The Withdrawal Method: Ferru Out of Hamburg

David Ferrer has been forced to withdraw from Hamburg with a shoulder injury. Which is annoying.

To compensate, have some belated video (thanks kefuoe) from Bastad, where they like to shoot their interviews really, really close up:

And some bonus tongue. Never say I don’t give you anything.

Gael Monfils has also withdrawn from Hamburg due to the ankle injury suffered during the Stuttgart final.

Mammoth Titlist … list

I have to apologise for my protracted absence. Life stuff in the first half of the week followed by sustaining a silly and very painful eye injury on Wednesday which required me to lie in the dark being very bored … Well, that’s my excuse.

So who’s been winning while I’ve been away?

Bastad – ATP

Almagro continued his quest for universal popularity by beating Robin Soderling 75 36 62 for his sixth career title and first since Acapulco in 2009.

Bastad – WTA

Aravane Rezai beat Gisela Dulko 63 46 64 for her fourth career title and second this year. She’s now 4-0 in finals.

Budapest

Agnes Szavay defended her title, beating last year’s whipping woman Patty Schnyder 62 64.

Newport

While everyone else was playing Davis Cup last weekend, Mardy Fish won the soup thing.

Palermo

Quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and now defeater of Flavia Pennetta on home clay, Kaia Kanepi, ladies and gentlemen.

Prague

Second title in one post two weeks for Agnes Szavay, this time over Stepanova wedding guest Zahlalova Strycova, and she seems to have just about found her feet on clay for 2010. Never accused of good timing, our Agnes.

Stuttgart

A fifth career title for Montanes, conqueror of Federer earlier this year in Estoril, didn’t quite come the way he would have wanted after Gael Monfils turned his ankle at the end of the first set and was forced to retire 1-2 down in the second. Get better soon, Gael. Incidentally, five career titles and he doesn’t even get a look in on Davis Cup? Sometimes I wish I was Spanish.

WTA Week Now: Bastad, Budapest

Bastad

Draw here.

Top Seeds: Flavia Pennetta, Aravane Rezai, Lucie Safarova, Gisela Dulko, Arantxa Parra Santonja, Angelique Kerber, Sofia Arvidsson, Barbora Zahlalova Strycova

Who’s Already Out

Singles – First Round
(2) Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. Lilia Osterloh (USA) 64 62
(5) Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) d. Kaia Kanepi (EST) 64 75
Tatjana Malek (GER) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 57 63 61
Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) d. Mariana Duque Marino (COL) 67(5) 64 60
Karolina Sprem (CRO) d. Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 75 62
Renata Voracova (CZE) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 63 26 64

Doubles – First Round
(1) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. (WC) Brazhnikova/Laine (SWE/FIN) 62 64
Osterloh/Tatishvili (USA/GEO) d. Kalashnikova/Zec Peskiric (SLO) 62 62
Camerin/Groenefeld (ITA/GER) d. Kondratieva/Lefèvre (RUS/FRA) 60 61

Singles Qualifying – Final Round
(1) Kathrin Woerle (GER) d. Ana Jovanovic (SRB) 67(5) 64 60
Ana Vrljic (CRO) d. (5) Elena Bovina (RUS) 62 76(6)
(6) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) d. Karolina Kosinska (POL) 75 63
Laura Siegemund (GER) d. Tetyana Arefyeva (UKR) 63 60

Budapest

Draw here.

Top Seeds: Alisa Kleybanova, Alexandra Dulgheru, Timea Bacsinszky, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Shuai Peng, Roberta Vinci, Agnes Szavay, Polona Hercog

Who’s Out Already

Singles – First Round
(5) Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (WC) Silvia Njiric (CRO) 61 63
Greta Arn (HUN) d. Darya Kustova (BLR) 36 60 63
Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) d. Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) 62 60
Catalina Castaño (COL) d. Kristina Kucova (SVK) 60 63

Doubles – First Round
(1) Cirstea/Medina Garrigues (ROU/ESP) d. Cornet/Meusburger (FRA/AUT) 62 75
(3) Dulgheru/Kleybanova (ROU/RUS) d. Alves/Irigoyen (BRA/ARG) 26 76(4) 105
Klemenschits/Klepac (AUT/SLO) d. Kostanic Tosic/Szatmari (CRO/ROU) 75 60
Kustova/Tsurenko (BLR/UKR) d. Schnyder/A.Szavay (SUI/HUN) 76(4) 36 106

Singles Qualifying – Final Round
(5) Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) d. (1) Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) 06 63 64
(2) Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE) d. Liana Ungur (ROU) 61 64
Andreja Klepac (SLO) d. Tamira Paszek (AUT) 57 62 61
Michaela Pochabova (SVK) d. Lenka Tvaroskova (SVK) 60 60

Just In Case You Weren't Sad Enough Already …

Slightly belated, an interview from Pico before the Bastad semifinals.

