Stan’s the Man, Sam Not So Much

Stanislas Wawrinka d. Victor Hanescu, 62 63

If you like that sort of thing.

Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet teamed up last week to make a fool of me, with Gasquet losing a three-set quarterfinal to Victor Hanescu when I picked him for the title and Stan crushing Hanescu in the final when I specifically didn’t. Ah well. Can’t win any of them them all. Well done to Stan.

Speaking of Hanescu, I found his unrelentingly serious ATP Uncovered adorable:

Juan Ignacio Chela d. Sam Querrey, 57 64 63

Hmmm. I know I had a pretty busy weekend, what with inventing sci-fi themed cocktails and trying to keep my unco-operative cat alive and everything, but … Chela? Winning? Is that still a thing? Was that ever a thing? I rather thought Sam Querrey had this one sewn up after he finally defeated everybody’s least favourite player, Wayne Odesnik, in the semis:

Querrey reportedly said “I refuse to lose to that guy”, and refuse to lose he did. So … what happened in the final? Anyone?

All joking aside, that’s a startlingly good run from Chela. A cursory glance at his playing record suggests that the last time he won consecutive main draw matches was in Kitzbuhel last year. So something major must have been working for him this week.

Meanwhile, props to another Argy, Horacio Zeballos, for reaching the semi-finals and defeating Gonzo along the way:

Love it.

Casablanca et al: Thursday’s Results, Friday’s OOP

The (mildly hilarious) shock of the day has to be Kim Clijsters losing to 258th-ranked Spanish qualifier Beatriz Garcia Vidagany, who is playing her first WTA tour tournament ever – so that consistency thing remains a work in progress, eh, Kim? Simona Halep had another good win, this time over the slumping Sorana Cirstea, and lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko is making the best of things in Ponte Vedra Beach. On the men’s side, Stan Wawrinka survived a bagel from a qualifier and Official NB Pick For Casablanca Champion Richard Gasquet put in another crushing win. Lleyton Hewitt was not so rusty in his first match back after hip surgery, and Zeballos and Gonzo will be playing in a frankly hot quarterfinal. That is all.

Full Results – ATP

Casablanca

Singles – Second Round
[1] S Wawrinka (SUI) d [Q] M Klizan (SVK) 64 06 64
[3] V Hanescu (ROU) d [Q] J Nieminen (FIN) 26 63 62
[WC] R El Amrani (MAR) d J Hajek (CZE) 63 26 62
R Gasquet (FRA) d A Golubev (KAZ) 61 61

Doubles – Semi-finals
[3] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) d [2] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) 64 63
R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) d P Marx (GER) / I Zelenay (SVK) 63 64

Houston

Singles – Second Round
[1] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [Q] K Anderson (RSA) 64 46 64
X Malisse (BEL) d [2] J Isner (USA) 76(3) 67(7) 76(3)
[3] S Querrey (USA) d B Kavcic (SLO) 62 61
[4] [WC] L Hewitt (AUS) d [LL] S Devvarman (IND) 16 60 76(2)
[6] H Zeballos (ARG) d D Sela (ISR) 63 62
W Odesnik (USA) d M Kukushkin (KAZ) 61 75

Doubles – Semi-finals
[3] S Huss (AUS) / W Moodie (RSA) d H Zeballos (ARG) / M Zverev (GER) 63 63

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[WC] N Healey (AUS) / L Hewitt (AUS) d D Istomin (UZB) / A Motti (ITA) 64 76(5)

WTA

Marbella

Singles – Second Round
(1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (WC) Estrella Cabeza Candela (ESP) 62 64
(2) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (Q) Laura Pous Tio (ESP) 62 62
(Q) Beatriz García Vidagany (ESP) d. (3/WC) Kim Clijsters (BEL) 75 46 64
Sara Errani (ITA) d. (7) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 61 76(1)
(8) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 64 76(2)
(Q) Simona Halep (ROU) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 64 76(4)

Doubles – Quarterfinals
Kondratieva/Shvedova (RUS/KAZ) d. Domínguez Lino/Parra Santonja (ESP/ESP) 60 64

Doubles – First Round
(2) Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy (ESP/USA) d. Malek/Sfar (GER/TUN) 26 75 1210

Ponte Vedra Beach

Singles – Second Round
(4) Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 63 62
(8) Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 26 75 75
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (Q) Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 62 62
(LL) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Angelique Kerber (GER) 61 61

Doubles – Quarterfinals
(1) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. (WC) Cibulkova/Morita (SVK/JPN) 62 61
Borwell/Kops-Jones (GBR/USA) d. Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova (GER/CZE) 63 36 108

Today’s OOP is brought to you by Gonzo’s poorly knee.

