 Derniers posts : Tennis Clay Court Season 2008
|  Wednesday at Queen'sSun, 15 Jun 2008 09:55:00 +0000Only few dasy after the Roland Garros Final, the Grass season begins at the Queen's Club in London as well as in Halle in Germany where Federer won 4 times there. But I decided to go to the legendary Queen's Club to see the best grass court event in the World.
And I was right, 5 players of the Top 10 where in London this week to prepare for Wimbledon.
Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt both kept their hopes of a record fifth title at The Artois Championships alive after contrasting wins in the second round at The Queen?s Club on Wednesday.
Defending champion Roddick survived an early scare against fellow American Robby Ginepri before booking his place in the third round with a 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1 victory, while Hewitt dropped only five games against Belgian Xavier Malisse.
Hewitt, who along with Roddick has dominated this event since 2000 with four titles of his own, booked his place in the third round against Paul-Henri Mathieu with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Malisse.
Elsewhere today, fifth seed and last year?s Wimbledon semifinalist Richard Gasquet claimed only his second win since April with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Italy?s Simone Bolelli.
The two-time Nottingham Open champion will now meet Mario Ancic for a place in the quarterfinals.
Just three days after claiming his record fourth French Open title in Paris, Rafael Nadal made an impressive transition to grass by defeating former Wimbledon semifinalist Jonas Bjorkman at The Artois Championships.
Nadal, who is attempting to become the first player to win Roland Garros and at The Queen?s Club in the same year, took just 65 minutes to register a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Bjorkman to reach the third round.
Now playing in his first tournament on grass, the 18-year-old is looking forward to the challenge of playing Nadal. ?It's going to be fun,? said Nishikori. ?I mean, it's fun to play like one of best players in the world. He?s my favorite player, too.? Meanwhile, second seed Novak Djokovic also made a quick adjustment to grass with a 6-2, 7-6(7) victory over Croatia's Roko Karanusic, and No. 10 seed Fernando Gonzalez booked his place in the third round after defeating former World No. 1 Marat Safin in straight sets.
| Rafa Nadalissime !Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:50:00 +0000 ATP World No. 2 Rafael Nadal (pictured) captured his fourth straight Roland Garros crown on Sunday with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 1 Roger Federer in Paris. The score line reflected the second most one-sided Roland Garros final in the Open Era after the 1977 final, where Guillermo Vilas defeated Brian Gottfried for the loss of just three games.Nadal becomes just the second player after Swede Bjorn Borg (1978-81) to win four consecutive Roland Garros titles since the event went international in 1925. The achievement also sees him join Federer, Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras as the only players to have won at least four consecutive titles at a Grand Slam in the Open Era.The Spaniard now extends his unbeaten run at Roland Garros to 28-0 and his record in best-of-five set matches on clay to 41-0. He first captured the title on his debut in 2005 (d. Puerta), becoming the first player since Mats Wilander in 1982 to win the event on his first visit. He then won his second and third titles in 2006 and 2007 with victories over Federer. Nadal, who for the fourth year had already won three clay court court events prior to arriving in Roland Garros, enjoyed the better start in the match. He broke Federer in the first game courtesy of one of an eventual 49 unforced errors from the Swiss? racquet. From there, Nadal did not look back and went on to break Federer for a second time with an accurate backhand pass cross court, one of many that would trouble Federer throughout the match. The 26-year-old Federer was unable to claw his way back and surrendered his serve for the third time at 1-5 to concede the set 6-1 as he drifted a forehand volley long. The second set looked to be going in the same fashion as Nadal capitalized on the Swiss? many unforced errors to go up an early break. However, Federer immediately hit back, finding some inspiration with an angled backhand to earn himself two break points and he was able to convert as Nadal netted a forehand. With the Parisian crowd urging him on, Federer had a chance to gain a key break through when presented with a break point chance in the seventh game. However a well-worked point from Nadal moved Federer from side-to-side before he placed a drop shot that Federer could only return in the net.  This is the fewest number of games that Federer has won in 173 Grand Slam matches, his previous lowest was seven games against Andre Agassi (l. 6-1, 6-2, 6-4) in the fourth round at the 2001 US Open. It is also the fewest games he has won in the 372 matches since he has been at No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, going back to February 2004.The Swiss, who has amassed 12 Grand Slam titles with five Wimbledons, four US Opens and three titles at the Australian Open, was looking to move to within one title of leveling Pete Sampras? record haul of 14 titles. Federer now slips to a 12-3 record in Grand Slam finals, all three of his losses coming to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros and falls just one match win short of claiming his 150th Grand Slam victory (149-23).The Swiss becomes just the second player after Jaroslav Drobny since 1925 to lose his first three Roland Garros finals. Having lost the finals in 1946, 1948 and 1950, Drobny did go on to capture two Roland Garros titles in 1951 and 1952. | Monfils !!!Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:41:00 +0000 For this second week of Roland Garros I saw the unbelievable match between Gael Monfils the last Frenchaman remaining and the n°5 seed the Spaniard David Ferrer. They both already spent a lot of time on court with a couple of 5-setters.The 21-year-old Monfils, whose previous best Grand Slam result was a fourth round finish at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic) in 2006, now faces No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals. Federer has won all three of their previous encounters, two of which have been played this year, most recently at ATP Masters Monte Carlo, where Federer prevailed in straight sets.Monfils broke twice to love in the first set to seal it 6-3 after 40 minutes, before World No. 5 Ferrer hit back to break twice in the second set and level up the match as Monfils sent a backhand long. However, buoyed on by the home crowd, Monfils broke serve twice more to claim a two sets to one lead, clinching the set as Ferrer netted a half volley. Monfils carried his momentum into the fourth set, breaking the Ferrer serve twice to defeat the Spaniard after 2hr., 27min in their first meeting.Monfils, who had won just five ATP-level matches all season prior to arriving at Roland Garros, has now won five successive matches for the just the second time in his career. He did so for the first time at 2005 Sopot when he won his sole title to date. Prior to Roland Garros, he had won back-to-back matches on clay just once in 2008 (at AMS Monte Carlo).Monfils will meet the n°1 player in the world for a place in the final match | First Week in Roland GarrosMon, 02 Jun 2008 10:15:00 +0000Ahh, a first week in a Grand Slam is very long as a lot of match are going on and a lot of surprised comes with it.  This week was kind of rainy with Tuesday where less than 3 hours of play, and matches finishing late to get back on schedule. Nadal played his first 3 rounds in back-to-back days, while some player like Federer had two resting days between his first and second round match.
