Unstoppable Mikhail Youzhny Continues Unbeaten Run In Dubai Qualifying Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
As Novak Djokovic makes his final preparations for this week’s Dubai Tennis Championships, there were mixed fortunes for the seeded players in the qualifying draw.
Heading the 16-player field was Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. The former world No.8 has climbed 49 places in the rankings this year after winning three consecutive Challenger titles across Asia (two in Bangkok and one in Manila). Youzhny, who reached the final of the tournament in 2007, kicked-off his campaign against Ireland’s Sam Barry. The Irishman is currently ranked 399th in the world and recently won a Futures title in Sunderland, Great Britain. Barry was no match for Youzhny as the world No.78 overcame a close opening set to win 7-6(1), 6-2.
Awaiting the Russian in the final qualifying round was Georgian fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who defeated Belgium’s Yannick Mertens in straight sets during his opening round. Despite struggling with his first serve, the top seed booked in place in the main draw with a 6-2, 6-4, win. Getting 43% of his first serves in, Youzhny claimed 69% of his service points to extend his 2016 winning streak to 17.
Speaking about Youzhny performance, tournament vice-chairman Colm McLoughlin spoke of his delight for the Russian.
“We are delighted that Mikhail Youzhny has successfully negotiated the qualifying rounds here, and he did so without the loss of a set to emphasise that he is very much back in form after a disappointing season last year,” McLoughlin said.
Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano produced a surprise win to reach the first round in Dubai. Starting against Turkish wildcard Cem İlkel, the world No.142 endured a second set scare before winning 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. The reward for the Fabbiano was a meeting with second seed Ivan Dodig. During their marathon encounter, which lasted 13 minutes short of three hours, Fabbiano converted 6/10 break points to win 6-7(1), 6-4,6-2. The Italian will now play in his third ATP main draw this year.
Kyle Edmund
Kyle Edmund’s hopes of continuing his strong start to the year was ended by unseeded Croat Franko Skugor. The Brit reached his first ATP quarterfinal at the start of the year in the Doha Open and claimed his fourth Challenger title in Dallas, USA. Edmund began his Dubai quest with a 6-3, 6-4, win over Czech veteran Radek Stepanek. Meanwhile, Skugor defeated eighth seed James Ward 6-3, 6-4.
Despite there being over 100 places separating Edmund and Skugor, the Croat saved 5/5 break points to seal a straight sets victory (6-4, 6-2). The score appears one-sided, however, Skugor won just 11 points more than his opponent (63 to 52).
Finally, Lucas Pouille dropped just six games in his successful qualifying campaign. In his first match the Frenchman played a little-known Dutch wildcard Roy de Valk, winning 6-1,6-0, in less than 40 minutes. After his easy opening match, Pouille faced fifth seed Ruben Bemelmans. The Belgian was forced to dig deep in his three sets win over Mischa Zverev in the first round. The first round efforts invested by the fifth seed had an effect on him during his match against Pouille. The world no. 91 fired 7 aces and faced no break points during his 6-2, 6-3, triumph.
Brazilian joy for Facundo Bagnis and Gastão Elias in Sao Paulo Qualifying
After the trials and tribulations of the Rio Open, the focus remains in Brazil at this week’s ATP 250 tournament in Sao Paulo. Headlined by France’s Benoit Paire, the tournament will feature six top 50 players. Prior to the main draw getting underway, a series of epic matches occurred during the qualifying draw for the tournament.
Top seed Facundo Bagnis secure his place in the main draw with a duo of wins over fellow Argentine players. Four Argentine players featured in the qualifying draw, three of which was drawn in the same section as Bagnis. In his first round he faced world No. 156 Nicolas Kicker. Kicker recently came close to winning his first Challenger title after reaching the final at the San Domingo Challenger. His recent form continued in São Paulo after taking the first set against Bagnis before the top seed battled back to win 5-7,6-4,6-2.
The next Argentine for Bagnis was fifth seed Facundo Arguello. Arguello defeated Brazil’s Orlando Luz 6-4,6-2, in his opening match. Converting 4/9 breaks point against Arguello, Bagnis eased to a 6-3,6-3 victory.
Portuguese sixth seed Gastao Elias endured two three-set battles to reach the main stage of the tournament. At last week’s Rio Open the world No.141 qualified for the main draw before losing to surprised finalist Guido Pella.
Elias’ second Brazilian qualifying campaign started with a tough 3-6,6-3,6-2, triumph over wildcard Jose Pereira. Impressively the sixth seed won 80% of his service points during the first round. Next up for Elias was Chile’s Hans Podlipnik-Castillo, who stunned second seed Rugerio Dutra Silva in the first round. In a three-hour marathon, Elias edged past the Chilean player 7-6(5), 5-7,6-2.
Another Argentine success occurred for eight seed Maximo Gonzalez. His opening match against Italy’s Filippo Volandri came to an unfortunate end. After over two hours of play, the Italian retired at 5-5 in the final set due to an abdominal tear. Awaiting Gonzalez in the final round was Spanish third seed Roberto Carballes Baena. Baena produced a three sets win over Brazil’s Joao Souza in the first round. After dropping the first set, Gonzalez converted 5/7 break points to stun the third seed 4-6,6-3,6-3 to progress to the main draw. There was some consultation for Baena after he received a lucky loser position in the main draw following Guido Pella’s withdrawal.
Completing the quartet of qualifiers is seventh seed Blaz Rola. The Slovakian was four points away from losing in the first round before he achieved his marathon win over local talent Andre Ghem – 7-6(4),4-6,7-6(3). In the next round he played world No.218 Gianluca Nasco, who upset fourth seed Andrej Martin. Nasco won six Futures titles on clay last year. The Italian was on course to producing another surprise win after taking the opening set against Rola. Despite the promising start, Rola recovered to seal the win 3-6,6-0,6-4.
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:
Lorenzi
Muñoz-De La Nava
Cervantes
Dustov
Group B:
Pella
Albot
Cecchinato
Clezar
Semi-finals:
Lorenzi d. Albot
Pella d. Muñoz-De La Nava
2015 Taipei, Anning, Sao Paulo, Tallahassee, Ostrava and Turin Challenger Recaps Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic
Taipei
Top seed Yen-Hsun Lu is the all-time leader when it comes to Challenger titles (21), with most of them coming out of Asia, but he wasn’t able to add another one in his home country. In the quarterfinal it was Konstantin Kravchuk who upset him after a long battle, 7-6(4) 4-6 7-5. A round before Kravchuk profited from Ryan Harrison’s right ankle injury, which forced him to retire after only one game. Former world #61 Matthew Ebden managed to pick up some nice wins, beating #4 seed and world #91 Lukas Lacko 7-5 6-3 in the second round, after which he took out another seed in the quarterfinal, as he beat #7 Iliya Marchenko 6-3 6-4. Kravchuk was one bridge too far, however, in a match settled through the most titanic scoreline possible, 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 7-6(4).
