Cincinnati Masters: Federer Reaches Semifinals; Nadal Defeated
August 20, 2010
Western & Southern Financial Group Masters—Cincinnati, Ohio
While Roger Federer improved to 14-2 against Nikolay Davydenko by defeating the Russian 6-4, 7-5, Rafael Nadal was defeated by hard-serving Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 during the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati event on Friday.
Federer was stellar on his serve by rocking 12 aces and winning 78 percent of his first serve points. Controlling the baseline exchanges throughout the one hour and 40 minute match, Federer advanced to his four career semifinal in Ohio.
Attempting to win his second title of the season, Federer will next face unseeded Baghdatis.
Baghdatis never allowed Nadal to feel comfortable on his return games, while troubling the Spaniard by hitting his backhand cross-court into the forehand corner of the top seed. Never defeating Nadal in six previous meetings, Baghdatis will take the confidence of ousting Federer the last time they played at Indian Wells.
Federer held three match points against Baghdatis during that night match in Palm Springs, and still remains in firm control of the pair’s head-to-head series with a 6-1 advantage.
Saturday’s other semifinal will feature Andy Roddick vs. Mardy. Fish.
Quarterfinal Results from Gstaad, Umag, and Los Angeles
July 30, 2010
Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad—Switzerland
Yuri Schukin d. No. 1 seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro d. Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 7-6 (5), No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet d. No. 4 seed Albert Montanes 7-6 (5), 6-4, and Daniel Gimeno-Traver d. Igor Andreev 6-2, 6-4.
ATP Studena Croatia Open—Umag
No. 8 seed Juan Ignacio Chela d. No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-1; Andreas Seppi d. No. 2 seed Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-4; Potito Starace d. No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 7-6 (6), and No. 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero d. No. 6 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1, 6-2.
Farmers Classic—Los Angeles, California
No. 2 seed Sam Querrey d. Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4), and No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic d. No. 3 seed Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 7-5.
Youzhny Defeated in Gstaad; Rain Allows Play in Umag; Top Four Seeds Alive at LA Open
July 30, 2010
Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad—Switzerland
Top seed Mikhail Youzhny was bounced from the quarterfinal stage of the Allianz Suisse Open on Friday by qualifier Yuri Schukin, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
Needing two hours and 13 minutes to advance, Schukin continued his dream march this week by winning 70 percent of his first serve points, while breaking Youzhny’s serve on 3 of 12 occasions. Entering Gstaad with a 1-1 record on the season, Schukin recorded the biggest win of his career, while reaching his first career semifinal.
Ranked No. 147 in the world, Schukin also upset recent Hamburg champ and countryman Andrey Golubev in the first-round. Schukin will next face either No. 4 seed Albert Montanes or No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet.
Elsewhere, Daniel Gimeno-Traver needed two clean cut sets to defeat Igor Andreev 6-2, 6-4. Reaching his second Tour semifinal post-Wimbledon, Gimeno-Traver needed a mere one hour and 13 minutes to advance to the final four, and will next face either No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro or struggling Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
ATP Studena Croatia Open—Umag
A complete whip out of Thursday’s action in Umag meant that Friday’s order of play would include double duty for many of the main draw players.
Wasting little time in reaching the quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Jurgen Melzer, and unseeded Italians Andreas Seppi and Potito Starace all won their second-round matches in straight sets. Melzer blitzed past Jan Hajek 6-1, 6-0, Seppi plowed through Oliver Rochus 6-4, 6-2, and Starace was far too good for Bjorn Phau, defeating the German 6-4, 6-0.
The lone competitive second-round contest featured Ivan Ljubicic defeating fellow Croat Ivan Dodig 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Needing two hours and 31 minutes to advance, Ljubicic pounded six aces while using his backhand down-the-line to dominate the third-set.
Advancing to his fifth career semifinal in Umag, Ljubicic will next face Starace for a place in the final four.
The day’s remaining two quarterfinal matches will feature:
No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko vs. No. 8 seed Juan Ignacio Chela, and No. 6 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. No. 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Farmers Classic—Los Angeles, California
Friday’s action on the campus of UCLA will be highlighted by the top four seeds at the event.
Struggling through his first match post-Wimbledon, Andy Murray will be adamant on putting aside a “stiff back” and moving onto the semifinals with a victory over Alejandro Falla. Subsequent to Murray’s struggles in defeating Tim Smyczek during Thursday’s action, Falla was also tested during his second-round match against Ernests Gulbis. Prevailing in a third-set tiebreak after needing five match points to advance, Falla continued to display the form that almost saw him defeat Roger Federer during the first-round at Wimbledon.