In the first round, the most expected match was Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten against Paul-Henri Mathieu. It was an exiting match and very emotional in the end for the 3 times Champion here in Roland Garros.
Argentine qualifier Eduardo Schwank sensationally beat 1998 Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya, the former World No. 1 from Spain, in the first Grand Slam match of his career. The 22-year-old Schwank held his nerve to beat Moya 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-7(1), 4-6, 6-3 in the longest match of the day over four hours. It was his 19th straight win, he was coming to RG with 3 challenger tournament won in a row (3x5=15matches) and 3 more in the Qualification of Roland Garros. Canas, Baghdatis, Ferrero, Juan Monaco, Tipsarevic and Seppi lost in the first round are the other seeds who have lost in their first match here.
Some seeds were getting some troubles to get through as Robredo against Coria in a 4 set battle or Verdasco in a 5 set one. Even Djokovic had to recover from a set down against German Gremelmayr.  In the second round Federer had to recover from a first set loss under rainy conditions, Berdych falls to the Frenchman Michaël Llodra in 5 sets, while Davydenko was storming through his compatriot Marat Safin.
David Ferrer blasted away the "Magician" Fabrice Santoro 6-0 6-1 6-0, probably in his last match here in Roland Garros, Santoro has the record of most participations in a Grand Slam tournament with 62.
Blake lost to the surprisly good Letton Ernests Gulbis in 4 sets and will meet Nicolas Lapentti in the next round. 3rd round matches are the last one to win to get into the 2nd week. It is a record of 5 Frenchman who reach the Last16 with Jeremy Chardy who created the surprise beating Nalbandian after losing the first two sets. Paul-Henri Mathieu who ended the 20 match winning streak of the Argentine Eduardo Schwank. Mika Llodra who came through the talented Italian Simone Bolelli. Gael Monfils who battled in all his matches to get at this point and will meet Ivan Ljubicic who eventually beat Nikolai Davydenko in a very intense 5 set thriller. And the last Frenchman is Julien Benneteau who played his first two rounds in 5 sets, he is playing next Roger Federer.
It is the first time since 1971 that as many Frenchmen reach the 1/8 of the French Open.
The others to reach the 1/8 are Fernando Gonzalez who recovers from 2 sets and a break down to beat Swiss n°2 Stanislas Wawrinka. Stepanek beat easily Robredo in 3 sets. He will play David Ferrer who had a scare against former n°1 Lleyton Hewitt who was 2 sets to 1 up.
The end of the tournament could have some interesting encounters with Federer who could play Gonzalez and Ferrer en-route to his 3rd consecutive Final. And Nadal will meet fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro before Djokovic in what could be THE match of the tournament. | Nadal Right in TimeMon, 19 May 2008 09:48:00 +0000 In a fabulous and epic final, Rafael Nadal completed his clay court trophy collections as he won the Masters Series of Hamburg for the first time in his career and maybe for the last one, because last year this event shouldn't be a Masters Series any more and could replaced by an event in Madrid. But the German federation is still fighting for his best tournament.
Federer started the match very strongly and took an early 4-0 lead and then 5-1. At this point he had won 14 games in a row against Nadal in this special stadium after last year final 2-6 6-2 6-0. But when he served for the opening set he got broke and Nadal called the ATP Trainer. This obviously troubled Federer as he lost the next 6 games (it made 7 with the break before the trainer came) to be trailing 7-5 1-0 and down a break in the 2nd set. He eventually waked up and broke back scoring 4 games in a row and was once again serving for the set a 5-3. Then Nadal was hitting less powerful shot but much more precise ones and manage to levelled the set at 5 a piece and even 3 break points to lead 6-5. Then Roger Federer focused on his serve and with 5 straight winning serves he hold serve to go to a tie-break. There he let the unforced error behind him to win 7 points to 4 the 2nd set tie-break.