In the bottom half Yuki Bhambri continued building up his ranking, taking out #8 seed Jimmy Wang 6-3 6-1 in the second round and #3 seed Go Soeda 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the next. Big-serving Sam Groth was next and proved to be too much, with the Australian #2 seed winning 6-4 7-5 to book a place in the final against Kravchuk. Here Kravchuk continued his trend of long and grueling matches, but this time with his opponent as the winner, as Groth won 6-7(5) 6-4 7-6(3). Groth clearly made a great choice to play a Challenger after a bad run on the main tour, rising seventeen spots to a career high ranking of #68. Kravchuk rose one spot more, eighteen to #149.
Top seed James Duckworth made a good start to the tournament with two easy victories, but had to bow to Grega Zemlja in the quarterfinal. The former world #43, coming back from injury, beat Duckworth 7-6(2) 7-5. In the semi-final Zemlja faced a very surprising player, Gavin van Peperzeel, the world #458, who is normally only a fixture on the Futures circuit. However, Van Peperzeel showed he has a lot of potential, beating Zemlja 6-7(3) 6-2 6-2 for a place in the final. Remarkably enough the bottom half had exactly the same story, with world #547 Franko Skugor reaching the final after beating #4 seed Boy Westerhof in the first round, after which Ruan Roelofse, Duckhee Lee and #5 seed Tsung-Hua Yang followed suit. The final was an one-sided affair, with Skugor beating Van Peperzeel 7-5 6-2 to claim his second career title. Naturally both men made tremendous jumps on the ranking, with Skugor rising 229 spots to #318 and Van Peperzeel 119 spots to #339.
Sao Paulo
The higher seeds fell like flies, with top seed Maximo Gonzalez bowing out in the first round against Germain Gigounon (6-7(4) 6-2 6-4), while #3 seed Andre Ghem lost 6-3 6-4 to Alexis Musialek and #4 seed Chase Buchanan 6-4 6-3 to Christian Lindell. In the second round #2 seed Blaz Rola joined the pack, losing 6-4 4-6 6-4 to wildcard Rogerio Dutra Silva. Lindell powered through after his first round win, eventually taking out #8 seed Guido Andreozzi 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the semi-final. Joining him in the final was the one seed who managed to reach the quarterfinal stage in the bottom half, #5 Guido Pella. Far from smoothly, however, needing a third set tiebreak in the first round and a 7-5 in the third set in his quarterfinal against Orlando Luz. His semi-final against Jose Hernandez-Fernandez went easier, 6-3 6-3.
Pella managed to win the final as well against Lindell, in two hard fought sets, 7-5 7-6(1). It meant the second title of the year for him, now sitting on an impressive 8-1 record in Challenger finals. It also meant a good improvement ranking wise, rising twenty-seven spots to #132. Lindell reached the top 200 for the first time in his career, rising forty-two spots to #180.
Tallahassee
Calling him a sensation almost would be an understatement at this point, but one thing is for sure, Frances Tiafoe is quickly leaving his mark on the tennis world. The 17-year-old started the year outside of the top 1000, but after a quarterfinal and semi-final run in his first ever Challengers, he already seems ready to march to the gates of the main tour. His third event here in Tallahassee continued the pattern, taking out top seed and world #90 Facundo Bagnis 1-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in the first round. Our own Jean-Yves Aubone followed in the second round, Emilio Gomez in the quarterfinal and Tennys Sandgren as well in the semi-final after a long battle, 1-6 6-4 7-6(1). In the bottom half #5 seed Facundo Arguello seemed to be compensating the early loss of his countryman Bagnis, beating four Americans in a row to reach the final. Respectively Stefan Kozlov, Tommy Paul, Mitchell Krueger and Jared Donaldson had to bow out against the Argentinean.
Tiafoe came close in the final, very close, but he couldn’t hold onto his 6-2 *4-3 40-30 and 3-0* in the tiebreak leads. Despite an impressive comeback from Tiafoe in the third set, winning four games in a row from 0-4 down, Arguello came out the winner, 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4. Nevertheless, this obviously was yet another impressive week from Tiafoe, winning him a Roland Garros wildcard and an improvement of eighty-eight in the rankings, landing at #293. Arguello rose twenty-four spots to #141 after winning his third Challenger title.
Ostrava
Two veteran Spaniards marched to the semi-final stage, 33-year-old Daniel Munoz-De La Nava and 37-year-old Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. #8 seed Ramirez Hidalgo impressively did it without dropping a set. Unfortunately for them youth prevailed in the end. 20-year-old Adam Pavlasek took out top seed Lucas Pouille in the quarterfinal, after which he did the same with Munoz-De La Nava after a long battle, 6-4 5-7 7-5. Ramirez Hidalgo fell to 25-year-old countryman Inigo Cervantes in a similar struggle, 6-3 3-6 7-5. Cervantes took out #2 seed James Ward in the second round. In the final Cervantes won after two tight sets, 7-6(5) 6-4, claiming his third Challenger title and making a big ranking jump of ninety-three to #184. Pavlasek is on the verge of the top 200, rising fifty-four spots to #209.
Turin
A similar trend here in Turin, with the top seeds failing to live up to their seedings. Top seed Malek Jaziri lost 6-2 7-5 to Jesse Huta Galung in the first round, with #2 seed Aljaz Bedene following suit against qualifier Gianluca Naso, 7-6(6) 6-4. #3 seed Tobias Kamke had already lost a round earlier, falling 6-2 6-7(5) 6-1 to qualifier Karen Khachanov. #4 seed Kimmer Coppejans survived a tough opening round draw against Elias Ymer, 3-6 6-0 6-3, after which he needed three more three set matches to reach the final, barely winning his semi-final against Adrian Ungur 6-3 2-6 7-6(5). Perhaps all these long matches took their toll, as Marco Cecchinato easily dismissed him in the final, 6-3 6-2, to claim his second Challenger title. It also saw him creep a bit closer to the top 100, rising twenty-six spots to #124. Coppejans is getting even closer, adding another good result after his tournament win in Mersin two weeks ago, rising eleven spots to #112.