Murary and Falla have never played on the ATP World Tour.
Elsewhere, No. 2 seed and defending champ Sam Querrey will face former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler, No. 3 seed Marcos Baghdatis will battle No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic, and No. 4 seed Feliciano Lopez will take on former finalist James Blake.
For updated scores from all of today’s matches, click the live-scores section at the top of the page, or for live streaming of today’s action, click here.
Dunlop Sports Launches New Website
July 23, 2010
Adding Fernando Verdasco and Nikolay Davydenko to their roster of players, Dunlop Sports recently launched a new website illustrating their line of products.
Sponsoring the likes of Tommy Robredo, Jurgen Melzer, Nicolas Almagro, and Dominika Cibulkova, Dunlop will hope to increase their exposure by offering upcoming players and coaches a chance to be on their DSQUAD.
Starting the brand in 1909, Dunlop has been the favorite racket of seven-time Slam winner John McEnroe for many years.
For a tour of Dunlop’s new revamped site, click the link below.
Ferrero Reaches Quarters in Hamburg; Roddick Makes First Appearance in Atlanta
July 22, 2010
International German Open—Hamburg
Former finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero was made to work during his third-round victory at the German Open on Thursday.
Reaching the finals in 2001, Ferrero defeated crafty veteran Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the final eight for the sixth time this season.
Capturing two titles earlier in the year, Ferrero won 77 percent of his first serve points, while breaking his opponent on three of eight occasions. Improving to 4-1 lifetime against Nieminen, Ferrero picked up his 26th match victory of the year. The 30-year-old Villena resident will next face hometown favorite Florian Mayer, who defeated Maximo Gonzalez 7-6 (1), 6-0.
Mayer, who reached the quarterfinals in Stuttgart last week, has captured two Challenger level events this season.
Elsewhere, a pair of Italians marched into the quarterfinals with relative ease. Andreas Seppi improved to 4-0 against his good friend Fabio Fognini by winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Capturing four breaks of serve, Seppi struck four aces during his 91-minute victory.
The former top 30 Italian will next face No. 7 seed Thomaz Bellucci or Philipp Kohlscreiber for a place in the semifinals.
Potito Starace lost the second set of his two hour and six minute encounter, but rebounded nicely to dispatch Pere Riba 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Reaching his fourth quarterfinal of the year, Starace improved to 17-16 on the season, and will next face either No. 3 seed Jurgen Melzer or Jeremy Chardy.
Other matches that are still to come on day four action will include:
Defending champ Nikolay Davydenko vs. Andrey Golubev, and Julian Reister vs. Denis Istomin.
Atlanta Tennis Championships—Georgia
Top seed Andy Roddick will make his first Tour appearance on Thursday in Atlanta after suffering a surprise fourth-round defeat at Wimbledon.
Facing the silky smooth game of countryman Rajeev Ram, Roddick will take comfort in defeating his opponent during their previous meeting in London.
Winning the Atlanta event in 2001, Roddick will begin what he hopes is a march towards his second Major title in New York. Capturing his lone Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows in 2003, Roddick has posted outstanding hard-court results this year which have included taking home the title in Miami and reaching the finals at Indian Wells and San Jose.
Sporting a new “clean shaved” look this week, Roddick’s booming serve will undoubtedly be the talk of Thursday’s action at the Tennis Center in Atlanta.
Elsewhere, No. 3 seed Lleyton Hewitt makes his first hard-court appearance of the summer against talented Slovak player Lukas Lacko. Lacko can hit every shot in the book, and he could challenge Hewitt to a tough three set affair.
Hewitt will be bidding to capture his second Tour title this year after winning in Halle over Roger Federer, while Lacko will be aiming to reach his fifth quarterfinal of the season.
Former finalist Xavier Malisee will face Illya Marchenko, and Kevin Anderson will take on hometown favorite Donald Young.
For updated scores from today’s action, click the livescores section at the top of the page, or for live streaming of today’s play, click here.
Former Champ Robredo Bounced in Germany; Blake and Dent Highlight Atlanta Play
July 20, 2010
International German Open—Hamburg
Former champion and No. 11 seed Tommy Robredo was ousted from the second-round of the German Open on Tuesday by Potito Starace.
Losing the match 7-6(10), 5-7, 6-1, Robredo lost his first meeting against the Italian in sixth encounters. Needing two hours and 12 minutes to prevail, Starace won 74 percent of his first serve points, while striking four aces.
Improving to 16-16 on the year, Starace will next face either Pere Riba or recent Stuttgart champ Albert Montanes.
