: M. Traquete)

In the Romanian duel, Hanescu ended up prevailing in a very scrappy 3-setter where he (Hanescu) seemed down and out more than a few times but benefited from his countryman’s inability to step up in the biggest points. Yet another instance of experience beating youth was Albert Montanes, the tournament’s 2009 and 2010 winner, beating Carballes Baena 7-6 6-3.

In the least interesting (on paper) and attended matches of the day, Somdev Devvarman easily prevailed over Matthew Ebden and Pablo Cuevas barely made it past Aleksandr Nevodyesov in a very tight 3-setter.

Today, Granollers and Montanes will face in a presumably extremely tight R3 match, while the Machado and Elias will take on Gimeno-Travor and Volandri respectively. Given form and ability, it’d be fair to say Machado has a great chance to make the quarterfinals. That’s all when it comes to men’s matches being played tomorrow.

On the women’s side, #1 and #2 seeds entered the tournament with a bang by dispatching their lower ranked opponents without any problems. The rest of the results were also normal, with the higher ranked/better players showing their supremacy on the tennis courts compared to ‘mere mortals’.

The only exception was Samantha Stosur, who ‘pulled a Tursunov’ and got demolished by Timea Bacsinszky 6-4 6-0.

Bouchard is up again, this time vs Yaroslava Shevdova – a potentially tricky opponent if she’s on a good day. Bouchard is still working towards her first career title. The rest of the seeds also didn’t have to do very much for their managerial stock to rise and most are unlikely to win against tomorrow and make QFs again. The best match of the day will be between Kuznetsova and Toro-Flor.

Day 1 Recap, Day 2 Preview @Portugal Open

Posted by Admin on April 29, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Portugal Open, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Day 1 Recap, Day 2 Preview @Portugal Open
Manuel Traquete, Tennis East Coast

Portugal Open (Photo: M. Traquete)

Today at the Portugal Open, the qualifying tournament was concluded and the main draw started for both the men and the women. On the men’s side, after the top 8 seeds made the final round, the top 4 seeds advanced to the main draw. Leonardo Mayer will face Portuguese João Sousa today, Daniel Gimeno-Traver has been drawn against Colombian youngster Alejandro Gonzalez, Radu Albot will face yet another countryman in Victor Hanescu, and Taro Daniel will face Carlos Berlocq for a place in the second round of the Open.

Overall, you could say it’s been a pretty kind draw for the qualifiers and all of them have chances to progress further.

On the women’s side, Alla Kudrayatseva advanced to face the #1 seed Carla Suarez Navarro, Irina-Camelia Begu has been drawn against the Japanese Kurumi Nara, Timea Bacsinszky will face the #3 seed Samantha Stosur and Kristina Mladenovic will face the 8 seed Elena Vesnina.

As far as main draw action is concerned, the favorites prevailed on the men’s side, albeit not without some hiccups. Andrey Golubev and Adrian Mannarino played a very poor match, with unforced errors flying off both players’ rackets at an alarming rate and both players tightening up on key points. Eventually, the favorite prevailed in a match that the 10-20 people who were in the stands will surely not remember fondly. In the other ATP main draw match of the day, Pablo Carreno Busta seemed to be heading to a routine win when he served for the match at 6-1, 5-2 against a very erratic Mikhail Kukshkin, but things nearly went South as the Kazakh managed to take a set to a tiebreaker with a lot of help from PCB. In the end though, last year’s semifinalist superior consistency prevailed for a 6-1 7-6 victory.

On the women’s side, Magdalena Rybarikova won a tight first set against Lucie Safarova only to bizarrely proceed to totally implode and get double bageled for a 6-4, 0-6, 0-6 defeat. Yaroslava Shvedova prevailed in relatively comfortable fashion against Karin Knapp as expected, 6-2, 6-4, while the less successful Radwanska sister fought hard but couldn’t avoid a 10th consecutive defeat at WTA level, this time against Yanina Wickmayer. Home support wasn’t enough to spur Maria João Koehler to an improbable upset as she was routined 6-1, 6-3 by Ons Jabeur.

