Lukas Rosol won his second career ATP title in Winston-Salem on Sunday, defeating now two-time ATP finalist Jerzy Janowicz 3-6 7-6 7-5, in a thrilling ending for the 2014 Emirates US Open Series. Rosol had to save two match points serving 4-5 in the third set, and from there he seized the momentum to power through to the finish, winning the next two games after holding serve to grab the victory.
Rosol will now be a top 30 player, while Janowicz, who is playing his best tennis this season, will return to the top 50, albeit disappointed he couldn’t win his maiden title this week. Rosol won a hard-fought match in the semifinals over Rendy Lu, coming back from a break down in the first set to win that set, and eventually win the match in 3 full sets. Janowicz beat Sam Querrey in 3, in a match many think Querrey should have won, as he had many missed opportunities.
Janowicz, Querrey, Rosol, and Lu are semifinalists at Winston-Salem Open 2014 Eric Logan, Tennis East Coast
Quarterfinal day, my final day at the Winston-Salem Open, was an eventful if disappointing one as the four semifinalists were decided. Spectators arrived to Center Court for four singles matches and one doubles match for the honor of playing on Friday in the semifinals.
The first quarterfinal was played between Taiwanese number one Yen-Hsun Lu and Italian Andreas Seppi. While the two are ranked closely and were both seeded in the 9-16 range at the event, their form could not have been more polar opposite coming into the Wake Forest event. Lu has been in superb form, beating Berdych in Cincinnati and nearing his career high rank. Seppi, on the other hand, has a negative win-loss record this year and seems on the downswing.
Their respective forms were telling as Lu broke early. Seppi had chances to break back, but repeatedly missed returns. In fact, the return seemed to be the source of the vast majority of the Italian’s woes, as it repeatedly found the net and the point was over before it had begun.
Lu reaches the semis and continues a career best year for him
The second set began with a poor Seppi service game, where Lu broke to cheers from his coaching camp. It was around that time that the announcement was made that defined the day for many fans: 2012 champion John Isner had withdrawn from his clash with the big-hitting Czech, seventh seed Lukas Rosol. The marquee match of the day now canceled, the crowd seemed almost to will themselves into emotionally investing in the match at hand.
That task proved difficult as Seppi continued to play woefully- at one point getting a chance to get back on even terms at 15-40 only to miss four consecutive returns. The 6-4 6-4 final score was generous to the fourteenth seed as he struggled to ever make any headway on the Lu serve. The match ended with almost two hours before the next match, which while doubtless a boon to the concession vendors, was unkind to the fans who had to wait in the heat for David Goffin and Jerzy Janowicz to play the only other day session semifinal.
After the match finally began, Janowicz quickly broke. The Belgian’s serve proved an enormous liability, and although throughout the first set Goffin seemed the better player off the ground, the Pole’s potent returns coupled with his own huge serve (which was more reliable than normal) allowed for Janowicz to take the set 6-4 after a game in which the net and the side of the racquet favored him on more than one occasion. In the second set, the confident and aggressive baseline play coupled with excellent retrieval that led Goffin to win 25 straight matches was nowhere to be seen as he was broken twice to lose the match 6-4 6-2. Janowicz would advance to the semifinal to play the winner of the day’s night match.
Janowicz snaps Goffin’s win streak
With Rosol getting the walkover into the semifinals, the only other quarterfinal was contested between Sam Querrey and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Querrey had his serve and forehand working and he prevailed 6-7 6-2 6-4 as GGL faded late. In the only doubles match contested yesterday, Jamie Murray and John Peers beat Mariusz Frystenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-3 6-4.
Sanity Finally Prevails @WSOpen R16 #WSOpen Eric Logan, Tennis East Coast
Groth=147 mph serve
The seeds met in the R16 today at the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina. The day produced some great drama, a wide variety of quality, and in the end, the majority of favored players advanced.
Action began on center court (and only center court, given the small number of matches on courts two and three) with twelfth seed Edouard Roger-Vasselin considered the underdog against Jerzy Janowicz despite his higher rank. Fresh off a controversial win over Joao Sousa, the Pole came back from a set down to win in a rather messy three set-match. The quality of tennis was low, but there was great drama at the end as Janowicz faced break point from 40-0 up serving for the match before serving out a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win.
