Oliver Anderson produces the win of his life during ATP Brisbane qualifying Adam Addicott, Tennis Atlantic
As the world embarks on the new tennis season, many have spoken about the teenagers that could make a name for themselves on the tour this year. One of these names not on the list is 17-year-old Oliver Anderson who has produced a massive upset at the Brisbane International qualifying draw.
Wildcard entrant Anderson is currently ranked 813th in the world and has only won eight main draw matches so far in his career. Despite having the odds against his, he upset 8th seed Denis Novikov in three sets (3-6, 6-4, 6-4) to set up a meeting with Tim Smyczek. Smyczek defeated Matt Reid in three sets in his first round match. Placed 709 places below the American in the ATP rankings, Anderson played the tennis of his life to stun the fourth seed 6-7(3), 7-6(1), 6-2. The win comes two weeks after the teenager started working with former tennis player Wayne Arthur. The Queenslander player spoke of his shock during his after match press conference.
Top seed Ernests Gulbis kicked-off his 2016 season in disappointment following a straight sets loss to Yoshihito Nishioka (6-3, 6-4). The former French Open semifinalist started qualifying in solid fashion with a 6-4, 6-2, win over Romania’s Marius Copil in the opening round. Facing the Japanese 20-year-old Gulbis had difficulty handling Nishioka’s serve. Throughout the match, the 5th seed faced one break point, which he saved, compared to Gulbis who faced six. Nishioka is currently at a career ranking high of 117th in the world. Last year he ended his season by winning the ATP Toyota Challenger.
Germany’s Tobias Kamke reminded everybody of his talent during his successful qualifying campaign. Kamke has been ranking as high as 64th in the world back in 2011, however, a inconsistent 2015 resulted in him falling down the rankings to 277th in the world. During the off-season, he reportedly spent time working with Sascha Nensel and Dusan Lajovic. The training seemed to have paid off when he defeated 7th seed Norbert Gombos 6-2, 7-5 in the first round. In the final round, he faced unseeded Estonian Jurgen Zopp. Zopp defeated third seed Thiemo de Bakker in his first round match. During the match, which consisted of some lengthy games, Kamke eased himself to a 6-3, 6-2, win after an hour and 12 minutes on the court.
Finally, Ivan Dodig was the highest ranked player to qualify for the main draw. The second seed opened up with a 6-1, 6-3, win over 2014 US Open boys’ champion Omar Jasika. Jasika will play in the upcoming Australian Open after being awarded a wildcard from Tennis Australia. Awaiting him in the last round was talented American 19-year-old Jared Donaldson. Last year Donaldson won his first Challenger title in Maui. The match was a tightly contested match with Dodig breaking the American’s serve in the final game of the match to book his place in the main draw, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Main draw matches for the qualifiers
(Q) Tobias Kamke vs. (WC) Benjamin Mitchell
(Q) Yoshihito Nishioka vs. Lucas Pouille
(Q) Ivan Dodig vs. (Q) Oliver Anderson
2015 ATP Washington D.C. (@CitiOpen) Preview and Predictions Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
The next ATP 500 series event is the joint ATP/WTA hard court tournament in the American capital city Washington D.C. Most of the ATP players from the first stop of the North American hard court Summer in Atlanta will be making the trek up to D.C., joined by a host of other big names, as many of the top players begin their US Open prep.
2015 ATP Washington D.C. Preview
Citi Open
ATP World Tour 500*
Washington D.C., USA
August 3-August 9, 2015
Prize Money: $1,508,815
*denotes joint ATP/WTA tournament
Top 8 seeds (top 16 seeds receive first round byes) (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Andy Murray (3)
2: Kei Nishikori (5)
3: Marin Cilic (8)
4: Richard Gasquet (13)
5: Kevin Anderson (14)
6: Grigor Dimitrov (16)
7: Feliciano Lopez (19)
8: John Isner (18)
9 of the top 20 players in the world on the ATP side are in playing in D.C. this year as it’s one of the best fields they have ever had for this tournament, headlined of course by the three top 10, and two top 5 names in the draw, Murray, Nishikori, and Cilic.
First round matchups to watch:
Ricardas Berankis vs. Yen-Hsun Lu
Berankis is 6-2 in his last eight hard court matches and comes off of the quarterfinals in Atlanta where he lost to eventual champion John Isner. He’s once more been spending time on the challenger tour this year but he’s still always had the talent to do better than that. Lu, the steady baseline ball striker, suffered a tough round 2 loss to Vasek Pospisil in Atlanta and his form is somewhat questionable. Lu is predictable and ranked slightly higher, but Berankis will have his chances to advance from this competitive contest.
Donald Young, a loser of six straight, will take on the wild card Tommy Haas who is still working on his injury recovery tour (2-4 record since returning to tour). Haas is aging but always a talent, and Young appears entirely devoid of confidence at the moment, though he’s playing on his favored North American hard courts. Haas hasn’t played a hard court match since March 2014, but he will have a good chance of advancing from this match regardless.
Alexander Zverev vs. (Q)Yoshihito Nishioka
A battle between young guns, Zverev, 19, is just 1-4 in ATP level hard court matches this year but he’s a respectable 9-5 below that level, qualifying for both Marseille and Miami this year. The German much prefers clay and recently reached a semi in Bastad. The 18 year old Nishioka, who combines speedy footwork with solid power for his small frame has a much stronger hard court record of 16-9 on the year and came through qualifying with a pair of solid wins. The Delray Beach quarterfinalist Nishioka is better on this surface, and thus look for him to beat his young rival.