As you can see some of the higher ranked players are missing, but a lot of those absences aren’t surprising. #1 Gilles Muller and #5 Go Soeda are far from admirers of clay, while #6 David Goffin hasn’t played the mandatory ten events to be eligible for this event. He is also ranked 22nd at the moment, of course, so he probably wouldn’t have entered anyway. #8 Albert Ramos-Vinolas and #10 Jan-Lennard Struff not competing might be a surprise, but then again, the schedule isn’t very convenient with both of them having played their last match in QR1 of the Paris Masters three weeks ago.
Groups
Group A
Simone Bolelli
Victor Estrella Burgos
Andreas Haider-Maurer
Maximo Gonzalez
Group B
Diego Schwartzman
Blaz Rola
Joao Souza
Guilherme Clezar
Round-robin match-ups to watch
Simone Bolelli – Victor Estrella Burgos
This is a heavyweight match-up between the two favorites to take down the title, there is a good chance we will see them face off in the final again. However, if they tire each other out too much, Schwartzman, who has an easier group, might take advantage. Estrella Burgos and Bolelli have never met each other, but you have to give Bolelli an edge here. Especially when they get entangled in backhand rallies I expect Bolelli to put a lot of pressure on Estrella Burgos’ defensive slices. Bolelli hasn’t played on clay since the first week of August, but he has time to find his rhythm since it will be the final encounter of the group.
Diego Schwartzman – Joao Souza
Schwartzman has had a great year, reaching six Challenger finals and winning four of them and climbing up to a career high ranking of #76. Souza has been less fortunate in finals, racking up a 1-3 record. However, he clearly had a great year, climbing fifty ranking spots to #90. They faced off once this year, in the final of the San Juan Challenger, with Schwartzman winning 7-6(5) 6-3. However, this tournament is played at the club where Souza grew up, so that might inspire him to make it a closer encounter this time around.
Group A
I have mentioned that Bolelli and Estrella are the favorites, but the competition isn’t too shabby. The last match Haider-Maurer played was in QR2 in Basel against Bolelli, with the Italian only barely scraping through: 3-6 6-4 6-3. Both players are very well-rounded, so a similar close encounter on clay wouldn’t be surprising. The wild card in this group is Gonzalez. It’s hard to predict what he is going to do. When is he on, he is as good as any of these guys, but he can just as easily have a bad day and become a walk-over. This happened at the Guayaquil Challenger last week, where he got hammered by Facundo Arguello: 6-4 6-0.
Group B
This group is likely to be unbalanced, with Brazilian wild card Clezar being ranked significantly lower than the other three. I expect Schwartzman to come through as the group winner, but the battle between Rola and Souza for the second spot is going to be really interesting. They met once this year, on clay, with Rola winning 3-6 7-6(2) 6-3. No doubt their match here will be just as close. Perhaps Souza’s home advantage can get him through this time.
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.
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.
Federer Wins 6th Dubai, Dimitrov Wins 1st 500, Delbonis Wins 1st ATP Title Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
ATP Dubai Roger Federer won a record sixth Dubai open title with a 3-6 6-4 6-3 win over Tomas Berdych, who was denied his shot at consecutive 500 series titles with the loss.
Federer has come back strong in late fall 2013 and the early part of this year. He is 14-2 this year with his only losses coming to Hewitt and Nadal, and starting with Basel last fall, he only had losses to Del Potro, Djokovic and Nadal.
The Swiss maestro had a weeklong streak of wins that consisted of a straight sets victory over Benjamin Becker, a 3 set victory over Radek Stepanek in a close, exciting match, a straight set win over Lukas Rosol and a 3 set upset of Novak Djokovic.
Berdych beat Marius Copil, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Philipp Kohlschreiber, all without dropping a set before the final.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi won the doubles title over Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic.
ATP Acapulco
Grigor Dimitrov won his second career ATP title 7-6 3-6 7-6 over the big serving South African Kevin Anderson, who was contesting his second ATP final in consecutive weeks and lost both finals.
Dimitrov beat Marinko Matosevic and Marcos Baghdatis in straights in the early rounds, and then won a barn burner 3 set match against Ernests Gulbis in the quarters. After that, he needed a pair of tiebreaks to come back from a set down and defeat his (sort of) rival Andy Murray for the first time in his career, as the Bulgarian continues to rise up the rankings.
Anderson beat Stephane Robert and Sam Querrey in straights, then was gifted with a retirement from a set down against David Ferrer, and prevailed in 3 sets over the in form Alex Dolgopolov in the semifinals.
Anderson did pick up a title this week however, as he and Matt Ebden were the dynamic doubles champions, beating Feliciano Lopez/Max Mirnyi in the doubles final.
ATP Sao Paulo
23-year-old Argentine dirtballer Federico Delbonis had one of the worst chokes of 2013 when he lost the ATP Hamburg final to Fabio Fognini in 3 sets, but he finally made amends for that and captured his first ATP title in Sao Paulo with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over maiden finalist Paolo Lorenzi, who at the age of 32, reached both his first ATP semifinal and first ATP final ever.
Delbonis crushed Filippo Volandri in straights before upsetting Nicolas Almagro in 3 in one of the best wins of his career yet. He also beat Albert Montanes in straights and dispatched home hope Thomaz Bellucci in 3 sets in the semis.
Lorenzi beat Pere Riba and Rogerio Dutra Silva in straights, then needed 3 sets against Juan Monaco and a second set retirement against Tommy Haas to reach the final.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Philipp Oswald won the doubles final over Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
2014 ATP Dubai, Acapulco, Sao Paulo Previews and Predictions
Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
Dual outdoor hard court 500s in Dubai and Acapulco (which switches from clay to hard courts this year), and the final golden swing event, a clay 250 in Sao Paulo are the offerings this week. All of this beckons as the ATP tour marches towards the next marquee event in Indian Wells.
ATP Dubai
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
ATP World Tour 500
Dubai, UAE
February 24-March 1, 2014
Prize Money: $ 1,928,340
Top 4 seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Novak Djokovic (2)
2: Juan Martin Del Potro (5)
3: Tomas Berdych (6)
4: Roger Federer (8)
5 of the top 10 are in Dubai in what is a stacked, exciting event.
First Round matchups to watch:
(6)Mikhail Youzhny vs. Michal Przysiezny
There’s not an abundance of great appetizers on offering in the Dubai first round, but this one of two that stick out to me. First, the struggling Youzhny, who is just 1-4 on the season in ATP action, having lost 3 straight matches, faces off with the equally slumping Przysiezny, who is a miserable 1-7 on the year, between ATP and Davis Cup action.