Janowicz’s victory was followed by what would be considered the match of the day by most present, where fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez faced eleventh seeded American Donald Young. A tight first set was decided in a tiebreak in which, after a great effort earlier in the set to save a number of set points, the Spaniard crumbled at 4-5 in the tiebreak, losing both service points. Garcia-Lopez rebounded by breaking twice in the second set by prevailing in numerous beautiful rallies.
In the third, Garcia-Lopez captured the break and looked poised to win when he held two match points serving at 5-4. Young brought the crowd to its feet, however, by saving them with a return winner and a smash off a smash before Garcia-Lopez broke himself on a double fault. After drawing the set to a tiebreak, Young then held two match points at 6-4. Garcia-Lopez saved the first with a forehand winner before Young threw the second away with a double fault of his own. Garcia-Lopez then hit another of his countless forehand winners to set up a third match point on his serve, which he took at last.
The third match on Center court was another low-quality affair, where Sam Querrey dispatched an out-of-sorts Kevin Anderson in a match defined by countless Anderson unforced errors by a score of 7-6(4) 6-4. This match brought an end to the day session on center court, and left the tournament without three of its top four seeds after Robredo and Mayer’s losses in the previous round.
On the outer courts, eight players attempted to punch their tickets into the quarterfinals. Marcel Granollers arrived late to his match against Yen-Hsun Lu and looked thoroughly unprepared to play tennis. The eighth seed fell to the ninth 6-1 6-2 in a match in which he sliced the vast majority of groundstrokes, was kept on the defense constantly, and won only two return points in the second set.
David Goffin continued his win streak with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 score against an unexpectedly game Jarkko Nieminen. Nieminen has been in very poor form in contrast to Goffin’s 24 (now 25) straight victories. In the end, however, Goffin’s game proved more solid than the Finn’s. Lukas Rosol defeated Pablo Andujar 1-6 6-2 6-2 in an up-and-down match that seemed to end with words between the players. Nicolas Mahut was unable to back up his win against Tommy Robredo as he fell 6-4 7-6(7) to Andreas Seppi.
In the night match, top seeded John Isner took on thirteenth seed Mikhail Kukushkin. The Kazakhstani player began
the match extremely poorly, surrendering the first set 6-1 in a flurry of unforced errors amid some good returning by Isner. Kukushkin raised his game in the second to make the match competitive, but was unable to return Isner’s huge serve in critical moments and in the end surrendered 6-1 7-6(3).
The day’s most dramatic match in doubles ended the same way the most dramatic match in singles had: heartbreak for Donald Young. Young and Nicolas Monroe lost the first set to Florin Mergea and Joao Sousa 6-2 before roaring back to win 5 games in a row and send the match to a supertiebreak at 2-6 6-1. Here, the American team led 7-1 amid a number of bad calls against the Europeans that had even the North Carolina crowd calling out in dismay and had to have Sousa wondering if the officials had a pact against him. Things then began to turn, and it was a tighter 6-9 when Young and Monroe arrived at match point.
On the first match point, Sousa served an ace. The second was dealt with routinely as well. The third, however, was the shot of the tournament thus far. Off of a big Young serve that looked to have the point won, Mergea hit a stunning full stretch backhand return winner that seemed a good deal faster than the aggressive serve. Mergea backed up the shot with a big forehand, and a point later Mergea and Sousa clinched an incredible
comeback win.
In the final match of the day, Sam Groth showed off his enormous serve as he hit 147 miles per hour in the first game of his doubles effort partnership with Chris Guccione. The Australians faced two losers from the singles draw, Marcel Granollers and Pablo Andujar. Some clutch Granollers net play saved four break points, including a set point. Chris Guccione then tightened up to lose all three service points in the first set tiebreak to allow the Spaniards to steal a set in which they were clearly not the better team. In the second, however, they stepped it up a notch to break twice for a 7-6(4) 7-5 win.
