Men Tennis Update – Auckland and Sydney
Auckland
Singles – First Round: (Q) G Jones def. (6) J Melzer 7-6(9-7) 6-2
Jurgen Melzer won’t be rising above his current #29, although he seems almost sure to stay Top Thirty.
Singles – First Round: Y Lu def. B Paire 6-3 2-6 6-2
Benoit Paire loses another chance to rise above #40.
Singles – First Round: L Lacko def. P Lorenzi 6-3 6-3
One more win would guarantee that Lukas Lacko rises above #45.
Singles – First Round: (Q) I Sijsling def. R Haase 3-6 6-3 7-5
Robin Haase will remain below #50.
Singles – First Round: (WC) G Monfils def. (Q) B Becker 6-7(2-7) 6-3 6-4
Gael Monfils still has enough optional points that this won’t do him any good, but he continues to look very strong this year.
Singles – First Round: (Q) J Levine def. (WC) D King-Turner 6-2 6-2
Jesse Levine is getting very close to the Top Hundred.
Singles – First Round: S Giraldo def. G Soeda 6-1 6-0
There will be no return to the Top Sixty for Go Soeda, though.
Singles – First Round: A Falla def. G Zemlja 6-4 3-1 retired (Virus)
Given the conditions in Australia these days, it’s surprising we haven’t had more players forced to retire.
Doubles – First Round: Cermak/Mertinak def. (2) S Gonzalez/Lipsky 6-2 3-6 13-11
This is not a strong doubles draw — almost all the top players went to Sydney — so it is a real surprise to see Cermak/Mertinak unseeded. Of course, that just gives them a better chance to make trouble.
Doubles – First Round: (3) Knowle/Polasek def. Bellucci/Berlocq 6-3 6-4
Doubles – First Round: Janowicz/Ramos def. (4) Bracciali/Marach 6-3 6-4
Doubles – First Round: Hanescu/Klizan def. Delgado/Skupski 6-2 6-2
Doubles – First Round: Malisse/Moser def. Marray/Sa 7-6(7-5) 6-4
Sydney
Singles – First Round: (6) R Stepanek def. (Q) G Garcia-Lopez 6-2 6-3
After some trouble last week, it looks as if Radek Stepanek is in good shape this week.
Singles – First Round: F Lopez def. (7) J Chardy 6-7(2-7) 7-5 6-3
This is officially an upset, but it doesn’t feel much like one. It leaves Jeremy Chardy, whose ranking took a bit of a hit last week, still below #35.
Singles – First Round: (Q) R Harrison def. R Bautista Agut 2-1, retired (Lower Abdominal Pain)
A tough way for Roberto Bautista Agut to follow up on his first title….
Singles – First Round: K Anderson def. A Bedene 6-3 3-6 6-3
Flying in from Chennai seems to have been a particularly tough experience: Both Bautista Agut and Bedene suffered….
Singles – First Round: F Fognini def. G Dimitrov 6-3 6-1
Or maybe it’s just that it wasn’t good to play right after being successful last week. Understandable, perhaps, in this heat.
Singles – First Round: (WC) J Millman def. (PR) T Robredo 6-3 6-4
It appears Tommy Robredo will once again remain stuck below #100.
Singles – First Round: B Tomic def. M Matosevic 6-3 6-4
An interesting problem as Australia assesses its “depth chart”: Marinko Matosevic is currently Australia’s #1, but he’s a lot older than Bernard Tomic….
Singles – First Round: J Nieminen def. (Q) B Phau 6-0 6-1
Six straight wins for Jarkko Nieminen here (actually more than that, since he was a qualifier last year), but he needs a lot more to stay Top Fifty.
Doubles – First Round: (1) Bryan/Bryan def. Cabal/Matkowski 6-4 5-7 11-9
Not the greatest start to the season for the world’s #1 team, but they have a relatively limited amount to defend in the next few months; they should be safe at the top.
Doubles – First Round: (2) Paes/Stepanek def. Roger-Vasselin/Simon 6-4 4-6 10-5
Paes/Stepanek, on the other hand, need to pick things up fast.
Doubles – First Round: (3) Granollers/Lopez def. Bopanna/Melo 6-4 6-2
Melo’s winning streak ends at four.
Doubles – First Round: (4) Mirnyi/Tecau def. Kas/Seppi 6-1 6-4
Here is our first interesting new team of 2013. So far, so good.
Doubles – First Round: Benneteau/Llodra def. Lindstedt/Zimonjic 7-6(7-3) 6-3
On the other hand, Nenad Zimonjic doesn’t seem to be having much fun against his old partner.
Doubles – First Round: Marrero/Verdasco def. Qureshi/Rojer 6-7(3-7) 6-3 10-5
Interesting that Bopanna and Qureshi didn’t team up again — and that both lost.