Robredo won the Hamburg event when it had Masters 1000 status in 2006.
Elsewhere, Florian Mayer reached the third-round after dismissing talented youngster Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Using his tricky two-handed drop shot to off set the rhythm of his Ukrainian opponent, Mayer recorded his 12th win of the season and will next face Albert Ramos-Vinolas or Maximo Gonzalez. Ramos-Vinolas took the spot of Gael Monfils after the Frenchman withdrew with an ankle injury.
Other second-round matches that will take place on Tuesday will include:
No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko vs. Florent Serra, Jan Hajek vs. No. 6 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 9 seed Gilles Simon vs. Jarkko Nieminen, Andrey Golubev vs. Marcel Granollers, and Fabio Fognini vs. Marc Gicquel.
First-round results that were completed on day two action included:
Houston champ Juan Ignacio Chela defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-3; Andreas Seppi brushing aside Stephane Robert 6-4, 6-3, and Eduardo Schwank dismissing Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-4.
Big serving German Daniel Brands will also be in action later today against countryman Julian Reister.
Atlanta Tennis Championships—Georgia
Two older statesmen of American tennis will lock horns today in Atlanta, Georgia. Once viewed as the future of USTA, James Blake and Taylor Dent have now moved into the twilight of their respective careers.
Both men have been struggling this year—recording under .500 records—while hovering in and out of the top 100.
For Blake, his year has been marred by injury, while Dent has enjoyed a new son as his highlight of the season. Blake does hold a 4-1 career head-to-head lead over Dent, which includes three wins on hard-courts. Blake did pick up a doubles victory with John Isner on Monday evening, but that result should mean very little on the singles court.
Blake’s go-for-broke return game will be tested severely by Dent’s serve, but the former world No. 4 still moves better than his younger opponent.
Elsewhere, Americans Ryan Sweeting, Donald Young, and Robby Ginepri will also be in action.
Sweeting will battle tough Belgium Xavier Malisse, Young (the home pride of Atlanta) will go up against rock-solid Dudi Sela, and Ginepri will challenge flamboyant Australian Nick Lindahl.
Other matches that will take on Tuesday will include:
No. 5 seed Janko Tipsarevic vs. Kevin Anderson, Michal Przysiezny vs. Giulles Muller, and Lukas Lacko vs. Igor Kunitsyn.
For updated scores on today’s matches, click the live-scores section, or for live streaming click here.
Tournament Preview and Day 1 Review for Hamburg and Atlanta
July 19, 2010
Tournament Previews:
The first hurdle of the Olympus US Open Series will kick off this week with a 250 point ATP World Tour level event in Atlanta, Georgia. Taking over for the previous tour stop at Indianapolis, the 28-man field will be highlighted by American Andy Roddick.
Over in Europe, the clay-court players will continue to slide away during their day jobs at the 500 point event in Hamburg, Germany.
Once known as a Masters 1000 event, Hamburg was stripped of their elite status because of poor attendance. The International German Open will be highlighted by defending champ Nikolay Davydenko.
Back to Atlanta for a moment and Roddick’s last minute wildcard into the event. Initially intending on making his return to action at the Washington, D.C. tournament, Roddick felt that his early exit from Wimbledon warranted a quicker return to action. Crashing out of the year’s third Major in the fourth-round, Roddick will be desperate to keep his top 10 status heading into the US Open.
Currently ranked No. 9 in the world—his lowest ranking since November of 2008—Roddick will be joined by a cast of formidable hard-court players in Georgia.
John Isner, the man who defeated Roddick at the US Open last year, will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed. Making his first tournament appearance since his Wimbledon classic, Isner should have a relatively smooth road to the weekend’s festivities until a potential clash with No. 3 seed Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals.
Hewitt, who had a great lead up into Wimbledon by defeating Roger Federer at the Halle event, will also be keen on establishing his momentum heading into New York.
Other potential contenders this week in Georgia could include: Mardy Fish and James Blake.
Playing some of the best tennis of his life, Fish will enter Atlanta on a five match winning streak after taking home the title in Newport. The hard serving 28-year-old could turn a few heads this summer with his under the radar play.
Blake’s form this week could become instrumental towards how his summer will shape up. Dropping out of the top 100, Blake will not be taking part in the upcoming Toronto Masters, and would in danger of retiring from the sport if he can’t sustain a return to form. Posting an 8-9 record on the season, Blake’s knee will undoubtedly be tested on the North American asphalt.
The champion this week in Atlanta will take home $95,845 and a first place lead in the US Open Series.
Onto the Hamburg event and defending champ Davydenko. Also returning from injury, Davydenko will hope to put a surprise first-round loss at Stuttgart behind him.
