Dennis Novikov Stuns, Tatsuma Ito Progresses In Delray Beach Qualification Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
The 24th Delray Beach Open will see the highly anticipated return of Juan Martin Del Potro. As the Florida crowd waits for the main draw to get underway, they were treated to some spectacular battles during the qualifying rounds.
Qualifying was headlined by Italy’s Luca Vanni. The 30-year-old is currently three places from returning back into the top 100, however, so far this year he has only won two out of his five main draw matches. First up for the lively Italian was Ukraine’s Artem Smirnov. Vanni encountered little difficulty against the world No.254 by clinching the win 7-5, 6-2, after 96 minutes. Next up for the Italian was America’s Dennis Novikov in what was a titanic battle. Vanni gave a solid performance with 18 aces and he even won six more points in the match than Novikov (116-110). Despite his best efforts, the top seed prevailed in three sets to the world No. 150. The 22-year-old American won 7-6(0),3-6,7-6)6), after two hours and 18 minutes of intense play on the court.
Second seed Tatsuma Ito endured two marathon matches to secure a place in the main draw at Delray Beach. Ranked 118th in the world, the 27-year-old defeated American talent Francis Tiafoe to reach the semifinals of the ATP Dallas Challenger at the start of February. Ito’s first match in Delray Beach was against Ireland’s James McGee. The second seed was on course to a straight sets win after leading 6-3, 5-3, before McGee staged an impressive comeback to force a final set. The deciding set consisted of nine breaks of serve as Ito survived the scare to win 6-3,6-7(5),7-5. The marathon win set the world No.118 up with a second round clash with 2011 French Open Boys’ champion Bjorn Fratangelo. Fratangelo defeated little-known Italian wildcard Edoardo Tessaro 6-2,6-3, in his opening match. Emulating his opening match, Ito lead by a set and a break before coming undone towards the crucial point of the match. The vulnerability allowed his American rival to grab a double break and seal the second set. Ito then trailed 0-2 in the final set, before staging an impressive comeback to win 6-3, 4-6,6-4, after almost two hours of play.
Moldovan player Radu Albot was another player to encounter difficulty during his journey into the main draw. Kicking-off against world No.297 Eric Quigley, the third seed faced 15 break points throughout the match (saving ten of them). Despite dropping the first set and being broken three times in the second, Albot held his nerve to win 5-7, 6-4,6-1. Fortunately for Albot there was no repeat of tricky situations during his second match against Yoshihito Nishioka. Nishioka defeated 2015 French Open Boys’ champion Tommy Paul in his first match (6-4, 5-7,6-4). In the decisive showdown, Albot won 62% of his service points and saved 5/7 break points to win 6-4,6-3.
Finally, Australia’s John-Patrick Smith progressed to his first ATP main draw outside of his home country since August of last year. Smith is currently ranked 136th in the world, down from hisr ranking best of 108 that was achieved last September. In the first round he faced a tricky match against former junior world No.1 Andrey Rublev. The highly publicized 18-year-old has only won one main draw match this year (Chennai Open against Somdev Devvarman). Dropping the opening set, Smith won 12 out of the next 15 games to take the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. Next up for smith was Colombian fourth seed Alejandro Falla. Falla defeated Devvarman 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, in his first match. In what was a mixed match, Smith came out on top against Falla, winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-1, to book his place in the main draw.
Newcomers and Old Faces Shine During 2016 Australian Open Men’s Qualifying Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
The final round of qualifying for the upcoming Australian Open saw sucess for the newcomers to the tour as well as the veterans of the game.
Dan Evans has become the fourth British man in the main draw after completing a dream run in the qualifying tournament. The world No.185 produced the upset of the event in the first round when he defeated top seed Luca Vanni in straight sets. The Brit then almost made an exit in the second round after trailing by a set and 0-3 before battling back to defeat Israel’s Amir Weintraub 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-2. In the final round Evans faced 17th seed Bjorn Fratangelo. The American defeated Canada’s Frank Dancevic and Spain’s Oriol Roca Batalla in his first two matches. The final showdown was a mixed encounter for both men. Evans endured a second set blip against the 2011 French Open boys champion before winning 7-5, 4-6, 6-0 after almost two hours.
Throughout the tournaments Evans has been cheered on by world No.2 Andy Murray. During his second round match Murray was spotted in the crowd cheering him on. The 25-year-old will play in his first Grand Slam main draw since the 2014 Wimbledon Championships. Evans has put his qualifying triumph down to his ability to focus on the sport more.
“It’s nice [qualifying for the main draw],” Evans said. “I worked hard in pre-season in La Manga, even in the summer when I was playing in England in the Futures I was trying to work pretty hard. It was playing tennis and staying professional. “I think that’s the difference, just staying focused on court and staying more interested and focused on just playing tennis rather than all the other stuff, and that’s pretty much what I did.”
Frantagelo also made the main draw as a lucky loser, as he continues to improve his standing on the tennis tour.
23-year-old Slovak Jozef Kovalik have qualified for his first ever Grand Slam main draw after stunning second seed Ruben Bemelmans 6-2, 7-6(7). Kovalik, who hasn’t won a title since 2014, made an impressive start after breaking his Belgian opponent twice in the opening set to take it after 34 minutes on the court. Bemelmans responded at the start of the second set by breaking for a 2-0 lead before Kovalik eventually broke back in the sixth game to level proceedings. With the prospect of reaching the main draw, Kovalik endured a nerve-wracking tiebreaker. After racing to a 6-3 lead, Bemelmans triumphantly battled back to level at 6-6. Despite the late resurgence from his opponent, Kovalik held his nerve by taking the win on his fifth match point.