The 19 year old Chung is another of the young guns in the DC draw this year, but he’s struggling, just 1-5 since reaching a hard court challenger final in South Korea. Sela, the Israeli veteran who lacks power in his game but rallies well, comes off quarterfinals in Atlanta and should be used to the hot conditions. Chung has a lot of talent, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to outwit the wise Sela.
Top Half:
Andy Murray is the top seed, and he’s a fantastic 44-7 on the season with a very strong hard court record to go with that. This year only Gilles Simon and Borna Coric have beaten him outside of the top 10, and with that in mind the in-form Murray is a strong favorite to go as far as the final here. Murray’s first match is sure to come against a veteran, either Benjamin Becker or Teymuraz Gabashvili. Gabashvili hasn’t played since Wimbledon but was in good form on the challenger tour prior to that, while Becker won his first match in a while in Atlanta but still may not entirely be healthy. I have Becker winning round 1 but losing to Murray, setting the UK #1 up with a match against Berankis/Lu for a spot in the quarters.
14 seed Pablo Cuevas gets a bye but he’s just 2-4 on hard courts this year, and rarely plays hard court matches in general as he’s a clay court specialist. Murray is 2-0 against Becker, and beat Berankis, who I have reaching round 3, in the 2013 Australian Open, overall he honestly shouldn’t drop a set en route to the quarters.
Atlanta champion John Isner was serving up aces and firing winners as he dominated the field in his title run, and presuming he doesn’t have too much fatigue he should continue that in D.C. on the same surface. Isner is twice a finalist in Washington and should have no trouble against Nicolas Jarry/Victor Estrella in round 2. Jarry is a clay court specialist but gets a wild card, while Estrella is merely an average player on hard courts. From there Isner is likely to face Atlanta semifinalist Vasek Pospisil, presuming Pospisil can physically recover from a grueling tournament in which he suffered cramping in the heat. Pospisil defends final points this year and will face Young/Haas round 2, Haas could trouble him, but I see Isner reaching the quarters and knocking him out. Pospisil is 2-1 against Isner but all of their matches have been close and Isner seems to have the form edge. Both players are big servers, but if Isner continues to win tiebreaks like he did in Atlanta that’ll be the difference.
Richard Gasquet should be in upset alert in his first match however, as Gilles Muller, the big serving veteran, is in excellent hard court form and could shock him. Muller, a semifinalist in singles and finalist in doubles in Atlanta, will face a struggling Malek Jaziri round 1 and has to win that before facing Gasquet. He also holds a 2-1 hard court record over the Frenchman, and presuming he’s not fatigued I have Muller upsetting Gasquet and then beating Jack Sock to reach the quarters. Sock struggled in the Atlanta heat and played poorly there but he’s still an American hard court talent with his dangerous forehand. His play in Atlanta aside he should beat Ruben Bemelmans/Marinko Matosevic in round 2, as Matosevic finally qualified and reached a main draw. Bemelmans has a solid hard court record but almost all of it comes below the main tour level and Matosevic has a h2h edge, his awful form this year aside. Sock should beat Bemelmans/Matosevic and then lose for a second time this year to Muller, as he also lost in a third set tiebreak in Indian Wells.
Grigor Dimitrov will have an easy round 2 match, as Atlanta finalist Marcos Baghdatis is nursing a leg injury, while qualifier Guido Pella prefers clay. It’s hard to predict that round 1 match, but regardless Dimitrov, who is a rather pedestrian 9-6 on hard courts this year, should first be tested in round 3 against either Steve Johnson or Bernard Tomic, both of whom could upset him. Tomic, the Bogota champion, will face Johnson in round 2, presuming Stevie J beats Lukas Lacko for the second week in a row. Their match in Atlanta went to three sets. Tomic is always hard to predict and he lost to Johnson on grass this year, but judging from his play in Bogota I have him reaching round 3 and then upsetting Dimitrov, who he is 0-2 against. Dimitrov simply seems to be in a malaise this year, and I feel Tomic is actually playing better.
Kei Nishikori is 17-5 on outdoor hard courts in 2015 and a solid 38-9 on the year overall, he may struggle in the heat but I still see him advancing past Ryan Harrison in his first match, presuming the qualifier Harrison beats James Duckworth. Nishikori has twice beaten Harrison this year as he simply does what Harrison does better from the baseline, along with being quicker. Kei should be on a minor upset alert in round 3 however, as Denis Kudla is in the form of his career and is on track to face him. Kudla, a semifinalist in Atlanta, has been on fire since he hired Billy Heiser as his coach, and appears to be fully committed to playing his best tennis. Denis, who is from D.C., should roll past Blaz Rola, then upset the seed Leonardo Mayer, who prefers clay (5-4 on hard courts in 2015), before facing Nishikori. Kei has a lone h2h win over Kudla, and Kudla is sort of a poor man’s Nishikori, still the heat factor may sway the match in the American’s favor. I don’t have him winning it, but I do see him coming close, though Nishikori is a quarterfinalist in my bracket.
