Today’s Men’s News (09/18) – St. Petersburg & Metz

Written by: Staff on 18th September 2012

Today's Men's News (09/18) - St. Petersburg & Metz |

St. Petersburg

Singles – First Round: (1) M Youzhny def. V Pospisil 7-6(7-4) 6-1

Vasek Pospisil had to fly here from Davis Cup, so this was pretty close to inevitable. No points for Mikhail Youzhny yet; he needs a semifinal.

Singles – First Round: G Zemlja def. (5) L Lacko 6-3 6-2

Lukas Lacko seems to like fast surfaces, so this may be an indication of the court speed.

Singles – First Round: R Bautista-Agut def. (6) Y Lu 6-4 6-2

Here again the slow-courter won pretty easily. Hm.

Singles – First Round: D Gimeno-Traver def. F Serra 7-6(7-5) 6-2

And again! Although, in this case, it was a victory by the higher-ranked player. It leaves Florent Serra still below #100.

Doubles – First Round: (1) Ram/Zimonjic def. Cipolla/Lorenzi 6-3 6-4

Zimonjic and Ram? This would seem to indicate that Nenad Zimonjic is flailing around for a new partner. And his recent troubles may hurt his chances in that department.

Doubles – First Round:(2) Fleming/Hutchins def. Elgin/Istomin 7-5 6-1

Doubles – First Round:(3) Cermak/Mertinak def. (WC) Yakovlev/Zhurbin 6-4 6-0

Doubles – First Round:(4) Moser/Skupski def. Bolelli/Fognini 2-6 7-5 10-5 (Match TB)

Doubles – First Round:Marx/Mergea def. Cerretani/Kohlmann 6-3 6-7(2-7) 10-7 (Match TB)

Doubles – First Round:Klizan/Polasek def. Petzschner/Stakhovsky 6-3 3-6 11-9 (Match TB)

Metz

Singles – First Round: (7) G Monfils def. O Rochus 6-3 6-2

A very solid result, given that it’s the first match back for Gael Monfils. Unfortunately, it does him very little good; he has a pretty full slate of 250 point events. The events he missed were mostly required events. So he needs a final to improve his ranking.

Singles – First Round: (8) (WC) N Davydenko def. (Q) M Zverev 2-6 6-3 6-3

Nikolay Davydenko will get to start counting points if he can win his next match, although he probably needs two wins to do him any good.

Singles – First Round: (Q) C Reix def. E Roger-Vasselin 6-3 3-6 7-5

Clement Reix is ranked #502, so this represents a huge payoff for him — he increases his points by half!

Singles – First Round: I Karlovic def. (Q) K de Schepper 7-6(7-5) 7-6(7-3)

Ivo Karlovic is down to #90, so he really needed a win about now. Better yet, two or three….

Singles – First Round: (Q) V Millot def. I Sijsling 6-4 6-4

Igor Sijsling was supposed to play Davis Cup singles this weekend, and didn’t, so he may have been a little off.

Singles – First Round: B Paire def. X Malisse 6-1 6-4

Benoit Paire is just below the Top Fifty. This alone probably won’t take him there, but he has a good chance this week.

Doubles – First Round: (2) Mahut/Roger-Vasselin def. Paire/Tsonga 6-3 7-5

The fact that Mahut/Roger-Vasselin were seeded #2 here probably tells you all you need to know about this field.

Doubles – First Round: (3) Brown/Kas def. Bracciali/Seppi 6-3 6-4

Bracciali/Seppi played Davis Cup together without any luck; now this. It probably doesn’t matter to Seppi, but Bracciali probably needs a partner he can earn some cash with….

Doubles – First Round: Malisse/Waske def. J Murray/Sa 7-6(9-7) 6-3

Doubles – First Round: Butorac/Peers def. (WC) Herbert/Olivetti 6-4 7-6(7-5)

Doubles – First Round: Brands/Levine def. Dlouhy/Kerr 6-3 7-5

Another bad loss for Lukas Dlouhy! It really does seem as if he’s about at the end of the road.