Ilovehimilovehimilovehim. Also? Each mention of the Davis Cup is like a knife through my heart.

(stolen from the awesome Mind the Racket)

ATP Sunday Titlists: Pico Wins. Only Yoking.

Robin Soderling d. Juan Monaco 63 76(4)

Not awfully much to say about this, really. Pico fought hard, and actually had his chances against a clearly nervous Robin, but in the end he was simply outhit. On the other hand, it provided some Pico-in-pain pictures, which are, oh, my third favourite kind of Pico pictures (to be bumped down to fourth should any full frontal nude ones surface).

Robin is the first Swede to win the title in nine years, which – not being British – the Swedes apparently feel constitutes some sort of ‘dry spell’. Lightweights. Well done to him.

Singles – Final
[2] R Soderling (SWE) d J Monaco (ARG) 63 76(4)

Doubles – Final
[3] J Levinsky (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) d R Lindstedt (SWE) / R Soderling (SWE) 16 63 10-7

Jeremy Chardy d. Victor Hanescu 16 63 64

In a match that is certain to have made at least one person I know spaff her pants, Jezza came back from a set down to beat Hanescu, which is particularly impressive after his double duty yesterday. It’s his first ATP tour title, and it’s always nice to see someone break their duck. Well done, boyo. Sorry, garcon.

Singles – Final
J Chardy (FRA) d [4] V Hanescu (ROU) 16 63 64

Doubles – Final
[4] F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) d V Hanescu (ROU) / H Tecau (ROU) 75 64

Saturday ATP Results: Bastad, Stuttgart

It’ll be Pico-Soderling in the Bastad final after the Andreas Vinciguerra fairytale came to an end at the hands of Robin Soderling. Vinciguerra hasn’t won the first set of a single one of his matches this week, but Soderling was the first to stop the second-set comeback in its tracks, winning the tiebreak 8-6.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Vinciguerra can keep this career resurgence going away from his home tournament. I’m betting no, but it’s been a great week for someone who was tennistically (thank you, Bambi) down and out. The other semifinal saw Pico beat Tommy Robredo 6-0, 6-2 in a performance critics are characterising as “fucking awesome”. Pico came out fired up and broke Tommy in the first game, and Robredo simply never recovered. He was flat, listless and every time he did manage to play a good point, Pico played a better one. He only held serve once in the entire match. I’d have felt a bit sorry for him if Pico hadn’t been looking so, well, hot.

In Stuttgart, Victor Hanescu survived a tough match with the suddenly bizarrely dangerous Fabio Fognini to advance to his first final of the year. He’ll meet Jeremy Chardy, who defeated Mischa Zverev and then came back to school Nicholas Kiefer. Excellent double duty, although he does seem to have been replaced by his evil mirrorverse double at some point. Seriously, what’s with the beard?

Bastad

Singles – Semi-finals
[2] R Soderling (SWE) d [WC] A Vinciguerra (SWE) 61 76(6)
J Monaco (ARG) d [3] T Robredo (ESP) 60 62

Stuttgart

Singles – Semi-finals
[4] V Hanescu (ROU) d F Fognini (ITA) 63 67(4) 62
J Chardy (FRA) d N Kiefer (GER) 63 75

Singles – Quarter-finals
N Kiefer (GER) d [Q] L Kubot (POL) 62 61
J Chardy (FRA) d M Zverev (GER) 76(4) 61

Doubles – Semi-finals
V Hanescu (ROU) / H Tecau (ROU) d [1] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) 64 75
[4] F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) d [2] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Melo (BRA) 36 62 10-4

Friday ATP Results: Bastad, Stuttgart

And we have most of our semifinalists!

