Gulbis Reaches First Career Masters Semifinal

Internazionali BNL d’Italia—Rome

Talent Latvian Ernests Gulbis reached his first career Masters 1000 semifinal on Friday by defeating former top 20 player Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (8), 6-1.

Overcoming a 4-2, first set deficit, Gublis feathered a delicate drop shot over the net to capture a one set advantage.

Immediately breaking Lopez’s serve to begin the second-set, Gulbis stretched his lead to 5-0 before conceding his first game of the set.

Advancing the biggest semifinal of his career thus far, Gulbis won a heated exchange on match point before Lopez hit a forehand into the net.

Talking to the media during his on-court interview, Gulbis admitted that his serve and forehand were the keys to his victory.

“I served well; I had a good feeling on my forehand,” said Gulbis. “I like playing in the night time because the balls don’t fly so much so I can go for my shots. I’m happy.”

Improving to 19-7 on the season, Gulbis will next face Rafael Nadal for a place in Sunday’s final.

Nadal whipped past Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-1 during the day session. Nadal leads the pair’s head-to-head 2-0.

Quotes courtesy of atpworldtour.com.

RM: Order of Play for Saturday May 1, 2010

CENTER COURT inizio 1:30 pm
[13] D Ferrer (ESP) vs [6] F Verdasco (ESP)

Non Prima 4:00 PM
E Gulbis (LAT) or F Lopez (ESP) vs [3] R Nadal (ESP)
[7] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) vs N Almagro (ESP) / M Granollers (ESP) or [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA)

PIETRANGELI inizio 12:00 noon
P Cuevas (URU) / J Monaco (ARG) vs J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA)

Davydenko Out of Estoril; Monfils Accepts Wildcard

World No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko will remain sidelined for next week’s Estoril Open in Portugal with a broken left wrist. The Russian, who sustained the injury in February, has been out of action since withdrawing from the Indian Wells event in California.

It is not known at this time if Davydenko will have any preparation heading into the French Open.

Frenchman Gael Monfils, who has encountered numerous hand, wrist, and knee injuries this season, will return to the Tour next week in Estoril as a wildcard.

The world No. 18 ranked player has not seen court action since withdrawing from the Miami event in March.

Monfils was seen this week recovering from his wrist injury while playing poker in Monaco.

The 28-man Estoril Open will begin on Monday in Portugal. The event will feature world No. 1 Roger Federer in the field.

Federer Receives Compeed Elegance Award

Before taking the court today at the Roma Masters 1000 in Italy to compete in the doubles draw, world No. 1 Roger Federer was presented with the Compeed Elegance Award.

Compeed, which is a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, signed on as a new sponsor of the ATP World Tour this year.

Compeed will provide products to help the medical teams on the ATP World Tour care of their players.

Nadal Maintains Perfect Record Over Wawrinka In Rome; Reaches Semifinals

Internazionali BNL d’Italia—Rome

Improving to 25-1 lifetime in Rome on Friday, Rafael Nadal continued his steamroll of the clay-court season by upending Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-1 in quarterfinal action.

Needing 90-minutes to prevail, Nadal broke the serve of Wawrinka during the 10th game of the first set after surviving early resistance from his Swiss opponent.

Using his dynamo backhand to great affect throughout the early stages of the contest, Wawrinka appeared poised to give Nadal is toughest match of the week.

However, after the loss of the first set, and an eight minute first game to start the second set, Wawrinka’s bite and weight of shot was all but gone. Losing his serve twice in the second set, Wawrinka’s potent backhand became exploited by Nadal’s left-handed forehand. Creating countless opportunities to hit into the open court, Nadal celebrated his first match point with a victorious double fist pump in the air after Wawrinka overhit his final shot.

Losing 13 games in total while reaching the semifinals, Nadal remains on pace to capture his record tying 17th Masters 1000 title this week. Tied with Roger Federer at 16 Masters 1000 titles, Nadal is on track to shatter Andre Agassi’s record of 17 titles before the end of his career.

Facing either Ernests Gulbis or Feliciano Lopez during Saturday’s semifinal, Nadal will take combined 7-1 head-to-head lead against both players.

Owing a 2-0 head-to-head lead over Gulbis, Nadal lost his first ever match against Lopez as a 17-year-old in Basel, Switzerland. Lopez won that match on a fast indoor carpet court 7-6 in the third set.

All in all, I think it’s safe to say that betting against anything short of a straight set win for Nadal on Saturday is foolish.

Federer Loses In Doubles to Querrey and Isner

Internazionali BNL d’Italia—Rome

The wildcard team of Roger Federer and Yves Allegro saw their title bid in Rome dashed on Friday when they were ousted in straight sets by Sam Querrey and John Isner 6-4, 6-4.