 In the third set Nadal has the advantage of serving the first and in the 4th game he broke Federer's serve and even if Federer try to fought back it was too little too late as Nadal saved perfectly the break point he faced and then served out the match and with a last cross-court backhand winner he left his arm to the sky and was down to his knees while Roger was waiting to congratulate him for his 11th ATP Masters Series title and his 6th different Masters Series.
Federer was very disappointed and said "I wish I could have won today, then I would have an even better feeling, the way the match went today I can also say I feel well, the three hours wasn?t a problem whatsoever. From a physical standpoint that is a good thing for me. I just take two days off and I will be in Paris practicing. It's going to be fun next week and then I will hopefully be ready for the tournament."
"I could have maybe served a little bit better," explained Federer. "When I served for the set, the second time where he broke me at 5-1, but I thought, all in all it was all right. It wasn?t my best performance; if you get broken so many times there is always something you are a little bit unhappy about. But I think I am finding the right type of play from the baseline."
They both will be ready for next week 2nd Grand Slam in my hometown of Paris, see you then ........
| When the 2nd spot is at stakesSun, 18 May 2008 10:27:00 +0000 Once again the Big Three are in the Semi-final of a tournament, it already happenned 3 times this year, in Australia, Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo. The 4th men is the Italian Andreas Seppi who reach his first Semi-final of a Masters Series event in his career.ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer (pictured) shone through the rain at Masters Series Hamburg presented by EON Hanse on Saturday as he fired into his fifth final with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi. Federer broke for a second time to lead 4-1 and, with Seppi later serving at 1-5, Federer was quick to put the Italian under pressure, converting on his second match point at 30-40 as Seppi sent a forehand long after less than 80 minutes. It is the 14th straight ATP Masters Series event that one of the Top 3 players in the South African Airways ATP Rankings has featured in the final. Between them, they have accounted for three of the four ATP Masters Series events already played in 2008; the only exception was Nikolay Davydenko?s victory over Rafael Nadal in Miami.Rafael Nadal overcame Novak Djokovic in a titanic battle 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 after more than 3 hours Saturday to keep his No. 2 spot in the South African Airways ATP Rankings and set up a final against No. 1 Roger Federer.The 21-year-old Nadal, who has ranked No. 2 behind Federer for a record 147 consecutive weeks, wasn't ready to leave this spot to somebody else yet.Nadal was made to work hard for his final place. In a first set featuring five breaks of serve under the roof on Center Court, Djokovic began in blistering form, breaking Nadal early to lead 3-0. The lead was short lived though as Nadal went on to break back with a forehand winner to level. The Spaniard looked to have got the upper hand as the pressure began to tell on Djokovic, and Nadal broke again to lead 5-4. However, with Nadal serving for the set, Djokovic relaxed, went for his shots and it paid off as he leveled for 5-5. With the atmosphere rising, Nadal found more outstanding tennis and a forehand pass broke Djokovic?s serve again and gave Nadal the 6-5 lead.  Both men continued to produce their finest tennis for much of the second set, before Djokovic was able to edge out a break of serve to lead 3-2 with some deep, aggressive hitting bullying Nadal into errors. With Nadal serving at 2-5 15-30 a reflex volley from Djokovic set up two set points and the pressure told on Nadal as he put a forehand wide for Djokovic to level the match.Djokovic was unable to capitalize on his momentum though, as Nadal immediately earned a break of serve in the third set with a wonderful backhand cross court pass to lead 1-0. After failing to convert break back chances, Djokovic?s resistance began to crumble and he surrendered his serve again to trail 2-5. In an epic final game, Nadal missed four match points and saved four break points before closing it out on his fifth match point as Djokovic?s drop shot failed to make it over the net.It will be the 16th career meeting between Federer and Nadal and the 9th on clay with Nadal leading the Head-to-head 9-6 and 7-1 on clay. He has won 105 of his last 107 matches on clay since Monte Carlo 2005. | Who's the fastest competition !Sun, 18 May 2008 10:24:00 +0000It was a battle of who will win his match the fastest today in the Quarter final day in the Masters Series of Hamburg presented by Eon-Hanse. Exept for local hero Nicolas Kiefer when he faced Seppi in a Marathon match. Four-time champion Roger Federer recorded his 28th victory in his last 29 matches at Masters Series Hamburg presented by Eon Hanse Friday, when he overcame unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3 in 81 minutes. It was the pair?s first meeting since the 2005 tournament. Italian Andreas Seppi advanced to his maiden ATP Masters Series semifinal after a marathon and hard-fought encounter against Nicolas Kiefer, who was attempting to become the highest-ranked German in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. The Italian Andres Seppi served for the match at one set and 5-3, but Kiefer recovered and went on to serve for the match himself at 5-4 in the deciding set. Seppi eventually ran out a 3-6 5-7 7-5 winner in the pair?s first career meeting over three hours and 13 minutes on Center Court. Three