Shtoo-rill

That’s how you pronounce ‘Estoril’, apparently, and that’s where I am, havin’ it large (and sometimes small). I’m doing some writing for other sources but I thought you’d appreciate some photo content.

No, they’re not my photos. I didn’t bring a camera – at least, not one that I can hook up to a computer. (I’m bringing the disposable camera back.) These are courtesy of the fantastic Pedro Mendes and I’m sure you’ll agree he’s a handy man with a lens.

The omnipresent Jeremy Chardy, daring you not to look at his bulge.

The very beautiful Jarmila Groth Gajdisova at the draw ceremony.

The very lovely Heather Watson, who had a great win in qualifying aganst Karolina Sprem and was then nice enough to chat to me afterwards. Forgot to ask if she would be stalking Delpo though.

Speaking of which …

The big man was on cheerful form in practice today, generally goofing around and being a bit lazy. He was cracking those forehands, though. And was promptly engulfed by a crowd of autograph-seeking kids as he left the court.

… No comment.  

(These photos belong to Pedro Mendes, so please don’t steal them.)

Put In a Word for Delpo’s Wrist, Won’t You?

So, you’re in Rome. And you’ve already lost. As a result, you’ve got a bit of time on your hands. What do you do? What any red-blooded young man worth his salt would do. You go to see this guy.

Andreas Seppi, Jeremy Chardy and Leander Paes popped along to visit with God for a bit, not having anything more pressing to do.

They even took their girlfriends along. Because nothing’s more romantic than an audience with Benedict XVI.

Rome: Tuesday’s Results, Wednesday’s OOP

While Murray stunned the nation by winning a match and some other guy lost, Novak Djokovic’s crushing win over Jeremy Chardy went somewhat unnoticed, but win he did, 61 61. In encouraging news, his serve looked particularly good.

Juan Monaco, meanwhile, suffered another disappointing defeat, going down in straights to Victor Hanescu. I don’t know how much the wrist is bothering him, but his results certainly don’t seem to justify postponing the surgery.

Obligatory disbelieving look over the net.

I’ll bet that some martyred, long-suffering pleading with the umpire was involved as well.

The unseeded Wawrinka and Lopez both had thorough straight sets wins and were apparently looking very good, while Nose Job prevailed over Horseface and Lleyton Hewitt had a tough win over Mikhail Youzhny in three.

David Ferrer beat Evgeny Korolev to face Andy Murray in the second round, and last week’s girl Thiemo de Bakker was forced to retire in the third set against Viktor Troicki.

Results

Singles – Second Round
E Gulbis (LAT) d [1] R Federer (SUI) 26 61 75
[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d J Chardy (FRA) 61 61
[4] A Murray (GBR) d A Seppi (ITA) 62 64
V Hanescu (ROU) d [16] J Monaco (ARG) 76(4) 64

Singles – First Round
L Hewitt (AUS) d [9] M Youzhny (RUS) 64 46 63
[13] D Ferrer (ESP) vs E Korolev (KAZ)
N Almagro (ESP) d L Kubot (POL) 67(3) 62 63
S Wawrinka (SUI) d J Melzer (AUT) 61 62
F Lopez (ESP) d B Becker (GER) 64 63
V Troicki (SRB) d T de Bakker (NED) 36 61 10 ret. (groin)
T Bellucci (BRA) vs [Q] L Mayer (ARG)
[WC] S Bolelli (ITA) d [LL] S Greul (GER) 64 61

Doubles – First Round
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) / A Montanes (ESP) vs M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)
I Ljubicic (CRO) / M Llodra (FRA) d J Knowle (AUT) / A Ram (ISR) 64 63
P Cuevas (URU) / J Monaco (ARG) d J Benneteau (FRA) / J Chardy (FRA) 36 75 10-8
J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) d J Tsonga (FRA) / S Wawrinka (SUI) 46 62 10-7
[WC] S Bolelli (ITA) / P Starace (ITA) d I Andreev (RUS) / M Youzhny (RUS) 64 62
N Almagro (ESP) / M Granollers (ESP) d F Lopez (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP) 62 76(3)

Wednesday’s OOP is brought to you by the seductive pout of Jeremy Chardy.

CAMPO CENTRALE start 1:00 pm
[WC] P Lorenzi (ITA) vs [5] R Soderling (SWE)
[3] R Nadal (ESP) vs P Kohlschreiber (GER)
[6] F Verdasco (ESP) vs [WC] S Bolelli (ITA)

Non prima delle 20:30
[13] D Ferrer (ESP) or E Korolev (KAZ) vs [WC] P Starace (ITA)
F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) vs [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA)

PIETRANGELI 13:00
[WC] F Volandri (ITA) vs J Benneteau (FRA)
[10] T Berdych (CZE) vs S Wawrinka (SUI)
[7] J Tsonga (FRA) vs V Troicki (SRB)
F Lopez (ESP) vs [8] M Cilic (CRO)

CAMPO 5 Inizio 13:00
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs L Hewitt (AUS)
[WC] Y Allegro (SUI) / R Federer (SUI) vs [6] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS)
[14] J Isner (USA) vs T Bellucci (BRA) or [Q] L Mayer (ARG)

CAMPO 6 Inizio 13:00
[Q] M Llodra (FRA) vs [Q] S Giraldo (COL)

Non prima delle 15:00
[11] I Ljubicic (CRO) vs N Almagro (ESP)
[1] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs P Cuevas (URU) / J Monaco (ARG) or J Benneteau (FRA) / J Chardy (FRA) – To Be Arranged

Barcelona: Tuesday’s Results, Wednesday’s OOP

Further woe for the reduced field as seeds Juan Monaco and Albert Montanes were beaten, while Tommy Robredo trailed a set and a break before being forced to retire.But hey, Jeremy Chardy won a match. It’s not all bad.