Tim Smyczek was the highest player to qualify for the main draw. Last year at the Australian Open, the American earned praise following his outstanding performance against Rafael Nadal in the second round. Smyczek took two sets off the 9-time French Open champion before being edged out 7-5 in the final set. During this year’s qualifying, the third seed defeated Brazil’s Jose Pereira and Russia’s Aslan Karatsev in straight sets. In the deciding round, he faced French 29th seed Kenny de Schepper. The Frenchman endured a marathon second round match, defeating Estonia’s Jurgen Zopp 12-10 ion the final set. It was a far from a straightforward final match for Smyczek who overcame Schepper 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. In the final set the world No.108 was a break down before breaking back twice to secure the win.
China’s Di Wu reached his third Australian Open main draw without dropping a set. The 24-year-old is currently ranked 240th in the world and won two Futures titles on the tour last year. In the second round he defeated Italian 26th seed Thomas Fabbiano 6-1, 6-4, to set up a final clash with Belgium Niels Desein. Desein knocked out Colombian fourth seed Alejandro Falla in the second round. Wu encountered little difficulty against Desein as he broke the belgian five times to seal the 6-3, 6-1, victory.
37-year-old Radek Stepanek defeated two seeded players to reach his 13th consecutive Australian Open main draw. The Czech knocked out German fifth seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-4, in the second round. Awaiting Stefanek in the final round was former world No.70 Alejandro Gonzalez. Gonzalez battled his way to the third round after a two three-set wins over Henri Laaksonen and wildcard Marinko Matosevic. Stepanek proved too strong for the 24th seed sealing the 6-3, 6-1, win after 75 minutes.
The Australian Open is a special place for Bosnian tennis. In 2014 Damir Džumhur became the first Bosnian player to play in a Grand Slam draw at the Melbourne tournament. Now Mirza Basic has become the second player from his country to play in a Grand Slam main draw. In Basic’s final match he played India’s Saketh Myneni. The world No.137 was on course to clinch the final set with a 5-2 advantage before Myneni clawed his way back to 5-5. Despite the Indian comeback, Basic broke his opponent for the third time in the match to win 3-6, 6-4, 8-6.
Ryan Harrison saved four match points during the second set to battle past Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-7 (8), 7-6(6), 6-3. During the tiring encounter, which lasted two hours and 40 minutes, Harrison got a stronghold in the match after racing to 3-0 in the final set. The lead was enough for him to secure the match. The 23-year-old will play in the main draw for the sixth consecutive year. Harrison has a main draw win-loss of 1-5 going into this year’s tournament. His only main draw win in Melbourne against Andrey Kuznetsov in 2013.
German world No.224 Peter Gojowczyk booked his place in the main draw without facing a seeded player. The German produced an impressive second round win over American teenage world No.177 Francis Tiafoe. Next up for the German was Russia’s Alexander Kudryavtsev. The Russian stunned 8th seed Go Soeda in his second round match. Playing Kudryavtsev, Gojowczyk produced a mixed performance. After losing the opening set, the German held a 5-1 lead in the second set before losing four consecutive games. Nevertheless, the world No.224 managed to overcome his difficulties to win 3-6,7-6(3), 6-2.
One of the most promising young players on the ATP Tour, Taylor Fritz, booked his place in the main draw after battling past Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4. The 18-year-old was on course to losing the match after going behind 0-4 in the final set before impressive winning six consecutive games to reach his maiden Australian Open main draw. Since winning the US Open boys title last year, Fritz has a win-loss record of 25-4. After staging the epic comeback, Fritz spoke of his delight.
“It feels great, what an amazing way to do it,” Fritz laughed. “I was playing solid and then so many times I was asking myself: ‘What do I do?’ There were so many points where I thought I didn’t think I could possibly play better and he beat on them.“I told myself keep competing and not to give up and if he could keep doing what he was doing then that was too good and I’ve got to give it to him.
“I got on top. I started playing really well, got a lot of momentum on my side, was getting really pumped up and was able to finish it.”
Daniel Brands has reached his first Grand Slam main draw since the 2014 French Open after outplaying James McGee 7-6(1), 6-4. Brands have been ranked as high as 51st in the world in 2013 but has been troubled by the effects of mononucleosis in recent years. The recent trouble resulted in him dropping outside of the top 400 last year. Fourtnastely for the 28-year-old, he ended 2015 on a positive note by reaching the quarterfinals of the Valencia Open as a qualifier.
In the battle of the Frenchmen, Pierre-Hughes Herbert edged out Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3,1-6,9-7. Hebert is known best for his performance in the doubles after winning the US Open title last year with Nicolas Mahut. Prior to his triumph over Roger-Vasselin, Herbert produced earlier wins over 20th seed Gastao Elias and Marco Chiudinelli. Herbert is currently ranked 167th in the world and last year as a qualifier he reached the final of the Winston-Salem Open, losing to Kevin Anderson.
There was double joy for Japanese tennis. 12th seed Yuichi Sugita had to endure three three-set matches to move into the main draw in Melbourne. After wins over Ante Pavic and Yannick Martens, the Sugita outlasted American 32nd seed Dennis Novikov (6-4,4-6,6-3). Meanwhile Tatsuma Ito struggled past Spain’s Adrian Menendez-Maceiras. He clinched the victory after breaking in the final game of the match to win 6-4,1-6,6-4 after an hour and 44 minutes. The double Japanese victory means that there will five Japanese players in the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time in 41 years.