years ago Seppi lost to eventual finalist Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals. He now has a 14-12 record on the season.Djokovic, who has been No. 3 every week since July 9, 2007, booked his place in Saturday?s semifinals after beating Albert Montanes of Spain 6-2, 6-3 in the pair?s first career meeting. Djokovic hit four aces and converted four of seven break points opportunities for victory in 78 minutes on Center Court. Second seed Nadal improved to 6-2 lifetime (4-1 on clay) against fellow Majorcan and No. 11 seed Carlos Moya, after a 6-1, 6-3 victory in 76 minutes in the night match Friday. Nadal, who has been ranked No. 2 since July 25, 2005, dropped three points on serve in the first set and saved two of three break points overall.So Nadal wins this fastest competition but he will next face Novak Djokovic to decide who will be ranked n°2 in the next release on Monday of the South African Airways ATP Rankings. | L8 in HamburgSun, 18 May 2008 10:22:00 +0000After straights win for the "Big three" they were underway for their 3rd Round. Also in action today n°4 and 5 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings Davydenko and Ferrer and formers n°1 Safin and Moya. .jpg) David Ferrer the n°5 in the world in the ATP rankings will try to reach the QF like in Monte-Carlo. He was playing against his compatriot Fernando Verdasco. The match was very intense especially in the first set. Verdasco was playing some exiting tennis to break his opponents serve 3 times. But with a lot of games going into Deuce, they had to decide the first in a tie-break. Verdasco got the best of it and after a 7 pts to 4 win in the tie-break he had to save 6 break point to finalize his win in a 7-6 6-2 victory in over 2hrs. Local hero Nicolas Kiefer was newt on stage facing Nikolai Davydenko. The German did the same thing than in his previous match, getting the break of serve just before a tie-break, and in the second set he focused on his serve and eventually in the 8th game get the ultimate break of serve and went through to the QF here in Hamburg with a victory over another Top 10 player 7-5 6-3..jpg) Then World n°1 Roger Federer was taking the Center court for his match against Robin Soderling who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer didn't spend to much time to beat his Swedish opponent as in just over 1h, Federer was through to the Quarters with a 6-3 6-2 victory.
Novak Djokovic was playing the Giant Croat Ivo Karlovic. Even with an early break of serve Djokovic seemed stressed and got broke and would have loose the first set, but a good reaction from him and a couples of unforced error from Karlovic in the tie-break, gave the first set to Novak. Then it was no big trouble to finish the match with a 7-6 6-3 victory.
No. 2 and last year's finalist Rafael Nadal needed one hour and 18 minutes to defeat No. 15 seed Andy Murray 6-3, 6-2. The 21-year-old Spaniard converted five of eight break points while losing serve once. After breaking twice in the opening set, Nadal was broken in the first game of the second set. He then reeled off four straight games to take control and cruise to his third career victory in as many meetings over the British No. 1.
| 2nd Round action in HamburgSun, 18 May 2008 10:15:00 +0000.jpg) Today was the first match for the "Big Three". Also Kiefer was facing Swiss n°2 Wawrinka, and former world n°1 Marat Safin was against Tomas Berdych, the 9th seed who took the place of Andy Roddick after his retirement. It was Berdych first match in the tournament.
In the first match of the day Marat Safin who qualified for the main draw was playing his 4th match in Hamburg this week against Tomas Berdych who was playing his first match on clay of the season. It was a tight match but with 3 break of serves for the Russian he was able to secure a straight set win in 1h30 7-5 6-4.
.jpg) Federer was playing against Jarko Nieminen of Finland for the 9th time and he never lost a set to him. It was no exception today as he crushed to the victory in less than one hour 6-1 6-3.
Then local hero Nicolas Kiefer was playing against in-form player Swiss n°2 Stanislas Wawrinka. It was two similar sets were the deciding factor might have been the toss before the match as Kiefer served first and when leading 6-5 in each set the German was able to break the Swiss serve. And with a total of 4 break of serve he was able to get his first win against a top 10 opponent since last year Masters Series in Madrid when he beat the Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.
.jpg) World n°2 Rafael Nadal was starting his 2008 Hamburg campaign against Italian Potito Starace. It was a very tight match and Starace played very well through ought the match. The Italian played very wisely the drop shot to put Nadal in trouble. But eventually Nadal was able to convert the big points and secure his wins in over 2 hours with a 6-4 7-6 victory.
.jpg) In the last match of the day Novak Djokovic who recently won his first Masters Series on clay last week. He was playing against Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentine. He had absolutely no trouble to win his match in just over 1h 6-3 6-1.
In the other matches of the day Tsonga, Bolelli, Blake and Robredo fell respectively to Soderling, Monaco, Tipsarevic and Karlovic. | Tuesday in HamburgSun, 18 May 2008 08:46:00 +0000In Hamburg the days are a lot busier than in the other tournaments as there is 5 singles match each day on central court..jpg) Tuesday 3 of them was counting for the first round, first up was Janko Tipsarevic against one the 6 German in the final draw, Andreas Beck. Beck played well and took his chances and clinched the first set, before the Serb tight up his game and closed out the match with a 3-6 6-3 6-1 victory.
