Radu Albot

All posts tagged Radu Albot

Busy Month on ATP Tour Sees Federer Claim Title #100, Monfils Return to Form

Posted by Admin on March 4, 2019
Posted in: Acapulco, ATP, Australian Open, buenos aires, Cordoba, Delray Beach, Dubai, Marseille, Montpellier, New York, New York Open, Rio, Rotterdam, Sao Paolo, Sofia, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Busy Month on ATP Tour Sees Federer Claim Title #100, Monfils Return to Form
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

After Novak Djokovic claimed the Australian Open title, the ATP season roared into February with multiple 500 level events and a number of 250s on clay and hard courts across the globe. Here is your look at all the action for the month that was.

ATP Montpellier

Embed from Getty Images

Veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won an all French final in this indoor 250 6-4 6-2 against Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The veteran beat Gilles Simon, Jeremy Chardy and Radu Albot in consecutive matches to reach the final, overall he defeated four French players to win the tournament. PHH upset Denis Shapovalov and Tomas Berdych to reach the final.

ATP Sofia

Embed from Getty Images

Bulgaria’s only ATP event was won by the in-form Daniil Medvedev 6-4 6-3 against Marton Fucsovics. Fucsovics had a breakthrough after upsetting Andreas Sepi and getting a walkover against Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarters (then edging Matteo Berrettini in the semis). Medvedev got past Gael Monfils in the semis and prior to that he scored wins against Robin Haase and Martin Klizan in consecutive matches. Medvedev’s win helped him reach the top 15, he’s now 1-1 in ATP finals this year.

ATP Cordoba

On clay in Argentina home hero and wild card Juan Ignacio Londero won his first ever ATP title prevailing against Guido Pella 3-6 7-5 6-1 in a huge moment for him. Londero’s breakthrough pushed him to a new career high in the top 70 and he beat clay courters Nicolas Jarry and Federico Delbonis most notably to make the final. Pella had a good month edging Paolo Lorenzi, Diego Schwartzman, Albert Ramos, and Pablo Cuevas to reach the final in what was a tough path for a 250.

ATP New York

The first ATP 250 in the States this year saw Reilly Opelka lift his first title in three sets 6-1 6-7 7-6 against maiden finalist Brayden Schnur, a Canadian. Opelka also upset top American John Isner, while Schnur edged Sam Querrey in the semis. Opelka’s powerful serve was a difference maker and he should be a factor in Indian Wells and Miami coming up.

ATP Buenos Aires

The 250 on clay in Buenos Aires resulted in Marco Cecchinato’s third career ATP title 6-1 6-2 against home player Diego Schwartzman. Schwartzman upset Dominic Thiem and also beat Aljaz Bedene and Albert Ramos to reach the final. Cecchinato beat Christian Garin, Roberto Carballes Baena, and Guido Pella to reach the final, three accomplished clay courters. This was a great result for Cecchinato outside of Europe.

ATP Rotterdam

Embed from Getty Images

Gael Monfils returned to form winning his 8th career title 6-3 1-6 6-2 against fellow veteran Stan Wawrinka. It was a thrilling moment played in good spirits and filled with joy for both players who have overcome injuries and adversity to return to the top of the game. Monfils 500 level title included wins against Daniil Medvedev, and David Goffin. Wawrinka upset Milos Raonic, Denis Shapovalov, and Kei Nishikori before falling short in the final. Both players would love to contend at the slam level again.

ATP Rio

Embed from Getty Images

The Rio 500 on clay was the top event on the Golden Swing and Serbia’s Laslo Djere claimed his first title 6-3 7-5 against young gun Felix Auger-Aliassime. FAA played well but Djere was the player of the week, as he upset Dominic Thiem and also claimed wins against clay courters Casper Ruud and Aljaz Bedene to reach the final. FAA defeated Fabio Fognini, Christian Garin, Jaume Munar, and Pablo Cuevas to reach the final, showing his all court talent that is set to make him a top 20 player in the near future. Djere broke into the top 40 with the win, the tournament was filled with upsets.

ATP Marseille

Young gun Stefanos Tsitsipas found form and got past Mikhail Kukushkin 7-5 7-6 in the final after defeating David Goffin, and Sergiy Stakhovsky in the late rounds to reach the final. Kukushkin upset Denis Shapovalov and Andrey Rublev before getting a winnable semi against Ugo Humbert. This indoor hard court 250 saw some early round upsets but in the end the #1 seed Tsitsipas won his second career title.