Youzhny had high expectations this year and Przysiezny was an improving player going into the season, but 2 months in, they both need some wins to snap out of their funks. As the more accomplished, higher ranked player, Youzhny should be favored, and he also won their only head to head meeting (played on clay) very easily 4 years ago.
Andreas Seppi vs. Florian Mayer
Seppi leads the h2h 2-1, but Mayer won their only outdoor hard court meeting 6 years ago and he is in great form, having won 7 times in 11 tournament matches on the year. Seppi has just 1 win in 6 ATP and Davis Cup tournament matches and has lost 4 straight matches. Given the massive difference in form, I expect Funky Flo to win this one.
Top Half:
Defending and four time champion Novak Djokovic opens with Denis Istomin, who he has defeated 4 times previously, and then will face Roberto Bautista Agut or qualifier Adrian Ungur in round 2. Novak will most likely see Youzhny in the quarters, as after Przysiezny, the winner gets Delray quarterfinalist Teymuraz Gabashvili or wild card James Ward.
Five time Dubai champion Roger Federer opens with veteran German grinder Benjamin Becker, and will face another veteran in the next round, either Radek Stepanek or Michael Russell. Judging by his play earlier this year, Federer should be safe for the quarterfinals where his opponent will be one of Lukas Rosol/Daniel Brands/Lukas Lacko/Dmitry Tursunov. Lacko is a qualifier. Tursunov is the 8 seed but he’s out of form, and Brands has a h2h win against Federer last year. All in all, a toss-up section, and both Djokovic and Federer should be happy with their draws.
Bottom Half:
Juan Martin Del Potro, who bounced out much earlier than he would like in his last action in Rotterdam, opens with wild card Somdev Devvarman. I expect JMDP vs. Igor Sijsling in the next round, as the Rotterdam semifinalist, who was bounced out in the opening round of Marseille, opens with wild card Malek Jaziri, who is a hard worker who will battle hard but isn’t the highest ranked of players.
Should Del Potro be healthy and not too rusty, with a fit wrist and other factors, I expect Del Potro vs. 6 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber or Florian Mayer in the quarters. Kohli needs wins against Thiemo De Bakker and Seppi/Mayer to reach the quarters as he did in Rotterdam. Kohli leads the hard court h2h with Mayer, his Davis Cup teammate, 1-0, but Mayer does have a clay court and an indoors win, their last match coming in 2010.
Rotterdam champion Tomas Berdych, who has only lost 2 ATP level matches this year, and sports a 12-2 record going into this tournament, along with being a defending finalist, faces qualifier Marius Copil in the opening round and then Sergiy Stakhovsky or Ivan Dodig in round 2.
Dodig comes off quarterfinals in Marseille, but Berdych should smash his way to the quarterfinals against the 5 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who made the finals in Marseille, and opens with the journeyman veteran Victor Hanescu, followed by Nikolay Davydenko/Andrey Golubev.
Dark Horse: Andrey Golubev
Golubev has an outside shot at the quarterfinals, given the nice draw he has, with Nikolay Davydenko, who for quite some time has been a shell of his former self, up first. He would follow with Hanescu/Tsonga, as Hanescu is a journeyman and Tsonga has not been at his best all year, and should be tired coming off the Marseille final. Golubev won the title at the Astana challenger and thus is in good form.
Predictions
Semis:
Djokovic d. Federer
Berdych d. Mayer
Djokovic/Federer is a near lock for the semifinals, and their h2h is rather even, Federer leading it 16-15.
Yet Djokovic has won the last 3 meetings, and the last 10 hard court meetings are 5-5. In Dubai the h2h is 1-1.
I give Djokovic the edge to advance given his better in recent years.
Berdych should make the final regardless of his semifinal opponent and I have Mayer penciled in as his form should propel him past Seppi, Kohlschreiber and Del Potro/Sijsling. I just don’t think JMDP is 100% yet.
Final:
Berdych d. Djokovic
Berdych is just 2-15 against Novak, but with his form sizzling, and Novak having not played since the Australian Open, I think he will get his third win in an upset and keep Novak from winning his fifth Dubai title in a close match. This would be a rematch of the Dubai final last year, and Djokovic won that match in straights, but I think revenge is in order and it will be a much closer match this time.
ATP AcapulcoAbierto Mexicano Telcel
ATP World Tour 500
Acapulco, Mexico
February 24-March 2, 2014
Prize Money: $ 1,309,770
Top 4 seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: David Ferrer (4)
2: Andy Murray (7)
3: John Isner (13)
4: Grigor Dimitrov (20)
Four of the top 20 and a pair of top 10 players are in Acapulco, as the switch to hard court attracted a nice field for this event.
First Round matchups to watch:
Feliciano Lopez vs. Edouard Roger-Vasselin
The first meeting between these two veteran players, ERV comes off quarters in Marseille and Feli comes off quarters in Delray. However, Roger-Vasselin was more impressive in his quarterfinal loss in 3 sets to Tsonga, while Lopez really struggled from the start against Steve Johnson and never found the effort needed to put up a fight. ERV has farther to travel, but I give him the edge in this one, in what looks like a quality, balanced matchup.
(3)John Isner vs. Ivo Karlovic
These two big bomb servers have met 4 times, and in every meeting there has, as would be expected, at least one tiebreak in the match. Overall, the h2h is 2-2, and their only outdoor hard court meeting went to Karlovic.
Karlovic is better on the volley and first serve, and Isner is better with his forehand and second serve. This one should be very close as Karlovic retired in round 2 of Delray after the making the final in Memphis, while Isner scraped his way to the semis in Delray, but he dropped a set in all 3 of his wins and then lost in straights to a tired Marin Cilic.
Hopefully, Big John was shaking off rust and nothing more, and hopefully also Karlovic is fit for this one, as it could very well be 3 tiebreak sets to decide.
(8)Vasek Pospisil vs. Alex Dolgopolov
Pospisil pulled out of Delray as he stated he didn’t feel fully recovered from his back injury and needed an extra week off, thus his first tournament back will be Acapulco. He’s seeded, but his first round opponent is a tough one, as Dolgo found surprising quality to reach the final in Rio. He played some tough matches there and may be tired, but he did very well and depending on the Pospisil form he may be able to grab an upset win.
