Americans in Belgrade, Marin in Munich, F(r)ed in Estoril

So here’s the state of play. Somewhat ironically, there’ll be an all-American final in Belgrade.

 John Isner had a great win over Stanislas Wawrinka and Sam Querrey disposed of little Filip Krajinovic, in his first ATP semi-final courtesy of Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal. He lost 61 62 in front of his home crowd.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the ATP!

In Munich, Marin Cilic has somehow cobbled enough wins together to be in the final. Yes, it’s one of those weeks. He actually played really well against Marcos Baghdatis today and got better as the match went on, which is, I suppose, a good thing.

It’ll be Mikhail Youzhny facing him in the final, after Youzhny disposed of Philipp Petzchner who had knocked out the defending champion Tomas Berdych. Youzhny is up 3 -0 in the head-to-head with Cilic, by the way. I’m just saying.

And the shock of the day in Estoril was Roger Federer’s 62 76(5) loss to Albert Montanes, the defending champion, in Estoril. It was a rain-delayed day, the conditions were terrible and for whatever reason, Federer just didn’t adapt at all. It was a mystifyingly lame performance from him, although he insists he isn’t worried – his post-match comments basically added up to ‘meh, these things happen’. I was fairly impressed with Montanes, though, who didn’t let either the conditions or the unexpected lack of resistance throw him off and is now in an excellent position to defend his title.

 

Lost in the Federer shuffle, however, has been the fact that Frederico Gil has become the first Portuguese player to reach an ATP final and he’s done it on his home ground, beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 62 57 63. Heartwarming stuff.

Nole Open Not That Much Fun For Nole

Novak Djokovic beat Fabio Fognini 64 64 for a place in the quarterfinals at his home tournament – but he doesn’t seem too happy:

“I don’t want to go into details too much, but I have some health issues that are hampering me and it’s very important for me to be fully fit, because playing on clay demands immense physical efforts. I’ve been going through a difficult period over the past couple of months. It’s springtime and I have a strong allergic reaction to pollen. It’s never been this bad and no medications are helping it,” says Djokovic.

source

Poor Nole. Allergies sound like a mild irritation, but they can be really debilitating. And I’ve never tried to play professional tennis while suffering. I can’t imagine that can be anything other than miserable.

Although …

… every cloud has a silver lining, eh?

Nole will play Filip Krajinovic next, the adorable youngster, who beat Horacio Zeballos 76(5) in the third for a huge upset win for him. This is a good thing.

Sorry, Onion, but Filip was here first.

Miami: Wednesday’s Results, Thursday’s OOP

So close, Filip. But good to see you’re still adorable.

Men’s Singles – First Round
S Stakhovsky (UKR) d J Hajek (CZE) 63 57 75
E Schwank (ARG) d M Gicquel (FRA) 43 ret. (leg)
O Rochus (BEL) d R Gasquet (FRA) 76(2) 16 64
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d A Clement (FRA) 76(4) 62
D Koellerer (AUT) d C Rochus (BEL) 46 63 62
F Mayer (GER) d M Chiudinelli (SUI) 76(2) 16 62
B Becker (GER) d S Greul (GER) 63 62
[WC] D Nalbandian (ARG) d L Kubot (POL) 63 62
J Blake (USA) d [WC] F Krajinovic (SRB) 67(6) 64 64
M Llodra (FRA) d [WC] R Harrison (USA) 62 62
J Chardy (FRA) d [WC] M Ancic (CRO) 64 64
D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) d [Q] A Golubev (KAZ) 63 64
I Andreev (RUS) d [Q] X Malisse (BEL) 64 64
T Dent (USA) d [Q] R Schuettler (GER) 61 64
M Russell (USA) d [Q] D Istomin (UZB) 76(5) 64
[Q] I Marchenko (UKR) d P Mathieu (FRA) 63 76(3)

Women’s Singles – First Round
S Errani (ITA) d T Malek (GER) 61 60
K Date Krumm (JPN) d A Chakvetadze (RUS) 75 36 64
P Schnyder (SUI) d K Srebotnik (SLO) 62 67(3) 61
A Cornet (FRA) d S Voegele (SUI) 63 06 62
T Paszek (AUT) d A Keothavong (GBR) 64 62
[WC] J Henin (BEL) d J Craybas (USA) 62 62
M Czink (HUN) d [WC] A Rus (NED) 36 61 76(6)
C Suarez Navarro (ESP) d [WC] A Pivovarova (RUS) 61 76(3)
[Q] T Pironkova (BUL) d [WC] H Watson (GBR) 64 62
A Petkovic (GER) d [Q] A Rodionova (AUS) 64 62
[Q] S Arvidsson (SWE) d A Brianti (ITA) 62 64
R Vinci (ITA) d [Q] R Kulikova (RUS) 36 63 64
[Q] M Koryttseva (UKR) d K Barrois (GER) 26 63 63
J Goerges (GER) d [Q] A Morita (JPN) 76(3) 64
[Q] P Parmentier (FRA) d S Bammer (AUT) 63 36 63
T Bacsinszky (SUI) d [Q] B Mattek-Sands (USA) 64 64
M Oudin (USA) d [Q] M Krajicek (NED) 62 64
E Makarova (RUS) d [Q] C Dellacqua (AUS) 63 75
V Razzano (FRA) d [Q] V Lepchenko (USA) 63 50 ret.
[Q] E Baltacha (GBR) d I Benesova (CZE) 62 64

Women’s Doubles – First Round
G Dulko (ARG) / F Pennetta (ITA) d [WC] S Kuznetsova (RUS) / A Molik (AUS) 64 61

This OOP brought to you by Rafa’s impacted wisdom teeth. Ouch.

