Lopez to Defend His South African Open Title

Written by: Staff on 26th January 2011

Lopez to Defend His South African Open Title

Feliciano Lopez (ESP) |

There will be a number of familiar faces at the 2011 SA Tennis Open which will be played at Montecasino in Johannesburg from 31 January to 6 February.

The 2010 champion, Feliciano Lopez of Spain, will be back to defend his title, while 2008 finalist, Jeremy Chardy of France, will be hoping to go one better this time.

But the special news for South Africa is that world No 61 Kevin Anderson will be in the field for this R3.5-million tournament. Anderson skipped the tournament last year but did feature in 2008. However, the South African will return in 2011 in all likelihood as a seeded player.

“It is very exciting for us to have Kevin back for next year’s tournament,” said Tournament Director Ian Smith. “The South African public love to support the local players and with his current form, Kevin is sure to give them something to shout about.”

Lopez found the altitude and the faster courts suited his game ideally last year and he ended a long drought by winning the tournament last year. He is an exciting player to watch and has had some outstanding results this year, notably a straight-sets victory over world No 1 Rafael Nadal at the Queen’s Club at London in June.

He is currently ranked 32 in the world and as the rankings stand right now he would be the top seed for the tournament.

Chardy entered last year’s event but was forced to pull out due to injury. He struggled a bit during the year but probably his best performance came at the Canadian Masters in Toronto where he beat Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Verdasco and Nikolay Davydenko on his path to the quarter-finals where he was stopped by Novak Djokovic.

At the Shanghai Masters Chardy had to qualify and then defeated Baghdatis and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine before losing to Andy Murray in the round of 16.

Perhaps one of the most exciting players in this year’s line-up is Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei. Lu played this tournament earlier in the year, he was ranked at No 98 but after a remarkable year he is currently ranked at No 35. His most memorable performance came at Wimbledon this year where he reached the quarter-finals and took out 2008 finalist Andy Roddick in what some people have called the upset of the year.

On paper it appeared it would be a straight forward victory for three-time Wimbledon runner-up Roddick in the fourth round at Wimbledon. The Chinese Taipei player had won back-to-back matches on grass only once before, at Queen’s in 2004, and he had lost all three of his previous meetings with former world No 1 Roddick.

In an inspired performance from the then-26-year-old, though, Lu struck 83 winners and broke Roddick’s serve for the only time in the match in the final game to seal the dramatic victory 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 9-7, which he dedicated to his father who passed away in 2000.

Lu became the first Asian man since Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka at Wimbledon in 1995 to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam championship. The run did not continue for Lu, though, as he went on to lose to Novak Djokovic two days later.

Lu is coached by German Dirk Hordorff who is best known for taking Rainer Schuettler into the top 10. While the pair only work together on a part-time basis now, Schuettler is also in the field for the SA Open. The hard-working German, no 34, reached the finals of the Australian Open in 2003, which saw him attain a career-high ranking of No 5 and earned him the ATP Most Improved Player award that year.

Schuettler dropped off the radar due to injury but suddenly had a resurgence in 2008 and made the semifinals of Wimbledon. That achievement saw him named as the ATP Comeback Player Of The Year.

The German, currently ranked 84, was a member of the Davis Cup team that clinched a 3-2 win over South Africa a few years back. Schuettler, in fact, closed out the tie for Germany when he beat Wayne Ferreira in the final match of the tie. It was also Ferreira’s swansong.

Also in the field are Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and flamboyant Serb Janko Tipsarevic. Just two years ago Mathieu was ranked at No 12 in the world but has now dropped to 98. He is a remarkable player on his day and is sure to have his supporters.

Tipsarevic, usually attired in his designer sunglasses – even indoors, never plays percentage tennis and he can flash winners from any place on the tennis court. He is flashy and mercurial but never dull and he is another who will set the courts at Montecasino alight.

“Considering that the Australian Open is played just before our tournament which makes top-20 players hard to acquire, I feel we’ve put together a most competitive and interesting field,’’ said Smith. I have little doubt we will be witnessing some remarkable tennis during the first week of February.”

The qualifying tournament will be played over the weekend 29 and 30 January and there will be no charge for tennis fans to attend over those two days.

Topics: Feliciano Lopez