Veteran Frenchman Stephane Robert reached his third consecutive main draw in Melbourne after recovering from a set to defeat Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Earlier on in the tournament the 35-year-old produced a straight sets win over 28th seed Igor Sijsling. One of the best moments in Robert’s career occurred at the 2014 Australian Open when he reached the fourth round as a lucky loser.
Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti was handed a placed in the main draw after his opponent Bai Yan, retired. The Argentinian was leading 6-4,6-7(8), 3-0, before Yan called it quits. Incredibly, it is the 11th time that Yan has retired from a singles match within the past 12 months. The 25-year-old Argentinian will now play in his first ever Grand Slam main draw. Trungelliti has won seven Futures titles in his career and reached the final of the Bangkok challenger last September.
Completing the qualifiers in another Argentine, Renzo Olivo. Olivo kicked-off his qualifying bid with a first round win over Swedish 25th seed Elias Ymer. The 23-year-old then edged out Benjamin Mitchell in the second round to set up a showdown with Vincent Millot. Millot upset Australian 16th seed John-Patrick Smith in his second round match. The Frenchman was no match for Olivo, who overcame some late resistance to win 6-2, 6-4.
Seeds Triumph as Dusan Lajovic, Tatsuma Ito Qualify in Moscow
Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
Serbian Dusan Lajovic and Japan’s Tatsuma Ito sailed into the main draw of the Kremlin Cup after coming through three rounds in a draw which consisted of 20 Russian players.
One of the most noticeable Russian players was Dimitry Tursunov. The 32-year-old was playing his first competitive match for over a year after being sidelined from the tour due to Plantar fasciitis (inflammation of a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of your foot). In the first round, he won his first singles victory since June 2014 after beating 19-year-old Daniil Medvedev in three close sets, winning 9-7 in the final set tie-break. The reward for Tursunov was a showdown with top seed Lajovic. The former world No.20 was unable to continue his run as Lajovic eased to the victory (6-3, 6-4). After losing to the top seed, Tursunov has reportedly set a deadline for his career.
In the final round Lajovic faced German fifth seed Tobias Kamke. Kamke dropped just three games in his first two qualifying matches (two to Alexandr Lgoshin and one to Phillip Davydemnko). The Serbian survived a tough match by saving eight out of nine break points. Kamke had an opportunity to take the first set 6-4, but failed to take advantage of it. The failure by Kamke hampered him for the rest of the match as Lajovic won four consecutive games to take the first set before opening up an early lead in the second to swiftly take the match 7-5, 6-3, after an hour and 35 minutes.
Second seed Ito reached the main draw after overcoming a duo of Russian opponents (in the first round Estonia’s Vladimir Ivanov retired in the second set due to injury). In the second round Ito survived a scare against world No.1025 Richard Muzaev after getting off to a sluggish start. Muzaev has won eight Future titles in his career (two singles and six doubles). After the poor start, Ito took the match 1-6, 6-2, 6-1. In the last round he played Russian world No.560 Alexander Vasilenko who stunned eight seed Peda Krstin in the second round. Ito was two points away from losing the second set as the Russian unexpectedly moved ahead 5-2. Vasilenko was, however unable to stage the upset as Ito clawed his way back to take the match in straight sets – 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Spanish sixth seed Pere Riba progressed to his second ATP main draw of the year after upsetting Russian third seed Konstantin Kravchuk in the final round 6-3, 6-4. Throughout the three-match draw, the Spaniard didn’t drop a set. In the two earlier rounds, he defeated Alexey Vatutin and Mikhail Ledovskikh. Last month Riba reached his first tournament final this year at the ATP Sibiu Challenger in Romania where he lost to Adrian Ungur.
The only successful result for the home nation was fourth seed Aslan Karatsev. During the early stage of the draw he defeated fellow countrymen Vladimir Polyakov and Fedor Chervyakov. His final match was against another yet another Russian player, world No. 336 Mikhail Elgin. The 34-year-old defeated Bosnian eighth seed Aldin Setkic, 7-6 (3), 6-3, to reach the final round. After a slow start to the match, where he trailed 1-3, Karatsev regained his focus to ease to a 6-4, 6-3, win over Elgin to move to his first ATP main draw for two years.
First Round Matches
Dusan Lajovic SRB – Robin Haase NED (Lajovic leads the H2H 1-0 after beating Hasse in a 2013 Italian Challenger).
Pere Riba ESP – Pablo Cuevas URU (Cuevas leads 4-0, however, they havn’t played each other since 2011).
Aslan Karatsev RUS – Mikhail Youzhny RUS (Youzhny leads 1-0 , St. Perersburg 2013)
Tatsuma Ito JPA – Marsel Ilhan TUR – first meeting
Today in Newport, Dustin Brown won yesterday’s suspended second round match against Sam Querrey. For once, a match was over as quickly as expected. It was over less than 10 minutes after it started, as Brown held serve twice to head to the quarterfinals.
He indicated that he didn’t stay up all night thinking about the timing of the thunderstorms that caused him to pause en route to victory.
Dustin Brown, Newport
“It would have been nice if we could have finished last night but on the other side, maybe I would have lost if we finished last night”, he said. His girlfriend and a good friend are traveling with him, so the companionship may have helped him keep his mind off the match.
Asked about his new celebrity status, he stated “When you’re at a tournament, with my looks and my hair, it’s hard for me to hide. I wouldn’t necessarily call it celebrity status. I can still go to the supermarket without someone jumping me”.