STADIUM start 11:00 am
E Makarova (RUS) vs [6] A Radwanska (POL) – WTA
[25] A Ivanovic (SRB) vs [Q] P Parmentier (FRA) – WTA
[LL] N Lapentti (ECU) vs P Starace (ITA) – ATP
[1] S Kuznetsova (RUS) vs S Peng (CHN) – WTA

Not Before 7:00 PM
[3] V Williams (USA) vs S Cirstea (ROU) – WTA
M Fish (USA) vs L Mayer (ARG) – ATP

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
H Zeballos (ARG) vs A Seppi (ITA) – ATP
P Lorenzi (ITA) vs J Chela (ARG) – ATP
P Petzschner (GER) vs [Q] R Sweeting (USA) – ATP
[Q] M Ilhan (TUR) vs P Cuevas (URU) – ATP

Not Before 5:00 PM
[Q] S Giraldo (COL) vs [LL] M Daniel (BRA) – ATP

COURT 1 start 10:00 am
[WC] P Martic (CRO) vs [18] A Rezai (FRA) – WTA
K Date Krumm (JPN) vs [16] N Petrova (RUS) – WTA
[19] D Hantuchova (SVK) vs P Schnyder (SUI) – WTA
[10] F Pennetta (ITA) vs A Petkovic (GER) – WTA
[3] N Petrova (RUS) / S Stosur (AUS) vs S Errani (ITA) / S Peer (ISR) – WTA

COURT 2 start 10:00 am
V Hanescu (ROU) vs A Falla (COL) – ATP
E Korolev (KAZ) vs D Sela (ISR) – ATP

Not Before 1:30 PM
[12] Y Wickmayer (BEL) vs I Benesova (CZE) or [Q] E Baltacha (GBR) – WTA
R Ram (USA) vs T de Bakker (NED) – ATP

Not Before 5:00 PM
[WC] Y Wickmayer (BEL) / V Zvonareva (RUS) vs M Niculescu (ROU) / E Vesnina (RUS) – WTA

COURT 3 start 10:00 am
Y Shvedova (KAZ) vs [23] S Lisicki (GER) – WTA
M Rybarikova (SVK) vs [13] M Bartoli (FRA) – WTA
[WC] K Clijsters (BEL) / K Flipkens (BEL) vs S Borwell (GBR) / R Kops-Jones (USA) – WTA
T Bacsinszky (SUI) or [Q] B Mattek-Sands (USA) vs [8] N Li (CHN) – WTA
A Amanmuradova (UZB) / D Kustova (BLR) vs Y Chan (TPE) / J Zheng (CHN) – WTA

COURT 6 start 10:00 am
L Lacko (SVK) vs M Berrer (GER) – ATP
F Fognini (ITA) vs [Q] Y Lu (TPE) – ATP
[Q] N Massu (CHI) vs F Serra (FRA) – ATP
R Vinci (ITA) vs [30] A Medina Garrigues (ESP) – WTA

COURT 7 start 10:00 am
O Govortsova (BLR) / A Kudryavtseva (RUS) vs T Poutchek (BLR) / A Rosolska (POL) – WTA
[31] A Wozniak (CAN) vs P Hercog (SLO) – WTA
[WC] A Molik (AUS) vs [27] A Szavay (HUN) – WTA
[21] A Bondarenko (UKR) vs G Dulko (ARG) – WTA
[5] A Kleybanova (RUS) / F Schiavone (ITA) vs I Benesova (CZE) / B Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) – WTA

COURT 8 start 10:00 am
P Luczak (AUS) vs O Hernandez (ESP) – ATP
[Q] K Anderson (RSA) vs [Q] R Mello (BRA) – ATP
S Robert (FRA) vs A Beck (GER) – ATP
A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Hradecka (CZE) vs [2] N Llagostera Vives (ESP) / M Martinez Sanchez (ESP) – WTA
K Jans (POL) / V Uhlirova (CZE) vs [7] C Chuang (TPE) / S Hsieh (TPE) – WTA

Image Is Everything: Sweet Serbians

Just some random Belgrade photos …

Bet you £50 they’re talking about bananas.

Arsenije Zlatanovic and Filip Krajinovic playing an exo. Or is it the other way around?

The new Hengor?!