Week 44 Tennis Notes

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Paris
Paris is a fast and low bouncing taraflex surface, ranked 3rd with a GPS rating of 10.132. The qualifiers have a high first round success rate of 58% and have gone 14-4 in the last 3 years.

Withdrawals
Nadal has pulled out, replaced in the draw by Soderling. Nalbandian has pulled out, replaced it he draw by Hrbaty.

Federer/Bye
Federer will wait until Monday to confirm whether or not he will be playing in Paris "I'll wait until Monday, I've got to give myself a day of thought. I've played a lot, this is my 92nd match of the season".

Bracciali/Simon
Bracciali's serve is the key to this match for me. If it's on, then Simon could have trouble getting it back in these conditions. But, If he can get into the points then he should be able to dominate the rallies, as he did in the match between the two at the US Open this year. Bracciali came through qualifying and won over 85% behind his first serve in both his matches against home players, Carraz and Tsonga.

Tipsarevic/O.Rochus
Rochus chose to rest after Madrid so should be fresh enough to take on Tipsarevic. However, the little Belgian has a 2-4 record here and conditions could suit the Serbian player. Tipsarevic regularly serves at over 200kph and fired 20 aces in qualifying. Tipsarevic may have something in his game that unsettles Rochus, he beat him in a Davis Cup rubber last year and in a challenger event at the start of this month. Though, I'm not sure how to seriously to take the challenger result, the 2 & 0 scoreline suggests Rochus wasn't fully motivated.

Verdasco/Llodra
Verdasco was down to play St Petersburg but pulled out. Llodra came through qualifying dropping only 2 points on serve against Sidorenko. The Frenchman will be looking to boost his ranking to gain direct entry into the Australian Open.

Mirnyi/Ginaepri
Max Mirnyi fired 32 aces and saved all 11 bp chances against him in qualifying. Ginepri lost to Malisse though wasn't helped by playing the first 7 games with a defectively strung racquet. At 2-5 down, Ginepri realised and promptly changed it and won the next two games, breaking Malisse.

Wawrinka/Gicquel
Both went well last week in home events, Wawrinka a semi-finalist in Basel and Gicquel a finalist in Lyon. The extra days rest may play into Wawrinka's hands here "I gave everything. I could have lost but I never gave up," Gicquel told reporters after this Malisse win. The two share the h2h with 1 indoor win each in 2005.

Vliegen/Serra
Vliegen lost tamely to Safin in Madrid then pulled out of the main draw in Basel last week.

Soderling/Mathieu
Soderling sounds focused and should be more suited to the fast Paris surface "I like the surface and it's only one more tournament, so my only option is to give it one hundred percent". I get the feeling Mathieu can't wait for the season to finish and may become frustrated here. The Frenchman is 3-5 in Paris, Soderling 3-1. Edit: Soderling's position in the draw taken by Seppi. Soderling takes Nadal's position.

Clement/Massu
Clement trails the h2h 1-3 and has a poor 4-8 record in Paris. However, he is in good form and played some solid tennis in Lyon last week.

Safin/Mahut
Safin has owned the Paris indoor event over the years. He was a tournament winner on 3 occasions (00, 02, 04) and a beaten finalist once (99). The Frenchman is on a 5 match losing streak and has twice lost to Safin this year. The latest match in Moscow he won only 8 points against the Russian's serve.

Malisse/Grosjean
Malisse trails Grosjean 0-10 in the h2h's including Kooyong in 03 and Italian juniors in 96. They were due to meet in Vienna but Malisse pulled out (Probably didn't fancy it!). Malisse lost out to Gicquel in the Lyon semis and felt that the groin strain that he had carried into the match was a factor at the start. Grosjean himself was dumped out of Lyon by Gicquel.

Srichaphan/Chela
There's nothing really to suggest Chela can turn around last week's 4 & 3 loss to Srichaphan in Basel. Conditions here are similar and Chela is yet to win a set in 3 visits. The Argentine failed to take either of his 2 bp chance while Srichaphan was able to convert 2 of 10 chances.

Almagro/Bjorkman
Almagro sounded quite happy with his play in Lyon "Now getting through to the quarter-finals I have proved that I can play really well indoors; the court here in Lyon is faster than Madrid.". If the Spaniard can be consistent then his heavy ground strokes should keep Bjorkman away from the net and his powerful serve should get him plenty of free points.

