Indian Wells: Kvitova, Groth, Hewitt Out

That’s the bad news. The good news is that it’s televised from tonight. Thank god. 

The women’s matches were the more interesting last night, as the top seeds were in action for the first time. Almost all cruised through, including Clijsters, Zvonareva and defending champion Jankovic. The highest-profile casualty was Petra Kvitova, who is seemingly intent on proving that she is simply not to be trusted week in or week out; she lost in three sets to Barbora Zahlalova Strycova, thus easing Ivanovic’s draw a little. Andrea Petkovic managed a very tricky opponent in Lucie Safarova, but Jarmila Groth, the 29th seed, lost to Sara Errani and 30th seed Tsvetana Pironkova went down to a dare-we-say-she’s-slightly-resurgent Alize Cornet.

No major names in action on the men’s side yet but plenty of interest. Delightful to see Julien Benneteau getting a straightforward 64 64 win over Feliciano Lopez, and the unseeded Davydenko surviving a potentially tricky encounter with Fognini. Wildcard Bernard Tomic rather battled to a victory over Bopanna, and fellow young gun Milos Raonic- remember him? – is back and beating Marsel Ilhan like it’s going out of style.

Disappointing losses however for Lleyton Hewitt, roundly defeated by Yen-Hsun Lu, and Kei Nishikori, edged in three by Igor Andreev. Never mind boys.

Meanwhile, in a development that is in no way related to next summer’s Olympics, half the men’s field have also been playing doubles and there were wins for Federer (with Wawrinka), Nadal (with Marc Lopez), Melzner, Quisner, Djokovic (with Troicki) and the Murray brothers. And a good time was had by all, I’m sure.

Men

Singles – First Round
[WC] J Blake (USA) d [Q] C Guccione (AUS) 36 63 62
R Mello (BRA) d R Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) 64 63
P Cuevas (URU) d P Andujar (ESP) 75 63
J Benneteau (FRA) d F Lopez (ESP) 64 64
[WC] B Tomic (AUS) d [Q] R Bopanna (IND) 67(5) 76(1) 64
S Giraldo (COL) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 64 67(5) 63
Y Lu (TPE) d L Hewitt (AUS) 62 63
A Golubev (KAZ) d F Mayer (GER) 62 61
L Kubot (POL) d M Kukushkin (KAZ) 76(8) 64
B Becker (GER) d T de Bakker (NED) 62 75
F Serra (FRA) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 64 67(1) 76(4)
N Davydenko (RUS) d F Fognini (ITA) 57 62 64
[WC] M Raonic (CAN) d M Ilhan (TUR) 62 76(4)
[WC] R Harrison (USA) d J Chardy (FRA) 67(5) 76(2) 63
P Petzschner (GER) d D Brown (GER) 64 75
I Andreev (RUS) d K Nishikori (JPN) 64 67(2) 64

Doubles – First Round
R Federer (SUI) / S Wawrinka (SUI) d [2] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) 61 62
M Lopez (ESP) / R Nadal (ESP) d [4] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 76(5) 76(2)
[5] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER) d N Almagro (ESP) / D Ferrer (ESP) 36 61 12-10
J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) d [6] M Llodra (FRA) / N Zimonjic (SRB) 36 63 10-8
A Dolgopolov (UKR) / X Malisse (BEL) d T Berdych (CZE) / J Tipsarevic (SRB) 46 64 10-8
A Murray (GBR) / J Murray (GBR) d M Melo (BRA) / B Soares (BRA) 75 36 10-6
N Djokovic (SRB) / V Troicki (SRB) d J Chela (ARG) / J Monaco (ARG) 63 75
J Benneteau (FRA) / R Gasquet (FRA) d K Anderson (RSA) / P Kohlschreiber (GER) 64 76(4)

