Wednesday, August 26, 2009

US Open Mens Qualifying

The US Open starts Monday, but qualifying has already begun. Here's a glance at a few interesting notes...expect a main draw preview in the next few days.

Huge round 2 matchup - Grigor Dimitrov vs. Thomas Bellucci....too bad we can't have both these guys make the main draw...they should both be top 80 next year and get straight in.
Bellucci is the #1 seed.

Xavier Malisse lost in round 1, 6-1 in the 3rd to the #2 seed Zeballos, another Argentine. Other 'has been' names include Arnaud Clement (hasn't played yet), Gaston Gaudio (not played), Dominik Hrbaty - lost in straight sets to the one time promising young American Scoville Jenkins, and our favorite oddball American, Vince Spadea (not played).

If you were a fan of track & field in the mid 80's, you remember Sergey Bubka, who basically broke the pole vault record every other meet, it seemed. His son won his 1st round qualie match and plays Zeballos next. George Bastl, who's tennis claim to fame is beating 'the chimp' Pete Sampras at Wimby in 2002, got double-bageled by the immortal Roko Karanusic in round 1 - ouch!!

Finally, Carsten Ball, who came out of nowhere to make the finals in L.A. a month ago, won his first round match.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Wimbledon Round of 16

8 Matches...all interesting...here they are:

1. Hewitt-Stepanek...People think of Hewitt and Wimbledon as ancient history (2002), but his results since 2004 are QFs, SF, QFs, 4th, 4th. Lleyton takes down the awkward Stepanek.

2. Roddick-Berdych...this is Berdych's 3rd trip to the Round of 16 in his career, making the QFs in 2007. Nice resume for the tall Czech, but A-Rod's been to the finals twice - he'll move on.

3. Murray-Wawrinka...For the 2nd yr in a row, the 24 yr old Swiss #2 is in the round of 16. Murray, who made the 4th round here in 2006 as a 19 yr old, and QFs last year, will make this the 2nd yr in a row that Wawrinka goes down in the 4th.

4. Simon-Ferrero...JC F's Grand Slam wins since 2005 are the following: Aussie 8 match wins, French 7, Wimbledon 13, US Open 1. This is his best GS surface the last 4 yrs - a former clay champion making wise adjustments as he slows down. Simon is a legit top 10 talent, only 24 yrs old. This is a coin flip.

5. Haas-Andreev...What a revival for the 31 yr old German vet! He's in the 4th round here for the 2nd time in his career (2007), after scaring the daylights out of Fed in the 4th at Roland Garros last month. Ride the wave, Haas over the Russian in 4 sets.

6. Djokovic-Sela...Yes, Dudi Sela finally made a GS round of 16. Despite the funny first name, Sela is actually a rising young talent, also 24, who has steadily improved his ranking to inside the top 50 (46) now. That said, No Joke will show him the door.

7. Verdasco-Karlovic...For the 3rd time in the last 4 yrs, Verdasco has made the 4th round here. I think this will be the year he finally moves further. Amazingly, this is only the 2nd time that Karlovic has been in a GS 4th rnd match...and that was 5 years ago also at Wimby.

8. Federer-Soderling...How's this for a slam resume? Roger, when's the last time you didn't make the finals at Wimbledon? A: 2002. When's the last time you failed to make the semi's of any GS event? A: French in 2004. When is the last time you didn't win the US Open? A: 2003. Any success in Australia? A: 3 titles, made the semi's every year since 2003. As for the result of this match...see the French final a few weeks ago.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Flaky Blaky Does it Again!

For the 2nd Grand Slam in a row, James Blake is out in 3 sets…to a much lower ranked opponent. Andreas Seppi of Italy, a nice player on clay, took Blake out 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(5) in the first day of action at Wimbledon today. A month ago, Argentine Leonardo Mayer did the same thing at Roland Garros. This marks the first time in Blake’s career that he’s lost in the first round at back-to-back slams. I think it’s a sign of things to come.

What a dud this great athlete is as a competitor. Great speed & explosiveness with above average strength & a huge forehand, but constantly has mysterious meltdowns in matches, and loses way more often than he should…he just plain chokes a lot. His most famous meltdown was the 2005 US Open QF’s where he had Agassi down two sets and was cruising…then fell out of rhythm, never fully got it back, and lost in 5. He never did make a GS semi, and won’t now. He turns 30 this year, and soon enough, he’ll be eligible for the Champions Tour; I can’t wait.

Wimby Notes Day 1 – Benneteau gave No Joke plenty of trouble and tight moments while taking the first set and pushing #2 to a tiebreaker, but ultimately succumbed in 4…Andreev survived a similar scare from the Russian Korolev, also winning in 4…2 time quarter-finalist (‘05, ‘08) Feliciano Lopez lost 10-8 in the 5th to Karol Beck, a 27 yr old career journeyman ranked just inside the top 150 at #146. It’s been a disappointing year for Lopez, he seems to be fading, turning 28 in Sept.