Finally, in the tightest and most interesting match of the day, Bojana Jovanoski prevailed over Monica Puig 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted almost two and a half hours.

Tomorrow, two Portuguese male players will be in action on center court. Rui Machado takes on Dmitry Tursunov, and while the Russian is the obvious favorite, an upset isn’t totally off the cards considering Tursunov’s recent form, which includes a defeat to Inigo Cervantes – a player who was ranked outside the top 500 – in Barcelona. João Sousa, on the other hand, Portugal’s greatest ever player, will start as the favorite against qualifier Leonardo Mayer, but only slightly. Despite their respective rankings, it is clear that Mayer has the better weapons at his disposal and if he is on a good day, Sousa’s participation in his home tournament might be short-lived. Sousa’s own form isn’t encouraging, with consecutive clay losses to Carballes Baena, Fabio Fognini and Marinko Matosevic. He will need all the support he can get from the Portuguese crowd to get through this very tricky first round. The final match on center court between Teymuraz Gabashvili and Lukas Kubot really shouldn’t be much of a contest considering the players’ respective forms and ability to play on clay. Anything other than Gabashvili in 2 sets would be a considerable surprise.

On the secondary courts, some very interesting men’s matches are scheduled. Last week’s Barcelona finalist Santiago Giraldo will be looking to keep his momentum going against the 2009 and 2010 Portugal Open champion Albert Montanes – always a tough foe on clay and especially at the Portugal Open. Form suggests Giraldo, as does the 4-1 H2H in favor of the Colombian (2-1 on clay), but how often have we seen players not being able to follow up a great week?
For Giraldo, reaching the final in Barcelona was the highest point of his career so far and it remains to be seen whether he can back it up.

On court 1, Aleksandr Nedovyesov will face Pablo Cuevas – who, while lower ranked, is the vastly superior player on this surface and emerges as the favorite to progress to the second round. Carlos Berlocq and Taro Daniel will open up the day on court 2. On paper, Berlocq is the favorite, but Daniel has been making fantastic progress so far this season, especially on clay, and this might be another opportunity to make a breakthrough. A solid clay court player like Berlocq is far from an unwinnable proposition for the 21-year-old Japanese. Another match that’s very hard to call between a clay court veteran and a youngster is the one that opposes Daniel Gimeno-Traver to Alejandro Gonzalez; Gonzalez has played some excellent tennis at times this season though, more so than Gimeno-Traver, and this might be another opportunity to make a decent run and keep rising through the ATP rankings.

On court 3, arguably the most uninteresting match of the day will pit Matthew Ebden against Somdev Devvarman, two players who are reknowned for their lack of powerful weapons from the baseline and who are at their worst on clay. While the match is expected to be competitive, people attending the Portugal Open hoping to watch quality clay court tennis will almost surely be better served looking elsewhere.

Finally on court 4, Victor Hanescu will face Radu Albot in an all-Romanian matchup, with Hanescu the overwhelming favorite to book a round 2 date with Pablo Carreno Busta.

On the women’s side, the tournament’s top wild card, Eugenie Bouchard, will get center court honors against Alisa Kleybanova. Unfortunately for the Russian, the fact that her surname sounds like clay hasn’t really helped her develop an effective game on the surface and she shouldn’t pose too much of a threat to the #2 seed. On court 1, seeds Roberta Vinci, Samantha Stosur and Carla Suarez Navarro are overwhelming favorites to advance as the latter two drew qualifiers while Vinci’s opponent Alexandra Cadantu from Romania is ranked well outside the top 50. Kaia Kanepi and Svetlana Kuznetsova enjoy a similar edge over their opponents, Yvonne Meusburger and Shuai Zhang, and the same for Elena Vesnina against qualifier Kristina Mladenovic.