Women

Singles – Second Round
(2) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 62 60
(3) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 63 76(4)
(5) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE) 62 60
(6) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (WC) Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 62 61
(10) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 46 76(5) 63
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. (12) Petra Kvitova (CZE) 36 62 75
(14) Kaia Kanepi (EST) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 36 62 62
(15) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (Q) Monica Niculescu (ROU) 26 63 62
(17) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 62 75
(19) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN) 64 62
(21) Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 76(8) 75
(23) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 64 63
(25) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. (WC) Sania Mirza (IND) 63 63
Sara Errani (ITA) d. (29) Jarmila Groth (AUS) 75 46 62
(Q) Alizé Cornet (FRA) d. (30) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 75 36 62
(32) Julia Goerges (GER) d. Sybille Bammer (AUT) 61 63

Doubles – First Round
Jans/Rosolska (POL/POL) d. (2) Peschke/Srebotnik (CZE/SLO) 16 62 105
(3) Huber/Petrova (USA/RUS) d. Hercog/Hsieh (SLO/TPE) 60 62
(6) Azarenka/Kirilenko (BLR/RUS) d. Llagostera Vives/Parra Santonja (ESP/ESP) 57 63 119
(7) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) d. Martínez Sánchez/Medina Garrigues (ESP/ESP) 76(4) 67(3) 105
Chuang/Dulgheru (TPE/ROU) d. (WC) Hampton/Oudin (USA/USA) 63 46 106

OOP

Stadium 1 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Dinara Safina vs. Daniela Hantuchova
2. ATP: del Potro vs. Ljubicic
3. Caroline Wozniacki vs. Sloane Stephens
4. ATP: Nadal vs. de Voest
5. Anabel Medina Garrigues vs. Maria Sharapova (NB 19.00hrs)
6. ATP: Soderling vs. Berrer (NB 20.30hrs)

Stadium 2 (from 11.00hrs)
1. ATP: Verdasco vs. Berankis
2. Samantha Stosur vs. Laura Pous-Tio
3. ATP: Young vs. Murray (NB 14.00hrs)
4. ATP: Tipsarevic vs. Querrey
5. ATP: Malisse vs. Tsonga
6. Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Christina McHale

Stadium 3 (from 11.00hrs)
1. ATP: Baghdatis vs. Devvarman
2. ATP: Karlovic vs. Ferrer
3. Ekaterina Makarova vs. Victoria Azarenka
4. Peng Shuai vs. Li Na
5. ATP: Sweeting vs. Monaco
6. ATP: Bryan/Bryan vs. F.López/Raonic

Court 7 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Elena Baltacha vs. Flavia Pennetta
2. Alexandra Dulgheru vs. Lucie Hradecka
3. Dulko/Pennetta vs. Jankovic/Pavlyuchenkova
4. Kops-Jones/Spears vs. Mattek-Sands/Shaughnessy
5. ATP: Bellucci/Harrison vs. Cilic/Karlovic

Court 8 (from 11.00hrs)
1. ATP: Robredo vs. Zverev
2. Grandin/Uhlirova vs. King/Shvedova
3. ATP: Simon vs. Schuettler
4. ATP: Almagro vs. Russell

Court 4 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Klara Zakopalova vs. Urszula Radwanska
2. Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Iveta Benesova
3. Anna Chakvetadze vs. Maria Kirilenko
4. Sofia Arvidsson vs. Nadia Petrova

Court 6 (from 11.00hrs)
1. ATP: Nieminen vs. Montañes
2. Simona Halep vs. María José Martínez Sánchez
3. ATP: Smyczek vs. Kohlschreiber
4. ATP: García López/Montañes vs. Kubot/Marach

Court 5 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Aravane Rezai vs. Zhang Shuai
2. Alisa Kleybanova vs. Agnes Szavay
3. ATP: Dolgopolov vs. Hanescu
4. ATP: Bopanna/Qureshi vs. Butorac/Rojer

Wimbledon Manic Monday Preview: Gentlemen

I’ve decided the best way to sum up Friday and Saturday’s action at Wimbledon is to look forward to Manic Monday, a.k.a. the greatest day of tennis in all the year, when the entire R16 – men and women – play on the same day.