In the same time Llodra who beat Guillermo Canas in the first round got only 2 games in his 6-2 6-0 loss against Fernando Verdasco of Spain. And his doubles team-mate was playing against former n°1 Carlos Moya, he also lost but in a thrilling match which went to a deciding tie-break which Moya won 9 points to 7, for a 3-6 6-4 7-6 victory. The Frenchmen later that day teamed up to win their first round in the doubles tournament.
.jpg) After Nieminen won his match against the German Rainer Schuettler very comfortably 6-1 6-3, another German was on the court for his first round match against Tommy Robredo the 13th seed. The German who won his maiden ATP title last year in Munich was trying to get a big win. He was playing really solid tennis in the first set and a half. And when he had a break point opportunity for the German in the middle of the 2nd set, Robredo's ball was called long after 2 or 3 overruled and after the ATP supervisor Tom Barnes came 2 times on the court to discuss what should be done, they decided to replay the point. This discussion stopped the German?s momentum and in tie-break Robredo was able to stay focus, then the 3rd set and the match came to the Spaniard. Final score 2-6 7-6 6-3.
The two other matches was for the 2nd round, and there was no real battle as Nikolay Davydenko the n°4 seed beat the Croat Ivan Ljubicic for the first time since Monte-Carlo 2004 Masters Series. And then Richard Gasquet the n°8 seed was up against the Italian Andreas Seppi, and with no battle Seppi beat the Frenchman 6-3 6-2. The Frenchman didn't find his rhythm in this clay court season, with a 10-10 record this season and 1-3 on clay, he doesn't have the result of a top 10 player so far this year. He didn't pass the Round of16 yet this year.
.jpg) In the M1 court, the new World n°10 and recent finalist in Rome last week was playing against Spaniard Alberto Martin who qualified for the main draw. The Swiss n°2 had no trouble at all in this match and with a 6-3 6-3 victory he will next face German Nicolas Kiefer. | Hamburg PreviewSun, 18 May 2008 08:22:00 +0000
 Hamburg is the last big tournament of the clay court season before Roland Garros, Federer his the defending champion here and won 4 of the last 6 edition of this Masters Series. Djokovic will try to take the n°2 spot to Rafael Nadal if he goes to the final. And Rafael Nadal will try to regain his form after his early first round exit in Rome last week.
In the first round there was some revenge in the air as Ivan Ljubicic was playing against Steve Darcis, the Belgian beat Ljubicic in 2 tight sets in Rome first round last week. The match was very long and eventually Ljubicic after 3 hours of play got his revenge by winning 6-7(6), 7-5, 7-6(4).
Another Croat was in action Sunday, Ivo Karlovic came though Mischa Zverev in 2 tie-breaks sets.
German hope, Nicolas Kiefer was in action against the 16th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, and in front of his public he ousted the Frenchman 6-4 6-4.
Marat Safin, Juan Ignacio Chela and Andreas Seppi will also advance with easy first round win, but they all will have a tougher 2nd round as they respectively play Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet. | Djokovic mastered a Swiss for a Rome winSat, 17 May 2008 09:05:00 +0000 Novak Djokovic overcame his Swiss opponent in Sunday's final, but it wasn't the expected Swiss world n°1 but his friend Stanislas Wawrinka. Indeed in a disappointed day for the Semi-Finals where we saw Roddick and then Stepanek retired due to a back injury and some fatigue for the Czech. Where only 12 games was played overall in both matches. So with his first Masters Series Final, Stanislas Wawrinka was sure to make his first appearance in the Top 10, grabbing the 10th spot. Djokovic would get very close to the 2nd spot of the rankings (310pts behind Nadal), and could be a reachable spot next week in Hamburg if Nadal doesn't defend his last year final points. Djokovic showed some nervous reactions in the beginning of the match conceding his serve in the fifth game to give the lead to Wawrinka 3-2. The Swiss had chances for a double break, but despite being unable to convert, he confidently closed out the set 6-3 after 39 minutes as Djokovic returned a serve long. En-route to the final Wawrinka beat some impressive players, Marat Safin in 3 sets for his first round match, then his long time friend since the junior Andy Murray, in the 3rd round he blasted Juan Carlos Ferrero likely tired from his win against fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal. And the top two American James Blake in a thrilling match and Andy Roddick after he unfortunately injured his back. With his compatriot Roger Federer ranking at No. 1, it is the first time that two Swiss players have ranked in the Top 10 at the same time in the history of the ATP Rankings (since 1973). Djokovic fought back, and in the sixth game of the second set he got a key breakthrough and went on to level the match with some effective serve and volley play.
 The Serbian was able to carry his momentum into the third set and broke in the opening game to lead 1-0. Wawrinka saved one match point at 3-5, 30-40, but when Djokovic earned a second as Wawrinka's forehand went wide the Swiss was unable to rescue the situation and a forehand winner from Djokovic secured his victory 4-6 6-3 6-3 in just over 2hr.