The tightest match of the day on the women’s side on paper will be contested on court 2 between Barbara Zahlavova-Strycova and Romina Oprandi; Zahlavova-Strycova has won both of their past meetings, but they’ve both been close 3-setters and neither on clay. On court 3, Polona Hercog is expected to defeat Stefanie Voegele without much difficulty, while Shuai Peng could very well encounter some problems against Spanish clay specialist Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor. Finally on court 4, Kurumi Nara and Irina-Camelia Begu will contest a match that seems like it could go either way. Slight advantage to the Romanian, who feels more comfortable on a clay court despite being the inferior player overall.

Day 1 Preview @PortugalOpen

Posted by Admin on April 28, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Estoril, Oeiras, Portugal Open, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Day 1 Preview at the Portugal Open
Manuel Traquete, Tennis East Coast

PORTUGAL OPEN
The beginning of the 25th edition of the Portugal Open is upon us. In the first day, none of the tournament’s top seeds will be in action, but there will still some notable main draw play, with two men’s and four women’s first round matches.

The rest of the day is dedicated to the conclusion of the qualifying tournament. All top 8 seeds have made it to the final round. #1 seed Leonardo Mayer, this year’s Vina del Mar finalist, will face recent Casablanca semifinalist Carballes Baena for a place in the main draw in what seems to be the best match of the lot.

Gimeno Traver is a solid favorite to make it past Desein, as is Albot in the all-Romanian clash against Crivoi.

Taro

Finally, the rising Japanese youngster Taro Daniel will face Jordi Samper-Montana in his quest for another ATP main draw appearance after an excellent quarterfinal run in Vina del Mar, where he only lost to Almagro.

In the men’s side of the main draw, Adrian Mannarino and Andrey Golubev will kick off the proceedings. The Frenchman has struggled all year and clay is his weakest surface, so the relatively in-form Golubev is easily the favorite to proceed after a good run last week in Barcelona. That run was only halted by eventual champion Kei Nishikori. They have never played in the ATP tour, but logic suggests a relatively straightforward win for Golubev.

The winner will face Portuguese #1 João Sousa in round 2.

The other men’s match of the day will pit last year’s semifinalist, Pablo Carreno Busta, against another Kazakh player, Mikhail Kukushkin. This is also another first-time matchup at the ATP level. The Spaniard is more comfortable on the surface and has the slight edge going into this match, but Kukushkin has the bigger weapons and on a good day he can easily win this match, as Andrey Kuznetsov did last year in Barcelona against the same Carreno Busta. On paper, this seems the most interesting of the two men’s matches of the day, with Kukushkin power going up against Carreno Busta’s consistency.

Puig

On the women’s side, the day will start with Yanina Wickmayer and Monica Puig facing each other, also for the first time. Although the two players are ranked very close to each other, Puig emerges as a considerable favorite since her game translates better to clay courts. Next on Centralito, Portuguese wildcard Maria João Koehler will face Ons Jabeur, also for the first time. Despite being younger, Jabeur is clearly the better player at this point in their respective careers as the rankings show. Home-court advantage could help the Portuguese cause an upset if she’s on a good day.

Karin Knapp

Karin Knapp


On court 1, Yaroslava Shevdova will face Karin Knapp for the third time. Knapp won their two previous meetings on hardcourt, but on clay Shevdova should have the edge, although her extreme inconsistency makes this match pretty much a toss-up.

Magdalena Rybarikova

Magdalena Rybarikova


Finally, on Center Court, the best paper match of the women’s opener will pit Lucie Safarova against Magdalena Rybarikova. Safarova appears to be the favorite, but she has lost two of their three career meetings, including the only one they played on clay. She might very well be upset early in Portugal.

2014 ATP Portugal Open (@PortugalOpen) Preview

Posted by Admin on April 27, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Portugal Open. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

2014 ATP Portugal Open (@PortugalOpen) Preview
Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast

PORTUGAL OPEN

Tennis East Coast is happy to announce we will have on-site coverage from the Portugal Open ATP/WTA joint event all week long from our guest columnist Manuel Traquete. Here is an ATP preview.