Roger Federer v Jurgen Melzer

H2H: 0-0

Roger’s got his Wimbledon back on track with a straight sets victory over Arnaud Clement, a good match-up for him at the best of times. Jurgen Melzer toiled slightly more with a four-set win over Feliciano Lopez. Doubles partners in the juniors, these two have unbelievably never played on the senior tour. Melzer can be a tricky opponent and knocked out Novak Djokovic at the French Open, and Roger has obviously looked wobbly, but I reckon he’s found his feet now. Prediction: Roger in four.

Winner to meet …

Tomas Berdych v Daniel Brands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H2H: 0-0

Daniel Brands has, for me, been one of the surprises of the tournament; after beating Igor Andreev, Nikolay Davydenko, and Victor Hanescu (albeit in circumstances which bear examination, more on that later), he’s now through to the round of sixteen in his very first Wimbledon. And that’s not something that every bronzed sex god can pull out of the bag (I saw him at several points during Wimbledon, and he is.) He’s been excellent in tiebreaks and high-pressure situations, but Berdych certainly should be a bridge too far; he won his first two matches in straights and did get taken to five by Denis Istomin – but Istomin has been having some very good results of late. Definitely the hottest match of the day, anyway … Prediction: Berdych in three.

Novak Djokovic v Lleyton Hewitt

H2H: 3-1

Probably the most eagerly anticipated match-up of the day on the men’s side, what’s surprising to me is that Nole has won both of their previous meetings on grass; once at Queens in 2008, and once at this stage during Wimbledon in 2007. Since that time, however, Nole has been floundering – not least at Wimbledon – and Lleyton is arguably riding a great wave of confidence, coming off a win against Federer in Halle and a very decent Wimbledon last year. Everyone seems to be giving the edge to Hewitt, who’s had a good run including a straight sets defeat of Gael Monfils in the third round; Nole, on the other hand, seemed to make progress in his defeat of Taylor Dent, but laboured to a victory over a dreadful Montanes. I’m going with Nole, however, in the hope that that will Make It True. Prediction: Nole in five.

Winner to meet …

Andy Roddick v Yen-Hsun Lu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H2H: 3-0

Please. Despite many predictions of an early exit, Roddick has withstood inspired tennis from Michael Llodra and Philipp Kohlschreiber to be in the fourth round. When he does go out, it won’t be to Lu – no disrespect to the player from Chinese Taipei, who I saw putting paid to Horacio Zeballos in the very first round. Prediction: If it isn’t Roddick in three, something’s gone seriously wrong somewhere.

Julien Benneteau v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H2H: 3-3

Neither of these two have had a very smooth route through, but through they are as part of a stellar showing for France at this year’s Championships. Benneteau has played fourteen sets in beating Vliegen, Beck and Fognini’s eyebrows, while Jo was stretched to the limit by the artist formerly known as Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. in the second round. I’m surprised their head-to-head is so evenly balanced, but Jo won their only other meeting on grass, and I’d be surprised if it didn’t go the same way – especially since Benny has had to work so hard to get here. I just hope it isn’t a total disappointment, as it is all too often when the French play each other. Prediction: Jo in three.

Winner to meet …

Sam Querrey v Andy Murray

H2H: 0-3

Sam has never taken so much of a set off Andy in their previous meetings. And Andy has yet to drop a set at this year’s championships. I think both these things might be about to change. Murray has yet to be seriously tested – and now has the full weight of our nation’s expectations back on his shoulders after the abysmal performance of England’s footballers at the World Cup today – while Sam has had two tough matches against Malisse and, er, Ivan Dodig. He also has his famously laid-back attitude (when he’s not storming back off to the States in a snit) which serves him well on an occasion like this. Still, I think Andy will win. I have to believe that when Andy loses here, it won’t be to Sam Querrey, Queen’s champion though he might be. Prediction: Murray in five.

Robin Soderling v David Ferrer

H2H: 5-2

Two of my favourite players still in this year’s draw. I’m excited. But not that excited, because Robin has looked in fearsome form and while that sometimes means a player is ripe for an upset, especially when they’re being tipped as a strong contender, it’s not going to come from Ferru (bless him), who narrowly escaped defeat at the hands of Jeremy Chardy last round when the latter enacted what I don’t think it’s unfair to describe as a massive choke. Will Ferru prove me wrong and deny everyone a Nadal-Soderling quarterfinal? No. Prediction: Robin in straights.