Joao Sousa vs. Adrian Mannarino
A pair of players who were struggling but found some form in their last tournaments, Sousa made his way to the quarters in Rio on clay, while Mannarino finally beat Jack Sock to reach round 2 in Delray, where he fell to Lopez in 3 sets.
Mannarino has played more hard court tennis as of late, while Sousa will be coming back from a couple of weeks on clay, but he is a good, reasonably accomplished hard court player and this is their first meeting. On paper, Mannarino probably has a slight edge but personally I think Sousa will win this one, probably in 3 sets.
Top Half:
David Ferrer, who was upset in the Rio semifinals and is back on hard courts now after the clay golden swing, faces Mikhail Kukushkin round 1, and then ERV/Lopez in round 2 in what could perhaps be a tricky matchup for him. I think he gets to the quarters to most likely face Delray finalist Kevin Anderson, who opens with a qualifier, and then the severely slumping Sam Querrey, or against all odds Mexican wildcard Tigre Hank.
Anderson may be tired, but Querrey is in horrendous form and he has to be happy with the opponent he drew in round 1. Assuming Ferrer gets past his second round opponent, this is a good draw for him.
Isner/Karlovic will face off with Dudi Sela or a qualifier in round 2. Isner beat Sela in a close 3 set match in Delray, and that would be a rematch just days later. I expect Isner/Karlovic in the quarters against Pospisil/Dolgopolov. The winner of that match gets Jeremy Chardy/Matt Ebden in round 2, with Chardy coming off of playing clay, and Ebden not really at his best right now. This is an interesting section of the draw.
Bottom Half:
Andy Murray makes his debut south of the border, as he takes on Rio semifinalist Pablo Andujar first and then Sousa/Mannarino. I don’t expect either opponent to trouble him too much, and he has a rather weak quarterfinal section with one of Gilles Simon/qualifier/Jurgen Melzer/Jarkko Nieminen on tap. Melzer, the veteran Austrian lefty, is playing his first tournament of the year coming off of injury. Nieminen took a week off after Rotterdam, and the veteran Finnish lefty is always a dependable competitor. Simon, meanwhile, has lost 2 straight matches and has been struggling all year, as he may be in a bit of a decline at this point in his career.
Grigor Dimitrov will try for success first against Marinko Matosevic, and should he advance, he will face Marcos Baghdatis, who gets another wild card this week, or Mexican wild card Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela. I expect it to be Dimitrov vs. one of Marseille champ Ernests Gulbis/Rendy Lu/Lukasz Kubot/qualifier in the quarters. Gulbis is in some great form, with semis in Rotterdam and a title in Marseille in the past 2 weeks but he’s likely exhausted after so much tennis over a short period and he will be coming in from Europe, making this an open section. Lu is struggling to stay healthy, and Kubot is in poor form.
Perhaps a qualifier will make a run like we saw in Delray.
Dark Horse: Edouard Roger-Vasselin
I thought of putting Rendy Lu or Karlovic in this spot, as they both have dark horse chances, but I’ll go with ERV, who has also been another of my steady DH designations this year. He will need to get past Lopez and Ferrer, neither of whom are easy to beat, but if he does a tired Anderson or a lucky Querrey will be his quarterfinal opponent. He has a great chance at the semis or even a run to the final with Isner/Karlovic/Pospisil/Dolgopolov likely to be the semifinalist from the other section, all beatable on a good day.
Predictions Semis:
Ferrer d. Karlovic
Murray d. Dimitrov
Ferrer leads the h2h with Ivo 2-1 but Ivo won their last meeting in 2011, all on hard courts. I don’t think Isner is in good enough form to reach the semis so I have the good Dr. here. Murray, who didn’t look at his best in Rotterdam, should still be in good enough form to make his way to the semis and expand his h2h from 3-0 to 4-0 against Dimitrov. All of their previous meetings finished in straight sets on hard courts.
Both normally-top 5 players haven’t been near their best this year, though probably for different reasons. I still feel confident that they both make the final of this 500 series event, and I have Murray, who leads the outdoor hard court h2h with Ferrer 5-0, as the champion.
ATP Sao Paulo
Brasil Open 2014
ATP World Tour 250
Sao Paulo, Brazil
February 24-March 2, 2014
Prize Money: $ 474,005
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Tommy Haas (12)
2: Nicolas Almagro (18)
3: Marcel Granollers (35)
4: Juan Monaco (42)
A weaker field than rest of the golden swing. Just 2 top 20 players and a huge drop off in quality below that makes this a tournament that gives a great chance for someone new to make a breakthrough or an old veteran to find some hot form and surprise.
First Round matchups to watch:
(7)Leonardo Mayer vs. Guido Pella
A veteran Argentine vs. a young Argentine, Vina Del Mar finalist Leo Mayer is just 1-2 after that showing including a blowout loss to Albert Ramos last in Rio. Mayer will take on Pella, who is 2-2 in Golden swing ATP events and skipped Rio. This match will come down to which Mayer shows up. I’ll go with Pella in a slight upset. The h2h is 1-1 but both of their meetings have come on hard courts.
(8)Santiago Giraldo vs. (WC)Thomaz Bellucci
They just met last week in Rio and Bellucci won in 3 sets. This should be a very good match as Bellucci found some form in Rio with an additional 3 set win against Juan Monaco and a 3 set loss to David Ferrer on his record as he made the quarters on home soil. He will be playing on home soil yet again, but Giraldo will be looking to avenge his defeat and he has a great chance to do so. This match is a hard call.
Top Half:
Top seed Tommy Haas debuts in Sao Paulo, as he has been struggling some, just 2-2 in his last 2 tournaments with losses to Steve Johnson in Delray and Jerzy Janowicz in Rotterdam. He will be adjusting to clay, though he plays very well on the surface. Alejandro Gonzalez or a qualifier are first up, and then one of Mayer/Pella or Pablo Cuevas/Horacio Zeballos in the quarters.
I expect it to be Mayer or Pella but watch out for Cuevas who showed some improvement in Rio.
Juan Monaco finally won a match, beating Zeballos in Rio, but he’s still struggling and I expect him to be knocked out by Albert Ramos, who made the second round in Rio. Ramos has to beat a qualifier first. The quarterfinalist will face Paolo Lorenzi, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or a pair of qualifiers in an open section. GGL has lost 2 straight matches, but he did beat Lorenzi in Vina Del Mar in 3 sets.
A qualifier has a nice chance at a run in this section.