Tomorrow’s schedule includes one doubles match, Jamie Murray and John Peers against the veteran Polish team of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. It also includes four appealing men’s singles quarterfinal matches: John Isner against Lukas Rosol, Andreas Seppi against Yen-Hsun Lu, Jerzy Janowicz against David Goffin, and Sam Querrey against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Until then, all eight players should still feel they have a fighting shot at the title in Winston-Salem.
Dramatic Tuesday at @WSOpen Portends An Exciting Wednesday Eric Logan, Tennis East Coast
A dramatic round of 32 finished last night at the Winston-Salem open, with 14 of the 16 seeds in action. Top seeded John Isner played for the first time in the night session, attracting a huge crowd in his home state, and for many, announcing the arrival of the critical stages of the event.
Second seeded Kevin Anderson opened play on center court against erratic Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Anderson played a bit of a sloppy match, but Mannarino’s tendency to throw in very poor service games from nowhere cost him dearly against the big server in a 6-3 2-6 6-4 loss. The match was followed by third seed Tommy Robredo against Nicolas Mahut. Mahut defeated the Cincinnati quarterfinalist 6-1 7-6(0) in a match where Robredo seemed not to give his full effort.
While Anderson’s match unfolded, the most truly dramatic match of the day was being played on Court 2 between Joao Sousa and Jerzy Janowicz. After a very easy first set win for Janowicz, Sousa recovered to even the match at 1-6 6-3. Sousa broke in the third, and served for the match at 5-4. After saving break point at 30-40, Sousa once again found himself facing break point at Ad-Out. Here, Sousa hit a pass that Janowicz clearly touched but was not called by the umpire. While the crowd yelled out to the umpire that the Pole had touched the ball, Janowicz appeared to confess to Sousa he had touched it without conceding the point. A long argument ensued which seemed in danger of becoming physical at times. Janowicz would go on to win the match 6-1 3-6 7-6(5). The two continued to argue even after the match ended, and it seems likely both will be fined for the spectacle.
A pair of matches went an extraordinary distance in the blazing heat. Aleksandr Nedovyesov put up a good effort against twelfth seed Edouard Roger-Vasselin, but fell 7-6(9) 6-7(5) 6-4 in 2 hours and 43 minutes. In a shorter (and rather low quality) but physical match, slumping fourteenth seed Andreas Seppi struggled past Argentine clay specialist Federico Delbonis 7-5 6-7(5) 6-2. Another lengthy but rather high quality match was one between Mikhail Kukushkin and Robin Haase, with the thirteenth seed prevailing 5-7 7-6(2) 6-4.
An all-American match between Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson saw Querrey prevail 6-4 6-3. It was a poor showing by Johnson from 4-2 up in the first set, with the higher-ranked of the two making a number of routine unforced errors. Querrey has now defended at least some of last year’s semifinal points, saving his ranking from dipping even further.
In the night session, John Isner dispatched Bradley Klahn 7-6(5) 6-2. Klahn was the better player in the first set, winning more points than the top seed, but as he so often does, Isner found a way to win in in a tiebreak. Afterwards, Klahn’s resistance crumbled as he played two abysmal games to go down 0-4 and winning only two return points in the second set.
Elsewhere around the grounds, Yen-Hsun Lu dispatched Blaz Rola 6-4 7-5, with Rola’s serve not good enough to compensate for his failure to win rallies. Fourth seed Leonardo Mayer bowed out meekly 6-3 6-1 to David Goffin to worsen his poor hard court record. Pablo Andujar defeated Igor Sijsling 6-4 6-3.
In perhaps the disappointment of the day, Ryan Harrison retired leading an extremely poor Lukas Rosol 6-3 1-2. Harrison had been up a set and a break. Marcel Granollers easily dismissed Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3 6-3, and Frank Dancevic fared even worse in a 6-1 6-3 loss to Donald Young. It is worth noting that for all the criticism Berlocq and Granollers get for their grunts, for my money, Sousa’s is louder.