Santoro/Benneteau
For some reason Santoro decided to fly to Russia to play in the St Petersburg tournament rather than staying in France to defend semi-final points in Lyon. He lost his first round match in 62 minutes to Davydenko. Benneteau lost out to Malisse in Lyon where he could only take 1 of 9 bp chances.

Monfils/Andreev
It's a surprise to see the Frenchman competing here this week after he went over on his ankle in Madrid "He has sustained a grade three ankle strain and will be out for around four weeks," said ATP trainer Bill Norris. Andreev hasn't played a competitive match since April as he has been recovering from knee surgery. Monfils was playing some good stuff against Hrbaty until he picked up the freak injury. If fit, I would expect him to have too much for the Russian in conditions that should suit.

 

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Nieminen/Bracciali
If Nieimenen can get the ball to the Italian's backhand enough times then the errors should come. Though, last week's injury has to be a concern. The Finn was forced to retire in St Petersburg with a foot injury "He (Nieminen) had a small cut on his left foot and it got infected," an ATP spokesman said. "He had trouble stepping on his foot and could not continue." Bracciali knocked out Simon who was completely lacking in confidence.

Tursunov/Almagro
Tursunov won 4 matches here last year but much will depend on which Tursunov turns up this year. Since his title win in Mumbai he's done absolutely nothing. Almagro was on court for over 3 hours during his first round battle with Bjorkman when he fired 14 aces and won 82% behind his first serve. He did however, make making plenty of errors on his forehand and backhand sides. The Spaniard also took an injury timeout for an Achilles problem at the end of the first set.

Schiavone/Shaughnessy
Schiavone defends points from making last year's final but was lame in Linz against Zvonareva last week. Following that match she then pulled out of the doubles with a right knee injury. Shaughnessy was forced to retire in the Zurich qualifying but was well enough to play and win her doubles match 3 days later.

Krajicek/Santangelo
Krajicek made the semis here last year and has a useful 29-14 indoor record at all levels. Santangelo has had her injury problems of late and racked up 10 df's in Linz against Vaidisova.

Vesnina/Flipkins
Vesnina picked up a lower back injury during her match with Jankovic in Linz. The injury forced her to pull out of the doubles.

Sugiyama/Daniilidou
The 4-3 h2h looks tight but 2 of the Daniilidou wins were on her favoured grass courts and Sugiyama did miss 3 mp's last time they played in Seoul.

Federer
Exhausted Federer pulls out of Paris Masters. Reuters article

Granville/Kostanic
Laura Granville was forced to retire due to heat exhaustion in a challenger event in Houston last time out and doesn't generally sound that well "I'm still struggling with where to train. There are a lot of questions, and I'm pretty up in the air. I'm not in a great place right now." she said at the start of the month. Kostanic was well beaten by Radwanska in Linz, she won only 8 against the serve.

Perry/Czink
Perry hasn't played since the US Open (l. 0 & 2 Daniilidou) and comes in here defending points from making last year's quarter-finals. Czink is on a 4 match losing streak and has a poor 2-6 record indoors.

Wozniak/Jidkova
Wozniak has gone well recently on the ITF circuit “I feel like I am playing good tennis right now,” Wozniak said. “I feel confident. I feel like I belong (among the best players) and I just want to continue to work hard and improve and hopefully make it farther than I did the last two years (in Troy).”

Acasuso/C.Rochus
Rochus looked totally uninterested in Basel and gets in here as a lucky loser. The Belgian has beaten Acasuso 3 times but is going backwards. Though Acasuso's indoor record makes poor reading (7-15) he did take a set of Safin in Madrid and took Roddick to a breaker in Vienna to suggest he is adapting his game.

 

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Olaru/Ostertag
Ostertag had the more straight forward passage through qualifying. She came through in straight sets beating Szavay in the final round. Olaru has the more notable performances to her name. She took a set off Sugiyama in Seoul and went down in 3 sets at the US Open juniors to eventual winner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Olaru was taken to 3 sets in each of her qualifying matches so tiredness could play a part.

Osterloh/Pelletier
Osterloh has won a few matches of late and qualified here. She leads the h2h 2-1 including a 3 & 1 win at an ITF event at the start of the season. Pelletier has won only 1 set in 7 years at this event.