Adrian Mannarino jumped on Rajeev Ram early but Ram pounced late. In a match that lasted two hours and thirty minutes, Ram scalped a seeded player for the second time this week by winning the second and third set tiebreaks. He’s reached the semis for the third time here, and he saved match points against both Isner and Mannarino. He actually won this tournament as a lucky loser in 2009.
With their first ATP World Tour semifinal berth on the line for both players, Tatsuma Ito and John-Patrick Smith were expected to have a little case of the nerves. Ito sure didn’t look that way before the match, cool and composed and inviting me to take a photo, something that usually only irritates the pros pre-match. But that didn’t translate to an easy start for Ito. Ito calmed down and took the second in a tiebreak, but Smith broke him in the third and sailed away 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3.
Tomorrow’s semifinal action includes Jack Sock against Jan Hernych and Ivo Karlovic takes on Dustin Brown. This is my last post from the tournament as I will be heading to the Islands tomorrow. Well, Block Island. See you in DC at Citi Open!
Quarterfinalists March On @TennisHalloFame Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic
Smith
J.P. Smith is causing a lot of problems this week. I told him as much at press. I mean, first you take out Tomic and now you do this to Jared Donaldson? “I wouldn’t say that”, he replied. “I did get off to a quick start toward the front of the match.” Smith noted that he was able to get in a lot more second serve points than he was used to doing on the tour as he eased past local favorite Jared Donaldson at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, RI earlier today.
Not giving Donaldson a lot of pace on the Court today paid off for Smith. “These courts are really conducive to slices and you can skid through. Sometimes, you don’t know what kind of bounce you’re going to get. The more you make them play, the more you can dictate the rallies like that. I kept my play unpredictable.”
Donaldson in Press
Donaldson was definitely shell-shocked after the match but was kind enough to grant us a post-match 1-on-1. I look forward to seeing Jared win many matches like these in years to come.
The awesome Tommy Haas bowed out of the singles draw today after losing the third set of last night’s suspended match against Adrian Mannarino. While Tommy Haas gave lots of post-match autographs, Mannarino stopped for two before whining to the assembled children that he had another match to play. Whatever. It must have worked, as he won his second round match later against Edouard Roger Vasselin in three.
Mannarino….
Rajeev Ram is a giant killer, and he keeps on killing. After knocking off top seed John Isner yesterday, he claimed Yuichi Sugita 6-4, 6-3.
Ito and Coach Celebrate
Tatsuma Ito was cool and composed as he headed to the quarters by virtue of his workmanlike 6-4 6-4 victory over American Steve Johnson. Ito has JP Smith in tomorrow’s quarterfinal.
Jack Sock gave everyone a scare after the fans lost Isner to the Curse of the Cup yesterday. After an abysmal first set, Sock escaped a second set tiebreak before winning the third set 6-4.
And how about crusty old Jan Hernych, who at 36 has played more tennis than anyone here at Newport this week? His fifth consecutive victory at the tournament propelled the veteran player into the quarters. Take that, Tommy Haas and Mark Philippoussis.
Just starting are Dustin Brown and Sam Querrey. Ivo Karlovic and Malek Jaziri are already underway. It is pea soup in Newport right now, so don’t be surprised if some portion of a match needs to be completed tomorrow.
Former Champ Mahut Among Qualifiers at ATP Den Bosch 2015 Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
Less than 24 hours after Stan Wawrinka’s impressive win over Novak Djokovic in the final of the French Open, the last round of qualifying got underway at the Topshelf Open in s-Hertogenbosch. The start of the competition saw two shock first round exits for the two highest ranked players, Chung Hyeon and Lucas Pouille, which paved the way for the lower rank players to book their place in the main draw.
The highest ranked player to survive the three qualifying rounds was 4th seed Tatsuma Ito who didn’t drop a set throughout the three rounds. In the final round Ito was up against Czech veteran Jan Hernych. The 35-year-old reached the final round after beating 8th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu in three sets. Hernych was however unable to produce another shock against the Japanese player as Ito took it 6-4, 6-4. In both sets the Czech took the lead by breaking Ito but failed to consolidate either of the breaks. The vulnerability of Hernych’s serve was problematic throughout as his rival battled to break him on five separate occasions.
Nicolas Mahut maintained his recent solid form with a three sets win over Kenny de Schepper. Prior to the tournament, the Frenchman beat Ernests Gulbis to reach the third round of the French Open, his best result at Roland Garros since 2012. The run also elevated 19 places back into the top 100. The match was however far from straightforward for the former Den Bosch champion as Schepper forced Mahut to recover from a set down during the match which lasted almost two hours. Mahut gradually took the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. De Schepper reached the main draw as a lucky loser.
Illya Marchenko endured a tough test against shock third round rival Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan. Qureshi is a doubles specialist and hasn’t qualified for the main draw of any singles tournament since the ATP Helsinki Challenger back in 2009. Despite his lack of participation in singles tournaments, the Pakistani player reminded many of why he has been ranked as high as 125 in the world by recovering from a set and 0-3 down to force proceedings into a final set. Unfortunately the fairy tale ending for the Pakistani failed to happen as Merchenko battled to win 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-5. A big win for the Ukrainian in both a physical as well as a mental way.
Finally, Marco Chiudinelli gave Swiss tennis fans yet another reason to celebrate as he completed the list of qualifiers. The Swiss player began qualification with a sensational straight sets victory over second seed Lucas Pouille, dropping just four games. He then beat wildcard Thiemo de Bakker in three sets to set up a final round showdown against world number 143 Pierre-Hugues Herbert. After being blown away in the first set by the Frenchman, Chiudinelli worked himself back into the match to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. It’s just the second tournament of 2015 for Marco.