ATP Delray Beach

Embed from Getty Images

Radu Albot made history, winning his first career title and breaking into the top 60 with a 3-6 6-3 7-6 win against Dan Evans in a battle of journeymen in the Delray 250 hard court final. Evans edged John Isner in the semis and upset Frances Tiafoe in round 1 while Albot got past big servers Ivo Karlovic and Nick Kyrgios before nipping Americans Steve Johnson and McKenzie McDonald to reach the final.

ATP Dubai

Embed from Getty Images

Roger Federer won his 100th career title at the Dubai 500 6-4 6-4 on hard courts against the in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas. Federer found form late in the tournament after dropping sets against Philipp Kohlschreiber and Fernando Verdasco in the first two matches. Marton Fucsovics and Borna Coric were his quarterfinal and semifinal opposition, while Tsitsipas had a relatively easy path until Gael Monfils was his semifinal opponent and he prevailed in that match in a third set tiebreak. The young Greek played well but Federer was just too good.

ATP Acapulco

Embed from Getty Images

The Acapulco 500 was won by the struggling big server Nick Kyrgios 6-3 6-4, as he defeated Alexander Zverev in a battle of talented finalists. Kyrgios was focused on the week, edging John Isner in the semis, Rafael Nadal in the second round, and Stan Wawrinka in the quarters while Zverev had a smooth path that included Alex De Minaur in the quarters and Cam Norrie in the semis. Kyrgios has always had the talent to be an elite player, if he can keep this form he will contend in both upcoming Masters tournaments, but that can’t be predicted.

ATP Sao Paulo

Argentina’s Guido Pella won his first ATP title, winning the 250 on clay to close the Golden Swing 7-5 6-3 against Christian Garin. Pella edged Laslo Djere in the semis, while Garin upset Ruud. Pella didn’t have the toughest draw (Roberto Carballes Baena and Marco Trungelliti) but it was still a massive accomplishment to win his first title.

Advertisement

Fabio Fognini and Hyeon Chung The Stars of @ChengduOpen 2018

Posted by Admin on September 24, 2018
Posted in: ATP, Chengdu, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Fabio Fognini and Hyeon Chung The Stars of the Chengdu Open for 2018
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

The ATP 250 in Chengdu, China kicks off the 2018 Asian swing on the ATP World Tour. Here is your look at all the action.

Top Half:

Top seed Fabio Fognini isn’t in great form but he should get past either Ruben Bemelmans, a qualifier, or Mischa Zverev in round 2. Fognini’s countryman Matteo Berrettini will be favored against qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran, while Matt Ebden should beat a struggling Evgeny Donskoy in round 1. I’ll back Ebden, who plays well in Asia, over Berrettini in round 2, then Fognini over Ebden in the quarterfinals.

Embed from Getty Images

A struggling Sam Querrey will try to find form against Guido Pella, while Taylor Fritz will be favored against Chun Hsin Tseng. Querrey faces Metz quarterfinalist Nikoloz Basilashvili in round 2, while Fritz will battle either Mikhail Kukushkin or countryman Tennys Sandgren. I’ll back Basilashvili to win the section against Fritz.

Embed from Getty Images

Bottom Half:

Joao Sousa faces Tim Smyczek as he looks to find form again, while Metz semifinalist Radu Albot will be favored against Vasek Pospisil. Adrian Mannarino is the favorite against the Marcos Baghdatis/Malek Jaziri winner in this section. Mannarino is in poor form though so I’ll back Jaziri to surprise and beat Baghdatis and Mannarino before falling to Albot.

Embed from Getty Images

Hyeon Chung will take on home favorite Ze Zhang or Yibing Wu in round 2, I’ll back Chung in that match and also against qualifier Bernard Tomic or 5 seed Gael Monfils in the quarters. Monfils just won a challenger title to find some form, and opens with qualifier Lloyd Harris, while Tomic, a qualifier, will face off with Bradley Klahn. Chung over Monfils is my pick for this section as Monfils should be fatigued.

Embed from Getty Images

Predictions

Semis
Fognini d. Basilashvili
Chung d. Albot

It’s been a strong season for Fognini and he should reach another final, while Chung looks set to have a strong Asian swing. I’ll back him as the champion in this 250.

Final
Chung d. Fognini

Underdogs qualify in ATP Barcelona and Bucharest

Posted by Admin on April 17, 2016
Posted in: Adam Addicott, ATP, Barcelona, Bucharest. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Underdogs qualify in ATP Barcelona and Bucharest
Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Barcelona

Embed from Getty Images

The last time a qualifier reached the last eight of the Barcelona Open was Stan Wawrinka at the 2005 tournament. Since then, many have tried and all of them have failed. Spearheading this year’s bid for the qualifiers will be the two highest ranked players from the qualifying draw.