In doubles action, the exodus of seeds continued. Fourth seeded Huey and Inglot’s withdrew and were replaced with Florin Mergea and Joao Sousa. Top seeded pair Leander Paes and David Marrero’s campaign was cut short as a back injury forced Marrero to retire to the huge-serving team of Sam Groth and Chris Guccione. The first quarterfinal saw Cabal and Farah defeat Mahut and Haase, while Mergea and Sousa, Fyrstenburg and Matkowski, and third seeds Murray and Peers advanced to that round. Sousa’s effort was commendable given the manner of his loss earlier.
Today’s action sees the seeds meet in the round of sixteen. Top seed John Isner will take on Mikhail Kukushkin in what is sure to be an entertaining night match. Other match-ups include Anderson-Querrey, Janowicz-Roger Vasselin, Lu-Granollers, and Garcia Lopez-Young. The final eight will be decided by tonight on what promises to be another exciting day from North Carolina.
The second day of main draw play at the Winston-Salem open brought the first round to conclusion and saw fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez open the second round in the night session. The day’s play was on the whole a level higher than Sunday’s, with a number of exceptional clashes and notable names.
The day session was opened with defending champion Jurgen Melzer falling to qualifier David Goffin 6-3 6-4. Melzer, who would later lose in the first round of doubles as well, will see his ranking fall outside the top 100 after an injury-plagued last twelve months. Goffin, meanwhile, continues an incredible run of form that saw him win his first title in Kitzbuhel.
On court two, Jerzy Janowicz put up an impressive performance against Carlos Berlocq. Although the two are close in the rankings currently, Berlocq was a serious underdog on the quick hard courts of Winston-Salem and looked lost in the first set before steadying himself slightly in the second. Janowicz, however, simply had too much power for Berlocq to absorb in the end, and won 6-1 6-4.
Janowicz dispatches Berlocq
On court three, Federico Delbonis pulled off an upset victory over a superior hard-courter in Martin Klizan, 7-6(5) 6-4. Klizan produced nearly all of the match’s best shots and received almost universal crowd support, but was too erratic and dealt with Delbonis’s impressive serving too poorly to prevail. On the distant court four, Igor Sijsling defeated Andrey Golubev in a tight two-setter. Golubev failed to take advantage of poor volleying by Sijsling and allowed himself to be outrallied by the Dutchman, surrendering his serve from 40-0 for the decisive break in a 7-6(5) 6-3 match.
Delbonis had one of the first big upsets of the tournament
In what was surprisingly possibly the day’s best match, Frank Dancevic faced off against Thomaz Bellucci. Both players’ smooth and powerful serves and groundstrokes drew a larger crowd than one would expect on the third court, and Dancevic produced a number of stunning backhands equaled by a stream of Bellucci winners off the forehand wing. An extended rally saw Dancevic take a very tight first set, but Bellucci rebounded to take the second set with ease. In the end, it was the Canadian who prevailed in a three-set match interrupted by rain with Bellucci down break point in the third set, 7-5 3-6 6-2.
Canadian veteran Frank Dancevic survived a test from Bellucci
Around the grounds, there was plenty of action to be had between spurts of rain which included what was nearly a two-hour delay. Adrian Mannarino easily put away an erratic Damir Dzumhur 6-2 6-2. Aleksandr Nedovyesov crushed American hopes with a close 6-4 6-4 win over Marcos Giron in which the American was a dismal 1/7 on break chances. Blaz Rola prevailed in two tight sets over fellow leftie Wayne Odesnik, 7-6(3) 6-3. In one of the day’s two second round matches, Jarkko Nieminen came from a break down in the second to defeat Benjamin Becker 7-5 6-4.
Mannarino showed great form against Dzumhur
On Center Court, the night session was led into with a pair of low quality matches, Paul-Henri Mathieu’s messy 6-3 7-5 win over wild card Robby Ginepri and Sam Querrey’s 7-6(5) 6-4 win over Pere Riba, who is unimposing on a hard court. However, the first set of Dustin Brown taking on fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was probably the highest quality and most dramatic of the event thusfar. Brown’s big serve and beautiful volleys were pitted against Garcia-Lopez’s capable return and piercing groundstrokes off both wings. Brown saved two set points with two aces at 4-5, and took the tiebreak 7-5 after a Garcia-Lopez double fault. Brown’s resistance would fade, however, in the next two sets, with a lackluster final scoreline of 6-7(5) 6-2 6-2.