The Serbian claimed his fourth AMS title and his third title of the season after the Australian Open and Indian Wells. He had a pretty easy week facing no Top 10 players and having two of his five matches won due to retirement from Almagro and Stepanek. He now improves to 4-1 in career AMS finals and to 45-18 in overall AMS play. | Quarter Final day at the Internazioli di ItaliaSun, 11 May 2008 09:00:00 +0000 This morning, for my last day, and my last visits I went to the antique part of Rome were there is the Coliseo and all the old ruins, and then the Circo Massimo where it used to have the races. Then I needed to take the metro but unfortunately the station was closed as they were on strike. So I had to walk for about 1 hour to get to the Bus stop for the Foro Italico.
 The first match on stage was the expected match between Swiss n°2 Wawrinka and James Blake. The match was very exiting as in the first two set they had to go to the tie-break. They exchanged once their serve in the first serve and twice in the second. Blake won the first breaker 7 pts to 5 and Wawrinka won the second on the same margin. In the deciding set, Wawrinka was imperial on serve with 93% of 1st serve in and 86% pts won on it. He didn't face a single break point while Blake saved only 1 out of 4. It is after 2h30 of a long battle that Wawrinka won 6-7 7-6 6-1.
 Federer was trying to add another Swiss player in the Semi final of the Internazioli di Italia. He was playing against Radek Stepanek who won all his previous matches in 3 sets. Federer leads 4-1 in their meetings. Federer made a very good first set wining 100% of the point after his 1st serve. None of the players had a break opportunity and in the tie break, after leading 2-0 Federer lost it 7 points to 4. And very soon he was trailing 3-0. Federer with the help of the public broke back at 2-4. Then we felt that Federer would gain some momentum going to go to a deciding set. But Stepanek broke once again and was soon serving for the match at 5-3. Again with the audience Federer converted his break point at 30-40 and then levelled the match at 5-5 and it went to another tie-break. There Federer had the double mini-break and led 5-2 before Stepanek caught him and tied at 5-5. Federer made a good serve and procured himself a set point but on Stepanek serve, and for few cm he missed his passing shot. At 7-6 Stepanek he saved Match point on his serve, but lost the 2 next points and the match.
In the end everybody was very disappointed by the fact that he didn't played well the important points and even though he won 6 more points than his opponent today, he still lost. It is the second match of the tournament for Stepanek where he wins fewer points than his opponent.
 Roddick was trying to reach his second SF here in Rome, he was against Tommy Robredo of Spain. The Spaniard never beat Roddick in their 7 previous encounters. It was no exception today when Roddick saved 3 early break points in the match before taking the first set 6-3, then he lost once his serve and Robredo levelled the match with a 6-4 second set victory. In the Roddick was firing, and he had a point to lead 5-2, but he let Robredo come back and had to win the match 7 points to 4 in the deciding tie-break. With 11 aces, over 2h13 of play and 203 points played, Roddick won one more than Robredo
In the last match of the day, for the night session, Nicolas Almagro was forced to retire due to a wrist injury after Djokovic won the first set 6-1 and was leading 1-0. | Thursday in RomeSun, 11 May 2008 08:08:00 +0000 After a good resting night, I went Piazza di Spagna at the Trinita dei Monti, and then at the Piazza del Popolo. Then I headed to the Vatican and the Piazza san Pierto, but I didn't go inside as the queue was too big. And the last Monument I saw was the Castello san Angelo just in front of the Vatican. I didn't go straight at the tennis as I had to go meet my godmother to lunch with her. Then we together went at the Tennis. I missed the first match between Novak Djokovic and Igor Andreev, where the young Serb needed 3 sets and 2h42 min to won 6-3 3-6 6-3. This long match was good for me, as we arrive just in time for Federer's match against Ivo Karlovic.  As usual with the giant Croat, the first set went to a tie break which Federer won 7 points to 4. Federer who didn't convert any of the 6 break point he had in the first set, he procured himself 6 more in the second set, and converting 2 of them he was able to secure his place in the next round in just over 1h30 7-6 6-3.  Then another local hope was playing on Central court, it was recent finalist in Munich last week Simone Bolelli against Andy Roddick seeded n°6. The match was similar than the previous one, with the tie-break in the first set, but with one exchange of serve during the set. Roddick claimed the breaker by 7 pts to 5. In the second set Roddick saved the 2 break pts he faced and converted 2 of the 5 he managed to procure himself. The match ended with the same score line, 7-6 6-3, in almost 2hrs. Then I rejoined my godmother and her husband at the Campo Uno for the second set of the match between Ferrero and Wawrinka. Ferrero might have been a little bit tired from his performance in his previous match, but Wawrinka played very well and aggressive and with no break points faced in the 2nd set he was through to the Quarter final 6-4 6-3. He will next face in a very interesting match James Blake who managed to beat Fernando Verdasco on the same stadium earlier 5-7 7-5 6-2. We all went to a nice restaurant to eat some pastas and squid. We also made a short trip in an antique Fiat 500 bought in 1968, that was quite special !!! | Juan Carlos King of Spain !!!Sun, 11 May 2008 07:20:00 +0000 I just arrived in Rome and as the matches don't start before 1 pm at Foro Italico, I had the opportunity to do some sightseeing and visit one of the most beautiful cities of the world. So I went to all this famous places and piazzas and the much known Trevi fountain. In Rome there are a lot of piazzas like that with some oblique. After that I went a bit early at the Foro Italico to get some tickets and to enjoy all the fun stand of the tournaments.I was a bit disappointed because Federer played his match on Tuesday against Canas which he securely won 6-3 6-3. But the order of play of the day was really nice with Djokovic, Nadal and Blake on Central Court.  