(Q)Tatsuma Ito vs. Ričardas Berankis
Ito leads the head-to-head 2-0. He has beaten Berankis twice in 2014 in the final round of the Wimbledon qualification tournament and during the second round of qualification in Brisbane.
(Q)Nicolas Mahut vs. (WC)Lleyton Hewitt
Since 2008 they have played each other on three different surfaces (grass, clay and hard-courts). Hewitt leads the head-to-head 2-1, however, Mahut won their most recent meeting at the 2013 Newport Open which was on grass.
(Q)Marco Chiudinelli vs. Benoit Paire
First meeting
(Q)Illya Marchenko vs. Mikhail Youzhny
First meeting
(LL)Kenny de Schepper vs. Jurgen Melzer
First meeting
Familiar faces and potential future stars feature in 2015 Miami Open Men’s Qualifying Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
As one Masters tournament ends, another begins with the start of the qualifying rounds at the Miami Open. Like Indian Wells, the draw consists of 48 players battling for the 12 spots in the main draw. The diverse field consists of both veterans of the tour as well as young up and coming talent from the junior circuit.
Leading the field will be Brazilian top seed Joao Souza. Souza is currently at a career ranking high of 70 in the world after enduring a successful run at two ATP tournaments in Brazil last month where he reached the semifinal in Sao Paulo followed by the semifinals of the Rio Open. On the other hand Souza does have a disappointing record in Masters events. Since 2010 the 26-year-old has participated in 8 Masters qualifying draws, but has only managed to qualify in one of them (Madrid 2013). In the first round, he faces an intriguing encounter with young German hopeful Alexander Zverev. So far this year Zverev has failed to reproduce the form which took him to the semifinals of the German International Open last year and is yet to win a main draw match in 2015. The German does process weapons on the court that could trouble Souza but it is touch and go if he is currently in the right form to produce them.
Second seed Tatsuma Ito failed to end his Masters losing streak in Miami. The Japanese player has so far never won a main draw match in any Masters tournament. Ito has enjoyed some success on the Challenger Tour this year already by reaching the final in Hong Kong and the semifinals in Kyoto, Japan. In his first match he was defeated by the experienced Michael Berrer. Berrer, who is playing his last season before retiring, enjoyed a shock win over Rafael Nadal at the start of the year in Qatar. He also recently produced an impressive run recently at Indian Wells where he reached the third round as a qualifier. Now with a win over Ito, Berrer has the inside track to qualify for his fourth ATP event of the season (Doha, Zagreb and Indian Wells the previous successes).
Benoit Paire (3) will enter the draw with a large amount of confidence following his recent triumph’s on the Challenger Tour. The Frenchman has made three finals since February in which he has won two of them (Bergamo, Italy and Quimper, France). In his first match he defeated Austria’s Gerald Melzer in 3 sets for the first time in his career. Melzer is currently ranked 168th in the world and played in his first ever Masters qualifying draw at the age of 24.
Rounding off the top four is Steve Darcis. The Belgian has beaten four top 100 players so far this year (Adrian Mannarino, Tatsuma Ito, Jarkko Nieminen and Jeremy Chardy). In his most recent tournament he reached the quarter-finals of the ATP Irving Challenger in Texas before losing to Kyle Edmund. In the first round, he will open up against 22-year-old Italian Marco Cecchinato. Two two has played each other once before which was on clay last year. On that occasion Cecchinato took the win in three sets.
Make way for the young guns
As well as the usual names on the entry list, the organizers of the tournament have also given some younger players the chance of qualifying for their first ever Masters tournament. 2014 US Open boy’s champion Omar Jasika has received a wildcard into the draw. Jasika was tantalizingly close to his first ever Grand Slam first round but lost in the final stage of qualifying to Marius Copil. The 17-year-old is yet to win a title at pro level. The Australian will play 19th seed Aljaž Bedene. Last week Bedene won his first title in almost a year by winning the ATP Irving Challenger.
Elias Ymer has also been granted a wildcard into the draw. Ymer, who was recently referred to as top 50 material by former world number one Mats Wilander, reached his first Grand Slam main draw earlier this year at the Australian Open where he lost in five sets to Go Soeda. In the first round, he will play 7th seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver.
Finally, junior world number 7 Michael Mmoh got his first taste of life on the main stage against 21st seed Alejandro Falla, a match he lost 6-2 6-1 to the experienced Colombian. Last year Mmoh won a Grade A junior tournament in Mexico and also reached the final of the prestigious Eddie Herr International Open. On the pro tour the 17-year-old has won one Futures title (USA F29 , 2014) and is currently ranked 655th in the world.
In-form players Thiemo De Bakker and Edouard Roger-Vasselin have also scored qualifying wins today, as has American Chase Buchanan over James Ward, and Japanese young gun Taro Daniel. Daniel’s countryman Yoshihito Nishioka wasn’t as successful as he lost to Damir Dzumhur in straights.
2015 ATP Doha and Chennai Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
Two other events in Qatar and India will be part of the ATP World Tour’s 2015 debut, both are 250 level events on hard courts as the worlds best players prepare for the Australian Open
ATP Doha
2015 ATP Doha Preview
Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP World Tour 250 Doha, Qatar January 5-January 11, 2015
Top 4 seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Novak Djokovic (1) 2: Rafael Nadal (3) 3: Tomas Berdych (7) 4: David Ferrer (10)
Doha again features a stacked field of four top 10 players, and all the seeds ranked in the top 30 in the world.