Winner to meet …

Rafael Nadal v Paul-Henri Mathieu

H2H: 9-0

You’ll notice Paul-Henri Mathieu is pictured running into a wall. There’s a reason for that. Rafa encountered a spot of bother in his last match, courtesy of an inspired and determined Philipp Petzchner, eventually triumphing in five sets during which he called the trainer more than once and was warned for coaching. However, Rafa says the knee (for which he called the trainer – also, something in the armular region, possibly) is not an issue, and while Mathieu has been on a good run, most impressively beating Mikhail Youzhny, it ends here. Honestly, we all know Mathieu is frantically talented, but does anyone really think he’ll keep it together enough to seriously challenge Rafa? Prediction: Rafa in straights.

What do you think?

Halle: Welcome To The H-Word

Lleyton Hewitt d. Roger Federer, 36 76(4) 64

The year of the former pigeon continues as Lleyton Hewitt overturned a run of fifteen straight defeats to Roger Federer to take the Halle title. I missed the first set, but from what I saw Federer became increasingly erratic and unfocussed as the match went on. Lleyton, by contrast, just became more and more cool and accurate with his groundstrokes and sealed the win in veteran style long after it felt like it was inevitable.

I just like this photo.

Clearly, the days in which you knew which Federer was going to turn up week to week are gone. This has been the case for a while, but it still seems to surprise, particularly when the victor is someone who Federer partly built his reputation on being able to consistently demolish at will. I’m of the opinion that it doesn’t mean terribly much for Wimbledon, except maybe that it makes it a tiny bit more interesting, but there’s no way that Federer is going to turn in the same kind of somewhat listless performance there he did here.

Somewhere in here is the knowledge of how to play this game.

I don’t want to take anything away from Rusty, because I thought he played brilliantly. And this is, let’s forget, when he’s still getting back into the swing of things after his second hip surgery. Age and adversity have definitely mellowed him, or maybe just my response to him, because I love to see him get a great win these days. And this time he can’t follow it up by beating Elf in the second round at Wimbledon. Yay.

‘maaaaawn the little Aussie battler.

RG Day Three: So, Yeah

Just checking out what I missed while I did things yesterday (working, drinking and buying bosom-accenting clothes for Queens, if you must know.)

David won in straight sets. However, based on the photos, his shirt did not fly up nearly enough. Must try harder, David.

Old guys winning and flashing a bit of bellyflesh. That’s the stuff.

Every so often I remember Daniela Hantuchova exists. Then I forget again.

 

Andy Roddick and Jarkko Nieminen went five sets before Roddick emerged victorious. Despite being on tour together since the year dot, this was their first ATP match. I hear a rumour that Nieminen beat Roddick like 60 63 or something during RG juniors, but I can’t be bothered to look it up right now. What am I, the fact girl? Leave me alone, I’ve got a headache.

Am I still drunk, or does this work a bit?

Hi, Gianni Mina!

Bye, Gianni Mina!

Don’t even get me started on this one.

ATP

Singles – First Round
[2] R Nadal (ESP) d G Mina (FRA) 62 62 62
[6] A Roddick (USA) d J Nieminen (FIN) 62 46 46 76(4) 63
[7] F Verdasco (ESP) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 64 62 62
[9] D Ferrer (ESP) d D Guez (FRA) 61 63 61
[16] J Ferrero (ESP) d P Cuevas (URU) 64 63 61
R Ginepri (USA) d [18] S Querrey (USA) 46 76(3) 64 62
[22] J Melzer (AUT) d D Sela (ISR) 75 62 64
G Zemlja (SLO) d [26] J Monaco (ARG) 76(6) 36 75 63
[28] L Hewitt (AUS) d J Chardy (FRA) 75 60 64
[30] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d K Beck (SVK) 76(7) 61 61
N Mahut (FRA) d M Zverev (GER) 61 62 64
P Riba (ESP) d M Gicquel (FRA) 63 62 76(5)
A Seppi (ITA) d S Ventura (ESP) 75 64 75
B Kavcic (SLO) d E Schwank (ARG) 36 63 75 40 ret. (heat stroke)
D Istomin (UZB) d B Becker (GER) 75 75 63
F Serra (FRA) d M Russell (USA) 64 60 61
T Gabashvili (RUS) d D Koellerer (AUT) 62 62 61
H Zeballos (ARG) d M Fischer (AUT) 76(6) 67(8) 16 64 86
P Starace (ITA) d I Marchenko (UKR) 67(5) 61 63 63
X Malisse (BEL) vs S Greul (GER) – To Finish 64 76(7) 1-1