Former finalist Viktor Troicki is in good form but he could have some trouble against the massive server Sam Groth in round 2. Troicki beat Groth this year on grass though, and the Aussie will need to defeat Thomaz Bellucci, who comes off of European clay where he posted solid results, in round 1. I have Troicki over Groth, and then past another great server, Feliciano Lopez, to reach the quarterfinals. Lopez comes off a semifinal on Gstaad clay, but he’s just 7-5 on hard courts this year, and could struggle in the hot conditions. The Spanish lefty will open with either Lleyton Hewitt or qualifier J.P. Smith as Hewitt continues his farewell tour against his in-form countryman. It’s hard to predict how Hewitt will do, but I still see him slipping past Smith before losing to Lopez. Hewitt is 4-1 against Lopez but he’s not the same player he once was. Troicki beat Lopez this year on clay, and otherwise has been in better form all season.
Marin Cilic, the defending US Open champion, has hardly played any hard court tennis this season, but his form has been improving steadily since returning from injury, and he appears to be back in top 20ish form in the least. Cilic should advance with relative ease over Sela/Chung but Sam Querrey could trouble him in the third round. Cilic is 3-0 against Querrey, but Querrey has been in good form while playing World Team Tennis for the local Washington Kastles. He’s actually an awful 1-6 on outdoor hard at the ATP level this year but he should beat Go Soeda/qualifier Darian King to reach round 3. King is making his ATP main draw debut at 23, while Soeda comes off a quarterfinal result in Atlanta. Look for Querrey over Soeda, and then Cilic past Querrey to secure a quarterfinal berth.
Big servers dominate the section above Cilic’s, as Kevin Anderson and Ivo Karlovic are seeded. Anderson is an excellent 11-4 over his last 15 matches (and 15-8 on hard courts this year). Presuming the South African is healthy and can maintain the form that nearly saw him upset Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, he should dispatch Nishioka/Zverev and setup a meeting with Karlovic in round 3. Dr. Ivo was reportedly “crammed into a coach seat” on a flight to D.C. but hopefully he can stretch out against 2012 Champion Alexandr Dolgopolov/Tim Smyczek. Dolgo beat Smyczek this year in Delray (2-0 h2h), and though he comes off a tough loss in Atlanta, Smyczek is in atrocious form and thus the Ukrainian has the edge. Dolgo has two previous hard court h2h wins over Ivo but he lost to him in a close Wimbledon 5 setter this year, and Karlovic was a Newport finalist and Bogota semifinalist in recent weeks, showing his good form. Prior to that he also reached the quarters in Den Bosch and the semis in Halle.
Anderson is 3-1 against Karlovic in the h2h and their styles are very similar, with both using big serves to setup the rest of their game, except two or three tiebreaks as being a strong possibility, but Anderson is higher ranked and should reach the quarters by doing the same thing, at a higher level.
I have the big serving Muller, who also has crisp volleys and returned better than he usually does in Atlanta, dealing with hot conditions once more and reaching yet another ATP semifinal in D.C., getting farther than that will be a tough ask, but the veteran has a great chance to continue to post good results and earn ranking points this week. He’ll have to upset Gasquet and likely Tomic/Dimitrov to get that far, but it’s a doable result given how much pressure he places on his opponents to hold their serves.
Predictions
Quarters:
Murray d. Isner
Murray, one of the best pure returners in the game, is 4-0 against Isner, and though it should be a close match it’s hard to justify anyone but Murray reaching the semifinals in the first section this week.
Muller d. Tomic
If we do get a Muller vs. Tomic quarter, rather than Gasquet (6-4 on outdoor hard in 2015), Dimitrov or another name, Muller has the decided edge as he leads the h2h 4-0 and beat Tomic this year in Sydney. It’s a tough section to predict, but Muller has been impressive as of late and I see him making a shock run to the semifinals.
Cilic d. Anderson
Cilic is 5-1 against Anderson and though they aren’t that far apart in terms of ranking, Cilic has never lost to Kev on a hard court. Look for the Wimbledon quarterfinalist to follow up that result with a semifinal in D.C.
Nishikori d. Troicki
Nishikori is 4-1 against Troicki and has two wins against him this year, suggesting a matchup mismatch more than anything else. If Kei gets this far, he should reach the semis.
Semis: Murray d. Muller
Cilic d. Nishikori
Murray is 3-0 against Muller with two wins against him this year, same as was true against Isner, he’s one of the bets returners in the game and can neutralize big servers. Regardless of who faces in the semis, he’s a clear favorite for the final, and in fact the title itself.
We could have a rematch of the US Open final in the semis as Nishikori holds a 5-3 edge over Cilic in their rivalry, but Cilic has won all three of his matches on outdoor hard court (twice at the US Open). It’s hard to predict either way, but I feel Cilic is grooving into form and the conditions will favor him to reach the final.
Final: Murray d. Cilic
Murray is 10-2 against Cilic, and thus Nishikori would actually have a better chance to upset him in the final, regardless, look for Murray to claim his fourth ATP title this year, which would also be his first on hard courts. The absence of Djokovic and Federer makes this his tournament to lose as he preps for the US Open.
What a long day once again! As tennis was played at Roland Garros for over 12 hours on court from 10 am to 9.30 pm when last match was suspended due to darkness.
I will begin by discussing a match played at the end of the day: Andrea Arnaboldi – Pierre-Hugues Herbert has been (and still is!) a pretty epic match. Arnaboldi started playing great attacking tennis (*5-2 up), I left on 6-4 and it was clear that the Frenchman had stepped up his level. I came back later on 5-5 third set and players kept holding quite easily. Arnaboldi missed a really feasible passing shot when he had the one and only match point. Match will be resumed tomorrow from 15-14 Arnaboldi.