ATP Oeiras (Estoril)
Portugal Open
ATP World Tour 250
Oeiras, Portugal
April 28-May 4, 2014
Prize Money: € 426,605

Top 4 seeds (Who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Tomas Berdych (6)
2: Milos Raonic (9)
3: Marcel Granollers (22)
4: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (32)

First Round matchups to watch:

Albert Montanes vs. Santiago Giraldo
Montanes and Giraldo will meet for the sixth time in their careers. Giraldo is a surprise current finalist in Barcelona, just his second career ATP final and potentially his first title. Giraldo has semis and a current final in his last 2 events, while Montanes reached the second round in Monte Carlo as qualifier and the third in Barcelona in his last 2. Both players are showing good form. Giraldo leads the clay h2h 2-1, including a win this year in Buenos Aires, but if he’s out of gas from all the tennis in Barca, Montanes could find his way into round 2.

He won the title in Oeiras (Estoril) in 2009 and 2010 so he has a great history at this event.

Top Half:

Berdych

Berdych


Top seed Tomas Berdych, who lost in the second round of Monte Carlo and is looking to bounce back, opens with Somdev Devvarman or Matt Ebden. He should find his way into the quarterfinals against the great Portugese hope Joao Sousa, who needs to beat a qualifier and Andrey Golubev/Adrian Mannarino to get there. Sousa has lost 3 straight matches on clay and has just 1 clay quarterfinal this season as his best result, but he should feel comfortable playing with home support in Portugal’s only ATP event. Neither Mannarino nor Golubev have much clay court prowess.

Casablanca champion and Monte Carlo quarterfinalist Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who is nearly back in the top 30, opens with Gastao Elias or Filippo Volandri. Elias, a Portugese wild card, is currently in a challenger final on clay and had a challenger semi before that. He might be fatigued, but he’s in great form. Volandri, on the other hand, has only won 1 main draw match this year and has lost 10. I expect GGL against Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarters, as PCB reached quarters in Casablanca and the third round as a qualifier in Monte Carlo. He comes off an opening round loss in Monte Carlo and is looking to bounce back against Mikhail Kukushkin, who has lost 3 straight on clay and is in awful form. Victor Hanescu or a qualifier await PCB/Kukushkin in round 2.

Bottom Half:

Milos Raonic

Milos Raonic


Monte Carlo quarterfinalist Milos Raonic is playing his first non-Masters/Grand Slam event of the season as he opens with Pablo Cuevas or Aleksandr Nedovyesov and then Teymuraz Gabashvili or Carlos Berlocq.

Barcelona quarterfinalist Gabashvili, who upset David Ferrer en route, opens with a struggling Lukasz Kubot and then should face Berlocq (who opens with a qualifier). Warlocq hasn’t made it past the second round of any tournament on clay this season.

Marcel Granollers will get the winner of Montanes/Giraldo in a tough round 2 match and the winner could face Dmitry Tursunov, Rui Machado, a qualifier, or Alejandro Gonzalez.

Tursunov was bounced in the opening round of Barcelona. Machado is a Portugese wild card who was once in the top 60 but now languishes outside the top 200. Gonzalez has struggled on clay this year, but is good on the surface and made quarters in Houston. As you can seem a qualifier will have a good dark horse chance here

Dark Horse: Albert Montanes
A non-seeded player is most likely to make the quarters out of the Granollers section, as he is the weakest seeded player with a bye. I’m factoring in that Giraldo is probably fatigued by the time he plays his match with Montanes, and then after winning that he beats his countryman Granollers, as he has done before twice on clay in their two most recent clay court meetings (2008/2009). With Granollers having lost two straight, that’s a strong possibility. With a weak quarterfinal opponent, I have Montanes in the semis this week.

Predictions
Semis:
Garcia-Lopez d. Berdych
Raonic d. Montanes

GGL just beat Berdy in Monte Carlo in 3 sets and he has a 2-1 overall h2h against him on clay, thus I have to go with him in the on paper upset. Montanes has a 1-0 h2h on clay against Raonic as he beat him 2 years ago in Monte Carlo, but that match went 3 sets. Since Raonic has improved, including on clay, while Montanes has not, with his strong consistent play this year, Milos should get through.