WTA

Singles – First Round
Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) d. (9) Dinara Safina (RUS) 36 64 75
(12) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (Q) Ksenia Pervak (RUS) 63 62
(13) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 62 63
(16) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Sandra Zahlavova (CZE) 61 61
(18) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (Q) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) 61 64
(21) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 63 61
(22) Justine Henin (BEL) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 64 63
(23) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 61 61
(25) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS) 75 64
(29) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Alizé Cornet (FRA) 64 62
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 76(9) 61
Sybille Bammer (AUT) d. Mariana Duque Marino (COL) 60 61
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 61 64
Klara Zakopalova (CZE) d. Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 76(3) 46 62
Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 63 62
Jill Craybas (USA) d. Katie O’Brien (GBR) 60 46 62
(Q) Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) d. Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU) 64 63
(LL) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) d. Vania King (USA) 62 62
(WC) Jarmila Groth (AUS) d. Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) 62 63
(WC) Olivia Sanchez (FRA) d. Shenay Perry (USA) 76(4) 60

Doubles – First Round
(1) Williams/Williams (USA/USA) d. Flipkens/Tanasugarn (BEL/THA) 60 61
(3) Huber/Medina Garrigues (USA/ESP) d. Koryttseva/Kustova (UKR/BLR) 26 61 64
(4) Petrova/Stosur (RUS/AUS) d. Pavlovic/Thorpe (FRA/FRA) 64 64
(5) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. Coin/Pelletier (FRA/CAN) 61 63
(6) Black/Vesnina (ZIM/RUS) d. Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy (ESP/USA) 46 63 63
(8) Kleybanova/Schiavone (RUS/ITA) d. Beltrame/Fedossova (FRA/FRA) 60 62
(9) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. Bacsinszky/Garbin (SUI/ITA) 63 63
(11) Kirilenko/Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. Chang/Rybarikova (TPE/SVK) 61 61
(15) Govortsova/Kudryavtseva (BLR/RUS) d. Cirstea/Razzano (ROU/FRA) 62 62
Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) d. Gullickson/Hercog (USA/SLO) 63 62
Azarenka/Zvonareva (BLR/RUS) d. Czink/Parra Santonja (HUN/ESP) 61 63
Hantuchova/Wozniacki (SVK/DEN) d. Malek/Petkovic (GER/GER) 75 76(8)
Cornet/Rezai (FRA/FRA) d. Grandin/Spears (RSA/USA) 63 46 62
Safarova/Wozniak (CZE/CAN) d. Arvidsson/Kerber (SWE/GER) 62 75
Cibulkova/Goerges (SVK/GER) d. Cohen-Aloro/Parmentier (FRA/FRA) 36 62 61
Kondratieva/Uhlirova (RUS/CZE) d. Dzehalevich/Voracova (BLR/CZE) 64 62
Kvitova/Voegele (CZE/SUI) d. Daniilidou/Hsieh (GER/TPE) 75 76(1)
Kulikova/Sevastova (RUS/LAT) d. Jans/Schnyder (POL/SUI) 67(4) 64 63

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: Wednesday’s Results, Thursday’s OOP

And the upsets continue, as the triple threat that is Albert Ramos-Vinolas upset Gonzo in three. It seems like Gonzo hasn’t really got off the mark this year, what with knees and earthquakes and swimming with dolphins and the burden that is his quixotic existence. Still, it wouldn’t be Gonzo if you could predict when he was going to turn up, would it? The rocky road to recovery continues to be rocky for Lleyton Hewitt, too, who lost in two sets to Eduardo “I was recently fined for tanking” Schwank.