German top seed, Jan Lennard-Struff, booked his place in the main draw without dropping a set. The world No.115 kicked-off his clay court season at last week’s Napoli Challenger where he suffered a shock first round loss to world No.325 Gianluca Mager. Struff recovered from his Italian disappointment by dismissing Spanish wildcard Pedro Martinez Portero in his first match at Barcelona. Awaiting him in the second round was French 11th seed Edouard Roger-Vasselin, a player who he has lost to twice in 2015. Struff ensured that he wouldn’t succumb to a trio of defeats to the Frenchman by winning 7-6(5), 6-2. During his Barcelona triumph against Roger-Vasselin, Struff won 81% of his first service points (25/31).

Following the top seed into the Barcelona main draw will be Russian second seed Karen Khachanov. Earlier this month, the 19-year-old reached a career ranking high of 135th and has already reached a Challenger final this year in Jonkoping, Sweden. Khachanov’s route to the main draw was one of the toughest. After seeing off India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan in three sets, he faced clay court specialist Marco Trungelliti. Aided by seven aces in the match, Khachanov required two hours and 20 minutes to defeat the Argentine 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4), to reach his first ATP main draw since Chennai.

Czech veteran Radek Stepanek eased his way into the Barcelona main draw. The 37-year-old produced back-to-back straight sets wins over wildcard Gerard Granollers and former French Open boys’ champion Christian Garin. Stepanek has enjoyed success in Barcelona during his career. In 2005 he reached the semifinals of the tournament before losing to Rafael Nadal. This year will be his eighth appearance in the main draw of the event.

Embed from Getty Images

The lowest ranked player to triumph in the two rounds of qualifying was Argentine world No.245 Pedro Cachin. Notching up only two main draw victories in 2016, the 21-year-old stunned third seed, Jozef Kovalik, 6-4, 7-5, in the first round. The unexpected win set Cachin up with a meeting against 10th seed Pedja Krstin, a player who won his maiden Challenger title on Mexican clay earlier this year. The Serbian was no match for Cachin, who won 79% of his service points to defeat Krstin 6-1, 6-2, in exactly an hour to reach his first ATP main draw.

Franko Skugor demolished his first round opponent to set up a showdown against Renzo Olivo. The sixth seed required only 49 minutes to race past France’s Yannick Jankovits (6-0, 6-2). Facing Olivo in the second round, the world No.148 encountered a much more testing match. After failing to save one out of only two break points he faced during the match, Skugor dropped the second set before taking the match in three sets – 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Barcelona will be his fourth appearance in an ATP main draw this year.

The final qualifier was Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, who coincidentally reaches his first main draw on the ATP Tour since his appearance at last year’s Barcelona tournament. His qualifying campaign began with a marathon match against Andrey Rublev, which lasted six minutes shy of the three-hour mark. Fucsovics had three match points in the second set, but failed to convert any of them. Saving 13/15 break points throughout the match, the Hungarian clinched the win 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3. In his final qualifying match, the Hungarian recovered from a second set blip to win 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, against Spain’s Jordi Samper-Montaña.

First round matches
Q Marton Fucsovics HUN Vs Ernests Gulbis LAT
Q Radek Stepanek Vs Santiago Giraldo
Q Franko Skugor Vs Inigo Cervantes ESP
Q Pedro Cachin ARG Vs Ivan Dodig CRO
Q Jan-Lennard Struff GER Vs Alexander Zverev GER
Q Karen Khachanov RUS Vs Aljaz Bedene GBR

ATP Bucharest

Embed from Getty Images

Michael Linzer will play in his first ATP main draw after causing the biggest upset of the qualifying draw at the BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy in Bucharest, Romania.

The 26-year-old, who has won five Futures titles on clay last year, recovered from a set down to stun Bosnian top seed Mirza Basic in the opening round of qualifying. Ranked almost 140 places below Basic, Linzer clinched the two-and-a-half-hour match, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. He also endured a close second round match against Farrukh Dustov, a player who is yet to win back-to-back matches in a tournament this year. Dustov continued this disappointing trend after Linzer took the match 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4, to reach the main draw in Bucharest. The win elevates the Austrian to 266th in the world, 30 players below his 2012 career high. Since 2010, Linzer has won 16 Futures titles on clay.

Bosnian tennis fans still had something to cheer about after Aldin Setkic stunned second seed Maximo Gonzalez 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-1, in the final round of qualifying. Setkic saved 11/16 break points and won 57% of his first service points to seal the big win. The win over the world No.135 isn’t the biggest victory for the Bosnian. Last year he defeated world No.114 Dustin Brown at a Challenger tournament. Similar to Linzer, the 28-year-old will now play in his maiden ATP main draw.

