TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS (01/30)

Written by: Staff on 30th January 2012

TODAY'S MEN'S NEWS (01/30)

Germany's Florian Mayer returns a ball to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka during their quarter final match at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, 04 November 2011. EPA/GEORGIOS KEFALAS |

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Montpellier

Singles – First Round: (6) F Mayer def. G Muller 7-6(7-3) 6-3

A pretty nice way for Florian Mayer to return to action. Mayer, who has been out with a hip injury, struggled on serve in the beginning — he saved seven break points in the first set — but made it through, and broke in the fourth game of the second set, and that was enough to get him through. He still has points to defend, but not enough to matter; he needs a title to budge his ranking. The result means that Gilles Muller loses another Top Fifty chance.

Singles – First Round: N Davydenko (WC) def. S Robert 6-2 6-1

Nikolay Davydenko is out of the Top Fifty, and struggling. But he won 65% of the points in this match. It won’t get him back in the Top Fifty — but maybe it will help him get some form back.

Singles – First Round: G Rufin (WC) def. V Pospisil 6-4 7-6(8-6)

Talk about home nation advantage: This is Guillame Rufin’s first ATP win since Roland Garros. Guess he likes playing in France!

Doubles – First Round: de Schepper/F Martin (WC) def. Cipolla/Elgin 6-4 6-2

Zagreb

How is this for crazy: Jurgen Melzer is in the qualifying here. We looked twice to be sure that wasn’t Gerald Melzer, but no, it’s Jurgen. Presumably, with his singles ranking slumping, he felt the need for more events. At least he made the main draw, beating Martin Fischer 6-3 6-4. But it means that we have a qualifier who is ranked higher than many of the seeds!

In a further irony, he will open against his doubles partner Philipp Petzschner.

Singles – First Round: (1) I Ljubicic def. K Beck 7-6(7-5) 3-6 6-3

Ivan Ljubicic just fell out of the Top Thirty, and needs a semifinal to get back in — and didn’t look very good in this match!

Singles – First Round: (5) A Seppi def. D Brands 6-4 7-6(7-1)

A semifinal here might make Seppi Top Forty, but this wasn’t the strongest-looking start.

Singles – First Round: (7) R Haase def. K Mesaros (WC) 6-2 6-3

Robin Haase’s ranking has been slipping — he is down to #62 — but facing an opponent ranked #295 can perk up almost anyone….

Singles – First Round: M Bachinger def. I Van Der Merwe 6-3 6-3

Izak van der Merwe was defending semifinalist points, so he can expect to fall to around #135. That semifinal last year was in South Africa; clearly he felt the lack of a home court advantage….

Singles – First Round: L Lacko def. P Starace 7-6(7-2) 6-7(4-7) 6-3

Maybe Potito Starace should have played clay. But this may have been more than just the surface. You’ll see in today’s Feature that Lukas Lacko is off to a very good start this year. This cements that even more.

Doubles – First Round: Draganja/Skugor (WC) def. (4) Kubot/Stakhovsky 6-4 3-6 10-5 (Match TB)

Doubles – First Round: Karlovic/Moser def. Bogomolov/Parrott 2-6 6-1 11-9 (Match TB)

Vina del Mar

Singles – First Round: J Souza def. (8) F Volandri 1-6 7-5 7-6(7-5)

Clay matches are slow. Filippo Volandri clay matches are slower. But this…. Well, suffice it to say that it took almost three hours to finish the tournament’s first singles match. Let’s hope that isn’t an omen….

Doubles – First Round: (3) Marrero/Riba def. Lama/Sborowitz (WC) 6-1 6-2

More Later

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