Casablanca

Houston

ORDER OF PLAY – APRIL 9, 2010
Stadium Court – Start 12:00 noon
Nicolas Massu (CHI) vs (3) Sam Querrey (USA)
(4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs Juan Ignacio Chela (CHI)
Wayne Odesnik (USA) vs Xavier Malisse (BEL)
Not Before 6 p.m.
(1) Bob Bryan (USA) & Mike Bryan (USA) vs Nathan Healey (AUS) & Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
(1) Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) vs (6) Horacio Zeballos (ARG)

Marbella

Centre Court (from 13.00hrs)
1. Tatjana Malek vs. Carla Suárez Navarro
2. Simona Halep vs. Flavia Pennetta
3. Victoria Azarenka vs. María José Martínez Sánchez
4. Sara Errani vs. Beatriz García Vidagany

Court 1 (NB 13.30hrs)
1. Lefèvre/Niculescu vs. Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy

Ponte Vedra Beach

Stadium (from 11.00hrs)
1. Varvara Lepchenko vs. Olga Govortsova
2. Elena Vesnina vs. Melanie Oudin (NB 13.00hrs)
3. Aleksandra Wozniak vs. Dominika Cibulkova (NB 15.00hrs)
4. Dekmeijere/Schnyder vs. Chuang/Peng
5. Caroline Wozniacki vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (NB 19.00hrs)

Casablanca et al: Wednesday’s Results, Thursday’s OOP

Rain hit Houston yesterday, postponing Lleyton Hewitt’s first match back from hip surgery but fortunately not interfering with two extremely WTF matches, one being Nicolas Massu’s agonising three-set victory over Ryan Sweeting and the other being Chela v Schwank … on which more later. In Marbella, Tatjana Malek upset new top-20 lady Aravane Rezai and Kim Clijsters won her first match on clay since the Mumback. And in Ponte Vedra Beach, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova made her fourth quarter-final of 2010. Check out little miss consistency.

Full Results – ATP

Casablanca

Singles – Second Round
[2] G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d M Granollers (ESP) 63 62
[4] L Kubot (POL) d A Clement (FRA) 64 61
[8] F Serra (FRA) d S Robert (FRA) 26 61 63
P Starace (ITA) d O Hernandez (ESP) 62 61

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[2] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) d L Friedl (CZE) / D Skoch (CZE) 62 64
[3] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) d C Fleming (GBR) / K Skupski (GBR) 62 64
R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) d S Greul (GER) / P Luczak (AUS) 63 62
P Marx (GER) / I Zelenay (SVK) d T Bednarek (POL) / M Kowalczyk (POL) 61 67(2) 10-7

Houston

Singles – Second Round
B Kavcic (SLO) vs [3] S Querrey (USA) – postponed to Thursday
[4] [WC] L Hewitt (AUS) vs [LL] S Devvarman (IND) – postponed to Thursday
J Chela (ARG) d [7] E Schwank (ARG) 61 67(5) 61
N Massu (CHI) d [Q] R Sweeting (USA) 67(5) 76(3) 64

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d M Damm (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) 64 63
H Zeballos (ARG) / M Zverev (GER) d [2] M Fish (USA) / M Knowles (BAH) w/o (Fish – leg)
[3] S Huss (AUS) / W Moodie (RSA) d [WC] R Harrison (USA) / D Young (USA) 63 67(4) 10-8

Doubles – First Round
H Zeballos (ARG) / M Zverev (GER) d S Lipsky (USA) / T Rettenmaier (USA) 75 64

Full Results – WTA

Marbella

Singles – Second Round
Tatjana Malek (GER) d. (4) Aravane Rezai (FRA) 64 62
(5) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 60 62