The highest ranked player to successfully qualify was third seed Radu Albot. The Moldovan started his qualifying bid with a 6-4, 6-2, win over French wildcard Florian Valsot. The win took him to a second round meeting with German fifth seed Tobias Kamke. Converting 4/6 break points and 58% of service points, Albot claimed the win 6-4, 6-2. Albot, who reached a ranking high of 85th last year, will be hoping to end his run of first round losses. In three out of his four previous tournaments, the 26-year-old has fallen at the first hurdle.

The fourth and final qualifier is Italy’s Andrea Arnaboldi. The world No.171 has only managed to win three main draw matches this year with his best performance being a quarter-finalist at the Jonkoping Challenger in Sweden. He will now have a chance of increasing his winning number after defeating compatriot Federico Gaio 6-1, 6-4, without dropping serve.
First round matches
Q Michael Linzer AUT Vs Robin Haase NDL
Q Aldin Setkic BOS Vs Fernando Verdasco ESP
Q Radu Albot MOL Vs (8) Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA
Q Andrea Arnaboldi ITA Vs Taro Daniel JPA

Adam Addicott TA Watermark

 

2015 ATP Challenger Tour Finals Preview, Predictions

Posted by Admin on November 25, 2015
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2015 Challenger Tour Finals Preview and Predictions
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic

 

 

ATP Challenger Tour
Sao Paulo, Brazil
25-29 November 2015
Indoor Clay
Prize Money: $220,000

Entrants (ATP/Challenger ranking in parentheses)

1: Paolo Lorenzi (68/3)
2: Guido Pella (76/4)
3: Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava (87/2)
4: Marco Cecchinato (89/7)
5: Inigo Cervantes (98/8)
6: Radu Albot (120/10)
7: Farrukh Dustov (161/9)
8: Guilherme Clezar (186/>50)

A strong field will compete for the Challenger Tour Finals title, with seven of the top ten Challenger players of 2015 entering this event. Missing are #1 Hyeon Chung, #5 Yuki Bhambri and #6 John Millman, all of whom prefer to play on hardcourts and unsurprisingly aren’t travelling to the other side of the world to compete in a clay event. For the third year in a row the wild card has been awarded to Guilherme Clezar, who made an unexpected fairytale run last year when he beat countryman Joao Souza 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(7) and Blaz Rola 6-4 6-3 to qualify for the semi-final. There he continued his spectacular run, fighting off Victor Estrella Burgos in undoubtedly the Challenger match of the year, 7-6(4) 6-7(0) 7-6(12). After losing 6-2 6-3 to Diego Schwartzman in the final he unfortunately wasn’t able to build on this result, as he finished 2015 outside of the top 50 in the Challenger standings.

Groups

Group A

Paolo Lorenzi
Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava
Inigo Cervantes
Farrukh Dustov

Group B

Guido Pella
Marco Cecchinato
Radu Albot
Guilherme Clezar

Round Robin Match-Ups To Watch

Paolo Lorenzi – Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava

The Challenger Tour is often announced as a breeding ground for new talent, but these two 33-year-olds couldn’t be further from that description. However, for Muñoz-De La Nava 2015 meant his first ever entrance into the top 100, so he surely is a new face in that way. The Spaniard, citing confidence and fitness as the biggest components of his sudden rise, achieved it in an impressive manner, starting the season outside of the top 200. After a slow start to the season he won the Napoli Challenger in early April and reached five more finals after that, taking down additional titles in Moscow and Meknes. He faced Lorenzi once this year, in the semi-final of Cortina, where the Italian comfortably won 6-2 6-4.

Lorenzi also won the final, claiming one of his four titles this year. Lorenzi is a late-bloomer as well, but has been hovering around the top 100 for six years now, reaching a career high ranking of #49 in March of 2013. He has sixteen career Challenger titles and 335 match wins, which he wants to add to in the coming years. If his health allows it, he wants to play four more years and reach 400 career wins. He can make a head start in Sao Paolo, starting the tournament as the favorite and in the conditions he loves the most, playing on an indoor clay court at high altitude.

Guido Pella – Marco Cecchinato

25-year-old Pella is no stranger to the Challenger Tour Finals, having won the event in 2012 and cracking the top 100 for the first time because of it. However, he experienced a setback and even dropped out of the top 200 just over a year ago. Now firmly back into the top 100, he aims to reach the top 50 in 2016. He feels that he is now ready for it mentally, saying that he wasn’t mentally strong enough to maintain a top 100 position when he was younger. Having won four titles this year, his most impressive victory came last week in Montevideo, where he beat home player and world #40 Pablo Cuevas 6-3 6-2 in the semi-final. In the final he beat fellow Challenger Tour Finals competitor Cervantes 7-5 2-6 6-4, coming into Sao Paulo on a high.

