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.
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