I didn’t watch many other men’s matches, just the end of Norbert Gombos-Yoshihito Nishioka (The Japanese saved 2 mps, the second one with an incredible dropshot, and after that Gombos lost his compsure, and the match in abrupt fashion), and the third set of Radu Albot- Liam Broady with the Moldavian being more consistent and pulling out a win. I also caught the the end of Aleksandr Nedovyesov-Yuki Bhambri, as Bhambri won again, forcing his opponent to play too many risky shots.
Nishioka d. Gombos 2-6 6-2 8-6 Albot d. Broady 6-7 7-6 6-2 Bhambri d. Nedovyesov 6-3 3-6 9-7
Luca Vanni against Thomas Fabbiano was a strange match, until the beginning of second set Fabbiano looked like he would bet the winner, but then some clouds helped Vanni, because without the sun he looked fresher, and started playing more aggressive. Fabbiano was just defending and Vanni had an easy time winning the match from a set down.
I don’t follow WTA that much but I know women’s tennis is famous for being full of drama, and today we had at least two epic matches.
First one was Michelle Larcher De Brito against Clothilde De Bernardi. I admit that I went to this match just because some Portuguese fans asked me on Twitter. To my pleasant surprise it was a great match with both players hitting hard and looking for winners! I didn’t expect De Bernardi being so good and I thought she was done when she went from *2-1 40-15 to 2-4 during third set. The great support fo the public helped the Frenchwoman who refused to give up and managed to go *5-4 up when it started raining. Larcher De Brito was desperate for the De Bernardi comeback and started crying, asking the umpire to stop the match for the rain. The umpire rejected her request and a few seconds later the Portuguese woman was crying again but going off the court.
De Bernardi d. De Brito 4-6 6-2 6-4
Out of focus but I love this pic. That commiserating look could have been mine. Sad to watch girls crying on court pic.twitter.com/SM8rvbGPLE
While I was watching Vera Dushevina against Jelean Ostapenko I heard a rumour of racquet breaks, I turned on the next court and I saw the score Paula Kania-Alla Kudryavsteva 7-5 0-0 15-0
so I understood the Russian had a penalty point. My interest in this match suddenly raised and it was a real drama, with Kudryavtseva complaining loudly with herself and then crying
Kania obviously won and here is a short video that shows how that happened
Kania d. Kudryavtseva 7-5 6-4
Earlier I watched Anett Kontaveit against Kat Stewart and I have to say I was very very impressed by the Estonian Kontaveit. She has stunning power and Stewart was outplayed there. When I was on the stands I heard a guy telling to Kontaveit’s coach “It’s over” on 6-3 3-0, the coach replied “Never say that!”. That was pure jinxing because Stewart fought and came back but Kontaveit managed to win the second set tiebreak.
I watched also first set of the 16 yo Tessah Andrianjafitrimo and the girl has been quite impressive: short and with a pretty weak serve but she moves very well and from baseline is dangerous. Surely one to watch in the future, she beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in straights.
Quick impressions also in regards to Nastassja Burnett (outpowered Lin Zhu), Elizaveta Kulichkova (far from being impressive against Yi-Fan Xu), and Naomi Broady (great performance on serve against Cagla Buyukakcay).
Burnett d. Zhu 6-2 6-1
Kulichkova d. Xu 6-2 6-2 Broady d. Buyukakcay 6-1 7-6
I watched the second set of Veronica Cepede Royg-CiCi Bellis and that set was surprisingly a bagel. Bellis didn’t play bad tennis at all but on clay she didn’t manage to find a way to hit through the short girl from Paraguay. Cepede Royg played an excellent match, perfect from baseline.
2015 Roland Garros Men’s Qualifying Preview and Predictions Chris de Waard, Tennis Atlantic
The start of the Roland Garros men’s main draw is nearing, but first we will have 128 players competing in the qualifying draw, who will be battling it out for sixteen coveted spots in that main draw.
2015 RG Men’s Qualies Predictions
Top 16 seeds (of 32 total)
1: Hyeon Chung
2: Alexander Zverev
3: Facundo Bagnis
4: Blaz Rola
5: Dustin Brown
6: Luca Vanni
7: Norbert Gombos
8: James Ward
9: Alejandro Gonzalez
10: Kimmer Coppejans
11: Alejandro Falla
12: Adrian Menendez-Maceiras
13: Guido Pella
14: Aleksandr Nedovyesov
15: Tobias Kamke
16: Austin Krajicek
First round match-ups to watch:
(4) Blaz Rola – Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo
Ramirez Hidalgo is 37, but has only improved since the start of this year. Almost out of the top 250 in February, he now is ranked inside of the top 200 again after two semi-finals and two quarterfinals on the Challenger circuit. He is also exactly the type of player Rola might struggle with at this moment. Rola is coming off bad losses against world #515 Rogerio Dutra Silva and #250 Giovanni Lapentti in his last two tournaments.
This is the biggest chance of one of the highest seeds getting knocked out. Brown has been struggling the entire year, first one the main tour and recently even at the Challengers. Daniel knew a rocky start to the year, changing his schedule in an attempt to become more capable on hardcourts, but ever since switching back to clay his results have improved, with the highlight being his title at Vercelli last month.