23-year-old Cecchinato made his debut in the top 100 this year after reaching the semi-final in San Benedetto. He can be called the king of consistency, reaching the semi-final of twelve Challengers this year, even though it only led to one final and one title. To reach one of those semi-finals, in Caltanissetta, he managed to double bagel fellow Challenger Tour Finals competitor Clezar.

Group A

 Dustov is the clear outsider in this group and it’s hard to see him win a match. The last match he played on clay was three months ago in Como, when he got humiliated by world #735 Carlos Gomez-Herrera in the first round, 6-1 6-1. Given the circumstances, surface and altitude, Lorenzi should have an edge here, but Muñoz-De La Nava likes these circumstances as well. He grew up in Madrid, where he managed to beat world #22 Sam Querrey in 2010, while he was still ranked outside of the top 300. Muñoz-De La Nava also told that he has had Sao Paulo as a big goal since midway through the season, so he should be very motivated. Cervantes is well in this race too, however, with a big win over world #73 Diego Schwartzman in the semi-final of Montevideo last week, before falling 7-5 2-6 6-4 to Pella.

Group B 

For Albot the same goes as with Dustov. He hasn’t been playing well in his last couple of tournaments and the last time he played on clay was over three months ago in Prague. Although he managed to reach the final there, he did it without beating a top 300 player. Then again, at least he played matches, Cecchinato is a big question mark given that he played his last match a month and a half ago. It might indicate that he isn’t taking the tournament all that seriously. After Clezar’s poor 2015 it’s hard to predict him to repeat his miracle run of last year. The man got double bageled by fellow group member Cecchinato this year, after all. Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me either, last year he came into the tournament on exactly the same note. But realistically you can’t go around predicting him to come in third or fourth.

Predictions 

Group A:

  1. Lorenzi
  2. Muñoz-De La Nava
  3. Cervantes
  4. Dustov

 

Group B:

  1. Pella
  2. Albot
  3. Cecchinato
  4. Clezar

 

Semi-finals:
Lorenzi d. Albot
Pella d. Muñoz-De La Nava

Final:
Pella d. Lorenzi

Radu Albot, Andrey Golubev Head to Main Stage at St. Petersburg (@spbopen_ru) Qualifying

Posted by Admin on September 24, 2015
Posted in: Adam Addicott, ATP, St Petersburg Open. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Radu Albot, Andrey Golubev Head to Main Stage at St. Petersburg Qualifying
Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic

St Petersburg Site

St Petersburg Site

The St. Petersburg Open qualifying draw featured 21 Russian players which equalled to 65% of the draw. Despite the high Russian presence, none of them were able to qualify for the main draw of their home tournament.

Heading the field was Moldova’s Radu Albot who overcame a threatening first round match to qualify for the main draw. Facing world number 743 Mikhail Ledovskikh, Albot required over two hours on the court to win 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3. Despite the low ranking, Ledovskikh has been ranked as high as 151 back in 2008. After his first round scare, Albot reaffirmed his position as the top seed in the draw with two comfortable victories. In the second round, he defeated Alexandr Igoshin 6-4, 6-2. Then in the final round, he dropped three games against Valery Rudvev (6-3,6-0).

Embed from Getty Images

Albot is currently ranked 99th in the world, 14 places below his career high. This year he became the first Moldovan in history to break into the ATP top 100. He claimed his first Challenger title for two years in Kolkata back in February. Albot will play 7th seed João Sousa in the first round at St Petersburg. He has played the Portuguese player twice before (both in 2013). During the Davis Cup Albot stage a big comeback from two sets down to beat Sousa. Meanwhile, in his other match at the Poznan Challenger, he lost 6-1, 6-2.

Embed from Getty Images

Andrey Golubev’s route to the main draw was more convincing with three straight sets wins over a trio of Russian players. In the first round, he dismissed 17 year-old Kirill Kivattsev (6-1, 6-2) followed by another straight set win over world No.496 Evgeny Elistratov. His final opponent was Evgeny Tyurnev, who stunned 5th seed Nikola Mektic in the second round. Tyurnev was unable to produce another shock against Goulbev as the Kazakh player won 6-4,6-2.

Golubev is ranked 154 in the world which is a substantial distance from his 2010 career high of 33. This season has been disappointing for Golubev who is yet to reach the last four in a tournament. His 2015 main draw win-loss leading up to his first round match is 10-21. In the first round in Russia, he will play Benjamin Becker. Golubev last played Becker in 2010 when he lost 6-0,6-2.