Needing one hour and five minutes to prevail, the tall tandem of Querrey and Isner struck eight aces while winning 76 percent of their first serve points.

By contrast, the team of Federer and Allegro didn’t strike a single ace, while losing their serve on three of five occasions.

Committed to teaming with each other for the remainder of the year, the American duo will next face the South American pairing of Juan Monaco and Pablo Cuevas, who defeated Simone Bolelli and Potito Starace 6-4, 6-4.

After losing in his first match of the week to Ernests Gulbis on Tuesday, Federer was hoping to gain valuable clay-court preparation heading into next month’s French Open.

The Swiss No. 1 will now head to the Estoril Open next week to compete in his second clay-court event of the season.

RM: Quarter Final Review and Semifinal Prediction: Verdasco Wins Classic Over Djokovic; Ferrer Destroys Tsonga

by: Nima Naderi

Internazionali BNL d’Italia—Rome

Friday’s action in Italy saw the continued success of Spanish clay-court tennis this season. Recording wins over higher ranked opponents during quarterfinal action, Fernando Verdasco and David Ferrer set up their 10th career meeting on Saturday after defeating Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, respectively.

Verdasco, who came into his quarterfinal clash with Djokovic in the best form of his career, needed three hours and 17 minutes to dispatch the former champion 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4.

Serving for the first set on three different occasions, Verdasco finally prevailed during an error filled set in a deciding tiebreak. Wearing a new bright yellow jersey to contrast the red dust on Center Court, Djokovic mounted a spirited comeback in the second set which was aided by three breaks of serve. Utilizing his back court defense and return of serve prowess, Djokovic made sure that he would not be handed his second straight set loss by the Spaniard.

However, Djokovic could not escape his serving woes during today’s encounter. Striking seven double faults, Djokovic won a mere 33 percent of his second serve points (14-42), while losing his serve on four of 14 occasions.

Although Djokovic was able to break Verdasco’s serve on five of 11 occasions, the Serb’s poor serving (especially his second serve statistics), proved to be his ultimate downfall.

Another factor that must be taken into account when assessing Djokovic’s loss today was the total time of the match. Djokovic has never held up in long encounters, and today’s result was no different. Djokovic’s method of operation on clay is based around grinding away from the back of the court, while bringing his opponents into the net and striking passing shots. However, with the time of the contest reaching upwards of three hours, Djokovic began to go for broke more than he would have wanted to, which inevitably resulted in numerous unforced errors in the final set.

Djokovic’s historic fatigue and breathing issues will continue to be a problem for not him if he can’t finish off opponents within the two and a half hour mark.

Nevertheless, one would have to think that Djokovic will remain in fatigue mode for the foreseeable future considering that he has champions points to defend in his hometown event in Belgrade next week, and semifinal points to defend at the forthcoming Masters 1000 event in Madrid.

Djokovic told reporters after his loss that he was looking to peak at the French Open.

“I’m happy with the way I played, so definitely the French Open is the place where I want to get a good result,” said Djokovic. ”Obviously I’m very disappointed to lose the match. I was very close to victory and I know that this match could have gone either way; only a couple of points decided the winner. But he won because he played well and he deserved to win.”

Look for a spent Djokovic to arrive in Paris, unless he loses earlier in Belgrade or Madrid.

Onto Verdasco’s great clay campaign of 2010, and his ability to conduct himself like a top four player.

Winning matches under any circumstance becomes the name of the game at this level of competition, and Verdasco has shown throughout the last three weeks that his mental fortitude is right up there with the best players in the sport.

Arriving in Rome with his meter leaning towards empty, the Madrid native persevered through a scratchy second-round encounter with Simone Bolelli (a match that he could have very well lost), before finding not only his form but his second wind. Since that victory over Bolelli, Verdasco has not appeared in any danger of losing his subsequent matches. Defeating countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is straight sets, Verdasco displayed phenomenal endurance and patience in defeating Djokovic today.

Another great attribute that needs to be mentioned here is Verdasco’s fitness level. During his first and third set wins against Djokovic, the Spaniard won a majority of the baseline points when the rallies were extended past seven shots. During the second set, which Verdasco lost, Djokovic was successful when a majority of the rallies were played under five strokes.

Coupled with the fact that Verdasco is clearly tired from his winning ways, the No. 6 seed has proven that his off-court regime has been top notch. Moving onto the rest of the clay-court season, one would have to think that Verdasco remains one of the few and only players that can physically stay with Rafael Nadal during a best of three, or more importantly a best of five set match.

Nevertheless, Verdasco may get another crack at Nadal in the finals on Sunday, but he’ll have his hands full on Saturday when he takes on good friend and clay-court wins leader David Ferrer in the semifinals.