(11) Alejandro Falla – Lamine Ouahab
Ouahab very nearly made the cut and it will be interesting to see how he will perform here. He is obviously infamous for only bringing his best tennis when he plays in Morocco, repeating that this year with three Futures titles, a Challenger title and a quarterfinal at the ATP 250 of Casablanca, where he beat world #24 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round.
(14) Aleksandr Nedovyesov – Yuki Bhambri
An unfortunate draw for Nedovyesov, drawing a Bhambri who is arguably playing the best tennis of his career, after struggling with injury for a long time. Bhambri comes off a clay final in Samarkand, where he lost to Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Edmund has shown good consistency on clay in recent times, reaching three Challenger quarterfinals in a row, but it’s clear that it’s not his best surface. This is not the case for Melzer, who just comes off a dream run at the ATP 250 event of Munich, where he beat #42 Pablo Andujar (by retirement), #44 Dominic Thiem and took a set off #26 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semi-final.
First quarter
18-year-old top seed Hyeon Chung is currently ranked #69 and came into the qualifying event after missing the entry deadline due to a misunderstanding from the Korean tennis association, with the Roland Garros organization making a very unique exception in handing him a wildcard. Naturally, Chung is the big favorite to qualify, with perhaps Nikoloz Basilashvili being the only player that can threaten him on a good day.
The second section knows a similarly big favorite in Alexander Zverev, also 18. Up until recently this might not have been the case due to Zverev’s results being seriously lacking, but recently he has really picked up his game. This saw him winning the Heilbronn Challenger and entering the top 100 last week. He faces Horacio Zeballos in the first round, who is a shadow of his former self and lost 6-4 6-2 to Zverev in the first round last week. The other players in this section don’t have clay as their favorite surface and perhaps Marius Copil is the only one who can threaten Zverev, in the final qualifying round.
Third seed Facundo Bagnis has been playing on green clay in the United States in the lead-up to Roland Garros, with very mixed results. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him go out against one of Renzo Olivo, Andrea Arnaboldi or Denis Kudla in the final qualifying round. Arnaboldi and Kudla face off in a very interesting first round clash, in which Arnaboldi has to be marked the slight favorite, despite Kudla being the seeded player (#30).
The fourth quarter is a highly interesting one, with a bunch of players who could go through. As said, Rola and Ramirez Hidalgo face off in the first round, but Roberto Carballes Baena, Elias Ymer and Thiemo de Bakker are placed in this section as well and might be more likely than fourth seed Rola to go through, with De Bakker coming off a final in Bordeaux last week. Although the Dutchman is highly inconsistent and might well return to mediocrity this week. Carballes Baena plays Peter Gojowczyk in the first round, but the German is just coming back from a lengthy injury lay-off and it’s far from certain if he is healthy enough to be a factor here. Carballes Baena might just have the consistent game to come through this section.
To qualify from this quarter: (1) Chung, (2) Zverev, Arnaboldi and Carballes Baena
Second quarter
As mentioned, fifth seed Brown has a horror draw against Daniel, with the Japanese clay court specialist actually being the slight favorite in their match. The main draw spot will highly likely be reached by someone in the top section, with Marton Fucsovics also being in the mix. The bottom section is headed by Michal Przysiezny and is unlikely to produce someone who can threaten the three candidates from the top half.
Sixth seed Luca Vanni has been one of the revelations this season, making a breakthrough out of virtually nowhere at Sao Paulo, where he reached the final and almost took down the title, but eventually fell to Pablo Cuevas after a long battle. He has a tricky opening round against Adrian Ungur, but should come through and reach the main draw after beating the highly unpredictable Andrey Golubev in the final qualifying round.
Seventh seed Norbert Gombos heads a section that could go either way. Outside of him, Yoshihito Nishioka and Guilherme Clezar all have a fair shot at qualifying as well. #23 seed Farrukh Dustov is in atrocious form at the moment and is unlikely to play a role. Given that Gombos and Clezar aren’t in the best form of their lives either, this might be a golden opportunity for 19-year-old Nishioka to come through.
The eighth section is very hard to predict, with a wide variety of players having a shot at going through. James Ward and James McGee don’t have clay as their best surface, with with highly unpredictable players like Christian Lindell, Christian Garin and Daniel Munoz-De La Nava being their competition, being solid might just prove to be enough.
To qualify from this quarter: Daniel, (6) Vanni, Nishioka and (28) Munoz-De La Nava
Third quarter
Ninth seed Alejandro Gonzalez heads this section, but he comes off a demolition job in the first qualifying round of Rome, where he lost 6-2 6-0 to Thomaz Bellucci. The other seed here, Albert Montanes, seems to be heading towards retirement, which makes this an interesting opportunity for Andre Ghem or Antonio Veic, who face off in the first round. With Ghem being the more consistent of the two, this might be a golden opportunity for the 32-year-old to qualify for his first Roland Garros, although Gonzalez will still be the favorite to go through.
Tenth seed Kimmer Coppejans is hard to ignore in the next section, playing the tennis of his life. Last month he reached two Challenger finals on clay, winning one of them and it’s unlikely that anyone in his section will trouble him. Radu Albot might come close, but he is more at home on hardcourts.