Gabashvili shocked Verdasco at the Aussie Open last year and the Spaniard will be looking to avenge that loss in the opening round of Doha. Gabashvili reached a career high ranking in 2014 at 52 in the world but he still finished a sub .500 19-25 on the season at the ATP level with his best results being a trio of ATP quarterfinals. Gaba has always been a journeyman and is far less accomplished than Verdasco who went 26-20 on the year with one ATP title and a pair of ATP semifinals his most notable results in 2014. Even with that h2h upset, Verdasco is favored to advance and I expect him to do so.
(5)Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
Kohli finished the year 37-25 with one ATP title in 2014. It wasn’t his best season on tour, but the German veteran held his own and finished the year in the top 25 yet again. Struff broke into the top 50 for part of 2014, and the German who is seven years younger than his countryman reached three ATP semifinals in 2014. Struff is talented across surfaces, but has yet to reach the consistency level needed to keep himself as a full time competitor on the main tour. He will have a shot at upsetting Kohli here, and this is a toss-up match for me.
Simone Bolelli vs. Benjamin Becker
Bolelli had a resurgent season in 2014, finishing up in the top 60, which was powered by four challenger titles. The Italian found himself last season after starting the year outside the top 300 and is back to being a full time ATP competitor. Becker is another veteran who had a resurgent season in 2014. He peaked at a career high of 35 in the world, and finished ranked inside the top 40. He went 27-26 at the ATP level last year reaching an ATP final and two ATP semifinals. He finished the year strong with semis in Tokyo and a trio of quarterfinal appearances in Kuala Lumpur, Basel, and Vienna. The two veterans have never met, and this match could go either way. I’m picking the powerful ball striker Becker myself.
Top Half:
Doha paid big bucks to convince the world number one Djokovic to start his 2015 ATP campaign off in the Middle Eastern nation. Novak will be making his debut in Qatar and faces his countryman Dusan Lajovic first up. Given Lajovic and Novak are Davis Cup teammates, they should be very familiar with each others games. I don’t expect the top Serb to have any trouble with his countryman, and he also should ease past Sergiy Stakhovsky in round 2, assuming Stako avoids a shock defeat to Qatari wild card Jabor Mohammed Ali Mutawa, who doesn’t even have an ATP ranking. In the quarters, Novak should cruise past the big serving Ivo Karlovic, with the hard hitting Lukas Rosol, or the crafty veteran Mikhail Youzhny, who opens with a qualifier, also options to reach the quarters. Youzhny had a very poor 2014 that saw him drop out of the top 40 with an 18-23 record. Rosol peaked inside the top 30 in 2014 but finished the year just 1-9, Karlovic has beaten him twice before including last fall in Basel. Karlovic and Djokovic haven’t met since 2008, and surprisingly Karlovic has won both hard court meetings, but that was quite some time ago.
David Ferrer had a down season in 2014, though he still won an ATP title and finished 54-24 on the season. Ferrer is in danger of dropping out of the top 10 for the first time in almost five years. At 32 he may be slowing down but I still expect the hard working Spaniard to beat a qualifier, and then Verdasco or Gabashvili. He has won the last seven meetings against Verdasco including both meetings in the fall of 2014 without dropping a set. He was upset by Gabashvili on clay last year but that would once again be a very unlikely result. Look for a Ferrer vs. Kohlschreiber or Struff quarterfinal, as one of the Germans just needs to be the exciting but inconsistent Dustin Brown, or dirtballer Paolo Lorenzi in round 2. Ferrer is 6-0 against Kohli since 2009, so I tip him to reach the semis, Struff could also challenge but Ferrer would have to be favored.
Bottom Half:
2014 Doha champ Rafa Nadal will be defending his title with the cloud of his appendix surgery in the off-season hanging over him. Nadal was dominated by Andy Murray in the Abu Dhabi exhibition a couple of days ago, looking to be in very poor form, but still he won’t have to face an opponent the caliber of Murray in his route to the semifinals. He opens against a qualifier, then will face Ivan Dodig or wild card Mohamed Safwat of Egypt in round 2, Dodig is looking to get himself back to a consistent ATP level, but it is still unlikely he has enough game to get past even a rusty Nadal. In the quarterfinals, the toughest opponent for Nadal would be either 8 seed Leo Mayer, who plays his best on clay, or the Italian veteran Andreas Seppi who declined in 2014, posting a sub .500 24-30 record. Joao Souza, another clay courter, and Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri are also options. Jaziri plays some of his most inspired tennis when in the Middle East, but he’s still a career journeyman. Look for Mayer, who had a breakthrough 2014, and reached the top 30 in the rankings with an ATP title and a 28-20 record, to reach the quarterfinals before falling to Nadal who is 4-0 in his career against him.
Tomas Berdych, who won an exhibition in Thailand to start off his 2015, opens with Denis Istomin in round 1. Istomin is a tough opponent for the number 3 seed in a 250 level event, but that said Berdych is 3-0 in his career against the Uzbek number one, and has a superior skillset, so he should advance. Look for Berdy to also cruise past Juan Monaco or a qualifier in round 2, before facing off with Bolelli/Becker or Richard Gasquet/Pablo Andujar in the quarterfinals. Gasquet fell from the top 20 in 2014, while Andujar finished inside the top 45 and took an ATP title. I expect the 2013 Doha champion Gasquet to defeat Andujar. Bolelli or Becker could give him trouble, but he’s 5-0 in his career against Bolelli, and 2-0 against Becker, so past results are very much in his favor. Berdych won his only meeting against Gasquet in 2014, but they have split their last four hard court meetings 2-2. Given Berdych performed better last year, and recently, I expect the Czech to get through to the semifinals.