Singles – First Round
(2) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 63 61
(3/WC) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) 64 67(1) 62
(Q) Laura Pous Tio (ESP) d. Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 61 63
(Q) Beatriz García Vidagany (ESP) d. Kristina Barrois (GER) 75 64

Doubles – Quarterfinals
Domachowska/Rosolska (POL/POL) d. (1) Jans/Uhlirova (POL/CZE) 26 64 119
(3) Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) d. Hercog/Martic (SLO/CRO) 76(5) 76(2)

Ponte Vedra Beach

Singles – Second Round
(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 63 61
(3) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 63 63
(5) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (Q) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 76(4) 46 62
(6) Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. (WC) Ayumi Morita (JPN) 26 63 62

Doubles – Quarterfinals
Hlavackova/Savchuk (CZE/UKR) d. Dzehalevich/Pelletier (BLR/CAN) 64 46 108

Doubles – First Round
(1) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. Grandin/Spears (RSA/USA) 75 62
Dekmeijere/Schnyder (LAT/SUI) d. Ditty/Gullickson (USA/USA) 63 67(2) 107

Today’s OOP is brought to you by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s death glare.

Casablanca

Houston

ORDER OF PLAY – APRIL 8, 2010
Stadium Court – Start 12:00 noon
Dudi Sela (ISR) vs (6) Horacio Zeballos (ARG)
(4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs (LL) Somdev Devvarman (IND)
Blaz Kavcic (SLO) vs (3) Sam Querrey (USA)
Not Before 6 p.m.
Xavier Malisse (BEL) vs (2) John Isner (USA)
(1) Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) vs (Q) Kevin Anderson (RSA)

Court 3 – Start 1:00 pm
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs Wayne Odesnik (USA)
After Appropriate Rest
(3) Stephen Huss (AUS) & Wesley Moodie (RSA) vs Horacio Zeballos (ARG) & Mischa Zverev (GER)
After Appropriate Rest
Denis Istomin (UZB) & Alessandro Motti (ITA) vs Nathan Healey (AUS) & Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)

Marbella

Centre Court (from 13.00hrs)
1. Anabel Medina Garrigues vs. Sara Errani
2. Beatriz García Vidagany vs. Kim Clijsters
3. Laura Pous Tio vs. Flavia Pennetta
4. Victoria Azarenka vs. Estrella Cabeza Candela

Court 1 (from 12.00hrs)
1. Sorana Cirstea vs. Simona Halep
2. Malek/Sfar vs. Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy
3. Polona Hercog vs. Carla Suárez Navarro
4. Dominguez Lino/Parra Santonja vs. Kondratieva/Shvedova

Ponte Vedra Beach

Stadium (from 11.00hrs)
1. Anna Tatishvili vs. Olga Govortsova
2. Elena Vesnina vs. Julia Goerges
3. Varvara Lepchenko vs. Angelique Kerber
4. Borwell/Kops-Jones vs. Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova (after suitable rest)
5. Peng Shuai vs. Melanie Oudin (NB 19.00hrs)
6. Mattek-Sands/Yan vs. Cibulkova/Morita

Casablanca et al: Tuesday’s Results, Wednesday’s OOP

Apart from the aforesaid rash of retirements in Houston, not too much of note went on yesterday apart from second seed Alona Bondarenko being upset by Olga Govortsova in Ponte Vedra Beach and a crushing win for Richard Gasquet in Casablanca.

Full Results

Casablanca

Singles – First Round
R Gasquet (FRA) d [7] O Rochus (BEL) 61 61
[8] F Serra (FRA) d S Ventura (ESP) 64 63
[Q] J Nieminen (FIN) d [WC] M Ziadi (MAR) 61 61
[WC] R El Amrani (MAR) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 76(5) 46 76(4)
A Clement (FRA) d [Q] I Navarro (ESP) 63 63
J Hajek (CZE) d [6] S Greul (GER) 76(3) 64
A Golubev (KAZ) d D Koellerer (AUT) 62 76(5)
S Robert (FRA) d [Q] S Koubek (AUT) 63 57 75
[Q] M Klizan (SVK) d O Dolgopolov Jr. (UKR) 46 61 75