As mentioned, eleventh seed Alejandro Falla faces off against cult hero Lamine Ouahab in the first round. If we pretend that Ouahab is a normal player this is a draw from heaven for him, if he beats Falla he is projected to play Niels Desein/Maxime Authom and Rui Machado/Alexander Kudryavtsev, but since Roland Garros isn’t played in Morocco it’s just as likely he will lose 6-2 6-2 to Falla. Nevertheless, given that this section has no other stand-out favorite, I might as well let my hopes guide me and predict him to go through.
Closing this quarter is a section headed by Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, the 29-year-old Spaniard who is making an unexpected rise and is playing the tennis of his life, nearing the top 100. Based on recent form I have to go with Gerald Melzer, however, who is also a lot more at home on clay than Menendez-Maceiras. Nicolas Jarry, Potito Starace and Kyle Edmund are dangerous outsiders in this section.
To qualify from this quarter: (9) Gonzalez, (10) Coppejans, Ouahab and Melzer
Fourth quarter
Thirteenth seed Guido Pella has been in more than excellent form, taking down titles in San Luis Potosi and Sao Paulo, plus reaching a final and semi-final in Heilbronn and Santos, making him the big favorite to advance from this section. Pella has an interesting rivalry with Facundo Arguello, the other seed here and the only one who could potentially threaten him, with their head to head being 3-3. They have met twice this year, remarkably with Pella taking the first meeting 6-4 6-3 and Arguello the second one 6-2 6-3. Nevertheless, Pella should be marked the favorite.
The next section might go between two unseeded players, Yuki Bhambri and Jason Kubler, with Bhambri having the edge. Bhambri is severely underranked after coming back from injury, which he showed by reaching the Samarkand final last week. He is a favorite against fourteenth seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the first round and against the other players in this section as well, which includes Jurgen Zopp and Matthias Bachinger.
Fifteenth seed Tobias Kamke heads the by far weakest section of this draw, which also includes Evgeny Donskoy, Iliya Marchenko and Somdev Devvarman. Not only is Kamke on an eleven-match losing streak, none of the other players is strong on clay. Normally Pere Riba would be the favorite here, but he hasn’t played all year due to injury and is far from certain to be match fit. No matter who goes through, he will likely be a very easy opponent in the first round of the main draw.
The final section should be a prey for Marco Cecchinato, who won the Turin Challenger two weeks ago and is in excellent form. He has a very favorable draw against players who don’t favor clay, with the only competition perhaps coming in the final qualifying round, where he is projected to face Austin Krajicek or Filippo Volandri, both of whom will be a solid underdog against Cecchinato.
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 Indian Wells ATP Qualifying Headliners Include Young Guns Coric, Nishioka, Veterans Melzer, Mathieu, and Sela Adam Addicott and Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic
Whilst the top stars of the ATP World Tour will make their final preparations for the first Masters event of 2015 at Indian Wells on the practice courts. The competitive action in the men’s draw will begin today with the start of the qualifying event. 48 players will battle against each other on court during two rounds in order to win one of the 12 qualification slots in the main draw. The 12 qualifiers will also get a guaranteed $10,485 for playing in the first round.
Heading the seeds will be teenage sensation Borna Coric. The 18-year-old comes into the event will a huge amount of confidence following his impressive run at the ATP Dubai Open where he beat Andy Murray to reach the semi final of the tournament. His Dubai performance has elevated him to a career ranking high of 60 in the world. In the first round, he will play Artem Smirnov from the Ukraine and could potentially face Gastão Elias in the next round if all goes to plan. If the Croatian qualifies for the main draw, it will be the first Master event that he has participated in. Look for Coric, if he can avoid a hangover from Davis Cup in Europe, to qualify as he’s the strongest player in his section by far.
Second seed Go Soeda has so far experienced a very average start to 2015. He reached the second round of the Australian Open after beating Elias Ymer in the first round and also reached the second round of the ATP Zagreb Open. Despite being ranked 84 in the world, the Japanese player is yet to beat a top 100 played in 2015. The highest ranked player he has beaten so far this year was Matthias Bachinger (119) last month. In the first round, he will player world 164 Alex Bolt. Soeda comes off Davis Cup for Japan, and may be fatigued, giving Bolt a decent shot an upset, however the Aussie is 1-2 with a retirement in his last four matches, and that does not bode well for his chances. I expect Alejandro Falla to be the round 2 opponent for Soeda, as the veteran ball striker is in better form than James McGee, even though he’s struggled all year himself. McGee has lost four straight, while Falla has at least managed some wins at a lower level. I also favor Falla over Soeda to qualify.
Jurgen Melzer (3) is bidding to play in the Indian Wells main draw for the 12th consecutive year. Melzer, who reached the fourth round of the tournament back in 2010, is hoping to regain some solid form in his game after a poor month. The former world number 8 has lost 5 out of his last 6 matches played. The veteran player will open up his qualifying campaign against another veteran player Danai Udomchoke. 33-year-old Udomchoke is currently ranked 326 in the world, however he has been ranked high as 77 back in 2007. On paper this sound be a straight forward encounter for Melzer and could potentially face 2014 Australian Open junior champion Alexander Zverev in the final round.Given his poor showing in Davis Cup, I see Melzer winning his round 2 match but losing to either the young gun Zverev, or American veteran Michael Russell, who always plays his best on home soil.