The doubles draw got underway today with some upset results. The second seeded team of Rohan Bopanna and defending champion Daniel Nestor lost in a pair of tiebreaks to the Columbians Cabal and Farah. Melzer was handed his second loss of the day as he and partner Lukas Rosol lost to Marcel Granollers and his unaccomplished partner, singles specialist Pablo Andujar 7-6(3) 2-6 10-4, with Melzer making a number of errors on critical points. The wild card team of Nicholas Monroe and Donald Young upset the Argentines Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer 7-6(4) 7-5. Robin Haase and Nicolas Mahut defeated Scott Lipsky and Max Mirnyi 7-5 6-4 in a match that may have been decided when Mirnyi missed a sitting duck volley at 5-5 40-40 in the first.
Tomorrow will be the day that fourteen of the event’s 16 seeds begin their campaigns. This includes two-time champion and hometown John Isner, whose practices are better attended than some of the main draw matches, and last week’s Cincy quarterfinalist Tommy Robredo, as well as the top seeded doubles pairing of Leander Paes (the other half of last year’s winning doubles team) and David Marrero. The forecast calls for more rain, but hopefully that will not prevent all the day’s tennis from being played.
Sunday marked the beginning of main draw action at the Winston-Salem Open, as well as completion of the qualifying competition. The tournament’s top sixteen seeds received byes to the second round but there were still plenty of matches played around the ground nonetheless.
In the final round of qualifying, second seed Simone Bolelli was upset by Wayne Odesnik. While I did not watch this match, I was able to hear the crowd’s reaction and it seemed they were on Odesnik’s side, which is somewhat surprising in spite of Odesnik’s nationality given his reputation.
While Odesnik came from a set behind to beat the flashy Italian, fourth seed, Damir Dzumhur struggled through a 6-4 6-4 win against Austrian doubles specialist Philipp Oswald.. The big-serving Oswald, who towered over Dzumhur, grabbed the early break but failed to compete as the match became more physical. Dzumhur struggled to close out the match from 40-0 but held on to seal the win.
Dzumhur pulls through qualifying
Top seeded David Goffin- who would be seeded if he had made the cut for the main draw six weeks ago- had his weak serve punished on numerous occasions but was too solid from the baseline for Jason Jung, who faded to a 6-1 second set after a hard fought 7-5 first. Marcos Giron won a battle of unseeded players as he came back from a set down to qualify against Mate Pavic.
Following the end of the qualifying tournament, the main draw action began. Benjamin Becker took on Pablo Carreño Busta in a topsy-turvy match that spanned three sets. Carreño Busta allowed Becker to dictate the match at all points except perhaps when he was up a break in the second. The German seemed to go on holiday between a first set where he overwhelmed the Spanish clay-courter with his power and a third that was much of the same. Becker’s powerful serve proved to be an obstacle for the Spaniard throughout and Carreño Busta won a dismal 13% of first serve return points in the match. Credit to the good spirits shown from PCB post match, he was more than happy to sign autographs for children even after his defeat.
Becker continues his run of form
Nicolas Mahut was never troubled in a straight set win over Blaz Kavcic. Kavcic has bettered his ranking significantly in the past few months with success at Challengers and was arguably in better form than the French veteran, but lost by a tame 6-3 6-2 scoreline.
Dustin Brown delivered the day’s best performance with an incredible 6-3 6-2 shellacking of Alejandro Gonzalez. Brown went up 5-1 in about fifteen minutes with a dazzling display of serve and volley, return winners, drop shots, and huge serves (though relatively rarely aces). It appeared his level had come to Earth briefly when Gonzalez recaptured one break with a “vamos” but Brown was equally ruthless in the second set. Gonzalez did not play poorly, but simply looked out of his league, getting sympathy from the crowd for being on the wrong end of one of the most flawless performances of the season.