Among those who notched up excellent wins, however, were Fernando Verdasco in straight sets over Richard Gasquet (I’m starting to think he might win this, you know – Verdasco, that is, not Gasquet; I’m not that delusional), Nose Job (three sets over Victor Hanescu – nice), and Ernests Gulbis, who managed to be slightly less of a loser than Jeremy Chardy. I call that impressive.

I also call this impressive.

Full Results

Singles – Second Round
[3] J Tsonga (FRA) d J Hajek (CZE) 63 62
[Q] A Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) d [4] F Gonzalez (CHI) 64 67(8) 63 
[5] [WC] F Verdasco (ESP) d R Gasquet (FRA) 75 63
[7] J Ferrero (ESP) d S Stakhovsky (UKR) 63 42 ret. (hamstrings)
[8] D Ferrer (ESP) d [WC] M Granollers (ESP) 75 64
[11] J Melzer (AUT) d O Hernandez (ESP) 67(4) 75 75 
E Schwank (ARG) d [12] L Hewitt (AUS) 76(3) 64
[13] T Bellucci (BRA) d V Hanescu (ROU) 62 16 75
[16] F Lopez (ESP) d D Istomin (UZB) 76(7) 75
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d [LL] T Gabashvili (RUS) 16 76(5) 64 
[Q] S Bolelli (ITA) d [WC] A Martin (ESP) 76(2) 76(1)
T de Bakker (NED) d [Q] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 76(5) 63
E Gulbis (LAT) d J Chardy (FRA) 63 62

Doubles – First Round
F Polasek (SVK) / A Qureshi (PAK) d [WC] A Martin (ESP) / F Vicente (ESP) 46 62 10-8
N Almagro (ESP) / M Lopez (ESP) d E Butorac (USA) / M Kohlmann (GER) 63 62
J Kerr (AUS) / R Lindstedt (SWE) d I Andreev (RUS) / J Chardy (FRA) 76(4) 61
C Kas (GER) / J Melzer (AUT) d [WC] G Granollers-Pujol (ESP) / A Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 63 60
J Knowle (AUT) / A Ram (ISR) d P Cuevas (URU) / F Gonzalez (CHI) 64 75

Today’s OOP is brought to you by the Jo-ness of Jo. It’s my favourite thing about him.

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)

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?

AO Day Eight: Everybody’s a Winner

Apart from half the people in this post who did, in fact, lose.

Your winners:

Your not-winners:

In conclusion: Victoria Azarenka really impressed me in toughing out a three-set win (including a bagel) over Vera Zvonareva; Jo lost his five-set virginity and didn’t seem to mind too much; Serena was on terrifying form; and Kolya goes into his showdown with Federer with his aura of invincibility more than a little battered.

Men’s Results:

Singles – Fourth Round
[1] R Federer (SUI) d [22] L Hewitt (AUS) 62 63 64
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d L Kubot (POL) 61 62 75
[6] N Davydenko (RUS) d [9] F Verdasco (ESP) 62 75 46 67(5) 63
[10] J Tsonga (FRA) d [26] N Almagro (ESP) 63 64 46 67(6) 97

Doubles – Third Round
[3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) d J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) 63 75
F Gonzalez (CHI) / I Ljubicic (CRO) d [11] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) 64 63
M Kohlmann (GER) / J Nieminen (FIN) d S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) 46 76(3) 76(6)

Women’s Results:

Singles – Fourth Round
(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. (13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 64 62
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. (4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 64 63
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. (17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 36 62 61
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 46 64 60

Doubles – Third Round
(15) Kirilenko/A.Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. (3) Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez (ESP/ESP) 61 62
(6) Raymond/Stubbs (USA/AUS) d. Chan/Niculescu (TPE/ROU) 75 63
(8) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. (9) Vesnina/Zheng (RUS/CHN) 64 64

AO Day Six: Damp Squib

There isn’t really that much to say about last night’s action; it was all a bit lacklustre, exemplified by the much-anticipated Hewitt-Baghdatis match which ended after a set and a bit when Baghdatis was forced to retire with a shoulder injury.