Completing the top five seeds are Damir Džumhur and Spainiard Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Dzumhur, who rose to media spotlight last year where he reached the third round as a qualifier at the Australian Open, will play Frank Dancevic in their first ever meeting. Meanwhile Gimeno-Trove will play Jason Jung from America in what will also be their first ever meeting. Dzumhur played well in Davis Cup, so he should be able to defeat Dancevic and veteran Philipp Petzschner or Marco Cecchinato thereafter to qualify.
As for DGT, if he wins his first match over Jung, he will not be favored, given he much prefers clay, against Aljaz Bedene who has had a strong 2015 thus far. Bedene has American Dennis Novikov as his first opponent.
6 seed Tobias Kamke has an interesting round 1 match against Nikoloz Basilashvili of the Republic of Georgia. Basilashvili started the year off strong and won his first ever ATP main draw match, but he’s cooled off since then with three straight ATP qualifying losses. Kamke is to some extent a declining veteran so I have him falling to Basilashvili, and then the Georgian regaining form and qualifying with a win over either Alex Kuznetsov or Victor Hanescu, both steady veterans.
7 seed Farrukh Dustov, who has a challenger title this season, should defeat struggling young American Mackenzie McDonald, but he’s not the favorite in his section, that title goes to the retiring serve and volleyer Michael Berrer, who will face young gun Taro Daniel (who he beat this year in AO qualies). Berrer should qualify given his good form this year, that included a win over Rafael Nadal in Doha, though this is an unpredictable section.
Look for Aussie J.P. Smith to upset Filip Krajinovic, the 8 seed. Krajinovic played Davis Cup this weekend and he’s not as formidable on hard courts, while Smith is perhaps nearing a major breakthrough. Either Smith or Polish veteran Lukasz Kubot are most likely to qualify in this section, as Kubot also comes off DC duty and faces another Aussie, Luke Saville in round 1.
9 seed James Duckworth does not have an easy matchup with rapidly improving American Jared Donaldson who will have the home fans behind him. I believe in Donaldson this time around to qualify on home soil, with wins over Duckworth and American Rajeev Ram, who faces Marco Trungelliti in round 1.
10 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, who has been up and down this season, faces USC standout Yannick Hanfmann, a wild card, and then he is likely to face his struggling countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin in round 2 (ERV faces dirtballer Guido Andreozzi in round 1). ERV has plenty of talent but he’s been poor for quite some time, and PHM should be the one to qualify.
Davis Cup Hero James Ward also has a good shot at qualifying as he continues his quest to break into the top 100, Ward Faces Mitchell Krueger of the USA in round 1, and then the winner of Yoshito Nishioka vs. the veteran Mischa Zverev (the older brother of Alex), in round 1. I have Nishioka qualifying, as he did in Delray, but Ward is also playing well so it’s a tough call.
12 seed Dudi Sela struggled in Davis Cup action for Israel, but he’s still favored to beat young American Taylor Harry Fritz. Look for a relatively in-form Thiemo De Bakker to beat Emilio Gomez and then Sela to qualify, as he could pose a threat to the main draw entrants if he does qualify. De Bakker has always had the talent, but his effort and desire has been lacking at times.
The action should be quite exciting from Indian Wells, and Adam will have a recap of the qualifying results once the qualifying tournament concludes on Wednesday.
Nishioka, Kokkinakis, and Ginepri among possible qualifiers in Delray Beach (ATP Delray Day 2 Qualies Recap) Jessica Luzadas for Tennis Atlantic
Tennis Atlantic is proud to present on site credentialed coverage from local Delray Beach journalist Jessica Luzadas, who is reporting for us on site this week at the tournament. Jessica was on site today, and will provide coverage of the action tomorrow, and next weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) for Tennis Atlantic at the Delray Beach Open. Here is her first report-the editors
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Nishioka celebrates his tough round 2 qualies win
Young guns Yoshihito Nishioka, Thanasi Kokkinakis, and American veteran Robby Ginepri were among qualifying winners in the second round of qualifying, completed today at the Delray Beach Open in Delray Beach, Florida. The Japanese player Nishioka scored a win over American Marcos Giron a former UCLA product, he came back from dropping the first set 4-6 to win the final two frames 6-3 6-2, as Nishioka starting mixing in aces (8 over the final two sets) and frustrating Giron who wilted in the end, allowing Nishioka to win 29 out of 47 points in the third set. Previously, Nishioka defeated former VA Tech Hokie Patrick Daciek in the first round of qualifying in 3 sets 6-3 4-6 6-4.
Thanasi Kokkinakis continued his rise to ATP stardom, dominating Argentine Guido Andreozzi 6-3 6-2. Andreozzi clearly preferred playing on clay as he generated just one break point against the Australian, in a contest that barely last an hour. On Saturday, Kokkinakis likewise had no problem earning a win, beating wild card Ty Trombetta 6-1 6-4.
A player with much more experience than those two young guns, American Robby Ginepri, the former US Open semifinalist (the last American to reach the semis of a slam), defeated an in-form Aljaz Bedene 6-3 6-4. Bedene, previously reached the final in Chennai this year as a qualifier and also qualified for the Australian Open, but on this day Ginepri played more efficient tennis, breaking Bedene on 4 out of 5 chances, twice in each set, to win the match. Ginepri’s third round qualifying opponent will be JP Smith of Australia, the former Tennessee Volunteer beat Kiwi Michael Venus, who formerly played at LSU. The scoreline for that one was 2-6 6-2 6-4. Previously Ginepri beat Gianni Mina in round 1 6-2 6-2, and Smith beat young American Jared Donaldson who was coming off a win in the Memphis maindraw, in round 1, in an upset. Kokkinakis’ third round opponent will be American veteran Alex Kuznetsov, Alex K beat Chunan Wang of China in round 2 today 6-4 7-6(5). Kuznetsov beat 19 year old Spaniard Jaume Pla Malfeito in round 1 on Saturday 6-4 6-1.