Spears/Pratt
Spears is 11-4 here in Quebec and made the final in 2004. Pratt warmed up for the match with a doubles win yesterday and has a 1-3 record here in singles. Pratt's overall (WTA & ITF level) indoor record reads 11-24, Spears's 30-16. I would be with the American.

Oprandi/Kerber
Kerber recently won back to back ITF events without dropping a set. She has a 29-9 record indoors on the ITF circuit and qualified here. Oprandi has suspect movement and very little indoor form, she plays most of her tennis on clay. Kerber looks a bet at decent odds to me.

Groenefeld/Rezai
Groenefeld has lost 8 of her last 9 matches and has served 9 df's in each of her last 2 matches. Rezai qualified here and was twice a winner over Groenefeld this year, once in a challenger and once at the US Open.

Ivanovic/Petkovic
Petkovic qualified and plays her first match at this level. Though she does have a win over Ivanovic to her name, she beat her in the 2003 Australian Open juniors.

Berdych/O.Rochus
Rochus has caused Berdych plenty of problems in the past. The Belgian leads the h2h 3-1 and offers a varied game style that makes it difficult to find rhythm against. He'll hit a lot of slice, and change speeds which I feel the Czech man wont like. Berdych, the 2005 Paris champion, pulled out of Basel last week citing an abdominal strain.

Davydenko/C.Rochus
Davydenko has already secured his spot in Shanghai though he did retire in St Petersburg with a foot injury. Rochus trails Davydenko 0-5 including 3 straight-sets loses this year. The Belgian was aced 18 times by Acasuso but still found a way to win.

Safin/Soderling
Safin looked in very solid form against Mahut and fired 17 aces in 10 service games.

Dechy/Kanepi
Dechy pulled out of the doubles the day before going down in three sets to Schnyder in Linz. A left knee injury was the reason given. Kanepi breezed through qualifying handing out 3 bagels in 4 sets.

Radwanska/Bovina
Radwanska's qualifying loss to out-of-form Savchuk suggests to me she already knew she was in the main draw.

Monfils/Andreev
It's a surprise to see the Frenchman competing here this week after he went over on his ankle in Madrid "He has sustained a grade three ankle strain and will be out for around four weeks," said ATP trainer Bill Norris. Andreev hasn't played a competitive match since April as he has been recovering from knee surgery. Monfils was playing some good stuff against Hrbaty until he picked up the freak injury. If fit, I would expect him to have too much for the Russian in conditions that should suit.

Santoro/Benneteau
For some reason Santoro decided to fly to Russia to play in the St Petersburg tournament rather than staying in France to defend semi-final points in Lyon. He lost his first round match in 62 minutes to Davydenko. Benneteau lost out to Malisse in Lyon where he could only take 1 of 9 bp chances.

Clement/Massu
Clement trails the h2h 1-3 and has a poor 4-8 record in Paris. However, he is in good form and played some solid tennis in Lyon last week.

Wawrinka/Gicquel
Both went well last week in home events, Wawrinka a semi-finalist in Basel and Gicquel a finalist in Lyon. The extra days rest may play into Wawrinka's hands here "I gave everything. I could have lost but I never gave up," Gicquel told reporters after this Malisse win. The two share the h2h with 1 indoor win each in 2005.

Malisse/Grosjean
Malisse trails Grosjean 0-10 in the h2h's including Kooyong in 03 and Italian juniors in 96. They were due to meet in Vienna but Malisse pulled out (Probably didn't fancy it!). Malisse lost out to Gicquel in the Lyon semis and felt that the groin strain that he had carried into the match was a factor at the start. Grosjean himself was dumped out of Lyon by Gicquel.

Tursunov/Almagro
Tursunov won 4 matches here last year but much will depend on which Tursunov turns up this year. Since his title win in Mumbai he's done absolutely nothing. Almagro was on court for over 3 hours during his first round battle with Bjorkman when he fired 14 aces and won 82% behind his first serve. He did however, make plenty of errors on both his forehand and backhand sides. The Spaniard also took an injury timeout for an Achilles problem at the end of the first set.