Becker will have a tough path if he is going to put up a good result to start the year in Doha, given his first match is against Bolelli, who could be a dark horse in his own right, and then Gasuet/Andujar and almost certainly Berdych. That said if he can pull off three big wins, he would be in the semis against Nadal or a weaker opponent with a punchers chance to reach the final. I’d also consider JL Struff a dark horse this week.
Predictions
Semis: Djokovic d. Ferrer
Berdych d. Nadal
Djokovic has won seven consecutive meetings against Ferrer, including both meetings last year, and I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t win the matchup again.
Berdych hasn’t beaten Nadal since 2006, and has been dominated by the Spaniard in almost every head to head meeting, that said I have a hunch Rafa still has some ailments and may not even want to play all the way through to the final.
Final: Djokovic d. Berdych
Djokovic beat Berdych both times last year and the total set score in those meetings was 24-6, thus Novak has to be a heavy favorite to win the Doha title in his debut.
ATP Chennai
2015 ATP Chennai Preview
Aircel Chennai Open
ATP World Tour 250
Chennai, India
January 5-January 11, 2015
Top 4 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Stan Wawrinka (4) 2: Feliciano Lopez (14) 3: Roberto Bautista Agut (15) 4: David Goffin (22)
Three top 20 players highlight the Chennai field, as all of the seeds are ranked within the top 50 in the world. Chennai isn’t near as star studded as the other two events on tour this week, but it’s far from a weak tournament.
First Round matchups to watch:
Borna Coric vs. Robin Haase
The 18 year old Coric reached the top 100 in 2014 and after primarily posting great results on the challenger tour, he qualified for the US Open, reaching the second round, and upset Ernests Gulbis and Rafael Nadal in Basel, en route to the semifinals. Haase finished 2014 strong with a challenger title, but he still finished ranked outside the top 80, and Coric will have a great shot at an upset win over an ATP regular. The match could go either way but I’m going with Coric to rise to the challenge and get himself to round 2.
Peter Gojowczyk vs. Alejandro Falla
Falla beat Gojowczyk in Halle last year, but the 31 year old Colombian appears to be in a decline as he finished 2014 ranked outside the top 80, and went just 11-17 at the ATP level. Gojo meanwhile is rising, at 25, he’s at a career high ranking of 79 and he will be looking to play more ATP main draw level matches in 2015. The German won 2 challenger titles, posted an ATP semifinal in Doha, and qualified for the USO and AO. His best results have been on hard courts, and he appears poised for a breakthrough. I favor him to dispatch the Colombian veteran to reach round 2.
Tatsuma Ito vs. (WC)Ramkumar Ramanathan
The 20 year old Indian Ramanathan, who (almost) exclusively played challengers and futures in 2014, shocked the tennis world last year by qualifying in Chennai and defeating his higher ranked, and more accomplished countryman Somdev Devvarman to reach the second round. This year he gets a wild card, and he’ll have another chance to surprise against Tatsuma Ito, who is ranked just inside the top 100. Ito finished the year with a challenger final and he’s had most of his success at that level. Ito shocked Stan Wawrinka in Tokyo last year, for the best win of his career, but he rarely plays up to that level, I expect Ito win but Ramanathan will certainly have the crowd behind him.
Defending and two time champ Stan Wawrinka will take the first step to trying to retaining his top 5 ranking in Chennai, where he will start his 2015 campaign after a breakthrough 2014 that saw him win a Grand Slam and a Masters Title, along with reach the top 5 for the first time in his career. He will have a target on his back, most likely against Coric, in round 2, but barring another shocking upset, he should get through to the quarterfinals where 8 seed Gilles Muller, or perhaps Igor Sijsling/Edouard Roger-Vasselin/Elias Ymer, a wild card, await. Muller had a resurgent 2014 that saw him return to the top 50 after winning five challenger titles. Sijsling and ERV had pedestrian years in 2014, and Ymer has yet to emerge, even though he’s a young talent, so I expect a Wawrinka over Muller quarterfinal. ERV is a defending finalist, and he faced Wawrinka in that final, he has a lot of points to defend this week.
David Goffin reached the top 25 for the first time in his career in 2014, going on an incredible tear in the second half of the season to finish the year 25-15 with two ATP titles. He also reached the final in Basel and won four challenger titles. Goffin won’t be near as much of an underdog this season, and will be taking on a full time ATP schedule one would expect. His first match should be a win against a qualifier or Ricardas Berankis, a formerly promising young star who has yet to live up to his potential. After that, I expect Goffin to cruise to the semis, whether he faces fellow young gun Jiri Vesely, who opens with a qualifier, or Marcel Granollers/Andreas Haider-Maurer. Granollers went just 19-28 at the ATP level last year, and along with AHM, he plays his best tennis on clay. Vesely is at a career high ranking of 66, and went 16-17 at the ATP level last year. The 21 year old hasn’t done as well for himself as Goffin has though so I expect the Belgian to win their first career meeting.
Feliciano Lopez, burst into the top 15 in 2014, and at 32 years old, going on 33, he posted a 39-26 record with 1 ATP title, an ATP final and two Masters semifinals. The left handed Spaniard, whose tennis lived up to his popular appearance in 2014, will open against Lukas Lacko, or a qualifier in round 1, and I expect him to get through to the quarters and dispatch most likely Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the five seed, at that stage. GGL will need to beat the Ramanathan/Ito winner, along with a qualifier in round 1. GGL finished 25-26 in 2014, with an ATP title but he slumped hard at the end of the year, finishing 0-5 after the US Open. He has the ability to play skillful, and exciting tennis, but he struggles with consistency. He should be good enough to win his first couple of matches but I favor Lopez to reach the semis.