Final:
Raonic d. Garcia-Lopez

Raonic is 2-0 career against GGL, with no meetings on clay, and as stated above, he’s been strong and consistent this year and deserves a title to show for it.

2013 ATP Munich, Estoril Previews

Posted by Admin on April 28, 2013
Posted in: ATP, Estoril, Munich. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

2013 ATP Munich, Estoril Previews

BMW Open Munich

A pair of clay 250s will be the ATP tour entree offerings this week.

ATP Munich
BMW Open
ATP World Tour 250
Munich, Germany
April 29-May 4, 2013
Prize money: EUR 410,200

Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Janko Tipsarevic
2: Marin Cilic
3: Tommy Haas
4: Philipp Kohlschreiber

First round matchups to watch:

Ernests Gulbis vs. Jarkko Nieminen

Gulbis suffered a disappointing loss to Milos Raonic in Barcelona, but hasnhad a an excellent year, while Nieminen only made the 2nd round in Bucharest but played 2 excellent matches against Evgeny Donskoy and Gilles Simon, both going 3 sets. Gulbis has won all 3 of their meetings, including this year in Marseille, but all 3 meetings have been on hard courts. Expect a lot of action and some excellent ball striking from both players.

Top Half:

Janko Tipsarevic is still struggling, even after winning a match in Bucharest, as his quarterfinal loss to Garcia-Lopez was uncharacteristic and typical for this year. Tipsy is still a top 10 player ranking wise, but he certainly isn’t playing like one. He opens with Thomaz Bellucci, who will be trying to recover from a hip injury incurred in Barcelona, or Grega Zemlja. Afterward, he could face Jurgen Melzer, Daniel Brands or wildcards Tobias Kamke and Gael Monfils. Monfils continues to carry on hobbled by injuries and very little should be expected from him right now as he fell to Brands in Bucharest via retirement.

Peppo Kohlschreiber, the defending champ, made the semis in Barcelona, which is certainly a great result on paper. Looks can be a bit deceiving, as he got a walkover in the quarters (a match that would have been against Bellucci) and he got through his first two matches against Andrey Kuznetsov and Martin Klizan by the skin of his teeth, both in nail-biting 3 set fashion. Before that, and before Monte Carlo, Kohli had not been playing great, but his ball striking and court sense seem to be slowly improving and coming back now.

Peppo opens against a qualifier or Marcos Baghdatis, who hasn’t played since Davis Cup. He could then face Mikhail Youzhny, a slumping Radek Stepanek, a qualifier, or Viktor Troicki, who was struggling but did make quarters in Bucharest last week.

The top half of the draw is a mixed bag of icy players and injured players.

Bottom Half:

Marin Cilic, a finalist in Munich last year, will play Nikolay Davydenko or Ivan Dodig before meeting Alex Dolgopolov, Paul-Henri Mathieu, a qualifier, or Dmitry Tursunov, who shocked David Ferrer in Barcelona.

Tommy Haas is back in action and back in Germany, where he will play the winner of Gulbis/Nieminen and then a qualifier, Bucharest semifinalist Florian Mayer (who seemed to find his Flo last week), wild card Kevin Krawietz or Marinko Matosevic. If Haas meets Nieminen round two, he will be looking to avenge his loss at the Australian Open to the Flying Fin.

The bottom half is much more in form than the top half.

Dark Horse: Daniel Brands

It’s difficult to call him a dark horse in such a jumbled half, but Brands is on fire this year, up to 67 in the rankings. That’s one off his career high and means that he has qualified (or in one case gotten a lucky loser) in every ATP event he has entered this year. He made quarters in Bucharest, his 2nd quarterfinal showing this year, and now will be playing in his native country in front of home fans, many of whom are anxious to get on the Brandswagon.

Brands should beat Kamke, and Melzer and Monfils are both struggling. After that, Tipsarevic is obviously very beatable, as is Bellucci or Zemlja. In the semis, Kohlschreiber has also shown weaknesses and a final is very well possible for him.