Bottom Half:
3 time Sao Paulo champ Nicolas Almagro, who was ousted by Alex Dolgoplov earlier than he would have liked in Rio, will face Federico Delbonis or Filippo Volandri in his first match. He should advance to face the 5 seed Robin Haase in the quarters, as the Dutchman needs a win over a struggling Filippo Volandri and Albert Montanes/Aljaz Bedene (neither of whom are in good form). That said, Montanes just beat Haase In round 1 of Rio and that would be an immediate rematch.
Marcel Granollers is another struggling but accomplished player with just a 1-3 Golden Swing record this year. He will face Martin Klizan or Guilherme Clezar in round 2, and the winner will face Giraldo/Bellucci or Julian Reister/Andreas Haider-Maurer. Klizan retired in his last match, Reister is 0-5 on the year, and AHM has lost 2 straight matches. I expect Giraldo or Bellucci to emerge as the best of this section.
Dark Horse: Albert Ramos
It seems pretty easy for the Spaniard Ramos to reach the semis, as he has a struggling Monaco after a qualifier, one of the easiest round 1 bye seed opponents in an ATP tournament in a long time, and then Lorenzi/qualifier/GGL in the quarters. Then, it’s probably Haas or perhaps someone else in the semis. He even has an outside shot at the final.
Predictions Semis:
Haas d. Ramos
Almagro d. Giraldo
Almagro is 5-0 against Santi, including 2 wins on clay, thus he should win, given Sao Paulo is his event anyway. Haas has never met Ramos but I also think he will prevail.
Final:Almagro d. Haas
Haas is 3-0 against Nico with a win on clay, but that was 9 years ago, and Almagro has great history at this event. Besides the Rio round 1 loss, Nico appears to be in ok form with his only golden swing losses to top players Fabio Fognini and David Ferrer. Haas, meanwhile, is adjusting to clay and as previously mentioned hasn’t been up to his usual par this year so far, thus I think Nico will make it 1-3 against him and grab a win.
April 2013 Challenger Tour Recap: Young and Harrison Return to the Winners circle, Teen Vesely Takes a Title
Leon Challenger (April 1-April 7, 2013)
Donald Young won his first event of 2013 and his 6th career challenger in Leon, Mexico on hard courts over Jimmy Wang. Formerly top 50, Young is trying to work his way back to ATP level action on the challenger circuit, and he moved back towards the top 150 with this title. Young beat Amir Weintraub in the semis while Wang beat Dudi Sela. The top two Israeli tennis players were both semifinalists. Young also beat top seed Yen-Hsun Lu in the quarterfinals.
St Brieuc Challenger (April 1-April 7, 2013)
Jesse Huta Galung won his 2nd challenger of 2013 and his 2nd challenger in France on hard courts in St. Brieuc. Galung beat Frenchmen Kenny De Schepper in the final and Jan Mertl in the semis, while De Schepper beat Martin Fischer.
Barranquilla Challenger (April 8-April 14, 2013)
Federico Del Bonis also won his 2nd challenger of 2013, again on clay, over countryman Facundo Bagnis. Del Bonis beat Pedro Sousa in the semis, while Bagnis beat Arthur De Greef and also upset top seed Santiago Giraldo in the second round.
Guadalajara Challenger (April 8-April 14, 2013)
Veteran Alex Bogomolov won the 100k challenger on hard courts in Guadalajara, Mexico, triumphing over Rajeev Ram from a set down, after beating top seed Yen-Hsun Lu and then Adrian Mannarino in the semis. Ram beat Vasek Pospisil in the semis.
Mersin Challenger (April 8-April 14, 2013)
In Mersin, Turkey, on clay, the highest ranked teen in the ATP rankings, Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic (currently 162), won the title over veteran German Simon Greul. Vesely beat Bastian Knittel in the semis while Greul toughed it out over Stephane Robert.
Itajai Challenger (April 8-April 14, 2013)
Dutra Silva
In Brazil, on clay, Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva beat Jozef Kovalik to capture the title. Dutra Silva is at a career high ranking of 86 and continues to improve. He beat Gastao Elias in the semis while Kovalik, a qualifier, upset Rui Machado in the second round and beat Steven Diez in the semis.
Mexico City Challenger (April 15-April 21, 2013)
In Mexico City on hard courts, Andrej Martin, who is at a career high ranking of 156, beat Adrian Mannarino and in fact avenged his loss to Mannarino in the Noumea challenger at the start of the year. Martin also beat Michal Przysiezny in the semis while Mannarino beat Dudi Sela.
Panama City Challenger (April 15-April 21, 2013)
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo won the title on clay in Panama, dropping down from struggles on the ATP Tour to find success on the challenger circuit. He beat Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia in the final and Gerald Melzer in the semis. Gonzalez beat Victor Estrella in the semis.
Rome Challenger (April 15-April 21, 2013)
Julian Reister was tops on clay in Rome, beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (who later went on to make the final in Bucharest) after beating Dusan Lajovic in the semis. Reister beat top seed Andrey Kuznetsov in round 2. Garcia-Lopez beat Simon Greul in the semis in what was a successful month of tennis for the veteran German.
Santos Challenger (April 15-April 21,2013)
In Santos, Brazil on clay, Gastao Elias of Portugal got revenge against Rogerio Dutra Silva and took the Santos Challenger. Elias, of course, had lost to Dutra Silva in the semis of the Itajai challenger the previous week. Elias beat Guido Andreozzi in the semis, while Dutra Silva beat Guilherme Clezar.
Sao Paulo 2 Challenger (April 22-April 28, 2013)
Veteran Chilean Paul Capdeville returned to the top 150 and won the clay court Sao Paulo challenger over Renzo Olivo of Argentina. Olivo is 21 and burst into the top 200. He beat Guilherme Clezar in the semis, Clezar’s second straight semi. Capdeville beat Maximo Gonzalez.
Savannah Challenger (April 22-April 28, 2013)
It has been a rough year for Ryan Harrison, but this victory in the Savannah Challenger has to boost his confidence. He is back at the cusp of the top 80 and beat Facundo Arguello, a fellow 20 year old, to take the title. Harrison also beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the semis and Wayne Odesnik in the quarters. Arguello beat Donald Young.
Raonic Shuts Off the Lights in San Jose, Nadal Returns to Glory in São Paulo and Del Potro is King in Rotterdam
ATP San Jose
Milos Raonic came into the SAP Open not having lost a set, much less a match in San Jose, and he kept that streak alive throughout the final edition of the tournament, shutting out the lights with a win over Tommy Haas 6-4 6-3.