Dustin Brown puts up a dazzling performance in round 1
The final match of the day session on Center Court pitted Robin Haase against Benoit Paire in a battle of underachieving talents. Paire argued with the umpire after equaling the match at a set apiece over what appeared to be a Haase toilet break, only to then (in protest?) sit down when Haase broke for 2-0 in the decider saying he couldn’t play and leave the court for an extended period at 3-0, leading Haase to have his own words with the umpire. After Paire extended very little effort at 5-2, Haase won the three setter in what will be remembered as yet another match in which Paire defeated himself.
Benoit Paire didn’t make many friends today
In evening session action, Bradley Klahn survived a topsy turvy 3 setter with young American wild card Noah Rubin to win 6-2 0-6 7-6. Rubin struggled to get accustomed to Klahns big serve in set 1, but after Klahn started spewing errors, his aggressive approach and lanky strokes won him a decided advantage in set 2. In the third, Klahn got back in the saddle and was up 4-1, but Rubin clawed back and from 5-5 they went to a tiebreak that Klahn edged out. Given it was his first match back from injury, the struggles from Klahn were to be expected, and Rubin put up a good account for himself. Both players have plenty to work on going into the US Open. Fellow American Ryan Harrison joins Klahn in round 2 after a late night 6-4 6-2 victory over JL Struff.
Tomorrow’s schedule marks the conclusion of the first round, the beginning of the second, and the start of an extremely drawn-out first round of doubles. Defending champion Jurgen Melzer opens against David Goffin on Center Court, a match that pits the oft-injured Austrian against a player coming back from injury problems of his own. Had they been healthy in the past twelve months, both of these players would have been seeded. As it is, only one will make it to the second round. That match is to be followed by an impossible to call battle of veterans in a match between Paul-Henri Mathieu and wild card Robby Ginepri. Sam Querrey, whose name was properly spelled on the tournament banner this year, will end the day session with what should be a fairly routine match against Spanish clay-courter Pere Riba. The lone singles match of the night session will have fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez facing off against today’s hottest player, Dustin Brown.
On the outside courts, Jerzy Janowicz will face Argentine Carlos Berlocq. Berlocq is the type of player that Janowicz must learn to beat consistently to return to the top twenty after a severe dip in form in 2014. Two up-and-coming lefties will face off when Martin Klizan plays what should be a simple match against Federico Delbonis, who has yet to prove himself off of his favored clay. Jarkko Nieminen will attempt to put last year’s disastrous match against Sam Querrey (in which he squandered a number of match points) behind him as he opens his 2014 campaign against Benjamin Becker.
In doubles action, Daniel Nestor headlines on Center Court with (presumably temporary) partner Rohan Bopanna against the accomplished team of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal. On Court 2, the wild card team of Jurgen Melzer and Lukas Rosol will face the odd pairing of world number 226 doubles player Pablo Andujar and world number 14 Marcel Granollers.
Tennis East Coast is happy to announce we will have live coverage from the early rounds of the Winston-Salem Open this year thanks to our on site correspondent Zephyr Logan. His reports will begin tomorrow from the grounds at Wake Forest University. Until then, here is a preview of the tournament, which serves as the end of the Emirates Airlines US Open Series, and the final tune-up before the US Open for all participants.
ATP Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem Open
ATP World Tour 250
Winston-Salem NC, USA
August 17-August 23, 2014
Prize Money: $598,260
Top 8 seeds (who all receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: John Isner (14)
2: Kevin Anderson (17)
3: Tommy Robredo (20)
4: Leonardo Mayer (26)
5: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (32)
6: Joao Sousa (37)
7: Lukas Rosol (38)
8: Marcel Granollers (39)
The top 16 seeds get first round byes, and for a pre-slam 250, Winston-Salem has an excellent field.
First round matchups to watch:
Noah Rubin (Photo: Cynthia Lum / USTA)
Bradley Klahn vs. (WC)Noah Rubin
Klahn is taking part in his first tournament in quite some time after injuries further derailed his season. He will take on the Kalamazoo and Wimbledon junior champ Noah Rubin, who already has a US Open main draw wild card in his back pocket and will be playing this match in preparation for his grand slam debut.
It has been a miserable debut season on the ATP tour for Klahn, who has seen his one-dimensional game exposed by many an ATP opponent. His lone ATP win over Daniel Brands was back in January in Auckland and he has lost nine straight ATP level tilts since then. Overall, he is just 3-16 at the ATP level in his career since 2010.