Srichaphan/Chela
There's nothing really to suggest Chela can turn around last week's 4 & 3 loss to Srichaphan in Basel. Conditions here are similar and Chela is yet to win a set in 3 visits. The Argentine failed to take either of his 2 bp chance while Srichaphan was able to convert 2 of 10 chances.

 

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Robredo/Grosjean
Robredo leads the h2h 4-2 though both meetings played indoors were won by the Frenchman (Lyon 05 & Marseille 02). Grosjean went 11-0 yesterday against Malisse but struggled to find his first serve and was broken 2 times. Robredo still has Shanghai hopes though recent losses to Lee, Ginepri and Arthurs were disappointing.

Murray/Chela
A opportunity for Murray to exact revenge on Chela for the Australian Open loss in January. Though, he hasn't been 100% of late and pulled out of the Basel draw with a throat infection. Chela saw off Srichaphan who was struggling with illness. Both players play a defensive counter-punching style so this will be a test of patience. Murray appeared to be the one who tried to dictate in Melbourne but came out a straight-sets loser.

Wawrinka/Gasquet
Gasquet is 0-3 here and hasn't gone well the week after an appearance in a final this year - Won Nottingham - lost 1st round Wimbledon (Federer), Won Gstaad - lost 1st round Stuttgart (Marach), Finalist Toronto - lost 1st round Cincinnati (Robredo). Wawrinka made 21 aces and won 90% behind his first serve against Gicquel.

 

[Magic32]

Thanks for all your efforts with the Tennis stuff. A tennis punter myself, its a great tool.

BOL to you.

 

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Thanks for all your efforts with the Tennis stuff. A tennis punter myself, its a great tool.

BOL to you.

No problem :beer:



Perry/Spears
Perry, who had been out with a right knee injury, is playing her first tournament since falling in the opening round of the US Open. Both were 3-set winners in the first round.

Sucha/Bammer
Sucha is 9-1 here (winner 04) and has beaten Bammer 7-5 in the third on all 3 occasions they have met. Sucha is 18-15 against lefties, 5-2 indoor.

Haas/Llodra
Haas matches up well to Llodra and beat the Frenchman 3 & 3 in the Davis Cup at the start of the year. Llodra's win over Verdasco yesterday secured his place in the Australian Open main draw. Haas still has an outside chance to make Shanghai so may have the more motivation.

Gabashvili/T.Johansson
Gabashvili gets in as an alternate lucky loser with a bye. Johansson fired 11 aces against Spadea and took his one and only bp chance. He saved 5 of 6 bp chances against him.

Blake/Clement
Blake leads Clement 4-0 but pulled out of the entry list in Basel last week following a first round loss in Madrid.

Ancic/Vliegen
Ancic should have plenty of motivation and confidence. He's still in with a decent chance of making Shanghai and comes here off the back of winning in St Petersburg without dropping a set. Vliegen knocked out Serra scoring 15 aces but didn't look all that interested to me.

Gonzalez/Benneteau
Gonzalez should still have enough in the tank to take out Benneteau and score his first win in 4 visits to Bercy.

Nieminen/Bracciali
If Nieimenen can get the ball to the Italian's backhand enough times then the errors should come. Though, last week's injury has to be a concern. The Finn was forced to retire in St Petersburg with a foot injury "He (Nieminen) had a small cut on his left foot and it got infected," an ATP spokesman said. "He had trouble stepping on his foot and could not continue." Bracciali knocked out Simon who was completely lacking in confidence.

Berdych/O.Rochus
Rochus has caused Berdych plenty of problems in the past. The Belgian leads the h2h 3-1 and offers a varied game style that makes it difficult to find rhythm against. He'll hit a lot of slice, and change speeds which I feel the Czech man wont like. Berdych, the 2005 Paris champion, pulled out of Basel last week citing an abdominal strain.

 

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Davydenko/Tursunov
Davydenko has beaten Tursunov twice before and should get enough balls back for Tursunov to blow himself out. Davydenko gave up only 13 points in the whole match against Rochus which makes me wonder what Acasuso was doing losing to the Belgian. Tursunov fired 16 aces (1.77 per service game) and had Almagro beat before the Spaniard retired with a thigh injury. Tursunov's form of late has been poor "It can't get any worse than my last three tournaments. Whatever I do this week will be a plus. "I'm not nervous, I've been playing bad for the last four weeks. It can only get better."