St-Petersburg-Open-trophy

Alexandre Sidorenko booked his place in the main draw after two surprise victories over the 7th and 3rd seed. Sidorenko is known best for winning the 2006 Australian Open boys title. His junior success has failed to progress to the pro tour with the Frenchman achieving a ranking best of 145 in 2009, currently he is ranked 508. In the second round, he defeated Estonian 7th seed Vladimir Ivanov. Ivanov is ranked 101 places higher than Sidorenko. In the final round, he faced a another stiff test against Russian third seed Alexander Kudryavtsev. The Frenchman was trailing a set and 4-2 before staging a mighty comeback to take the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Sidorenko will play in his first ATP World Tour main draw match since the 2010 BMW Open. In the first round he played Evgeny Donskoy. Sidorenko was the only qualifier to play on the first day of the main draw. Playing against a player ranked almost 400 places higher than him, the Frenchman prevailed 6-2, 6-4.

Finally 22-year-old Belarussian Yaraslav Shyla booked his placed in the final after defeating junior world No.43 Alexander Bublik (6-3,6-4). Shyla has won 2 Futures titles in his career and is currently ranked 366th in the world. Following his successful qualifying campaign, he will play in only his third ATP main draw event. In the main draw he will play Evgeny Donskoy.
Adam Addicott TA Watermark

Day 4 Qualifying Report From @RolandGarros 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scores

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

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

Day 3 Qualifying Report From @RolandGarros 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cepede Royg d. Siegemund 6-3 7-5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 2 Qualifying Report From @RolandGarros 2015

Posted by Admin on May 20, 2015
Posted in: French Open, Guest Writer, On Site, Roland Garros. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Day 2 Qualifying Report From Roland Garros 2015
Stefano Berlincioni for Tennis Atlantic

What a long day once again! As tennis was played at Roland Garros for over 12 hours on court from 10 am to 9.30 pm when last match was suspended due to darkness.

I will begin by discussing a match played at the end of the day: Andrea Arnaboldi – Pierre-Hugues Herbert has been (and still is!) a pretty epic match. Arnaboldi started playing great attacking tennis (*5-2 up), I left on 6-4 and it was clear that the Frenchman had stepped up his level. I came back later on 5-5 third set and players kept holding quite easily. Arnaboldi missed a really feasible passing shot when he had the one and only match point. Match will be resumed tomorrow from 15-14 Arnaboldi.

I didn’t watch many other men’s matches, just the end of Norbert Gombos-Yoshihito Nishioka (The Japanese saved 2 mps, the second one with an incredible dropshot, and after that Gombos lost his compsure, and the match in abrupt fashion),  and the third set of Radu Albot- Liam Broady with the Moldavian being more consistent and pulling out a win. I also caught the the end of Aleksandr Nedovyesov-Yuki Bhambri, as Bhambri won again, forcing his opponent to play too many risky shots.

Nishioka d. Gombos 2-6 6-2 8-6
Albot d. Broady 6-7 7-6 6-2
Bhambri d. Nedovyesov 6-3 3-6 9-7

Luca Vanni against Thomas Fabbiano was a strange match, until the beginning of second set Fabbiano looked like he would bet the winner, but then some clouds helped Vanni, because without the sun he looked fresher, and started playing more aggressive. Fabbiano was just defending and Vanni had an easy time winning the match from a set down.

Vanni d. Fabbiano 3-6 6-3 6-2

I don’t follow WTA that much but I know women’s tennis is famous for being full of drama, and today we had at least two epic matches.

First one was Michelle Larcher De Brito against Clothilde De Bernardi. I admit that I went to this match just because some Portuguese fans asked me on Twitter. To my pleasant surprise it was a great match with both players hitting hard and looking for winners! I didn’t expect De Bernardi being so good and I thought she was done when she went from *2-1 40-15 to 2-4 during third set. The great support fo the public helped the Frenchwoman who refused to give up and managed to go *5-4 up when it started raining. Larcher De Brito was desperate for the De Bernardi comeback and started crying, asking the umpire to stop the match for the rain. The umpire rejected her request and a few seconds later the Portuguese woman was crying again but going off the court.

De Bernardi d. De Brito 4-6 6-2 6-4

While I was watching Vera Dushevina against Jelean Ostapenko I heard a rumour of racquet breaks, I turned on the next court and I saw the score Paula Kania-Alla Kudryavsteva 7-5 0-0 15-0

I noticed a racquet broken

so I understood the Russian had a penalty point. My interest in this match suddenly raised and it was a real drama, with Kudryavtseva complaining loudly with herself and then crying

Kania obviously won and here is a short video that shows how that happened

Kania d. Kudryavtseva 7-5 6-4

Earlier I watched Anett Kontaveit against Kat Stewart and I have to say I was very very impressed by the Estonian Kontaveit. She has stunning power and Stewart was outplayed there. When I was on the stands I heard a guy telling to Kontaveit’s coach “It’s over” on 6-3 3-0, the coach replied “Never say that!”. That was pure jinxing because Stewart fought and came back but Kontaveit managed to win the second set tiebreak.

