Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Indoor Season Heats Up

There were three events this past week, all of them indoors and all won by Eastern Europeans. In Moscow, Nicolay Davydenko won his country’s Kremlin Cup, defeating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 7-6(9) in the finals. Mathieu’s strong performance bumps him up to 21 in the world, just 1 spot off his career high ranking of 20 just before the start of the U.S. Open. Davydenko meanwhile, stays at # 4, seemingly undistracted by the ATP’s investigation into tennis gambling after his now notorious retirement from a match with Martin Vassallo-Arguello. The evidence in that case makes Davydenko look so overwhelmingly guilty (heavy $$$ bet on the huge underdog, only increasing after Davy won the first set, then the mystery injury forcing Davy to forfeit the match), it will be interesting to see what the investigation turns up.

In Stockholm, another local countryman made the finals, Thomas Johansson, but this time couldn’t win, as the Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic won 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. The 6’ 10” Karlovic is now at a career high 24 in the world after winning his 3rd career title, all of them coming this year. Johansson meanwhile has enjoyed quite a revival this year as the former Australian Open Champ (2002), who took out the #1 seed and perennial disappointment American James Blake in the semi’s, is now at # 39 after starting the year at # 71.

In Vienna, Austria, the Serbian Sensation Novak Djokovic took home his 5th title of the year and 7th of his career, drubbing Switzerland’s second best player, Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-0 in the final. Wawrinka is currently 35th in the world, just a few spots off his all-time high, as the 22 year old has established himself as a legitimate top player now after a stellar junior’s career. Djokovic is firmly entrenched at # 3, a spot he has occupied since reaching the semi’s of Wimbledon this year.

This week is the Masters Series event at Madrid, Spain, also indoors. Some interesting 2nd round matchups include an all French battle, Mathieu vs. Gasquet, Djokovic playing the dangerous but often inconsistent Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, and Fernando Gonzalez going against Spain’s Nicolas Almagro. With Roddick not entering the tournament, only one American has made it to the 2nd round, the aforementioned Blake, who had a bye in the 1st round. Both Robby Ginepri and Mardy Fish lost in the first round.