Tournament Previews and Day 1 Review: Rotterdam, San Jose, Brazil
February 8, 2010 · Print This Article
Tournament Previews:
Week two of the ATP World Tour’s indoor North American and European swing will continue this week, alongside the second week of four weeks of South American tennis.
First up this week, the highest point value tournament will be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Boasting three top 10 players, ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament will be without its defending champion and finalist from last year, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal. Murray has decided to minalize his schedule this year in order to gain greater output at the Major tournaments, while Nadal remains sidelined with a right knee injury.
In light of the notable absentees, the 32-man field in Rotterdam will feature top seed Novak Djokovic, No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko, and No. 3 seed Robin Soderling.
Other possible unseeded contenders for the title will include: Marcos Baghadatis, James Blake and Michael Llodra. The winner of the event will pocket € 277,000 in prize money and 500 ATP World Tour points.
The week’s second profile event will be held in San Jose, California. Top seed Andy Roddick, fresh off his quarterfinal finish in Melbourne, will attempt to capture his fourth career title at the SAP Open. Roddick will be joined by No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco, defending champ and No. 3 seed Radek Stepanek, and recently turned American, No. 4 seed Tommy Haas.
Other notables in the field will include: No. 7 seed Sam Querrey, No. 8 seed Jeremy Chardy and No. 5 seed Thomas Berdych. The winner of the week-long event will take home 250 ATP World Tour points and $90,925 in prize money.
The final and warmest event of the week will take place in Costa do Saupie, Brazil. The second leg of the month-long South American outdoor series will provide the Tour’s clay-court players the chance to fine-tune their skills on their favorite surface. Defending champ Tommy Robredo opted to miss the event and try his luck at the bigger point total in Rotterdam. The absence of Robredo leaves former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrer as the tournament top seed. Ferrero has yet to win a title this year, snapping a six-year title drought be claiming the title in Casablanca, Morocco last spring.
Ferrero will be joined by countryman Albert Montanes as the event’s No. 2 seed, and recent Santiago, Chile winner No. 3 seed Thomaz Bellucci. Bellucci defeated both No. 1 and No. 2 seeds Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Monaco last week in Chile.
Potential darkhorses in the event will include: No. 8 seed Richard Gasquet, No. 7 seed Horacio Zeballos, and unseeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers. The winner in Brazil will take home $75,700 in prize money, and 250 valuable ATP World Tour points.
Let’s now take a look at Monday’s first-round results.
ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament—Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Struggling Swede Robin Soderling got off to a slow start in Rotterdam on Monday, overcoming a first-set scare to defeat Florent Serra 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Failing to convert on two break-point chances in the opening set, Soderling quickly found himself in danger of losing his fourth consecutive match. Winning a mere 46 percent of his second serve points in the first set became a cause for concern going forward. However, the powerful Swede amped up his efforts in the second set, converting on the lone break of serve by either player to square the contest at a set apiece.
Gaining full momentum in the third set, Soderling breezed to his first main-Tour win of the season in one hour and 46 minutes. Striking 26 aces in total, Soderling will next face Mischa Zverev or Igor Sijsling in the second-round.
Other results on day one action in The Netherlands saw Florian Mayer defeat Janko Tisparevic 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (8), and Andres Seppi dismiss Stephane Bohli 6-1, 7-5.
Mayer needed just short of three hours to defeat Tipsarevic in an epic encounter. With both men winning over 80 percent of their first serve points, Mayer’s slightly more powerful delivery prevailed deep in the third-set tiebreak. Pounding 12 aces in total, Mayer improved to 3-2 on the season. The loss dropped Tipsarevic to 4-4 on the year. Mayer will next face the winner of the day’s final match between local hero Robin Hasse and No. 5 seed Tommy Robredo.
Seppi converted on six of 17 break point chances to dismiss his No. 142 ranked opponent. Using his court-craft and cunning net-play, Seppi ousted Bohli in one hour and 27 minutes, while improving to 3-3 on the season.
Seppi will next face the winner of No. 8 seed Viktor Troicki vs. Jurgen Melzer in round two.
SAP Open—San Jose, California
West coast action from California will feature four Americans on Monday’s docket. With 13 Americans in the main draw this week, the fans in San Jose will have plenty of favorites to cheer for.
Monday’s order of play will feature:
Wayne Odesnik vs. No. 5 seed Thomas Berdych, Ryan Harrison vs. Denis Istomin, and Alex Bogmolov Jr. vs. Taylor Dent.
Odenisk will have his hands full with Berdych’s firepower, while Harrison holds a great shot against Istomin. Bogmolov Jr. and Dent should provide an entertaining affair, with Dent possessing a much bigger serve.
Other matches on day one action in San Jose will feature:
Dudi Sela vs. Santiago Giraldo, Leonardo Mayer vs. Ernests Gulbis, and Jarrko Nieminen vs. Lars Poerschke.
Top seed Andy Roddick and No. 2 seed Fernando Verdasco will see first-round action on Wednesday evening. Verdasco will take on former world No. 1 and tournament champion Pete Sampras in an exhibition event on Monday evening.
Brazil Open—Costa do Saupie
A light day of action in Brazil will feature three men’s singles matches on Monday. The hot and humid conditions in Costa do Saupie will test each of the 32-main draw participants vying for the title this week.
No. 2 seed Albert Montanes will begin his campaign for his third career title on Monday when he faces Simon Greul of Germany. Montanes has poured in stellar results in the past year, capturing two titles in 2009.
Montanes’ countryman and recently married Santiago Ventura will battle good friend Daniel Gimeno-Traver later in the day. Ventura, who is currently ranked No. 108 in the world, will be attempting to regain his ranking of No. 65 which he held in March of 2008.
The day’s final match will feature Paola Lorenzi vs. local favorite Ricardo Mello. The pair have never met on the ATP World Tour, while holding one Tour-level win between them this season.
It has also been reported that former French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten will be attending the event this week.
As always, please check the TennisConnected livescores section located at the top menu for all the day’s results. Talk soon.
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