Kontaveit d. Stewart 6-3 7-6

I watched also first set of the 16 yo Tessah Andrianjafitrimo and the girl has been quite impressive: short and with a pretty weak serve but she moves very well and from baseline is dangerous. Surely one to watch in the future, she beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in straights.

Andrianjafitrimo d. Mayr-Achleitner 6-2 6-4

Quick impressions also in regards to Nastassja Burnett (outpowered Lin Zhu), Elizaveta Kulichkova (far from being impressive against Yi-Fan Xu), and Naomi Broady (great performance on serve against Cagla Buyukakcay).

Burnett d. Zhu 6-2 6-1
Kulichkova d. Xu 6-2 6-2
Broady d. Buyukakcay 6-1 7-6

I watched the second set of Veronica Cepede Royg-CiCi Bellis and that set was surprisingly a bagel. Bellis didn’t play bad tennis at all but on clay she didn’t manage to find a way to hit through the short girl from Paraguay. Cepede Royg played an excellent match, perfect from baseline.

Cepede Royg d. Bellis 6-4 6-0

It has been another crazy weather day: sick wind, then rain, then cold, then sun. Tomorrow and on Friday should (should!) not feature rain.

2015 Dallas-1, Burnie and Glasgow Challenger Previews & Predictions

Posted by Admin on February 3, 2015
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard, USTA Pro Circuit. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

2015 Dallas-1, Burnie and Glasgow Challenger Previews & Predictions
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Challenger Tour Official Page

A full on hardcourt schedule this week, spread all over the world in the States, Australia and Scotland.

The RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas

2015 Dallas Challenger-1 Preview

ATP Challenger Tour
Dallas, Texas, USA
2-7 February 2015
Prize Money: $100,000

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Mikhail Kukushkin (51)
2: Teymuraz Gabashvili (67)
3: Blaz Rola (80)
4: Tim Smyczek (112)
5: Denis Kudla (123)
6: Victor Hanescu (134)
7: Rajeev Ram (140)
8: Gastao Elias (143)

The last direct acceptance is Daniel Nguyen, ranked 302nd. Mardy Fish is also back in action, playing his first tournament since August 2013, in the doubles draw together with Mark Knowles. They will play top seeds James Cerretani and James Cluskey in the first round.

By the time I am writing this, a highly controversial first round encounter between Denys Molchanov and Agustin Velotti has already taken place. There is no doubt that Molchanov fixed the match. Velotti started out as the underdog, but as he LOST the first set 7-5, his odd had dropped to 1.16. Unexpectedly, Velotti went on to win the next two sets, with $900,000 getting matched on Betfair and Molchanov putting on an awful acting performance as he acted disappointed after missing some ridiculously easy shots. You can watch the entire match here and see the spectacle for yourself: http://new.livestream.com/ATP/dallas2015court1/videos/75819670

Unfortunately, I have been following match-fixing in tennis since 2007 and the offenders get away with it in pretty much every instance. All we can do is spread the word after every case and hope things will finally change, urging the ITF and their Tennis Integrity Unit to do their jobs.

First Round Match-Up To Watch

Rhyne Williams – Ryan Harrison

This will be an interesting encounter between two bad boys, hotheads, whatever you want to call it. Fact is they are often their own worst enemy, losing their cool on the court and losing matches because of it. Both had a good start to the season, but immediately regressed after that. Harrison won the Happy Valley Challenger, after which he lost first rounds to Wayne Odesnik and Dennis Novikov, while Williams got through the qualifying draw of Brisbane, but lost to world #877 Sandro Ehrat in the second round of the Maui Challenger last week.

Embed from Getty Images

Top Half

The second section here is a really exciting one, with loads of interesting players having a shot to advance to the semi-final. Tim Smyczek, James McGee, Rhyne Williams, Ryan Harrison and Denis Kudla all fit that profile. Smyczek undoubtedly will be full of confidence after his showing against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, which also got him praise for a supreme moment of sportsmanship. There is a very good chance this will be the tournament that launches him back into the top 100 again.

Bottom Half

It’s hard to look past second seed Teymuraz Gabashvili here. He landed in a section with a couple of low ranked players and is projected to face #6 seed Victor Hanescu in the quarterfinal, who has been on the way back for quite some time now. In the top section Rajeev Ram and Blaz Rola are likely to battle it out for a place in the semi-final, which should be a close encounter.

