Today’s Men’s News (10/20)

Written by: Staff on 20th October 2012

Today's Men's News (10/20)

epa03440259 Andreas Seppi of Italy returns the ball to Malek Jaziri of Tunisia during their semi final match at the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow, Russia, 20 October 2012. EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY |

Moscow

Singles – Semifinal: (2) A Seppi def. M Jaziri 6-3 6-1

At least Malek Jaziri lasted long enough to reach the Top Hundred.

Andreas Seppi is developing an interesting history. He says he likes clay, but his first title was on grass, and now he’s in an indoor final. Maybe he doesn’t really know what he likes. He’ll probably like the fact that he’s up to #24, though, and should reach #22 if he wins the title.

Singles – Semifinal: (4) T Bellucci def. I Karlovic 6-7(5-7) 6-4 6-4

Ivo Karlovic isn’t signed up for next week’s events, and his ranking is too low to get him into Paris directly. So this may be his last ATP match of the year. It appears he’ll be ending the year below #100. So he’s likely to be stuck in Australian Open qualifying.

Doubles – Final: (1) Cermak/Mertinak def. Bolelli/Bracciali 7-5 6-3

Now there’s a blast from the past — the last title Cermak/Mertinak won together was a little more than two years ago, at Kuala Lumpur. But maybe they knew what they were doing when they hooked up again — although their first four titles were on clay, their last two were indoors. It’s the third title for Cermak this year, with three different partners (he won Munich with Polasek and Kitzbuhel with Knowle); Mertinak earns his first since he and Cermak split up.

Stockholm

Singles – Semifinal: (1) J Tsonga def. (7) M Baghdatis 6-4 4-6 5-2, retired (Left Groin)

The retirement here is no surprise, since Marcos Baghdatis had claimed a neck injury the day before. But this is a different injury; the surprise is that he did as well as he did. Still, it’s sad to see him lose his Top Thirty chance this way.

Singles – Semifinal: (2) T Berdych def. (3/WC) N Almagro 6-3 6-2

No rankings movement yet; Nicolas Almagro will stay at #12. And what should have been an interesting final… may not be. This lets Tomas Berdych earn enough points that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga cannot pass him. Of course, if Tsonga wins, he’ll have a very good chance to move up next week; they will be very close.

Doubles – Semifinal: (1) Lindstedt/Zimonjic def. Anderson/Erlich 4-6 7-6(7-4) 12-10 (Match TB)

Doubles – Semifinal: (3) Melo/Soares def. (2) Qureshi/Rojer 7-5 3-6 10-4 (Match TB)

And so Qureshi/Rojer are out of Stockholm without earning enough points to make any real difference. The contest for the last two London spots remains extremely close.

Vienna

Singles – Semifinal: (1) J del Potro def. G Muller 7-6(7-4) 7-6(7-5)

No ace records this time — Juan Martin del Potro hit “only” seventeen, Gilles Muller “only” sixteen. But there were no breaks, either — del Potro won only six more points than Muller, and five of those points represented the margins in the tiebreaks. In the second set, both guys won in excess of 90% of first serve points. A little luck and they might have had a third set, and a shot at the ace record after all. As it is, del Potro is in the final, but he needs to win it to add any points.

Singles – Semifinal: (Q) G Zemlja def. (2) J Tipsarevic 3-6 7-6(7-5) 6-2

This is precisely what Janko Tipsarevic did not need: A long, tiring week — without earning anything that counts. He does remains #9, but a weak #9; he’ll need to do much better in the next two weeks if he is to have any chance to qualify for London. Grega Zemlja, who came here having quietly worked his way up to #70, will hit the Top Fifty if he can win the title.

Doubles – Semifinal: Begemann/Emmrich def. (1) Melzer/Peya 4-6 6-3 10-8 (Match TB)

Things just keep going downhill for Jurgen Melzer….

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) Knowle/Polasek def. Murray/Sa 7-6(7-3) 7-6(7-2)

At least the Austrians get a player in the final. Interesting that we saw Melzer with Peya and not Knowle.