For Nishioka, American Sekou Bangoura awaits in round 3 tomorow, Bangoura pulled off a slight upset over young American Noah Rubin 6-4 2-6 6-4. The 18 year old Rubin, who is 0-2 in previous ATP level main draw matches, will not have his third try at a main draw win in Delray Beach this week. Previously Bangoura beat Artem Smirnov 3-6 6-4 7-6(7).
The final qualifying spot will be decided between veteran Romanian Victor Hanescu, who normally has his best showings on clay, or American Eric Quigley. Hanescu beat James McGee 6-3 4-6 6-4 on Saturday and Pavel Krainik 6-2 6-3 today. Quigley beat Facundo Mena 6-7(2) 6-3 6-3 on Saturday, then slipped past Chase Buchanan, a former Ohio State product, in a 3 set epic today 4-6 7-6(7) 7-6(3). Tomorrow in Delray I will have coverage of the final round qualifying matches along with main draw action featuring exciting talents Alex Dolgopolov, Denis Kudla, and Dustin Brown among others.
A lot of people were interested to see how Ryan Sweeting’s comeback at Challenger level would play out, but he clearly wasn’t ready to be competitive just yet, losing 6-3 6-0 to qualifier Nicolas Meister in the first round. Meister, however, would proceed to profit hugely from all seeds in the top half going out, making it all the way to the final without facing one. Meister beat fellow qualifier Takanyi Garanganga, who took out top seed Denis Kudla, in the quarterfinal and James McGee in the semi-final.
In the bottom half Ryan Harrison went through yet another disappointing loss, falling to Dennis Novikov in the first round. Jared Donaldson went on a great run, taking out second seed Bradley Klahn in the semi-final to reach the final without dropping a set. In the final Meister wasn’t a match for him either and got easily dispatched by Donaldson, outside of a small hiccup when he went up a double break in the second. Donaldson took down his first ever Challenger title after a 6-1 6-4 victory. Donaldson is now ranked inside of the top 200 for the first time, rising 73 spots to #178. Meister posts a new career high ranking just outside of the top 300 at #302.
The doubles draw held some controversy, as Wayne Odesnik and Michael Shabaz blatantly tanked the super-tiebreak of their second round match, giving absolutely no effort. See for yourself, it starts at the one hour mark and gets particularly ridiculous at 5-3, as Odesnik simply hits the ball to the ground and the team proceeds to get aced twice in a row http://new.livestream.com/ATP/royallahainachallenger2015stadium/videos/75406462
Bucaramanga Challenger
The tournament started off with a miracle that sent purists into a state of delight, as Enrico Becuzzi and Paolo Lorenzi entered the doubles draw as alternates, getting paired to Sam Barnett and Kevin Kim in the first round. Becuzzi and Barnett are the two most famous amateur players trying to make it as professionals, but as in their singles match two years ago, Becuzzi triumphed here as well, 6-1 6-4. In the second round they fell 6-1 6-2 to Martin Cuevas/Guido Pella. Another tanking controversy occured with Andre Ghem and Gerard Melzer, who blatantly gave away their doubles match in a 6-2 6-0 loss. In the singles draw Lorenzi got upset by Gerald Melzer in the second round, 6-4 3-6 6-3. Profiting from Lorenzi going out was Gastao Elias, who beat Melzer in the next round and went on to reach the final after beating Jordi Samper-Montana in the semi-final. Samper-Montana beat Kevin Kim in the first round, who was playing on a presumably bought wild card due to pairing up in doubles with the wealthy Barnett, considering the 36 year old Kim is unranked and has been effectively retired since 2012.
In the bottom half #7 seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver annihilated #2 seed Victor Estrella-Burgos 6-0 6-4 in the quarterfinal, after which he beat Facundo Bagnis 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 for a place in the final against Elias. Another long three set match followed, with Gimeno-Traver once again coming out on top, 6-3 1-6 7-5. With that result Gimeno-Traver recaptured a spot inside of the top 100, rising 21 spots to #89. Elias rose 17 spots to #126.
Hong Kong Challenger
Quite remarkably not a single seed in the top half survived the first round. Top seed Ricardas Berankis fell to Saketh Myneni, #4 seed Jimmy Wang to Di Wu, #6 seed Yuichi Sugita to Matthew Ebden and #8 seed Hiroki Moriya to Niels Desein. None of them could really build on the upset, as the semi-finalists were Kyle Edmund and Yoshihito Nishioka. Edmund won their match 7-6(2) 6-0. In the bottom half #2 seed Tatsuma Ito did live up to his seeding, beating Hyeon Chung 6-4 6-0 for a place in the final. Both men didn’t drop a set on their way to the final, but Edmund clearly was the better player, comfortably beating Ito 6-1 6-2. Edmund rose to a career high ranking of #148, rising 44 spots. Ito marginally improved with three spots, landing at #86.