Berdych/Ginepri
Not a match to get involved in for me. It's possibly a good match up for Ginepri as he'll enjoy counter-punching Berdych's power and will offer the Czech man no pace. Though, with Shanghai no longer a possibility for Berdych, he'll still be keen to defend his title and should be fully motivated, which can't be said for the American. Berdych finally wore down Rochus serving 21 aces (1.4 per service game) in the process.

Murray/Hrbaty
Murray looked over his recent illness and got his revenge over Chela for the Australian Open defeat at the start of the year.

 

[Toronto_Mike]

you win too much, lol. I have totally lost track of Tennis, so i'm just going to wait until January. However, i will pop by here to see how you are doing and tail you on those. Keep up the great work mate.

 

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you win too much, lol. I have totally lost track of Tennis, so i'm just going to wait until January. However, i will pop by here to see how you are doing and tail you on those. Keep up the great work mate.

:beer:

Thanks Mike, I hear you about the tennis season, shit is long. It is coming to an end after Shanghai though, 11/13 and I'm looking forward to it. College Basketball can take its rightful place in my capping order. ATP is going to be really different next year with the Round Robins and withdraw penalties, but we'll see.

 

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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This is from coreyshuky over at ultimatecapper.com

Blake vs. Haas - Important match for both but realistically Blake needs this win alot more. Blake is on the verge of qualifying for the TMC next week and with Fena's loss today he's one step closer. There are a few scenarios where he can still miss out but a win here would get him in. Haas has a slim chance and must win the tournament and have a few other things happen to get in. Blake should win this as the surface suits him better.

Ancic vs. Benneteau - Benneteau should not have gotten this far and was very fortunate to get to this round due to his opponents mistakes. Ancic has a slim shot at the TMC but he must continue winning to keep his dream alive. Gotta think the motivation factor of the TMC is on Ancic's side as last weeks win in St. Petersburg has shown he's on top of his game right now.

Gabashvili vs. Nieminen - Teimuraz is the luckiest man in the world. As a Lucky Loser he was able to get in due to Roger's withdrawal and was handed a 1st round bye. He was lucky enough to run into a tired ToJo and managed to beat him in 3 sets. A job well done. I've always liked Jarkko as he is very consistent throughout the season. Jarkko should win but i probably wouldn't touch it.

Mathieu vs. Robredo - This might be the ugliest match of the day. Somehow Robredo got one step closer to TMC next week. he was down 3-6, 2-5 and grosjean serving for the match when he pulled off a miraculous comeback. he actually came really close to blowing it when he was up 5-2 in the 3rd and got broken until he was finally able to break grosjean for the match. As i personally know Mathieu absolutely killed me today. He's shown a side of himself that is rarely seen for PHM fans. This guy has talent no doubt but his head is all fucked up and he finds ways to blow matches. Djokovic should have finished him off but he didn't. Honestly if you bet this match take out the tums, pepto or whatever antacid you use and expect a crazy match. [/FONT]

 

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Radwanska/Schiavone
Radwanska lost to Schiavone in Luxembourg though wasn't in peak condition having qualified and played 6 matches in 7 days prior to the match "I was even tired in the warm-up. I tried everything I could. It was a good match and in the end I lost. But I'm still really happy." Schiavone made short work of Meghann Shaughnessy, winning 6-2, 6-1 in less than 50 minutes.

Blake/Haas
Blake leads the h2h 4-0 and tends to dominate most of the rallies once they start. The American bounced back from a break down in the 3rd to beat Clement "I'm really proud of the way it turned out," Blake said. "A few years ago, I would have got down on myself being 2-0 and 30-0 down. I kept fighting for every point. It's amazing how many games you can turn around with a positive attitude."

Robredo/Mathieu
Robredo came back from a set and double break down against Grosjean "Grosjean was just playing so good," Robredo said. "I was not, so I just relaxed and started hitting winners. I was totally lost at the start." Serving for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 up, Grosjean lost three straight service games at the end of the second set. Mathieu knocked out Djokovic in 2 tie-breaks "I didn't play my best match today," said Mathieu, after the 7-6 (13-11) 7-6 (7-4) win. "So to beat a very, very good player like him is good for my confidence."