Rubin, meanwhile, is making his ATP debut here in Winston-Salem and he is yet to win a match at the challenger or qualifying level (0-4 overall outside of junior play). With Klahn coming off of an injury he is, at best, a slight favorite, but Rubin has a great shot to get the win.
Robin Haase vs. Benoit Paire
Haase hasn’t been anything but a journeyman so far this season and will be playing his first hard court match since Miami. Paire was struggling and has fallen out of the top 100, but he has experienced a boost in form in the past two weeks, perhaps spurred on by the fact he was able to push Stan Wawrinka to a third set tiebreak in Toronto before coming up short. After having to go through qualies in both Toronto and Cincy, Paire is 5-2 in his last 7 matches and has beaten reasonable ATP level opponents like Alejandro Falla and Blaz Rola in that stretch. With everything to gain, Paire has a chance to excel this week but he first must dispatch Haase, who will likely play poorly.
Jerzy Janowicz vs. Carlos Berlocq
Another player who returned to form after a poor 2014 is Jerzy Janowicz. He upset Grigor Dimitrov en route to a third round showing in Cincy and he may finally have found a spark to kick-start his abysmal 2014 season.
Berlocq is returning from injury and has not played on a hard court in a while, so he should make easy fodder for the big hitting Janowicz, who defeated him once before indoors in 2012. Berlocq usually puts a lot of balls back in play though, and Janowicz must keep his errors down to grab the win.
Top Half:
John Isner has never lost in Winston-Salem, as he was the champion in both 2011 and 2012, while skipping the tournament last year. While he seems to love Winston-Salem, his form has been poor the past two weeks as he exited in the third round of Cincy and the first round of Toronto and Washington (overall 2-3 in his last five matches after winning in Atlanta).
Something appears to be up with Isner and his game right now, but it is unlikely he will have any trouble with Klahn/Rubin. His first test may come against Paire in the third round, assuming Paire beats Mikhail Kukushkin after beating Robin Haase. Kukushkin has proven to be a more formidable competitor at the challenger level than at the ATP level, and Isner against either Paire or Kukushkin is still likely to be safe from defeat.
Lukas Rosol will be playing his first tournament of the US Open Series in Winston-Salem. The Czech will take on Ryan Harrison or JL Struff for his first match, and he is likely to go through to face either Pablo Andujar or Igor Sijsling/Andrey Golubev in the third round. Harrison is struggling and Struff isn’t a top hard court performer, meanwhile Sijsling, Golubev and Andujar are playing on hard courts for the first time in a while. Rosol over Andujar is my pick to reach the quarterfinals.
Cincy quarterfinalist Tommy Robredo, who upset Novak Djokovic in Cincy in a week that has to be the highlight of his 2014 season, will take on Blaz Kavcic or Nicolas Mahut, and unless he tanks he should be through to face Andreas Seppi/Martin Klizan/Federico Delbonis in round 3. With Seppi being primarily a clay courter who has not been in top form all season, Klizan has a chance to sneak into the third round or perhaps do even better than that, given his streaky talent. Seppi has a 2-0 h2h with Klizan and both players come off early losses in Cincy. Given this is not a difficult section, Robredo should extend his record of 5-2 in his last 7 matches to 7-2 in his last 9 matches and reach the quarterfinals.
Marcel Granollers could have trouble against Paul-Henri Mathieu/Robby Ginepri in his first match. The Spaniard is 3-1 against Mathieu but he has lost three straight matches. These three players are all unpredictable and fragile veterans and though Ginepri upset Dominic Thiem as I predicted he might in Cincy, he was crushed by Milos Raonic in the next round. Ginepri has a slight h2h edge over Mathieu though Mathieu won their last meeting in Indian Wells this year, and Ginepri also has a 2009 win over Granollers indoors, so I have Ginepri through to the third round in my own bracket as a bit of a surprise. I’d expect Ginepri to be sent home by Rendy Lu in the third round, though. Lu beat Berdych in Cincy and is 2-2 in his last four matches, a good mark for the Taiwanese ball striker who does his best on hard courts. Lu is likely to face Blaz Rola in his first match unless Rola falls to a qualifier. Rola was a lucky loser in Cincy and lost in the first round to eventual semifinalist Julien Benneteau in a nail-biting third set tiebreak. Also, David Goffin is in the qualifying draw and is one to watch out for if he qualifies and is placed in a section such as this.