Give it up for Andreas Vinciguerra, ranked 460 in the world. He thrilled the home crowds with a three-set victory over fourth seed Jurgen Melzer. Who would have thought Sweden would have had two homeboys in the semis, as Rob Soderling out-thwacked Nicholas Almagro? Tommy Robredo dismissed my man Teimuraz 64 60 – grrr – and the match of the day (at least from my perspective) turned out to a bit of a damp squib. Fernando Verdasco was listless and struggling from the beginning with a tight right calf muscle, presumably the result of exhaustion after having played fourteen sets in Davis Cup and an epic match with ol’ Krazy Koellerer the previous day. It actually would have been over much quicker, had not Pico gone inexplicably soft in the head seeing how much Verdasco was struggling and started hitting the ball right back to him. Ah well. I’m sure Nando will be fully recovered and ruining my life in no time at all.

The biggest shock of the day was Fabio Fognini – who has eerily grown to resemble Ming the Merciless – defeating second seed Nikolay Davydenko in three sets.

Fabs played a solid match, but it was fairly dreadful stuff from Kolya, who just couldn’t find his range with any consistency. Hanescu beat Sidorenko in straight sets, but sadly rain interrupted play, so the winner of Kiefer-Kubot and Zverev-Chardy will presumably have to play two matches. Tough stuff.

Bastad

Singles – Quarter-finals
J Monaco (ARG) d [1] F Verdasco (ESP) 61 31 ret. (right calf)
[2] R Soderling (SWE) d [5] N Almagro (ESP) 75 63
[3] T Robredo (ESP) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 64 60
[WC] A Vinciguerra (SWE) d [4] J Melzer (AUT) 26 64 63

Doubles – Semi-finals
[3] J Levinsky (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) d N Almagro (ESP) / S Ventura (ESP) 64 67(5) 10-7
R Lindstedt (SWE) / R Soderling (SWE) d [4] M Lopez (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) 64 76(7)

Stuttgart

Singles – Quarter-finals
F Fognini (ITA) d [2] N Davydenko (RUS) 61 36 75
[4] V Hanescu (ROU) d [LL] A Sidorenko (FRA) 76(2) 64
N Kiefer (GER) vs [Q] L Kubot (POL) – play suspended due to rain
M Zverev (GER) vs J Chardy (FRA) – play suspended due to rain

Doubles – Semi-finals
[1] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) vs V Hanescu (ROU) / H Tecau (ROU) – play suspended due to rain

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[4] F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) d I Navarro (ESP) / G Simon (FRA) 62 60

Friday OsOP: Bastad, Palermo, Prague, Stuttgart

Palermo

Centre Court (from 16.00hrs)
1. Errani vs. Shvedova
2. Pennetta vs. Rezai (NB 18.30hrs)
3. Garbin vs. Govortsova (NB 20.30hrs)
4. Groenefeld vs. Schnyder

Court 2 (from 18.00hrs)
1. Jans/Rosolska vs. Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez
2. Koryttseva/Kustova vs. Pennetta/Vinci (NB 20.00hrs; after suitable rest)

Prague

Centre Court (from 12.00hrs)
1. Hradecka vs. Bammer
2. Diyas vs. Benesova
3. Schiavone vs. K.Bondarenko
4. Suárez Navarro vs. Bacsinszky

ECM Court (NB 17.00hrs)
1. Rybarikova/Voracova vs. Bondarenko/Bondarenko

Court TBA (NB 16.00hrs)
1. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova vs. Hlavackova/Hradecka

Bastad

Center
Starting at 11:00 MS
Tommy Robredo (ESP) [3] Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS)
Not Before 12:30 MS
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) [1] Juan Monaco (ARG)
Followed by MS
Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [5] Robin Soderling (SWE) [2]
Followed by MS
Andreas Vinciguerra (SWE) Jurgen Melzer (AUT) [4]
Followed by MD
Marc Lopez (ESP) / Tommy Robredo (ESP) [4] Robert Lindstedt (SWE) / Robin Soderling (SWE)

Court 1
After Rest, Not Before 15:30 MD
Nicolas Almagro (ESP) / Santiago Ventura (ESP) Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE) [3] / Filip Polasek (SVK)

Stuttgart here.