Predictions:
Semis:
Brands d. Kohlschreiber
Haas d. Dolgopolov

There is really nothing in the way of Kohlschreiber making the semis. Meanwhile Mayer, Gulbis/Nieminen or Haas could all make the semis in that tough section, but I’ll go with Haas and the other section should come down to Dolgopolov or Cilic. Dolgopolov is inconsistent but I’ll go with him. Haas won their meeting this year in Miami in straights.

Final:
Brands d. Haas

Rosol won his first title last week. Brands, who plays somewhat similarly, is almost tracking in his footsteps. Thus, I’ll hop on the Brandswagon and say he takes the title here.

ATP Estoril/Oeiras
Portugal Open
ATP World Tour 250
Oeiras, Portugal
April 29-May 4, 2013
Prize Money: (euro sign) 410,200

Estoril Open

This event changed it’s name, formerly known as the Estoril Open, it is now called the Portugal Open, and the official city was switched from Estoril to Oeiras, but it is the same joint ATP/WTA event for the same points. They aren’t exactly a blogger-friendly tournament.

Top 4 seeds: (who all receive first round byes)
1: David Ferrer
2: Stanislas Wawrinka
3: Andreas Seppi
4: Fabio Fognini

First round matchups to watch:

Carlos Berlocq vs. Albert Ramos

They are ranked closely together, at 64 and 57. Berlocq is 5 years older, and both have positive records on the ATP tour this year. Furthermore, they are both enjoyable players to watch if you like traditional clay court tennis. Berlocq won their only meeting ever, this year in Sao Paulo, while Ramos comes off quarters in Barcelona.

Top Half:

David Ferrer suffered a shocking 2nd round loss to Dmitry Tursunov in Barcelona, and will be looking to recover. He took a wild card here, and will play Gilles Muller or Edouard Roger-Vasselin followed by Benoit Paire/Igor Sijsling, Victor Hanescu or a qualifier.

Andreas Seppi will be looking for a good showing as he will face Alejandro Falla or Andrey Kuznetsov, and then could play Pablo Andujar, a qualifier, Dani Gimeno-Traver or Tommy Robredo, who is really showing some form once again (making the quarters in Barcelona).

Bottom Half:

Stan Wawrinka will play the Berlocq/Ramos winner in what could be a tough match and then could face Evgeny Donskoy, Denis Istomin, Horacio Zeballos or wild card Gastao Elias.

Fabio Fognini is at a career high ranking of 24, and will play a qualifier or countryman and Davis Cup teammate Paolo Lorenzi. After that it could be a qualifier, a struggling Julien Benneteau (who has lost 4 straight), Pedro Sousa, or the inconsistent but talented David Goffin.

Boy Wonder Goffin

Boy Wonder Goffin

Dark Horse: David Goffin

Goffin is a disappointing 6-11 this year on the ATP tour, but did show some signs of betterment in Bucharest, dispatching his first round opponent Adrian Ungur easily, and pushing eventual semifinalist Florian Mayer to 3 sets. Otherwise, he has only won consecutive matches this year in Miami. Still, he’s a young talent and maturing into the highest level of professional tennis.

D Goff gets an easy start against wild card Pedro Sousa, then a struggling Benneteau or a qualifier. If he gets Lorenzi or Fognini in the quarters, they are indeed beatable.

Predictions:

Semis:
Ferrer d. Robredo
Fognini d. Wawrinka

Ferrer boasts a 6-2 record against Robredo, including a win on clay this year in Buenos Aires. In additions, he has to be motivated to get past his Barcelona loss and get back to his winning ways on clay.

Wawrinka has the H2H edge against Fognini 3-1 but Fognini won their match this year in Acapulco on clay and he is playing very sharp right now.

Final:
Ferrer d. Fognini

I would really love to pick Fognini in this projected meeting, as Fogna is playing some of his best tennis right now and as I mentioned is looking razor sharp. That being said, Ferrer has beaten Fognini 6 times, including 3 times this year and twice on clay. That kind of record speaks for itself.

I’m not totally certain Ferrer is 100% but this field isn’t the most punishing around.

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