Bottom Half:
A hugely anticipated third round clash could occur between Kevin Anderson and Steve Johnson. Anderson lost to Isner in Cincy and may still be mentally struggling while Johnson had good runs in both DC and Cincy, losing to Milos Raonic both times after wins over top names Isner and Ernests Gulbis. Anderson must defeat Adrian Mannarino/qualifier to reach round 3, and Johnson must defeat Pere Riba/Sam Querrey to do the same. I don’t see Querrey spoiling things and I favor Johnson reaching the quarterfinals over Anderson.
Garcia-Lopez, who has lost his last five, could very well have trouble with Dustin Brown in round 2, assuming the big serving German can defeat Alejandro Gonzalez. Brown hasn’t played on hard courts in a while and he is on a three match losing streak, while Gonzalez is a competent hard court competitor. That one is a hard match to call, but I have GGL falling to the winner simply because he’s a streaky player and right now his form is way down.
Donald Young (Photo: Chris Levy @Tennis_Shots for TennisEastCoast.com)
Donald Young has a great chance in this section, as his first match will be against Frank Dancevic/Thomaz Bellucci, neither of whom are likely to be a threat. Young, who played well in DC, and lost in the second round of Toronto, just beat Dancevic on home soil in Canada and I have him through to the quarterfinals against Johnson in an all-American battle.
Breakthrough veteran Leo Mayer will open with Jurgen Melzer, the defending champion, or a qualifier. Given he much prefers clay, even an out of form Melzer or the qualifier, should reach the third round. Melzer/qualifier could meet Jarkko Nieminen or Benjamin Becker/Pablo Carreno Busta at that stage. Becker, who made the second round in Cincy as a qualifier, has been in far superior form compared to any other player in this section but he has lost his four meetings with Nieminen, who is playing for the first time since Kitzbuhel. I see a qualifier/Melzer falling to Becker, who is the most likely quarterfinalist in this section once the dust settles.
Last but not least, Joao Sousa will take on the winner of Janowicz/Berlocq, and Janowicz is probably a small favorite to reach the third round. Sousa has been struggling for a while and is unlikely to capitalize on his seeding. Look for a Janowicz vs. Edouard-Roger-Vasselin or Aleksandr Nedovyesov/qualifier third round meeting. ERV is also struggling, having lost three straight, including a third set tiebreak loss to Fabio Fognini in Cincy. This is another section where a qualifier like Goffin could capitalize and make a deep run. As it stands, Janowicz is the most likely quarterfinalist.
Dark Horse: Jerzy Janowicz
The Pole has a favorable draw that should allow him to get past Berlocq, Sousa, and ERV/qualifier, then dispatch Becker in the quarterfinals to reach the semis. With his likely opponents Johnson/Young/Anderson, I’d have him, if he’s in form, favored in any of those semifinal matchups. I have JJ as a finalist this week and a potential champion.
Predictions Semis:
Isner d. Lu
Janowicz d. Johnson
It’s hard to pick against Isner in W-S when the draw gives me no reason to do so. Rosol may resist, but I don’t think he has the game to win that matchup on an outdoor hard court. Likewise, Lu will probably be overpowered like he has been in all three previous meetings, including two this season, with the American number one. All of those matches took place on outdoor hard courts. As for how Lu got the semis, Robredo is formidable but he is likely to want to conserve his energy for the US Open. By the time he is slated to play Lu, he is unlikely to give the match all his passion.
I’m favoring Janowicz to make the final as previously stated, and Johnson should have a form edge over Young after defeating Anderson. Johnson is also a possible finalist though.
Final:
Isner d. Janowicz
They have never met before, but Isner’s higher ranking and home-cooking should make him the favorite to win a third W-S title and stay undefeated at the Wake Forest venue.