Doubles – First Round
T Bednarek (POL) / M Kowalczyk (POL) d [1] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) 16 60 12-10
[2] M Granollers (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) d G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) / M Melo (BRA) 75 64
[3] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU) d Y Allegro (SUI) / S Wawrinka (SUI) 76(9) 75
S Greul (GER) / P Luczak (AUS) d [4] M Kohlmann (GER) / J Nieminen (FIN) 64 62
R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) d [WC] R Chaki (MAR) / R El Amrani (MAR) 46 62 10-8

Houston

Singles – First Round
[Q] R Sweeting (USA) d [5] E Korolev (KAZ) 63 46 62
[6] H Zeballos (ARG) d T Dent (USA) 63 ret. (hip)
[7] E Schwank (ARG) d M Daniel (BRA) 63 62
M Kukushkin (KAZ) d **[LL] M Yani (USA) 61 75
**[LL] S Devvarman (IND) d [Q] C Niland (IRL) 64 62
N Massu (CHI) d M Zverev (GER) 64 62
[Q] K Anderson (RSA) d [WC] D Young (USA) 75 63
X Malisse (BEL) d [Q] N Lindahl (AUS) 63 75
J Chela (ARG) d R Ram (USA) 62 30 ret. (groin)

*[LL] S Devvarman (IND) replaced M Fish (USA) – leg
**[LL] M Yani (USA) replaced [8] M Russell (USA) – leg

Doubles – First Round
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d R Hutchins (GBR) / J Kerr (AUS) 64 76(4)
[3] S Huss (AUS) / W Moodie (RSA) d A Sa (BRA) / D Vemic (SRB) 63 76(6)
D Istomin (UZB) / A Motti (ITA) d [4] J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) 57 62 10-5
[WC] N Healey (AUS) / L Hewitt (AUS) d J Cerretani (USA) / A Shamasdin (CAN) 76(3) 75

Marbella

Singles – First Round
(1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (LL) Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) 63 60
(5) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 64 63
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. (6) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 46 76(2) 64
(7) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 61 64
(8) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 64 60
Sara Errani (ITA) d. (Q) Arantxa Rus (NED) 61 62
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. Julie Coin (FRA) 62 60
(Q) Simona Halep (ROU) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 64 61

Doubles – First Round
(1) Jans/Uhlirova (POL/CZE) d. (WC) Cabeza Candela/Pous Tio (ESP/ESP) 62 64
Kondratieva/Shvedova (RUS/KAZ) d. Daniilidou/Woehr (GRE/GER) 16 63 103
Lefèvre/Niculescu (FRA/ROU) d. Barrois/Olaru (GER/ROU) 63 46 107
Hercog/Martic (SLO/CRO) d. (WC) Costas-Moreira/García Vidagany (ESP/ESP) 75 62

Ponte Vedra Beach

Singles – First Round
(1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Patty Schnyder (SUI) 60 64
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (2) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 63 46 60
(4) Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. (Q) Sophie Ferguson (AUS) 62 63
(8) Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Rossana de los Ríos (PAR) 75 62
Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) 64 62
Angelique Kerber (GER) d. Vania King (USA) 62 63
Julia Goerges (GER) d. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 75 57 64
(Q) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 62 67(4) 75
(Q) Anna Tatishvili (GEO) d. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 63 36 75
(LL) Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Mariana Duque Marino (COL) 61 76(2)
(WC) Ayumi Morita (JPN) d. (Q) Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ) 63 26 62

Doubles – First Round
(2) Chuang/Peng (TPE/CHN) d. Makarova/Pavlyuchenkova (RUS/RUS) 46 75 119
Goerges/Zahlavova Strycova (GER/CZE) d. (4) Govortsova/Kudryavtseva (BLR/RUS) 63 36 105
(WC) Cibulkova/Morita (SVK/JPN) d. Rodionova/Rodionova (AUS/RUS) 63 75

Today’s OOP is brought to you by Simona Halep’s reduced boobs.