Full Results

Singles – Second Round
[2] R Soderling (SWE) d J Chela (ARG) 75 75
[15] N Almagro (ESP) d S Greul (GER) 61 63
[LL] I Navarro (ESP) d [Q] P Cuevas (URU) 62 64

Singles – First Round
[Q] S Bolelli (ITA) d [9] T Robredo (ESP) 67(7) 64 31 ret. (back)
[Q] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) d [10] J Monaco (ARG) 62 36 62
[11] J Melzer (AUT) d [LL] N Lapentti (ECU) 63 63
[12] L Hewitt (AUS) d [Q] M Ilhan (TUR) 64 46 62
J Chardy (FRA) d [14] A Montanes (ESP) 63 76(1)
[16] F Lopez (ESP) d O Dolgopolov Jr. (UKR) 63 30 ret. (illness)
[WC] A Martin (ESP) d A Seppi (ITA) 75 64
D Istomin (UZB) d S Robert (FRA) 76(5) 16 61
[Q] A Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) d M Russell (USA) 64 63
S Stakhovsky (UKR) d M Zverev (GER) 46 64 62
E Gulbis (LAT) d P Luczak (AUS) 76(4) 63
V Hanescu (ROU) d A Beck (GER) 61 62

Doubles – First Round
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) / A Montanes (ESP) d J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) 76(7) 63
T Bellucci (BRA) / H Zeballos (ARG) d M Granollers (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) 64 62

Today’s OOP is brought to you by Juan Monaco’s apparently ineffective warm-up routine …

… and the dubious pleasure of sitting on Nicolas Almagro’s lap.

Miami: Mixed Fortunes

Three Timettes in action. One won. Elena Baltacha notched up another great win, beating Iveta Benesova 62 64. Brilliant stuff.

You know when you’ve been Bally’d.

No suck luck for the others, though. Anne Keothavong, still struggling to build any momentum after her long injury layoff, fell to Tamira Paszek in straights. And Delpo fangirl Heather Watson lost to Pironkova 64 62 – which is not too shabby for her first WTA main draw match.

Next time, ladies.

It was a mixed bag for the wildcarded sentimental faves returning from injury/illness, too. David ‘El Rey’ Nalbandian disposed of Kubot with nae bother, 63 62, but Mario Ancic turned out to be about the one person Jeremy Chardy can beat these days, falling 64 64. Back to the Futures tour for him.

Outpouted.

Double the Fun

Just because these photos warm my heart and include at least one pretty person, I’m going to exercise my right to arbitrarily care about doubles and give some props to Jeremy Chardy and Marc Gicquel for winning the Brisbane men’s doubles title, knocking out Andy Roddick and James Blake in the semis and Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes in the final.

Happy days.

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

Let’s Get Our D Cup On

So I wrote a whole Davis Cup preview earlier and then the internet was all, “no no no”. So it disappeared. Have some pictures instead.

Put it away, Spain.

Feli never uses his hands when his mouth will do.

Cheerful for condemned men, aren’t they?

Ivo is serious business.

Team BirdWorm are not.

Is it me, or does Tipsy just get freakier?

Sweden are hot. I’m just saying.

So are France.

Barbie’s Dream Davis Cup Team!

I recognise one of these guys.

Consider the weekend’s Davis Cup action previewed.

USO Day Three: Le Disappointment

In a match that promised more than it delivered, Gael Monfils defeated compatriot and smokin’ hottie Jeremy Chardy 61 64 63.

I must say I entertained hopes that this one would be close, perhaps even going to five, even if it didn’t result in an upset. No such luck. Still both these men are so photogenic, I can’t resist a little picspam.

Sliderman.

Sliderman 2.

Oh Jeremy, you callous sophisticate.

Needless to say the shot did not go over.

This was my first real ‘can’t they just make out instead?’ match of the 2009 US Open.

There will be more.

Montreal: Muzz, Boss Through

Welcome back Muzz!

Considering that he was the only top seed who didn’t get Some Canadian Bloke to start against (well, OK, Kolya didn’t either, but I’ve got a thing going here), he did pretty well. Not his best performance, but 64 62 over Jezza is not to be sneezed at.

At least I think he did OK. At one point in the second set Mark Petchey described Jeremy as “too submissive” on court and then started talking about how all Frenchmen shared the same failing. I was giggling too much to really watch the tennis.

Anyway, in the battle of the old-timers, Boss beat Hewitt, 61 64. A surprisingly one-sided match in the end; Hewitt was serving fairly shockingly and failing for most of the match to get any width on his shots at all, to the point that Boss actually asked him at the net if he was OK. Still, great win for Boss. He gets La Monf next. Am I mad, or could he win that?

And can I just say how great it is to see these two still out there playing at such a high level? I mean, they’ve got millions under the mattress, they’ve got families and/or hotels and so forth … they don’t have to be doing this. They particularly didn’t have to deal with injuries and surgery and people saying they should retire. They’re just out there for pure love of competing and pure love of the game. And they both, still, leave everything out there. They don’t just show up, lose half-assedly, complain to the press about how much they hate tennis, collect their money and then leave, like some people who shall not be named, Marat.

Anyway. I want a Boss-Muzz Queens/Wimbledon rematch. I demand it.