So on Lleyton Hewitt goes to face Roger Federer in the round of sixteen after Federer beat Montanes in straight sets. Lest we forget, Federer is 16-7 against Hewitt, with Hewitt’s last victory coming in 2003. Or to put it another way: Rusty is screwed.

It was obviously the day for retirements, as in addition to Kubot’s walkover from Youzhny to face Novak Djokovic, Stefan Koubek retired after a 16 set against Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco will face Nikolay Davydenko in what should be a really interesting match, after Davydenko, in full-on terminator mode, crushed poor Pico, 60 63 64.

Also into the round of sixteen is Nicolas Almagro, who beat Alejandro Falla in three, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who provided the only real thrills with a four set win over Tommy Haas, 64 36 61 75.

Love you, Jo.

Things were not that much more exciting on the women’s side. Serena and Venus both progressed in straight sets over Carla Suarez Navarro and Casey Dellacqua respectively, and Caroline Wozniacki beat Shahar Peer 64 60.

Wozniacki will face Li Na after she beat Daniela Hantuchova in three sets, triumphing 62 in the third. This means there are two Chinese players in the fourth round of a Slam for the first time ever. Impressive stuff.

And Francesca Schiavone shellacked Agnieszka Radwanska 62 62. ‘Shellacked’ means what I think it means, right?

So that was that. I hope tonight’s more exciting …

Men’s Results

Singles – Third Round

[1] R Federer (SUI) d [31] A Montanes (ESP) 63 64 64
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d D Istomin (UZB) 61 61 62
[6] N Davydenko (RUS) d
[30] J Monaco (ARG) 60 63 64
[9] F Verdasco (ESP) d [Q] S Koubek (AUT) 61 ret. (illness)
[10] J Tsonga (FRA) d [18] T Haas (GER) 64 36 61 75
L Kubot (POL) d [20] M Youzhny (RUS) w/o (right wrist)
[22] L Hewitt (AUS) d M Baghdatis (CYP) 60 42 ret. (right shoulder)
[26] N Almagro (ESP) d A Falla (COL) 64 63 64

Doubles – Second Round
[3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) d L Arnold Ker (ARG) / H Tecau (ROU) 75 63
M Kohlmann (GER) / J Nieminen (FIN) d C Fleming (GBR) / K Skupski (GBR) 36 64 63
A Clement (FRA) / J Erlich (ISR) d F Lopez (ESP) / R Schuettler (GER) 63 75
F Gonzalez (CHI) / I Ljubicic (CRO) d 
C Ball (AUS) / S Huss (AUS) 57 76(3) 75
I Karlovic (CRO) / D Vemic (SRB) d [WC] K Hensel (AUS) / G Jones (AUS) 36 75 75
J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) d
J Benneteau (FRA) / S Darcis (BEL) 64 60
L Mayer (ARG) / H Zeballos (ARG) d I Andreev (RUS) / E Korolev (KAZ) 63 62

Women’s Results

Singles – Third Round
(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. (32) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 60 63
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (29) Shahar Peer (ISR) 64 60
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. (WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 61 76(4)
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 60 62
(9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 61 75
(17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 62 62
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 64 61
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. (22) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 75 36 62

Doubles – Second Round
(8) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. Jankovic/Perry (SRB/USA) 62 46 61
(9) Vesnina/Zheng (RUS/CHN) d. Razzano/Wickmayer (FRA/BEL) w/o (lower back soreness)
Azarenka/Kuznetsova (BLR/RUS) d. (14) Groenefeld/King (GER/USA) 63 46 63
(15) Kirilenko/A.Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. Baltacha/Dekmeijere (GBR/LAT) 60 62
Dushevina/Rodionova (RUS/AUS) d. Szavay/Vinci (HUN/ITA) 64 36 62