Embed from Getty Images

Predictions

Semis:

Smyczek d. Elias
Gabashvili d. Rola

Final:

Smyczek d. Gabashvili

Embed from Getty Images

McDonald’s Burnie International

ATP Challenger Tour
Burnie, Australia
2-7 February 2015
Prize Money: $50,000

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: James Duckworth (120)
2: Yuichi Sugita (136)
3: Somdev Devvarman (139)
4: Hiroki Moriya (146)
5: Bradley Klahn (150)
6: John Millman (151)
7: Luke Saville (164)
8: Hyeon Chung (169)

The last direct acceptance is Maverick Banes, ranked 353rd.

Second round match-up to watch

(8) Hyeon Chung – Radu Albot

18 year old Chung is a big prospect, who will undoubtedly crack the top 100 within a couple of years. He reached the semi-final of the Hong Kong Challenger last week, where he lost to Tatsuma Ito. With a lot of seeds going out early here in Burnie this week, he has an excellent chance to go far and crack the top 150 for the first time in his career.

Embed from Getty Images

Top Half

Top seed James Duckworth should be able to go deep in this tournament and at the very least reach the final. That could create a very big result for him, as a tournament victory would give him a top 100 position for the first time in his career. He had a great start of the year, reaching the quarterfinal of Brisbane after beating Gilles Simon and Jarkko Nieminen, plus reaching the second round at the Australian Open. In the bottom section home player Alex Bolt has an excellent opportunity to come through and face Duckworth in the semi-final.

Embed from Getty Images

Bottom Half

As mentioned, Hyeon Chung has a great shot at reaching the final. For that to happen he will likely have to go through the winner of last week’s Hong Kong Challenger, Kyle Edmund, in the quarterfinal and Matthew Ebden in the semi-final.

Embed from Getty Images

Predictions

Semis:

Duckworth d. Bolt
Chung d. Ebden

Final:

Duckworth d. Chung

Embed from Getty Images

Aegon GB Pro-Series Glasgow – The Scottish Championships

ATP Challenger Tour
Glasgow, United Kingdom
2-7 February 2015
Prize Money: $42,500

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Aleksandr Nedovyesov (128)
2: Michal Przysiezny (170)
3: Ruben Bemelmans (173)
4: Andrej Martin (175)
5: Andrea Arnaboldi (178)
6: Julian Reister (181)
7: Tim Puetz (183)
8: Matteo Viola (190)

The last direct acceptance is Yann Marti, ranked 267th.

First Round Match-Up To Watch

(3) Ruben Bemelmans – Adam Pavlasek

Pavlasek got an opportunity to play the Hopman Cup last month, giving him some excellent practice against high ranked players like John Isner, Fabio Fognini and Vasek Pospisil. He even managed to beat Fognini, although that unfortunately isn’t really a feat these days. Bemelmans is erratic as ever, but he did well to qualify for the Australian Open, before losing in straight sets to Ivo Karlovic in the first round.

Top Half

Top seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov is a bit of a headcase, but if he can keep his composure this time around, it’s an excellent opportunity to reach the semi-final. The other seed in his section is Andrea Arnaboldi, who is a lot more comfortable on clay courts. In the other section, Tim Puetz should be marked a favorite to reach the semi-final. The German reached a new career high ranking of #163 after reaching the first round of the Australian Open, falling in four sets to Donald Young, and could well break the top 150 in this event. If he faces Nedovyesov that could prove to be a cracker, given they already played each other this year at the Happy Valley Challenger, with Nedovyesov winning in a third set tiebreak.

Embed from Getty Images

Bottom Half

Second seed Michal Przysiezny leads the pack here and should be able to reach the semi-final without getting himself into a lot of trouble. Although that of course is easier said than done, given his form in recent times, which saw him slip from inside of the top 60 to outside of the top 180 within a year. In the top section I would give Julian Reister, Adam Pavlasek and Ruben Bemelmans all a fair shot to reach the semi-final, but given the quick conditions Bemelmans has to be favored.

Embed from Getty Images

Predictions

Semis:

Puetz d. Nedovyesov
Bemelmans d. Przysiezny

The conditions here are faster than during their Happy Valley marathon match, so this time around I would give Puetz the slight edge, who is better on faster surfaces. Bemelmans – Przysiezny is a coin toss between two of the most erratic players on tour, which at the same time makes it a highly interesting encounter to hope for.

Final:

Bemelmans d. Puetz

Embed from Getty Images

Chris De Waard (Challenger Tour Finals)