The first match of the day was with the Belgian Steve Darcis who beat Ljubicic 7-5 7-6 in the first round, against the n°2 of the Race the young Serb Novak Djokovic. The first showed a nice battle but in the end when Darcis was serving at 4-4, Djokovic got the break of serve, and then won 8 straight games to overcome his opponent 6-4 6-0. Djokovic improves to 21-5 on the season and will next meet Igor Andreev of Russia who easily beat Juan Monaco 6-1 6-4 in the third round on Thursday. Italian hopes were on Andreas Seppi when he was facing James Blake who will try to win his first match on the European clay after reaching the final in Houston 3 weeks ago. It was a very intense match where Blake was able to get the first set in his belt after a 7 to 5 win in the tie-break and 6 total breaks of serve. Then Seppi fought back and secure the second set with one break of serve and saving the lone break point he faced. But eventually Blake fired up and raised his level to break twice his opponent in the deciding set to clinch his first win on the European clay since May 2007. Final score 7-6 3-6 6-1.  The big match of the day was coming up next in central court, Rafael Nadal was making his 2008 Rome campaign debut, facing Juan Carlos Ferrero who beat Kiefer in 3 sets. The last meeting between the two former Roland Garros champion was 2 weeks ago in Monte Carlo where Nadal came through 6-4 6-1 before eventually win the title. But even though Ferrero trail 1-7 in their Head-to-Head he played with the right ambition. The first set was very close with a lot of games going into deuce. But both players were playing the important points with some extraordinary points. So they managed to keep their serve until Ferrero a 6-5 converted his 3rd break point.  Nadal called the ATP Trainer because of some right foot problem. After that Ferrero didn't lost his focus and his game, while Nadal did a little bit and very soon Ferrero won the match 7-5 6-1. It is the 2nd loss of Nadal in his last 104 clay court match, the first one being in the Hamburg final last year against Federer. Nadal said afterwards that the calendar was too short for the Clay season and after his two back-to-back titles last weeks he was tired. Then I went to the outside court to see the doubles match between an Italian pair against the French duo Fabrice Santoro and Richard Gasquet. The Frenchmen prevailed in two straight and tight sets. In the other match of the day Ferrer also tired lost to Stepanek, Almagro beat Nalbandian in straight sets and Wawrinka ousted his good friend Andy Murray.
| Preview at Foro ItalicoSun, 11 May 2008 07:09:00 +0000 This Week takes place the second ATP Masters Series on clay and the fourth of the year. Rafael Nadal comes here as the 3-time defending champion and recently won his 4th crown in Monte-Carlo and Barcelone. He will play JC Ferrero in his first match. Roger Federer who lost last year in the 3rd Round to Volandri will try to regain some precious points for the rankings. He will meet Canas in his debut.Novak Djokovic, who in his last match retired against Federer in Monte-Carlo has recover from it and will face Steve Darcis who beat Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets.Richard Gasquet, the n°9 seed had a very unexpected loss in his first round match against Peruvian Luis Horna ranked 111 in world.The first big match on the night session of the tournament was facing Marat Safin and recent Semi finalist in Barcelona Stanislas Wawrinka. Wawrinka took the best of Safin after a close first set and secured his win in 3 sets 6-7 6-2 6-1. | Once again the King has spoken !Mon, 05 May 2008 09:15:00 +0000 Rafael Nadal still is unbeatable on clay as this Sunday he clinched his fourth consecutive Barcelona Open title.
Indeed in the semi-final, Rafael Nadal were playing against Denis Gremelmayr, but he let the German only 15 points as he cruised to victory in 51min. 6-1 6-0. So he was sure to rest a bit before his Sunday's final against another Spanish player David Ferrer who was seeded n°2. Ferrer faced Stanislas Wawrinka in the other Semi final. With about 70% of points won on his serve and a first set win in a thrilling tie-break 10 points to 8, the match was over in less than 2 hours.
Sunday, as it suggest, was a very sunny day and after the win of the Bryans brothers in the doubles final, clinching their 46th titles for their 30th birthday (April 29). Then it was the turn for the all-Spaniard affair. After converting three of five break points to secure the first set, Nadal was then faced with seven break points against him in the second set, two of which Ferrer converted to help level the match at one set all. Nadal regained command in the third set though, winning 13 points more than Ferrer and breaking serve twice to secure the title victory in 2hrs, 14mins.
He will try to do what nobody have done or maybe will do, win 4 consecutive times 4 of the best clay court tournament, Monte-Carlo Barcelona, Rome and Roland Garros. | Quarter-Final day at the Open Sabadell Atlantico Barcelona 2008.Sat, 03 May 2008 11:50:00 +0000There are no less than 5 Spanish players in the Last 8 of this week tournament here in Barcelona, including the top 2 seeds Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer.