Raonic was dominant with his serve, but also brutal and precise with his groundstrokes all week, notching wins over Michael Russell, Denis Istomin and Sam Querrey, who he plainly dismantled. Not only did he serve well, but he also broke serve quite well.
As for Haas, after an iffy start to his season, he got back to playing the kind of quality tennis we saw from his last year, navigating past Jesse Levine, Steve Johnson and John Isner without dropping a set before running into the brick wall that is Raonic in San Jose.
I’m sure Milos will join American and California tennis fans in lamenting the demise of this event, as will Xaiver Malisse and Frank Moser, who took the last doubles title over Lleyton Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic.
ATP São Paulo
Rafa Nadal won his 51st title against a fellow traveler on the comeback trail, David Nalbandian in a clean and confident straight sets 6-2 6-3. The final was much easier for Rafa than some of his other matches, including 3 set wins over Carlos Berlocq in the quarters and Martin Alund in the semis, where at times he was clearly struggling. He still isn’t at 100% but given the opponents he was playing, he relied on mental edge and his tenacity to prevail. He also beat Joao Souza in his opening match.
Nalbandian was equally compelling, having not played a tour match in 6 months yet beating Jorge Aguilar in 3, Guido Pella, Nicolas Almagro in 3 and Simone Bolelli in the semis to reach the final. He showed he still has something left in the tank in what is his 13th year on tour and time will tell if he continues this level of play in the coming weeks and months.
Also some extra credit to Alund, who hadn’t won an ATP main draw match before this tournament, yet raced out to the semis, and will be top 100 with a career high ranking at the age of 27. He’s a truly determined grinder in the game. The Golden Swing has featured a strong showing from Argentines, and not the usual suspects either.
Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares took the doubles title over Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak.
ATP Rotterdam
Juan Martin Del Potro did one better than last year, capping off the title in Rotterdam 7-6 6-3 over surprise finalist Julien Benneteau. Del Potro imposed himself on his opponents all week and didn’t drop a single set against his other opponents Gael Monfils, Ernests Gulbis, Jarkko Nieminen and Grigor Dimitrov (who did well for himself to make the semis).
Benneteau, meanwhile, was equally dominant until the final, beating Tobias Kamke and Victor Hanescu in the early rounds, before beating Roger Federer in a huge upset again in the quarters. He then followed that up with a victory over Gilles Simon. Unfortunately, another final defeat drops him to 0-8 in ATP finals as he continues to have the moniker of “close but no cigar”.
In the doubles, Robert Lindstedt and Nenad Zimonjic beat Thiemo De Bakker and Jesse Huta Galung.
2013 ATP Rotterdam, San Jose and São Paulo Previews Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
Two indoor hard court events and an indoor clay court event are the ATP offerings this week. Rotterdam has the strong field of a 500 series event, San Jose will play its final edition before shuttering its doors, and the Brasil Open will be held for the second time in a row in vibrant São Paulo.
ATP Rotterdam
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
ATP World Tour 500
Rotterdam, Netherlands
February 11-February 17, 2013
Prize Money: € 1,267,875
Top 8 seeds
1: Roger Federer
2: Juan Martin Del Potro
3: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
4: Richard Gasquet
5: Gilles Simon
6: Andreas Seppi
7: Jerzy Janowicz
8: Florian Mayer
First round matchups to watch:
Bernard Tomic vs. Grigor Dimitrov
Both guys are regarded as the future of ATP tour. Both have also been good but inconsistent recently with Tomic having not played since AO and Dimitrov coming off a 1st round loss in Zagreb. They are 4 spots apart in the rankings and Dimitrov is a year older. Should be a fun, even match indoors.
Top Half:
2-time champion and defending champion Roger Federer is back in action and opens against Grega Zemlja, then will face the winner of Zagreb semifinalist Mikhail Youzhny vs. wild card Thiemo De Bakker. In the quarters, Fed could get Jerzy Janowicz, who opens with Victor Hanescu, followed by the winner of Julien Benneteau vs. Montpellier semifinalist Michael Llodra. It is not a super easy draw but it is one Federer should be able to handle.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga opens with wildcard Igor Sijsling and then the winner of Martin Klizan vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu. In the quarters he should get Gilles Simon, who opens with a qualifier, and then a qualifier or Marcel Granollers. This is another very good draw for J-WT.
Bottom Half:
Defending finalist Juan Martin Del Potro will open with a possibly tricky match against Gael Monfils, before squaring off against a qualifier or Zagreb semifinalist Robin Haase in the second round. In the quarters he is slated to meet Andreas Seppi (who opens with a qualifier). Montpellier semifinalist Jarkko Nieminen, who has drawn David Goffin, is also an option.
Richard Gasquet, still in the hunt for the Montpellier final, and playing great at the moment, opens with Viktor Troicki. He might see his opponent in the Montpellier final, Benoit Paire, yet again in the 2nd round. That’s if Paire can beat Marcos Baghdatis.
Florian Mayer opens with Nikolay Davydenko, who should have an edge in that one, and then play the winner of Dimitrov/Tomic.
Dark Horse: Bernard Tomic
While Tomic might be a bit rusty, he was also gifted with a good draw assuming he can beat Dimitrov. Davydenko was not that impressive in Montpellier and Gasquet or Paire may well be tired after reaching the final there. He has a reasonable chance at the semis, though he won’t be the favorite in that section.
Predictions:
Semis:
Federer d. Tsonga
Del Potro d. Gasquet
Federer should cruise past Janowicz and deal with Tsonga, while Del Potro hasn’t been great but doesn’t have a very hard draw. Gasquet will probably be tired at that point, but it should still be a close match though and I could see Gasquet winning.
Final:
Federer d. Del Potro
In a rematch of last year’s final, expect the same result. The Swiss Maestro should claim his 3rd in Rotterdam.
ATP San Jose
SAP Open
ATP World Tour 250
San Jose, California
February 11- February 17, 2013
Prize Money: $ 546,930
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Milos Raonic
2: John Isner
3: Sam Querrey
4: Tommy Haas
1st round matchups to watch:
Benjamin Becker vs. Ryan Harrison
This match is notable. Why? Because Becker is your average aging mid level grinder who occasionally has a good run. Meanwhile, Harrison is still a talented young player but his career seems to have struck a bit of a rut as he remains outside the top 50 and really didn’t have very many great results last year. That being said, San Jose was his best result last year in reaching the semis, and if Harrison is going to get up in the rankings these are the kind of matches he needs to win.