Thursday ATP Results: Bastad, Stuttgart

Some tough matches in Bastad today. Verdasco survived a match point in a three-set victory over Daniel “lethal like” Koellerer and local wildcard Andreas Vinciguerra came back from the brink of defeat to subdue Canas. Things were much simpler for Melzer and Pico, who had a typically bizarre scoreline but still managed to put out Crivoi in straight sets.

Sadly Gilles’ woes continued, losing to Zverev (who also beat him in Rome). And Lukas Kubot is questing for braaaaaaaaaaaaains again. He beat PEHK 62 64.

Bastad

Singles – Second Round
[1] F Verdasco (ESP) d D Koellerer (AUT) 67(1) 62 75 – saved 1 M.P.
[4] J Melzer (AUT) d [Q] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 62 62
[5] N Almagro (ESP) d [Q] P Starace (ITA) 26 61 61
[WC] A Vinciguerra (SWE) d [Q] G Canas (ARG) 67(5) 63 64
J Monaco (ARG) d V Crivoi (ROU) 60 76(1)

Doubles – Quarter-finals
N Almagro (ESP) / S Ventura (ESP) d [1] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) 63 64
[4] M Lopez (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) d [WC] J Melzer (AUT) / A Vinciguerra (SWE) 64 63
R Lindstedt (SWE) / R Soderling (SWE) d R Wassen (NED) / I Zelenay (SVK) 76(3) 64

Stuttgart

Singles – Second Round
M Zverev (GER) d [1] G Simon (FRA) 64 62
[2] N Davydenko (RUS) d [WC] M Berrer (GER) 63 63
[Q] L Kubot (POL) d [5] P Kohlschreiber (GER) 62 64
F Fognini (ITA) d P Mathieu (FRA) 64 41 ret. (dizziness)
J Chardy (FRA) d M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 26 63 61
N Kiefer (GER) d [WC] S Greul (GER) 63 64

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[1] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) d [WC] S Greul (GER) / M Kohlmann (GER) 63 62
[2] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Melo (BRA) d J Acasuso (ARG) / M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 63 76(5)
V Hanescu (ROU) / H Tecau (ROU) d A Beck (GER) / N Davydenko (RUS) 63 76(6)

Thursday OsOP: Palermo, Prague, Bastad, Stuttgart

Prague

Centre Court (from 12.00hrs)
1. Barrois vs. K.Bondarenko
2. Kvitova vs. Diyas
3. Niculescu vs. Benesova
4. Voegele vs. Bacsinszky

ECM Court (from 14.00hrs)
1. Hlavackova/Hradecka vs. Kondratieva/Lefèvre

Court TBA (NB 17.00hrs)
1. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova vs. Kvitova/Vaidisova

Palermo

Centre Court (from 16.00hrs)
1. Pivovarova vs. Schnyder
2. Martínez Sánchez vs. Garbin (NB 18.30hrs)
3. Pennetta vs. Vinci (NB 20.30hrs)
4. Brianti/Camerin vs. Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez

Court 2 (from 16.00hrs)
1. Lepchenko vs. Rezai
2. Koryttseva/Kustova vs. Jidkova/Poutchek
3. Jans/Rosolska vs. Makarova/Voskoboeva (NB 19.00hrs)

Bastad

Center
Starting at 11:00 MS
Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) Jurgen Melzer (AUT) [4]
Followed by MS
Andreas Vinciguerra (SWE) Guillermo Canas (ARG)
Followed by MS
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) [1] Daniel Koellerer (AUT)
Followed by MS
Victor Crivoi (ROM) Juan Monaco (ARG)
Followed by MD
Rogier Wassen (NED) / Igor Zelenay (SVK) Robert Lindstedt (SWE) / Robin Soderling (SWE)

Court 1

Starting at 12:00 MS
Nicolas Almagro (ESP) [5] Potito Starace (ITA)
After Rest, Not Before 14:00 MD
Simon Aspelin (SWE) / Paul Hanley (AUS) [1] Nicolas Almagro (ESP) / Santiago Ventura (ESP)
Not Before 15:30 MD
Jurgen Melzer (AUT) / Andreas Vinciguerra (SWE) Marc Lopez (ESP) [4] / Tommy Robredo (ESP)

Stuttgart here.