Daily Men Tennis Update – Roland Garros and Rankings

Written by: Staff on 28th May 2012

Daily Men Tennis Update - Roland Garros and Rankings

epa03239763 Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic returns to Dudi Sela of Israel during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 28 May 2012. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

Roland Garros

Singles – First Round: (1) N Djokovic def. P Starace 7-6(7-3) 6-3 6-1

Novak Djokovic’s #1 ranking is not in danger this week, but extra insurance never hurts….

Singles – First Round: (3) R Federer def. T Kamke 6-2 7-5 6-3

This doesn’t do much to settle who is #2 — but it does settle a record. With this, Roger Federer ties Jimmy Connors for the all-time record in Slam wins; each has 233. Presumably Federer will take sole possession in the next few weeks — if not in the next few days.

Singles – First Round: (7) T Berdych def. D Sela 6-3 6-4 6-1

Tomas Berdych builds a small lead over David Ferrer in the contest for #6. He’s still well behind Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the contest for #5, though.

Singles – First Round: (10) J Isner def. R Dutra Silva 6-3 6-4 6-4

This doesn’t clinch a return to the Top Ten for John Isner, but with Mardy Fish unable to play and Andy Roddick out, Isner is now sure to once again be the #1 American next week.

Singles – First Round: (11) G Simon def. R Harrison 3-6 7-5 6-4 6-1

Given how much Gilles Simon likes clay, this is a pretty solid result for Ryan Harrison — but, obviously, not actually a helpful one! Simon needs two more wins to defend his points, but his #12 ranking looks fairly solid even without.

Singles – First Round: F Serra def. (15) F Lopez 5-0, retired

Odds are that Feliciano Lopez wasn’t going to do much here anyway — but it certainly makes things interesting for the Olympics. The Spanish will get four singles spots. Three will go to Nadal, Ferrer, and Almagro (the first two of whom might do damage. Almagro probably won’t). The fourth is being contested between Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, and maybe Marcel Granollers. Of them, Lopez is the one most likely to do damage on grass — and, for the moment, he is still the #4 Spaniard. But this makes it less likely that he will stay there….

Singles – First Round: (19) M Raonic def. R Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4 6-2 6-2

Milos Raonic is at #20 in safe points, although he will probably need several more wins to actually clinch a Top Twenty spot.

Singles – First Round: (20) M Granollers def. J Sousa 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-4

Marcel Granollers defends his points, and is close to the Top Twenty, but there is a big point gap around #20.

Singles – First Round: (22) A Seppi def. N Davydenko 6-3 7-6(7-5) 7-5

No sooner does Nikolay Davydenko hit the Top Fifty than this happens. He might remain above #50, but it’s going to be very close.

Singles – First Round: D Goffin def. (23) R Stepanek 6-2 4-6 2-6 6-4 6-2

By the looks of things, Radek Stepanek is still suffering post-Dusseldorf fatigue. Fortunately, he wasn’t defending anything; he loses his Top 25 chance, but he’ll likely stay Top Thirty.

Singles – First Round: (24) P Kohlschreiber def. M Ebden 6-4 6-4 7-6(7-4)

Philipp Kohlschreiber’s Halle title comes off this week. We’d guess he’ll need one more win to stay Top Thirty.

Singles – First Round: (25) B Tomic def. A Haider-Maurer 7-6(7-5) 6-3 6-3

Andreas Haider-Maurer will remain far below the Top Hundred. But Bernard Tomic is now only about a hundred points away from the Top 25.

Singles – First Round: (28) V Troicki def. T Bellucci 4-6 6-3 5-7 6-3 6-2

Viktor Troicki still has a lot to defend, but this plus the other results so far make it pretty likely that he will stay Top Thirty. He leaves Thomaz Bellucci stuck below #50.

Singles – First Round: (31) K Anderson def. R Machado 7-6(7-2) 6-7(6-8) 4-6 6-1 11-9

This was the match that was halted at 7-7 in the fifth the day before. Kevin Anderson had to save sour match points. All that, and Kevin Anderson merely defends his points.