Entering the year as the hottest player on Tour, Davydenko will need to fight through the likes of Jurgen Melzer, Nicolas Almagro, and Juan Carlos Ferrero if he’s to repeat his title.
Gael Monfils, David Ferrer, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez were notable withdrawals on Monday.
A potential dark horses to watch out for this week could be Alexandr Dolgopolov. The young Ukrainian has improved almost 100 spots in the rankings this year, and currently finds himself at the No. 39 position.
Using a sneaky array of early hit groundstrokes, the 21-year-old remains the youngest player in the world’s top 100.
The winner of this week’s event in Hamburg will take home € 228,000.
With the previews for this week out of the way, let’s now take a look at Monday’s action from Atlanta and Hamburg.
Day 1 Review:
Atlanta Tennis Championships—Georgia
American Mardy Fish will bring his fine form to day one action in Atlanta with a first-round meeting against wildcard James Ward.
Riding a five match winning streak, Fish has won 11 of his past 13 matches. Improving his physical prowess over the past year, Fish appears adamant on finishing his career on a high note.
The 28-year-old currently holds a 23-11 record on the season, while never facing his No. 287th ranked opponent.
Elsewhere, No. 8 seed Benjamin Becker will face Michael Russell, while Teymuraz Gabashvili will take on Rainer Schuettler.
Becker’s career will always be highlighted by being the last man to play Andre Agassi, while Gabashvili will attempt to build on his fourth-round showing at the French Open in May.
Rajeev Ram will take his silky smooth game into a first-round affair against Karl Beck, and Illya Marchenko will battle Kristof Vliegen. Top seed Andy Roddick and No. 2 seed John Inser will take to the court on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
International German Open—Hamburg
Italian success came early and often on Monday in Hamburg.
Advancing to the second-round in clean-cut fashion, Potito Starace and Fabio Fognini scored first-round victories.
Starace needed one hour and 17 minutes to dispatch German hopeful Bjorn Phau 7-5, 6-0, while Fognini was made to work slightly harder in defeating Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Starace, who won 76 percent of his first serve points while striking one ace, improved to 15-16 on the year and will next face No. 11 seed Tommy Robredo.
Fognini’s march to the second-round was highlighted by breaking serve on four of 11 occasions, while winning 60 percent of his total service points.
The 23-year-old from Arma di Taggia, Italy will next face Marc Giquel, who took the place of No. 2 seed David Ferrer.
Elsewhere, Florian Mayer delighted the hometown crowd by dismissing Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 6-1; Jarrko Nieminen ousted Christophe Rochus 6-3, 7-6 (6); Maximo Gonzalez sent Oliver Rochus packing, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Jan Hajek defeated Andreas Beck 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, and Denis Istomin picked up his 17th win of the year by disposing of Lukas Rosol 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Matches that are still to come on Monday will include:
Mischa Zverev vs. Andrey Golubev, Jeremy Chardy vs. Marco Chiudinelli, Pere Riba vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu, Simone Bolelli vs. Simon Greul, and Florent Serra vs. Evgeny Korolev.
For live score updates click the live scores section, or alternatively to check out live action click here.
Davydenko Loses Brother as Full-Time Coach
July 19, 2010
Former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko will reportedly not have the assistance of his coach/brother Eduardo Davydenko on a week-to-week basis anymore.
Davydenko’s wife Irina broke down the situation to Lifesports.ru regarding the families’ coach-player relationship.
“He needs the presence of a coach more than Nikolay,” said Irina, who was alluding to Eduardo focusing his attention on his 17-year-old son Philip.
Philip Davydenko is currently beginning his trek up the professional ranks. The 17-year-old has played two Future events this year.
Free Live Streaming for Atlanta Tennis Championships, and International German Open
July 17, 2010
Free live streaming for this week’s ATP World Tour events in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hamburg, Germany can be found below.
This year’s Atlanta event will feature: Andy Roddick, John Isner, Lleyton Hewitt, and James Blake.
The clay-court event in Hamburg will feature: Nikolay Davydenko, Jurgen Melzer, Gael Monfis, and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Free live streaming for this week’s events can be found below at the five respective links.
MYP2P stream Free Live Tennis Stream
ATDHE.net Free Live Tennis Stream
International German Open: Main Draw
July 17, 2010
The draw for this year’s International German Open will feature: Nikolay Davydenko, David Ferrer, Gael Monfils, Jurgen Melzer, Nicolas Almagro, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Thomaz Bellucci, and Albert Montanes.
For the full men’s singles draw, click the link below.
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