.jpg) First on stage was local resident Albert Montanes against Stanislas Wawrinka. It was a marathon match in a very hot day, especially at this time of the day, between noon and 3. Wawrinka played very strong in the first set, saving the only break point he faced. Then in the second set he was down a break before levelling up the match at 5-5. In the tie-break he was trailing by 3-0 before he reached match point, but it was on Montanes serve. Montanes saved it and on his first set point he lets himself some hope. But he conceded twice his serve in the deciding set and gave the win to Stanislas Wawrinka in 2h48.
.jpg) Then the all-countrymen match between David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo was underway. Ferrer had an early break of serve to lead 3-0. Then the encounter really started to give a lot of long exchanges. Robredo was broke twice in this first set and managed to came back to battle it out in a tie-break. Ferrer got his mind together to win it 7 points to 4. The pair last meet two weeks ago in the Semi-final in Valencia, it was the same end today as Ferrer with two more breaks of serve sealed a precious victory in over 2h 7-6 6-4.
.jpg) Rafael Nadal was on stage next against Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina. Chela started the match very well as he broke the first to lead 4-2, but the most important thing in big matches is to keep his serve after a break. And the 7th game was the most important of the match. It lasted about 20 min with both players having their chances and eventually Nadal got the break of serve to tie the match at 4-4, and then it was over as Chela seemed not able to recover from this particulars game. Nadal went out to victory 6-4 6-2.
In the last match, Nicolas Almagro was playing against the German Denis Gremelmayr. The German ranked 85 in the world put a lot of trouble in the Semis of Estoril at Roger Federer and proved to the world that he is a good clay court player. After two similar sets, the first one won by Gremelmayr 6-2 and the second one 6-3 for Almagro were none of the wining player faced a single break points, they had to battle it out through a deciding set who went to a tie-break where the German took his chances and after 2h09 he reached match point to win it 9 points to 7. He will next face Nadal for his second ATP semi final of his career.
| Thursday in BarcelonaSat, 03 May 2008 10:22:00 +0000.jpg) This Thursday was the 3rd round of the Open Sabadell Atlantico Barcelona 2008. 6 Spanish players were still in the competition and at least one will be in the QF as Nadal is facing Feliciano Lopez.
Singles matches on Central Court didn't start before noon, so I first went to the Pista 1 to see the confrontation between Albert Montanes and Russian Mikhail Kukushkin. It took three sets to the Spaniard to seal the victory 6-3 3-6 6-3. Then I had the time to have a snack and headed to the central court to see David Ferrer and Nicolas Lapentti. David Ferrer who recently wins the title in Valencia is looking to win here in Barcelona as well. It was a long battle with a first set loss, before eventually reach the QF, winning 4-6 6-4 6-3.
On the same time on the Pista uno, David Nalbandian the n°3 seed was up against Swiss N°2 Stanislas Wawrinka. Nalbandian had an early break to lead 3-1 before the Swiss fired to win the match 6-3 6-1. It is the second loss in a row for Nalbandian against a Swiss player, and the 5th straight loss to Wawrinka. An interesting match was coming up, 2004 Champion Tommy Robredo was facing last year.jpg) finalist Guillermo Canas. There was no real battle as local hope Tommy Robredo had no trouble to clinched the first set 6-1 and then the second one 7-5. Back on Central court, World n°2 Rafael Nadal was playing against his good friend Feliciano Lopez. For their 3rd meeting clay, Nadal played solid tennis to win 6-4 6-3 without facing a single break point. He will now face Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in the Quarters.
The other matches of today saw the victory of Nicolas Almagro against Mario Ancic and he will face Denis Gremelmayr who beat Tursunov 6-4 6-0. | Barcelona PreviewSat, 03 May 2008 09:49:00 +0000.jpg) This week the world of tennis was on break as in the next 2 weeks there is the last two ATP Masters Series on clay for preparation of Roland Garros. But few players will be on the court in Barcelona and Munich. All of the Spanish players will be in Barcelona for the Open Sabadell Atlantico Barcelona 2008. There are 16 players from Spain in the main draw with Nadal and Ferrer as the top 2 seeds, in Munich Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and Fernando Gonzalez are the top seeds.
In his first round match Rafael Nadal who recently captured his fourth Monte-Carlo title will try to win his 99th match on the last 100 on clay against his Italian second round opponent Potito Starace. Starace played very well in the first set before he got broke in the 10th game. Then the public favourite cruised to victory 6-4 6-2.
Few early exits happened for top seeds. Recent Estoril semi-finalist Denis Gremelmayr upset the American 4th seed James Blake 6-1 6-4. Andy Murray, the 7th seed also lost in his first match against Mario Ancic 6-4 6-4. Spanish veteran Carlos Moya didn't manage to concretize his first set win over Ernest Gulbis, he lost 4-6 6-1 6-4. The last seed to lost in his first match is giant Ivo Karlovic against Albert Montanes 6-7 6-3 7-5. |
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