Ferrer displayed demonstrative form on Center Court today in defeating Tsonga 6-4, 6-1. Committing only nine unforced errors throughout his victory, Ferrer needed a workmanlike one hour and 12 minutes to record his 21st clay win of the season.

Keeping Tsonga pinned to the baseline, Ferrer displayed his improved net play by setting up numerous swing volley winners.

Breaking serve on four of 11 occasions, Ferrer lost his serve once in the second set after leading 4-0. Serving out the match after Tsonga donated a double fault to lose his serve, Ferrer raised his hands in victory after Tsonga shanked a final forehand long.

Winning his first career meeting over Tsonga, Ferrer will now have the daunting task of attempting to overcome a 6-3 career head-to-head deficit against Verdasco.

Semifinal Preview:

Defeating two top 10 players this week in Rome, Ferrer’s lack of power could very well be the deciding factor during Saturday’s semifinal. Verdasco currently owns a 5-1 lead on clay-courts, primarily because he can penetrate through the slow court, while maintaining his fitness level. As mentioned, Verdasco is one of the fitness players on Tour, and won’t fall victim to extended rallies against his countryman.

Ferrer does hold a better return game, which could be beneficial especially if Verdasco’s elbow starts to drop on his second serve.

Throwing fitness out the window, Verdasco and Ferrer are undoubtedly the two most confident players on clay this season apart from Nadal.

With that being said, I’d say that Verdasco will need to win the first set in order to prevent Ferrer from opening up his shoulders, and becoming more relaxed.

The outcome of this match lies between Verdasco’s serve and Ferrer’s return. Something tells me, though, that it’s time for Verdasco to rest up and get ready for his home event in Madrid.

Never reaching a Masters 1000 final, look for Ferrer to be in slightly better than his pasta buddy on Saturday.

Pick: Ferrer in three sets.

The top half of men’s semifinals will be determined later on Center Court today, when Rafael Nadal takes a 4-0 head-to-head lead over Stanislas Wawrinka, to be followed by tournament surprises Feliciano Lopez and Ernests Gulbis.

Owning a 1-0 head-to-head lead over Gulbis lifetime, Lopez gained his quarterfinal position after defeating Marin Cilic in the second-round, and receiving a walkover win over Ivan Ljubicic in the third-round.

Gulbis made head ways this week by dismissing top seed Roger Federer in second-round action, while following up the best win of his career by ousting an inspired Filippo Volandri on Thursday.

Stay tuned for a wrap up of the day’s final two quarterfinal matches.

Quotes courtesy of atpworldtour.com.

RM: Nadal Relentless In Reaching Quarterfinals In Italy

Internazionali BNL d’Italia—Rome

Four-time champion Rafael Nadal improved to 4-0 lifetime against Victor Hanescu on Thursday evening to reach the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters 1000.

Recording a 6-3, 6-2 score line, Nadal needed one hour and 22 minutes to defeat his 6′6″ Romanian opponent.

Breaking serve on three of seven occasions, Nadal never lost his serve during his straight set win.

Hanescu by no means played a poor match today, but he simply could not keep up with the barrage of topspin groundstrokes from his Spanish foe.

Although Nadal won by a comfortable score line, the Mallorcan was eager to admit that his victory could have been more complicated.

“I played with less intensity after the 4-1,” Nadal said. “It’s impossible to play with less intensity at this level and if you stop your intensity a little bit, the other player can get you in big trouble. Yes, I was lucky. I saved a few shots with a good serve and a good forehand so the important thing is that I won 6-2, and I had some problems with myself in the last two games but I saved them.”

Nadal will next face Stanislas Wawrinka, who defeated Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-2.

Leading Wawrinka 4-0 in career head-to-head meetings, Nadal spoke about his quarterfinal opponent during his post match presser.

“He is a very tough opponent,” said Nadal. “It will be a very difficult match. He [won] today easy against Robin. I didn’t see the match, but he must be playing realy well to beat Robin.”

Nadal has lost one match in sixth appearances lifetime in Rome.

Quotes courtesy of atpworldtour.com.

Sweeting Qualifies for French Open

American Ryan Sweeting won a French Open playoff match against countryman Ryan Harrison today to qualify for next month’s clay-court Major.

Defeating Harrison 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, Sweeting qualified for his first ever French Open Championships.

The playoff was held at the Boca Raton Country Club in Florida.

In exchange for Sweeting’s wildcard, the French Tennis Federation will receive a men’s wildcard into the US Open.

Cahill to Coach Gonzalez

World No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez released details on his official website today that he will be working on a part-time coaching basis with former Australian player and current ESPN commentator Darren Cahill.

The pair will begin their partnership the week before the start of the French Open.

Gonzalez also announced today that he’ll be out of action until the year’s second Grand Slam with a knee injury.

Cahill had previously worked with Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi before joining the crew at ESPN.

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