Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Americans Surprise, Take Both Titles

There were two tournaments this week, at Dubai, where many of the biggest names in the game participated, and at Las Vegas, with far less top 20 talents but a few big names as well, including Gonzo, Hewitt, and Baghdatis – all top 25 players. Both tournaments were won in surprising fashion by Americans – Andy Roddick in Dubai and Sam Querry in Las Vegas.

In Dubai, there were a few different surprises, starting with Federer’s loss to Andy Murray in the opening round. Next, Feliciano Lopez, a southpaw Spaniard who actually enjoys going to net but hasn’t done anything of note lately on the tour (came in ranked #41), beat top 10 baseline experts Nicolay Davydenko and David Ferrer in the quarters and semis to make his first ATP final in almost 2 years. It was there that his run ended though, as Roddick, who shocked the tennis world by beating both Nadal and Djokovic back-to-back in the quarters and semis (both matches straight sets), handled Lopez in the final 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. It was Roddick’s 25th career title in 38 finals, while Lopez has now lost all but one of his 5 finals appearances, the lone victory coming 4 years ago in Vienna.

At Las Vegas, the 20 year old Querry won his first ATP title, beating another very unexpected finalist, Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Anderson, who came into the tournament ranked #175 (is now #121), took out the number 6 seed Michael Llodra as well as former US Open semifinalist (2005) Robby Ginepri in the semis before succumbing to the highly touted youngster 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the finals. Ironically, Querry’s opponent in the final was far less accomplished than each of the four players he beat to reach the final – Sebastian Grosjean (multiple grand Slam semis) in the 1st, Nicolas Kiefer (former top 10 player) in the 2nd, Julien Benneteau (top 35 last year) in the quarters, and Guillermo Canas (7 career titles, former top 10) in the semis. Querry has now bumped his ranking to #48, and has a shot at being seeded (top 32) by the time this year’s US Open rolls around.

This week, the top players have a few days off while many aspiring stars ranked between 250 & 70 battle to qualify for the Indian Wells event that starts Thursday and Friday. This is the first Masters Series event of the year.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Two More Surprising Winners

There were three more events last week, and two of them had surprising outcomes. In Memphis, Belgian Steve Darcis, who exactly 1 year ago was ranked # 461, beat Robin Soderling 6-3, 7-6 to win his 2nd ATP title and move up 35 spots in the rankings to # 46. His first title was even more amazing, though. Last summer, Darcis entered the Amersfoot, Netherlands event ranked # 297, and yet won the title, beating two very tough Russians in the quarters and semis, Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny. Darcis turns 24 in about a week, so by ATP standards, he’s a late bloomer, but he sure has bloomed loudly in the last year.

The other surprising win was Sergey Stakhovsky beating Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 6-4 in Zagreb, Croatia. Stakhovsky entered the tournament # 209 in the world, the accomplished veteran Ljubicic # 25. Nonetheless, the tall, skinny (6’4”, 176lbs) young Ukranian, now 22 yrs old, took down the vet for his 1st ATP tournament victory. He is still only 123rd in the world now, but expect to see him in the top 70 at least by the time the US Open rolls around.

Finally, in Acapulco, Mexico, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro won his 2nd clay court event in two weeks, defeating the top seed and # 7 player in the world David Nalbandian of Argentina in yet another straight set final, 6-1, 7-6. It was Almagro’s 4th career title, and it bodes well for his chances at the French, where he hasn’t yet shined as brightly as many thought he would, as he’s never gotten beyond the 2nd round in four attempts.

This week many of the stars are playing in Dubai, while there’s also a secondary event in Las Vegas. In Dubai, world #1 Roger Federer drew the tough Brit Andy Murray in the first round and lost, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Since this was Fed’s first match since losing to Djokovic in the Aussie Open semis, it got me to thinking – Fed now has a two match losing streak; when is the last time he lost two matches in a row?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Kei Who???

There were three tournaments last week, and one shocking result, the kind that occurs every 5 years or so. At Delray Beach, Fla., Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori, who turned 18 in late December, beat American James Blake 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final to become the first Japanese tour winner in 16 years (Shuzo Matsuoka, 1992), and the youngest winner on tour since 1998 (Lleyton Hewitt). Nishikori, who qualified to get in the tournament as the 244th ranked player in the world, beat another American in the semi’s, Sam Querry, saving multiple match points down 3-6 in a 3rd set tiebreaker.

I’ve never seen Nishikori play – unfortunately didn’t catch any of the Delray Beach action on The Tennis Channel – but I’m sure he must be quite speedy at 5’10” 150lbs. He actually played in 3 ATP tournaments in the states last summer as a 17 year old – Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and Washington D.C. – winning two matches in Indy and one in D.C. He jumped an astounding 113 spots to #131 in the rankings this week. Hopefully he keeps up the solid results and we have a new top 30 star in the making.

The other two tournaments were at Salvador, Brazil and Marseille, France. In Brazil, it was two Spanish clay-court stars battling in the final, one reaching his prime (Nicolas Almagro) and the other enjoying good results in what should be the twilight of his career (Carlos Moya). The 22 year old Alamgro took the final for his 3rd career title, beating Moya 7-6, 3-6, 7-5. It was Moya’s 43rd career finals match, 20 of which have resulted in titles. In Marseille, Andy Murray took down Mario Ancic (finally back from injury) 6-3, 6-4, to win his 5th career title. It was Ancic’s 10th career finals appearance and the 7th time he’s lost in those matches. This week there are three more events being played - Rotterdam, Buenos Aries, and San Jose.