Daily Men Tennis Update: Casablanca, Houston, Ranking

Written by: Staff on 11th April 2012

Daily Men Tennis Update: Casablanca, Houston, Ranking

Robin Haase of The Netherlands returns to Andy Roddick of the USA, in their Round 1 match at Hisense Arena, at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 17 January 2012. EPA/JOE CASTRO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Casablanca

Singles – First Round: (Q) L Ouahab def. (6) R Haase 6-3 6-2

This means that three of the four seeds involved in first round matches have lost — and, in this case, to a guy who has been invisible at the ATP level for years.

Singles – First Round: (7) A Ramos def. P Riba 6-2 6-3

This is, frankly, one of those events where so little is likely to happen that we don’t have much choice except to go to our player database and start looking at results and see if they show anything interesting. So: Albert Ramos has now won his opener at six straight events — after losing his opener at five of his six events before that. Talk about blowing hot and cold!

Singles – First Round: J Chardy def. (Q) F Delbonis 6-4 7-5

Jeremy Chardy breaks a three match losing streak.

Singles – First Round: V Hanescu def. M Jaziri 6-2 3-0, retired

This was the first time ever that Malek Jaziri had direct entry into an event — he had either been a wildcard or a qualifier before. A sad way to celebrate his first direct entry.

Singles – First Round: P Mathieu def. (WC) M Ziadi 6-3 6-1

A lucky draw for Paul-Henri Mathieu, but still, the win should take him to #360 or higher.

Singles – First Round: (Q) S Gutierrez-Ferrol def. R Machado 6-2 6-1

Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol had only 52 points coming in. He has increased his point total by more than half!

Singles – First Round: P Starace def. (Q) R Bautista-Agut 6-4 7-5

Potito Starace’s ranking has been sinking this year, but it looks as if the clay might be reviving him. The drawback is, if he does well here, then he misses Monte Carlo qualifying….

Singles – First Round: M Bachinger def. F Volandri 6-3 3-6 6-3

Bad news for Filippo Volandri, who really can’t afford to lose chances to earn points on clay!

Singles – First Round: F Cipolla def. (WC) Y Idmbarek 6-1 2-6 6-1

This is actually a pretty credible result for Yassine Idmbarek, who came in ranked #1064 with just six points!

Doubles – First Round: Brown/Hanley def. (1) Cermak/Polasek 7-6(7-3) 6-3

Cermak/Polasek like clay, so this is a pretty shocking result.

Doubles – First Round: (4) Bracciali/Fognini def. Mertinak/Sa 3-6 7-6(7-1) 10-4 (Match TB)

Doubles – First Round: Dolgopolov/Jaziri def. Andujar/Garcia-Lopez 7-6(7-5) 7-6(8-6)

Not often that you see a guy retire from singles and then win his doubles match!

Doubles – First Round: Marray/J Murray def. Montanes/Ramos 6-7(3-7) 6-2 10-3 (Match TB)

Houston

Singles – First Round: I Kunitsyn def. X Malisse 6-4 6-2

Better luck next time Xavier Malisse

Singles – First Round: P Lorenzi def. W Odesnik 6-7(3-7) 6-2 6-3

There will be a lot of players cheering this, because it will keep Wayne Odesnik from returning to the Top Hundred.

Singles – First Round: (Q) M Russell def. D Gimeno-Traver 2-6 7-5 6-1

Michael Russell’s assets are speed and stamina, and he certainly showed both here! It’s hard to believe he could make another run at the Top Hundred at his age, but he’s now only about 125 points away.

Singles – First Round: (Q) H Zeballos def. A Ungur 6-3 6-3

Adrian Ungur has been playing pretty well lately, and it put him in the Top Hundred, but Horacio Zeballos — although he has not been playing very well — has the better career results. So maybe this is not a surprise.

Singles – First Round: T Ito def. (Q) G Soeda 6-4 7-5

This is an oddity: Go Soeda, the qualifier, is ranked #77, 21 places ahead of Tatsuma Ito. And he has more experience, too. But maybe the qualifying tired him out.

Singles – First Round: R Sweeting def. (Q) R Mello 6-3 7-6(8-6)

Ryan Sweeting was last year’s champion here, and his ranking really took a hit when those points came off. This will let him start rebuilding at least a little.

