Singles – First Round: M Baghdatis def. C Berlocq 6-4 6-3
Carlos Berlocq had a solid first half that put him in the Top Forty. But, lately, he’s fallen back into the form that afflicted him for most of his long career. And, for the next several months at least, he is going to be forced to play required events, on non-clay surfaces, and will see optional clay results come off. That means his ranking is likely to fall. Indeed, it’s already starting; this appears to cost him his Top Forty spot. And it may well be Marcos Baghdatis who replaces him.
Singles – First Round: B Tomic def. (Q) M Berrer 6-3 3-6 6-3
One of the few signs of life from Bernard Tomic lately; he had lost six straight. He defends his points, which will probably suffice to keep him Top Fifty.
Singles – First Round: (LL) M Ebden def. (WC) P Polansky 0-6 6-4 6-3
Peter Polansky hadn’t won an ATP match since the 2010 U. S. Open, so blowing that big start must hurt….
Singles – First Round: P Andujar def. L Lacko 6-2 4-6 6-2
This will very likely put Pablo Andujar in the Top Forty.
Singles – First Round: V Troicki def. A Bogomolov Jr. 6-4 7-6(7-5)
Alex Bogomolov led in the second set tiebreak, but he just can’t hold things together this year. Viktor Troicki needs one more win to defend his points.
Singles – First Round: (Q) F Cipolla def. (Q) J Zopp 6-1 6-2
A bit of a surprise, this — not only is Jurgen Zopp the higher-ranked of these two by fifteen places, he has been rising and Flavio Cipolla has not.
Singles – First Round: (WC) V Pospisil def. A Seppi 4-6 6-4 7-6(8-6)
Andreas Seppi was a couple of games from winning this, but let it slip away. He might have made the Top 25 had he been able to finish it off.
Doubles – First Round: Fognini/Monaco def. Hutchins/Marray 7-6(7-5) 6-3
Doubles – First Round: S Gonzalez/Lipsky def. Kohlschreiber/Youzhny 6-0 6-0
Kohlschreiber/Youzhny won only 30% of the points in this match. We have to suspect that the injury that forced Philipp Kohlschreiber out of the Olympics is still troubling him.
This Week’s Movers — Men
Each week, Daily Tennis will look at the biggest movers of the week, looking at how they did what they did.
Biggest Upward Mover — Most Places Moved (Top 100)
Leader: Igor Sijsling — Moved 28 places, from #102 to #74.
Sijsling won the Vancouver Challenger — his fourth Challenger title in the last year. Now if he could just get past an ATP quarterfinal….
Runner-Up: Tobias Kamke — Moved 22 places, from #107 to #85
Kamke made the Washington quarterfinal.
Biggest Percentage Mover — Cut Ranking By Highest Percent (Top 100)
Leader: Alexandr Dolgopolov — Moved 9 places, 36%, from #25 to #16
Dolgopolov won Washington for the biggest title of his career.
Runner-Up: Tommy Haas — Moved 11 places, 31%, from #36 to #25
Haas was the losing finalist in Washington.
Biggest Loser — Most Places Lost (Top 100)
Loser: Albert Montanes — Dropped 31 places, from #90 to #121
Last year at this time, Montanes was playing Kitzbuhel, on clay. This year, there were no clay events this week….
Biggest Percentage Loser — Worst Percentage Increase in Ranking (Top 100)
Loser: Radek Stepanek, ranking increased 14 places, 54%, from #26 to #40.
Stepanek won Washington last year. This year, he went out early at the Olympics.
Ranking Notes
The Olympics were big on players’ minds, but they definitely weren’t big in the rankings! Only four players rose more than 16% this week: Dolgopolov, Haas, Sijsling, and Kamke. Three of them earned their points at Washington and the fourth at a Challenger.
Interestingly, we had a lot more big downward moves, even though the points that came on exceeded those that came off. (Why is this the case? Because the players who did well at the Olympics were mostly top players, so the points weren’t that big for them). Making downward moves of at least 25% were Stepanek, Gael Monfils (down 47%, to #28), Donald Young (down 42%, to #84), Montanes (down 34%), Juan Ignacio Chela (down 28%, to #113), and Robin Haase (down 27%, to #42, although that is a calendar artifact).
Our Personal Picks for “Best Mover of the Week”
These are subjective picks!
Clearly Dolgopolov. He had the biggest percentage move and he won the Washington title.
OFFICIAL ATP WORLD TOUR SINGLES RANKINGS as of August 5, 2012
1..Federer, Roger……………SUI..11435
2..Djokovic, Novak…………..SRB..11270
3..Nadal, Rafael…………….ESP…8905
4..Murray, Andy……………..GBR…8120
5..Ferrer, David…………….ESP…5455
6..Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried……….FRA…5230
7..Berdych, Tomas……………CZE…4515
8..Del Potro, Juan Martin…….ARG…3340
9..Tipsarevic, Janko…………SRB…3320
10..Monaco, Juan……………..ARG…2695
11..Almagro, Nicolas………….ESP…2575
12..Isner, John………………USA…2440
13..Fish, Mardy………………USA…2135
14..Simon, Gilles…………….FRA…2070
15..Cilic, Marin……………..CRO…2015
16..Dolgopolov, Alexandr………UKR…1940
17..Nishikori, Kei……………JPN…1770
18..Kohlschreiber, Philipp…….GER…1685
19..Verdasco, Fernando………..ESP…1660
20..Roddick, Andy…………….USA…1645
21..Gasquet, Richard………….FRA…1600
22..Wawrinka, Stanislas……….SUI…1560
23..Mayer, Florian……………GER…1545
24..Raonic, Milos…………….CAN…1540
25..Haas, Tommy………………GER…1418
26..Seppi, Andreas……………ITA…1355
27..Granollers, Marcel………..ESP…1350
28..Monfils, Gael…………….FRA…1325
29..Lopez, Feliciano………….ESP…1300
30..Youzhny, Mikhail………….RUS…1255
31..Benneteau, Julien…………FRA…1245
32..Anderson, Kevin…………..RSA…1225
33..Troicki, Viktor…………..SRB…1220
34..Istomin, Denis……………UZB…1217
35..Querrey, Sam……………..USA…1189
36..Melzer, Jurgen……………AUT…1057
37..Berlocq, Carlos…………..ARG….985
38..Nalbandian, David…………ARG….980
39..Bellucci, Thomaz………….BRA….972
40..Stepanek, Radek…………..CZE….965
41..Nieminen, Jarkko………….FIN….957
42..Haase, Robin……………..NED….955
43..Giraldo, Santiago…………COL….943
44..Andujar, Pablo……………ESP….940
45..Baghdatis, Marcos…………CYP….925
46..Ramos, Albert…………….ESP….925
47..Chardy, Jeremy……………FRA….924
48..Davydenko, Nikolay………..RUS….885
49..Tomic, Bernard……………AUS….880
50..Paire, Benoit…………….FRA….880
Topics: Alex Bogomolov, Andy Murray, Bernard Tomic, Canadian tennis news, Carlos Berlocq, London Olympics, Marcos Baghdatis, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Sports, Toronto Open, Viktor Toicki