Climb Every Montanes

Albert Montanes d. Frederico Gil, 62 67(4) 75

Congratulations to Albert Montanes on defending his Estoril Open title, and commiserations to Frederico Gil, who wasn’t able to build on his achievement of becoming the first Portuguese man to reach an ATP tour final and deliver the trophy for his home crowd. I didn’t see the match, so I’ll turn instead to naughty T, official NB agent provocateur and attender-of-Estoril, who summed up Gil’s performance in the final as “ripping victory from the jaws of defeat and then shoving it back down its throat”. Wise words.

Still cute though.

Anastasija Sevastova d. Arantxa Parra Santonja, 62 75

Just when you thought all there was to Latvian tennis was Ernests Gulbis, Anastasija Sevastova pops up to take her maiden WTA singles title. I’ve never seen her play but she’s had some solid results this year and it’s worth remembering that last year we also had a maiden titlist in Estoril who nobody had ever really heard of. Her name? Yanina Wickmayer. I’m just saying.

The Latvian Sharapova?

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.

Pico, Nico Win; Troicki Ousted

So this week’s action hasn’t really kicked off on the ATP side yet, but there were a few results of note. Pico put in a clean performance against an overmatched Josselin Ouanna in Lyon, who started brightly and faded quickly, and fifth seed Julien Benneteau did well to put away Alberto Martin, 76(1) 61. Third seed Viktor Troicki lost to Karol Beck (who I’m familiar with inasmuch as he isn’t the German Beck) 64 in the third in St Petersburg, and in Vienna, Daniel Brands was confirmed as Marin Cilic’s potential second round opponent. Nicolas Almagro survived a very tough challenge from Australian Peter Luczak to win the deciding set 61, and Frederico Gil beat wildcard Stefan Koubek in three.

Lyon

Singles – First Round
[4] J Monaco (ARG) d J Ouanna (FRA) 63 62
[5] J Benneteau (FRA) d A Martin (ESP) 76(1) 61
F Serra (FRA) d C Rochus (BEL) 63 63

Doubles – First Round
L Mayer (ARG) / M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) d O Hernandez (ESP) / A Montanes (ESP) 63 67(4) 10-7
M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) d B Becker (GER) / F Santoro (FRA) 62 63
S Bolelli (ITA) / I Ljubicic (CRO) d R Hutchins (GBR) / H Tecau (ROU) 63 36 10-6

St Petersburg

Singles – First Round
K Beck (SVK) d [3] V Troicki (SRB) 76(4) 46 64
B Phau (GER) d [WC] S Vovk (RUS) 63 62
D Istomin (UZB) d R Schuettler (GER) 64 64

Doubles – First Round
[WC] M Elgin (RUS) / T Gabashvili (RUS) d [4] S Lipsky (USA) / R Wassen (NED) 63 64
J Cerretani (USA) / D Skoch (CZE) d E Korolev (RUS) / F Moser (GER) 76(5) 63
J Chardy (FRA) / R Gasquet (FRA) d K Beck (SVK) / F Polasek (SVK) 62 76(4

Vienna

Singles – First Round
[5] N Almagro (ESP) d P Luczak (AUS) 57 76(3) 61
D Brands (GER) d R Kendrick (USA) 76(5) 75
V Crivoi (ROU) d J Hernych (CZE) 63 63
W Odesnik (USA) d [Q] L Rosol (CZE) 62 57 76(6)
F Gil (POR) d [WC] S Koubek (AUT) 46 64 64

Doubles – First Round
C Kas (GER) / P Kohlschreiber (GER) d [WC] J Hajek (CZE) / D Koellerer (AUT) 62 64
M Kohlmann (GER) / A Peya (AUT) d C Ball (AUS) / T Rettenmaier (USA) 76(4) 76 (10)
A Seppi (ITA) / S Vagnozzi (ITA) d N Almagro (ESP) / G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 62 76(5)
[3] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) vs M Chiudinelli (SUI) / P Luczak (AUS)

The World Outside RG: Frederico Gil

Check out this article on Frederico Gil.

His name might be increasingly familiar to you – he reached the semifinals of Johannesburg and Costa di Saiupe this year, and if memory serves was relatively impressive in a hard-courts loss to Nadal. But did you know he’s the first Portuguese man to earn direct entry to Estoril?

I like his game a lot, but he mainly comes across on the court as a hard worker and a sweet guy, and that’s the impression that this article gives, backed up by Portuguese pundit Manuel Perez:

“I have never seen a Portuguese player so mentally strong in 23 years of following the sport,” admitted Perez. “His greatest strength is his mentality. He isn’t a talent like Nuno Marques, who everybody said could be a Top 30 player but [who] made mistakes during his career. Frederico knows how hard the tour is. He knows how to practise and how to manage the press intruding in his personal life.”

It’s also interesting in terms of the struggles and demands of representing tennis in a country like Portugal, which has produced few tennis stars – something that Michelle Larcher de Brito will also have to deal with.

Barcelona Results: Rafa Rolls, Richie Rogered by a Rochus

Nothing too earth-shattering at the Barcelona Open today. Rafa rolled over Frederico Gil, 2 and 2. I saw most of it, and Gil was making some very unfortunate UFEs including badly-timed DFs. But really, does anyone think it would have made much of a difference? It’s Rafa, for god’s sake.

Nalby overcame an early wobble to beat Kunitsyn handily, and Kolya continues to notch up solid wins after his long absence from the tour. Wild-card Gonzo overcame newly-shaven Chucho, and two more seeds fell – the slumping Soderling to hilarious Italian Potito Starace, and Richard Gasquet to Mighty Mouse Christophe Rochus. Seriously, if Richie loses a match he never should have, is it even an upset any more?

Oh, and in the battle of former champs, Robredo took it easily.

Nice to see Gaudio back in the main draw of an ATP event, though.

Singles – Second Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [Q] F Gil (POR) 62 62
[2] F Verdasco (ESP) d [Q] N Lapentti (ECU) 75 63
[3] N Davydenko (RUS) d A Clement (FRA) 76(2) 62
[5] [WC] F Gonzalez (CHI) d J Acasuso (ARG) 64 64
[6] T Robredo (ESP) d [WC] G Gaudio (ARG) 76(6) 61
[7] D Nalbandian (ARG) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 75 64
[8] S Wawrinka (SUI) d M Youzhny (RUS) 75 61
[9] R Stepanek (CZE) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 76(2) 60
[10] N Almagro (ESP) d J Chela (ARG) 36 76(4) 63
C Rochus (BEL) d [13] R Gasquet (FRA) 61 67(2) 63
P Starace (ITA) d [14] R Soderling (SWE) 76(5) 26 62
[15] T Berdych (CZE) d O Hernandez (ESP) 62 46 63
[16] F Lopez (ESP) d [Q] S Ventura (ESP) 26 64 63
J Monaco (ARG) d [Q] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 75 64

Doubles – Second Round
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d T Parrott (USA) / F Polasek (SVK) 63 64
S Aspelin (SWE) / W Moodie (RSA) d [3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) 76(5) 76(3)
[4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH) d R Lindstedt (SWE) / R Soderling (SWE) 46 61 10-8
L Arnold Ker (ARG) / F Gonzalez (CHI) d [6] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 62 63
L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) d [8] M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 75 64

Doubles – First Round
[WC] G Alcaide (ESP) / A Martin (ESP) d S Huss (AUS) / R Hutchins (GBR) 36 75 10-8