Doubles – First Round: (1) Bogomolov/Lipsky def. Marx/Zovko 7-6(8-6) 6-0

Doubles – First Round: Karlovic/Moser def. Berlocq/Junquiera 6-3 6-3

OFFICIAL ATP WORLD TOUR SINGLES RANKINGS as of April 8, 2012

1..Djokovic, Novak…………..SRB..12670

2..Nadal, Rafael…………….ESP…9935

3..Federer, Roger……………SUI…9035

4..Murray, Andy……………..GBR…8040

5..Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried……….FRA…4735

6..Ferrer, David…………….ESP…4700

7..Berdych, Tomas……………CZE…3810

8..Tipsarevic, Janko…………SRB…2820

9..Fish, Mardy………………USA…2725

10..Isner, John………………USA…2710

11..Del Potro, Juan Martin…….ARG…2700

12..Almagro, Nicolas………….ESP…2265

13..Simon, Gilles…………….FRA…2050

14..Monfils, Gael…………….FRA…2015

15..Lopez, Feliciano………….ESP…1855

16..Monaco, Juan……………..ARG…1810

17..Gasquet, Richard………….FRA…1640

18..Nishikori, Kei……………JPN…1625

19..Verdasco, Fernando………..ESP…1565

20..Mayer, Florian……………GER…1540

21..Melzer, Jurgen……………AUT…1507

22..Dolgopolov, Alexandr………UKR…1495

23..Cilic, Marin……………..CRO…1445

24..Stepanek, Radek…………..CZE…1385

25..Raonic, Milos…………….CAN…1380

26..Granollers, Marcel………..ESP…1315

27..Troicki, Viktor…………..SRB…1295

28..Wawrinka, Stanislas……….SUI…1290

29..Roddick, Andy…………….USA…1245

30..Soderling, Robin………….SWE…1210

31..Benneteau, Julien…………FRA…1195

32..Chela, Juan Ignacio……….ARG…1175

33..Anderson, Kevin…………..RSA…1170

34..Kohlschreiber, Philipp…….GER…1155

35..Youzhny, Mikhail………….RUS…1140

36..Tomic, Bernard……………AUS…1116

37..Berlocq, Carlos…………..ARG…1051

38..Davydenko, Nikolay………..RUS…1045

39..Baghdatis, Marcos…………CYP…1025

40..Bogomolov Jr., Alex……….RUS…1021

41..Ljubicic, Ivan……………CRO…1010

42..Istomin, Denis……………UZB….982

43..Seppi, Andreas……………ITA….980

44..Bellucci, Thomaz………….BRA….975

45..Young, Donald…………….USA….972

46..Nieminen, Jarkko………….FIN….968

47..Llodra, Michael…………..FRA….965

48..Ferrero, Juan Carlos………ESP….960

49..Nalbandian, David…………ARG….905

50..Kubot, Lukasz…………….POL….872

OFFICIAL ATP WORLD TOUR DOUBLES RANKINGS as of April 8, 2012

1..Bryan, Bob……………….USA…9480

1..Bryan, Mike………………USA…9480

3..Mirnyi, Max………………BLR…8670

3..Nestor, Daniel……………CAN…8670

5..Llodra, Michael…………..FRA…7560

6..Zimonjic, Nenad…………..SRB…7440

7..Paes, Leander…………….IND…6015

8..Bopanna, Rohan……………IND…4790

9..Fyrstenberg, Mariusz………POL…4765

9..Matkowski, Marcin…………POL…4765

11..Lindstedt, Robert…………SWE…4590

12..Tecau, Horia……………..ROU…4590

13..Qureshi, Aisam-Ul-Haq……..PAK…4270

14..Stepanek, Radek…………..CZE…3995

15..Bhupathi, Mahesh………….IND…3770

16..Petzschner, Philipp……….GER…3569

17..Melzer, Jurgen……………AUT…3275

18..Peya, Alexander…………..AUT…3120

19..Kas, Christopher………….GER…2910

20..Cermak, Frantisek…………CZE…2900

Houston

Singles – First Round: I Kunitsyn def. X Malisse 6-4 6-2
Xavier Malisse’s career seemed to be over a couple of years back, and he managed to revive it, but this time, it really is starting to feel as if it’s done….

Singles – First Round: P Lorenzi def. W Odesnik 6-7(3-7) 6-2 6-3
There will be a lot of players cheering this, because it will keep Wayne Odesnik from returning to the Top Hundred.

Singles – First Round: (Q) M Russell def. D Gimeno-Traver 2-6 7-5 6-1
Michael Russell’s assets are speed and stamina, and he certainly showed both here! It’s hard to believe he could make another run at the Top Hundred at his age, but he’s now only about 125 points away.

Singles – First Round: (Q) H Zeballos def. A Ungur 6-3 6-3
Adrian Ungur has been playing pretty well lately, and it put him in the Top Hundred, but Horacio Zeballos — although he has not been playing very well — has the better career results. So maybe this is not a surprise.

Singles – First Round: T Ito def. (Q) G Soeda 6-4 7-5
This is an oddity: Go Soeda, the qualifier, is ranked #77, 21 places ahead of Tatsuma Ito. And he has more experience, too. But maybe the qualifying tired him out.

Singles – First Round: R Sweeting def. (Q) R Mello 6-3 7-6(8-6)
Ryan Sweeting was last year’s champion here, and his ranking really took a hit when those points came off. This will let him start rebuilding at least a little.

Doubles – First Round: (1) Bogomolov/Lipsky def. Marx/Zovko 7-6(8-6) 6-0

Doubles – First Round: Karlovic/Moser def. Berlocq/Junquiera 6-3 6-3

Topics: 10sballs.com, Casablanca tennis news, Delbonis, Haase, Hanescu, Houston tennis news, Jeremy Chardy, Kunitsyn, Malek Jaziri, Ouahab, Ramos, Riba, Sports, Tennis News, Xavier Malisse