Singles – First Round: M Llodra def. G Garcia-Lopez 7-6(7-5) 6-2 3-6 6-3

There wasn’t much love for clay on either side of the net here, but Michael Llodra was a Frenchman playing on a show court. That must have helped….

Singles – First Round: A Clement def. A Bogomolov Jr. 6-2 3-6 4-6 7-6(7-2) 5-4, retired

This might seem an absurd score at which to retire — it was, in fact, match point — but Alex Bogomolov had suffered an extreme cramp on the point before; he couldn’t bend his right leg. He was going to lose the next point anyway, so he gave up. Admittedly he could have just served a couple of balls into the net and had it over with, but the result would have been the same. He loses a few more ranking points. He will probably stay Top Fifty this week, but it may not be for much longer.

Singles – First Round: P Mathieu def. B Phau 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-0

This was probably the best comeback of the tournament so far, and it should take Paul-Henri Mathieu to around #215.

Singles – First Round: B Baker def. X Malisse 6-3 7-6(7-1) 7-6(7-5)

After last week, this perhaps isn’t quite so surprising as it would have been at the beginning of the month…. Brian Baker is up to around #125.

Singles – First Round: A Ungur def. D Nalbandian 6-3 5-7 6-4 7-5

The good news is, David Nalbandian wasn’t defending anything, and will probably stay close to #40. But still….

Singles – First Round: B Kavcic def. L Hewitt 7-6(7-2) 6-3 6-7(4-7) 6-3

This makes you wonder a little why Lleyton Hewitt didn’t wait another couple of weeks and come back on grass….

Singles – First Round: L Mayer def. O Rochus 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-4

Leonardo Mayer did well at Dusseldorf, and now he has a good win here. If he can keep it up after the end of the clay season, he might make the Top Fifty soon.

Singles – First Round: M Jaziri def. P Petzschner 6-3 7-5 7-6(9-7)

We’d guess Malek Jaziri will rise above #90 as a result of this.

Singles – First Round: S Giraldo def. A Falla 5-7 6-2 6-4 7-6(7-4)

Alejandro Falla was defending more than 200 points. He was on the brink of the Top Fifty, but it looks as if this will drop him below #70.

Singles – First Round: M Klizan def. F Dancevic 4-0, retired

Frank Dancevic remains stuck below the Top Hundred.

Singles – First Round: J Levine def. B Becker 7-5 6-2 6-4

Benjamin Becker shows no signs of learning to like clay as he gets older….

Singles – First Round: M Kukushkin def. E Gulbis 6-4 7-6(7-4) 5-7 2-6 6-4

Ernests Gulbis isn’t going to stay Top Hundred much longer if he keeps this up.

Singles – First Round: H Zeballos def. E Prodon 6-7(8-10) 6-3 6-3 6-2

Horacio Zeballos came in at #108, so he is getting close to a return to the Top Hundred.

Singles – First Round: L Kubot def. K Beck 7-5 6-2 7-5

This was the other match that had been suspended the day before. Unlike the Anderson match, there wasn’t much drama in this one….

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Ranking:

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of May 28, 2012

Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Djokovic……….11125
2..(3) Federer…………8635
3..(2) Nadal…………..8070
4..(4) Murray………….6630
5..(5) Tsonga………….4915
6..(7) Berdych…………4550
7..(6) Ferrer………….4470
8..(8) Tipsarevic………3030
9..(9) Del Potro……….2865
10.(11) Isner…………..2655
11.(10) Fish……………2535
12.(12) Simon…………..2480
13.(13) Almagro…………2255
14.(15) Monaco………….1945
15.(14) Monfils…………1805
16.(17) Lopez…………..1725
17.(18) Nishikori……….1645
18.(16) Verdasco………..1630
19.(19) Dolgopolov………1585
20.(22) Raonic………….1495
21.(20) Gasquet…………1430
22.(24) Cilic…………..1415
23.(23) Granollers………1385
24.(21) Wawrinka………..1370
25.(25) Seppi…………..1355
26.(27) Stepanek………..1340
27.(29) Tomic…………..1275
28.(28) Troicki…………1190
29.(26) Kohlschreiber……1175
30.(34) Anderson………..1170