 

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Nieminen/Robredo
Robredo leads Nieminen 4-0 in the h2h's and comes in here confident having secured his place in Shanghai. The Spaniard has won 7 of the 8 sets contested and has totally dominated the points on 2nd serve to suggest he often has the upper hand in the rallies. Nieminen saved a match point when he came through against Russian lucky loser, Teimuraz Gabashvili.

Davydenko/Ancic
Ancic leads the h2h 3-2 including 2 wins in TMS events this year. With the balls playing heavy there will be less free points for Ancic and more emphasis on solid play. This should play into the Russian's hands who was mightily impressive against Tursunov and has dropped just 4 games in 2 matches "I'm playing really well and feeling confident but the next match could be tough," said the 25-year-old Russian.

Berdych/Hrbaty
Defending champion, Thomas Berdych, has overcome 2 counter-punching type players already this week and takes on another in Dominik Hrbaty "I think it gives me a psychological advantage, knowing I have never lost here," Berdych said. "I want to keep playing like this." The Slovak knocked out Andy Murray but the Brit couldn't find a first serve and was too easily attacked on his second. Hrbaty was broken 4 times in the first set before Murray caved mentally in the second.

Safin/Haas
Safin benefits from a day's rest as Gasquet was forced to pull out with a thigh injury. Haas knocked out Blake who looked far from 100% to me. The German leads the h2h 4-2 including 2 indoor wins, though it's Safin who sounds the more positive here in Paris "It's probably one of my biggest wins of the whole year. He's a great player, playing unbelievable tennis." Safin said after his Soderling win. Haas's patience appeared to be wearing with all the Shanghai talk "I have to win here; other people have to lose. The Shanghai question is starting to get on my nerves a little bit."

Rodionova/Osterloh
Osterloh had her erratic moments and gifted quite a few free points to Pelletier in the 1st round. Rodionova came through against Jackson to go 7-2 here in Quebec and was a 3 & 2 winner over Osterloh at Wimbledon this year. The prices don't really inspire a bet but I would be with the Russian here.

 

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Davydenko/Robredo
Davydenko looks the fresher player here having made short work of each of his opponents. He trails the h2h 1-2 but this is the first meeting indoors and his level of play is more consistent than Robredo's. The Spaniard missed an unusual amount of first serves against Nieminen and was prone to errors in the rallies. Though Robredo should be credited for his fight and determination it's hard to see him battling back in this one should he go down early.

Haas/Hrbaty
This is a tough one to call even though there is plenty of h2h form to go on and they have already met twice in the last 3 weeks. Haas won on the quicker surface in Madrid, while Hrbaty was a winner in Vienna on the much slower surface. Hrbaty continued the solid play that saw his see off Murray, he broke Berdych with ease and only gave up 5 points on his first serve in 13 service games. Tommy Haas clung to his Masters Cup lifeline when he frustrated three-time Paris champion Marat Safin 7-6 (7-1) 3- 6, 6-3.

 

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Krajicek/Kanepi
Kanepi goes well indoors (42-21) and looks suited to conditions here. She hits a pretty solid flat ball and has already dumped out the likes of Francesca Schiavone, Eleni Daniilidou and Nathalie Dechy. Krajicek got revenge over Ivanovic for the Linz loss and makes the semis here for the 2nd year running. The Dutch girl also looks suited to conditions and boasts a 32-14 overall indoor record.

Clijsters/Zvonareva
Clijsters hasn't put a foot wrong or voiced any concerns about her troublesome wrist this week. The defending champion is 4-0 against Zvonareva though the Russian should offer a stiffer task than the other 3 players dispatched by Kim for the loss of just 11 games.

 

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Davydenko/Hrbaty
Two robotic types here should lead to plenty of long baseline rallies. The Russian leads the h2h 3-1 though he did trail 46 46 35 at the Australian Open before Hrbaty tired having been taken to 5 sets in each of his previous 3 matches. Davydenko should have closed Robredo out much earlier having led a set and 3-1 but the Spaniard again showed his fighting qualities and battled back to take it the distance. Robredo, who called for the trainer for a foot injury at the start of the 3rd set, backs Davydenko for the title "If I was a betting man, my money would be on Davydenko," Robredo said. "He is playing at his best level. His shot comes (toward you) so strong and so fast." Though a 5 set battle of attrition would be no surprise as they may cancel each other out.