Roberto Bautista Agut broke through to the top 15 in 2014, and will now be gunning for the top 10 in 2015. He went 45-23 with 2 ATP titles last year and performed well across surfaces. He’s a former finalist in Chennai and assuming he can beat Gojowczyk/Falla for a winning start in 2015, he should be able to ease through to a semifinal against Lopez by defeating Rendy Lu, the six seed. Lu opens with Indian favorite Somdev Devvarman, a wild card, and assuming he wins, will face the Pablo Carreno Busta/Alejandro Gonzalez winner.
Coric has the talent to make a breakthrough, and if Wawrinka wilts under the pressure of expectations, as happened at times last year, he could pull off another top 5 upset. If he does that, Goffin, who he lost to in Basel, would be a tough semifinal opponent (and that’s if he wins the quarterfinal match), but even the semis would be a great result for the teenager.
Predictions
Semis: Goffin d. Wawrinka
Bautista Agut d. Lopez
I’m projecting an upset in the semifinals, as I feel Goffin will shock Wawrinka, it’s just a hunch but I have a feeling Stan won’t be able to live up to expectations as the biggest star at this tournament, while Goffin will have a less stressful tournament.
Lopez beat RBA in Toronto last year, but I feel RBA is a slightly better player, and given he’s had success in Chennai before, I put him through to the final my bracket.
Final: Bautista Agut d. Goffin
Any of the top four seeds could take the title in Chennai, but I’m going with RBA because he’s 2-0 in his career against Goffin, and has the forehand to deal with the crafty Belgian. Goffin is also likely to be more fatigued at this stage, and no matter who wins, Chennai looks to be a very interesting way to start off the 2015 season.
As I mentioned earlier this month, I am going to start doing previews and recaps of USTA Pro Circuit Challengers as well as monthly recaps of all the happenings on the ATP Challenger circuit around the world. Here is a preview of the first challenger on American soil this year, with professional action close to the sunny beaches of Maui, Hawaii!
Top 8 Seeds
1: Go Soeda
2: Tatsuma Ito
3: Michael Russell
4: Tim Smyczek
5: Alex Bogomolov
6: Denis Kudla
7: Thiago Alves
8: Ryan Sweeting
A lot of familiar names here and players who participated in either AO qualifying or the early rounds of the main draw.
First round matchups to watch:
Denis Kudla vs. Daniel Kosakowski
If you regularly visit this site, I’m sure you will be quite familiar with both Kudla and Kosakowski, two promising young Americans who have been working their way around the challenger circuit, the AO wild card and grand slam qualifying. Kudla is at a career high ranking of 136, while Kosakowski, who is also 20 years old, is over 100 spots below him at 256. This is always an interesting match.
Is THIS Donald’s Year?
Donald Young vs. Michael Russell
Two of the more familiar names in American tennis will meet in this one. The respectable grinder Russell remains just inside the top 100 at the age of 34 and comes off a 1stround loss in Australia. He takes on D Young, who is still trying to get his game together again after showing some slightly positive signs to start the year including making the final round of AO qualies. Russell won both of their meetings last year and he still has the edge here.
Top Half:
Top 75 player Go Soeda opens with American wild card Dennis Lajola and then will get either Denis Zivkovic or wild card Petr Michnev. In the quarters, he could draw Bradley Klahn, who opens with the still struggling Ryan Sweeting, while Austin Krajicek and Jonathan Eysseric of France are also options.
Go Soeda
The tenacious Tim Smyczek comes off a positive showing in Melbourne and will open with Tsung-Hua Yang of Taipei. Afterward, he may get an AO WC final rematch with Rhyne Williams, who also comes off a positive showing in Melbourne and opens with former NCAA champ Devin Britton. Britton hasn’t lived up to expectations as a pro so far. A Williams-Smyczek rematch could be quite a battle between two in form players.
Top 150 player Thiago Alves of Brazil opens with a qualifier, then will get a tough ask in the form of Steve Johnson, who also played in Melbourne. Johnson opens with a qualifier.
This is a stacked top half filled of in-form Americans and the consistent Soeda.
Bottom Half:
Soeda’s countryman and AO 2nd round participant Tatsuma Ito will play former top 50 player Mischa Zverev. Ito would get a a qualifier or Suk-Young Jeong of South Korea in the second round. AO qualifier Alex Bogomolov, who opens with Michael McClune, could be Ito’s quarterfinal opponent. Peter Polansky of Canada and wild card Ma Rong of China are also options.
Tatsuma Ito
The winner of Kosakowski/Kudla will get Tennys Sandgren or Blaz Rola of Slovakia, before doing battle with the Russell/Young winner. Alex Kuznetsov and a qualifier are also options.
I will not do a dark horse for challengers, since most everybody at a challenger can usually be considered a dark horse, excluding the very top seeds.
Predictions:
Semis:
Soeda d. Williams
Ito d. Russell
Kudla, Sandgren or Young could also get out of the bottom half while Smyczek could make it out of the top half. You have to go with the consistent Japanese players here, though.
Final:
Soeda d. Ito
I will go with the higher ranked Soeda here, though Ito won their only pro match against each other last year on clay. They know each other’s games very well and there will not be many surprises.
Tennis Atlantic 