Swiss Guys Do It With Their Concubines Watching

Well, at least one of them does. Stanislas “that other Swiss dude” Wawrinka beat Ivan Ljubicic 67(5) 63 64 today with his pregnant girlfriend Ilham Valoud (I’m too depressed to check the spelling) in attendance.

Wawrinka will be joined in the second round by Marin Cilic, who beat Philipp Petzchner in straights, and Richard Gasquet, who took care of surprise St Petersburg finalist Horacio Zeballos. In more surprising news, John Isner suddenly sparked to life, defeating Gonzo in three sets and dealing a possibly fatal blow to Gonzo’s London chances; and in news that made me happy, Jeremy Chardy beat James Blake 64 in the third after two tiebreak sets. I watched the decider and thought Jezza was simply too good. And smiled.

Unfortunately for Our Jezza, he’s in the same section of the draw as that not-other Swiss dude, who spanked Seppi 63 63. Radek Stepanek is also into the quarter-finals with what looks like a tough win over lucky loser Florent Serra. Whatever will be, will be.

The other half of the Czech Republic D Cup team didn’t fare so well in Valencia, falling to Gilles Simon in three sets. I will now post a shirtless photo of him for his many, many fans.

Good solid win for Gilles though, who sadly won’t be joined in the quarter-finals by compatriots Monfils and Tsonga. La Monf was defeated by Armada tugboat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets, which is just classic La Monf, and Jo was forced to retire 03 down in the decider against Mikhail Youzhny with a left wrist injury.

Congratulations to Youzhny and so forth, but it’s a bit of a bugger for Jo and puts his chances of defending his title at the Paris masters very much in doubt. But in news that’s bound to make everyone smile, Fernando Verdasco took another step forward by defeating Oscar Hernandez. So there’s that.

Basel

Singles – Second Round
[1] R Federer (SUI) d A Seppi (ITA) 63 63
[5] R Stepanek (CZE) d [LL] F Serra (FRA) 36 76(1) 76(1)

Singles – First Round
J Isner (USA) d [3] F Gonzalez (CHI) 76(3) 46 64
[4] [WC] M Cilic (CRO) d P Petzschner (GER) 64 64
[6] S Wawrinka (SUI) d I Ljubicic (CRO) 67(5) 63 64
J Chardy (FRA) d [7] J Blake (USA) 76(4) 67(6) 64
R Gasquet (FRA) d H Zeballos (ARG) 76(3) 64

Doubles – First Round
C Kas (GER) / V Troicki (SRB) d [3] B Soares (BRA) / K Ullyett (ZIM) 76(4) 46 10-6
J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) d A Beck (GER) / B Becker (GER) 46 76(4) 10-6
L Dlouhy (CZE) / P Kohlschreiber (GER) d J Erlich (ISR) / A Ram (ISR) 62 36 11-9

Valencia

Singles – Second Round
[5] G Simon (FRA) d T Berdych (CZE) 64 46 63
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d [6] G Monfils (FRA) 62 75

Singles – First Round
M Youzhny (RUS) d [3] J Tsonga (FRA) 67(3) 60 30 ret. (left wrist)
[4] F Verdasco (ESP) d [WC] O Hernandez (ESP) 61 01 ret. (lower back pain)
J Tipsarevic (SRB) d V Hanescu (ROU) 64 63
F Lopez (ESP) d [Q] A Martin (ESP) 75 63

Doubles – First Round
M Granollers (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) d [2] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) 67(6) 63 10-5
[Alt] G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) / A Montanes (ESP) d [4] M Damm (CZE) / J Knowle (AUT) 63 46 13-11
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) d N Almagro (ESP) / S Ventura (ESP) 76(3) 62
M Knowles (BAH) / M Llodra (FRA) d [WC] R Bautista-Agut (ESP) / J Marti (ESP) 63 61