Harrison has not played a match since Australia, meaning that there might be some rust in his game, while Becker comes off a 1st round loss in Zagreb. This one could go either way, though Harrison will have fan support and beat Becker twice last year.
Blaz Kavcic vs. Lleyton Hewitt
Zagreb quarterfinalist Blaz Kavcic is playing very well right now and will be one to watch as he takes on Hewitt. The Aussie is at an uncertain level at the moment, having not played that many matches in the first month of the year. This match could also go either way depending on Kavcic’s fatigue level and Hewitt’s activity level. Kavcic has a 2-0 H2H record against Hewitt.
(WC) Jack Sock vs. (7) Marinko Matosevic
Sock is another young American player who has been a real rollercoaster recently. He comes into San Jose having not played a match since AO qualies, and may well be ice cold to take on Matosevic, another Aussie at an unsure level. If Sock is going to improve his ranking, these are the kind of matchups he needs to win, but I don’t think you can expect him to win this one.
Ivo Karlovic vs. (WC) Steve Johnson
Karlovic is of course known for his fantastic serve and not much else, as he knocked off Grigor Dimitrov in Zagreb but then fell in the next round. As for Johnson, he fell in the opening round of the Dallas challenger and is playing questionably at the moment. This is another pick ’em matchup, almost certain to end with two or three tiebreaks and a whole lot of holding serve.
Top Half
Milos Raonic is coming off Davis Cup dominance and has won this event twice in a row. He’ll open with Michael Russell or a qualifier, then likely faces 6 seed Denis Istomin (if Istomin can beat a qualifier) and the Becker/Harrison winner. Assuming Raonic is in good health, he should cruise to the semis.
Sam Querrey, also coming off a confident and successful Davis Cup showing, opens with the Hewitt/Kavcic winner. That could be a possible trip up on a bad day, but otherwise should also be in route for the semis. His quarterfinal opponent would be the Matosevic/Sock winner, Flavio Cipolla or Alejandro Falla. This is another pretty weak quarter of middling players.
Bottom Half
John Isner will hopefully be fully rested and have his game together to take on the winner of Vasek Pospisil vs. Evgeny Donskoy in an intriguing first rounder. He would get either 8 seed Xavier Malisse or Go Soeda in the quarters, with a qualifier or the struggling Matt Ebden also options.
Tommy Haas is in his first match back from a opening round loss in Australia. Haas will start with Jesse Levine or Bradley Klahn, before a likely difficult quarterfinal matchup with Fernando Verdasco. Former finalist Verdasco opens with a qualifier followed by the Karlovic/Johnson winner. This is easily the most competitive quarter of the four.
Dark Horse: Evgeny Donskoy
This tournament is top heavy and not the most fertile spot for dark horses, but Donskoy fits the bill. If he can slide past Pospisil and Isner is still in a funk, he grabs the upset, which would really open things up and make a semifinal run feasible. The 22-year-old Russian is talented and capable, along with being at a career high ranking of 68 but it is still unlikely. Furthermore, possible quarterfinal opponent Soeda beat him in straights recently in Chennai.
Predictions
Semis
Raonic d. Querrey
Verdasco d. Isner
Raonic and Querrey could really slug it out indoors in a match in which Raonic will have a slight edge. Verdasco ought to be good enough to get past a struggling Isner, who has not been at his best at all this year.
Final
Raonic d. Verdasco
This would be a rematch of the 2011 final, in the tournaments final edition. You have to expect the result to be the same, with Raonic capping off 3 straight with another beast mode showing indoors.
ATP Sao Paulo
Brasil Open
ATP World Tour 250
São Paulo, Brazil
February 11-February 17, 2013
Prize Money: $ 455,775
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes)
1: Rafael Nadal
2: Nicolas Almagro
3: Juan Monaco
4: Jeremy Chardy
1st round matchups to watch:
Andrey Kuznetsov vs. Carlos Berlocq
If you’ve paid attention this week, this match is a rematch of their 1st round encounter just a few days ago in Vina Del Mar, won by Berlocq easily in straight sets. Nothing has changed, except Berlocq is still in the running for the Vina title and may be a bit tired by the time he reaches this match.
(7) Pablo Andujar vs. Santiago Giraldo
Andujar hasn’t won a match this year, including an opening match loss in Vina Del Mar and is on a precarious footing as he takes on the steady eddy Giraldo. He should have just enough to hand the seeded Andujar another loss.
Top Half:
It is a draw eerily identical to Vina Del Mar. Rafael Nadal, who has been comfortable and confident as he seeks the title in Vina, will open with a qualifier or Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. He could then face the “warlocq”, Berlocq again if they meet in the Vina final. Rafa could also face Vina quarterfinalist Albert Ramos, Guillermo-Garcia Lopez or Kuznetsov.
Nadal’s Vina semifinal opponent Jeremy Chardy opens with Leo Mayer or wild card Ricardo Mello and then 5 seed Thomaz Bellucci in the quarters (if Bellucci beats a qualifier and the winner of Filippo Volandri/Daniel Gimeno-Traver). Gimeno-Traver is coming off the quarterfinals in Vina.
Bottom Half:
Nicolas Almagro will return to action after a bit of a layoff, as he faces either a qualifier or current Vina semifinalist Horacio Zeballos. Looking ahead to the quarters, he could get 6 seed Fabio Fognini (coming off a confident Davis Cup showing), Guido Pella, David Nalbandian (who happens to be playing doubles with Nadal), or a qualifier.
Juan Monaco lost his opening round match in Vina Del Mar and will be looking to pick things back up against either Tommy Robredo or Simone Bolelli. The winner of that match could get the Giraldo/Andujar winner, Albert Montanes or Vina quarterfinalist Paolo Lorenzi.
Dark Horse: Fabio Fognini
Fognini should be both rested and confident compared to other players in his section. His first two rounds against Pella and Nalbandian/Qualifer should be somewhat easy and likely quarterfinal opponent Almagro may be a bit rusty having not played since Australia. Zeballos, another possibility, could be fatigued after a strong showing in Vina.
He has a good shot at at least the semis, where likely opponent Monaco has been inconsistent, as have most of the players in that section.
Predictions:
Semis:
Nadal d. Bellucci
Fognini d. Monaco
Nadal should not have any trouble with Bellucci, who is solid enough on clay and well rested enough to beat Chardy. Fognini should be in good enough form to beat Monaco for the first time.
Final:
Nadal d. Fognini
Nadal has looked just fine in his comeback and you really can’t expect anything short of a title against a field like this. He should be undefeated at this point in his comeback.
Tennis Atlantic 