Casablanca

Houston

Stadium Court – Start 12:00 noon
Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) vs (7) Eduardo Schwank (ARG)
Dudi Sela (ISR) vs Nicolas Massu (CHI)
Not Before 3 p.m.
(1) Bob Bryan (USA) & Mike Bryan (USA) vs Martin Damm (CZE) & Filip Polasek (SVK)
Not Before 6 p.m.
(4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs (LL) Somdev Devvarman (IND)
Blaz Kavcic (SLO) vs (3) Sam Querrey (USA)

Court 3 – Start 12:00 noon
Horacio Zeballos (ARG) & Mischa Zverev (GER) vs Scott Lipsky (USA) & Travis Rettenmaier (USA)
Not Before 3:00 p.m.
(WC) Ryan Harrison (USA) & Donald Young (USA) vs (3) Stephen Huss (AUS) & Wesley Moodie (RSA)

Marbella

Centre Court (from 12.00hrs)
1. Kirsten Flipkens vs. Laura Pous Tio
2. Alberta Brianti vs. María José Martínez Sánchez
3. Yaroslava Shvedova vs. Flavia Pennetta (NB 16.30hrs)
4. Alexandra Dulgheru vs. Kim Clijsters (NB 18.30hrs)

Court 1 (from 12.00hrs)
1. Kristina Barrois vs. Beatriz García Vidagany
2. Aravane Rezai vs. Tatjana Malek
3. Hercog/Martic vs. Errani/Vinci
4. Jans/Uhlirova vs. Domachowska/Rosolska

Ponte Vedra Beach

Stadium (from 11.00hrs)
1. Hlavackova/Savchuk vs. Dzehalevich/Pelletier
2. Bethanie Mattek-Sands vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (NB 12.00hrs)
3. Alla Kudryavtseva vs. Dominika Cibulkova
4. Mattek-Sands/Yan vs. Grandin/Spears (after suitable rest)
5. Caroline Wozniacki vs. Sofia Arvidsson (NB 19.00hrs)
6. Dekmeijere/Schnyder vs. Ditty/Gullickson

Court 1 (from 12.00hrs)
1. Aleksandra Wozniak vs. Ayumi Morita

Houston: Blue Flu?

Wayne Odesnik played his first match today since pleading guilty to carrying Human Growth Hormone (HGH) into Australia, beating Jerzy Janowicz 63 64. It seems bizarre that he’s allowed to play, really, and Janowicz wasn’t best pleased:

“I think it is unfair to do something like this,” Janowicz said.

“It’s a misunderstanding because for me, he shouldn’t be playing at this moment. He should be suspended. There are bad feelings right now. He shouldn’t play and right now I’m playing with this guy. It’s tough to play with that kind of guy.”

In a probably-unrelated-but-fun-to-speculate-about development, four American players have now withdrawn from the tournament. Mardy Fish and Michael Russell were replaced by lucky losers, while Taylor Dent and Rajeev Ram both retired midway through their matches. I’m just saying. Have a picture of Odesnik.

ATP Week Ahead: Casablanca, Houston

Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. That is all.

Casablanca

Draw here.

Top Seeds: Stanislas Wawrinka, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Victor Hanescu, Lukasz Kubot

Ah, memories. Watching Boss in Casablanca last year finally ending his long title drought was one of my favourite tennis things in all of 2009. But sadly this year he’s too busy attending Ferru’s surprise birthday party to defend his title, so … Stan? Not the same. Although it does seem like a really long time since he’s won anything.

Er, yeah. There are a few potentially really good matches in the draw – Gasquet against a Rochus, Marcel Granollers against Garcia-Lopez, Jarkko Nieminen possibly meeting Hanescu in the second round – but reallyI feel like anything could happen in this tournament. I have no faith in Wawrinka imposing his will on the field, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this could be the tournament that sees Gasquet back in the winners’ circle. And I can’t quite believe I just wrote that.

Houston

Draw here.

Top Seeds: Fernando Gonzalez, John Isner, Sam Querrey, Lleyton Hewitt

Unlike Boss, Lleyton Hewitt is popping back to defend his title (despite hip surgery, again) and he’s got a nice quarter to get a couple of matches under his belt, although Gonzo should end his run in the semis if he can concentrate for long enough. The bottom half of the draw should yield an all-American semi between Isner and Querrey, unless that HGH works really, really well on Wayne Odesnik, in which case I’m just expecting him to fully Hulk out and tear the place apart with his bare hands. That’s what HGH does, right?