Men Tennis Update – Montpellier,Zagreb, And Vina del Mar Sunday, February 10, 2013

Written by: Staff on 9th February 2013

Men Tennis Update - Montpellier,Zagreb, And Vina del Mar Sunday, February 10, 2013

epa03575524 Richard Gasquet of France returns the ball to Jarkko Nieminen of Finland during their semi final match for the Open Sud de France tennis tournament in Montpellier, France, 09 February 2013. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO |

Montpellier

Singles – Semifinal: (3) R Gasquet def. J Nieminen 6-3 3-6 6-2

Amazing that this took only an hour and a half, considering the score. That’s good news for Richard Gasquet, since he faces another French finalist and won’t have an undivided crowd behind him. He can’t rise above #10 this week, but a title would give him a real shot at Janko Tipsarevic in the coming weeks.

Singles – Semifinal: (8) B Paire def. M Llodra 4-6 6-3 6-1

This matches Benoit Paire’s best career result; he also made the final at Belgrade last spring. It will let him push past his career high of #41; we show him at #38.

Doubles – Semifinal: Gicquel/Llodra def. Murray/Peers 7-6(11-9) 3-6 10-6

Zagreb

Singles – Semifinal: (1) M Cilic def. (3) M Youzhny 4-6 6-4 6-3

Marin Cilic had to spend two and a half hours on court, and he had the late match. He was moving slowly enough to get time violations. He may not have much left for the final. And he hasn’t, and won’t, move in the rankings. Mikhail Youzhny — who suffered a slight injury in the first set, but said it didn’t amount to anything — was last year’s champion. But those points are already off. He will actually move up, if not much; he’s around #30.

Singles – Semifinal: (4) J Melzer def. R Haase 7-6(7-2) 6-3

Still not much movement for Jurgen Melzer; he remains #27 in safe points. A title would make him #25 or #26, depending on how Jeremy Chardy does in Chile.

Doubles – Semifinal: Dodig/Pavic def. Marx/Mergea 7-6(7-4) 6-7(4-7) 10-3

Vina del Mar (Friday)

Singles – Quarterfinal: (1) R Nadal def. (7) D Gimeno-Traver 6-1 6-4

The fact that Rafael Nadal is playing both singles and doubles here has interesting effects: They have to keep assigning him early singles matches. Not very usual for him, but it obviously isn’t causing problems so far.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (3) J Chardy def. (6) P Lorenzi 6-2 6-3

Jeremy Chardy with this rises to possibly #25; that is as high as he can go this week.

Singles – Quarterfinal: H Zeballos def. (5) A Ramos 6-1 5-7 7-6(8-6)

Had Albert Ramos won this, he would have finally started earning points and rising in the rankings. As it is, it looks likely that he will fall out of the Top Fifty.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (8) C Berlocq def. G Rufin walkover (abdominal strain)

Since Berlocq faces Zeballos next, we are guaranteed and Argentine finalist. No word on how the organizers feel about that.

Doubles – Semifinal: Lorenzi/Starace def. Kuznetsov/Sa 5-7 6-3 11-9

Doubles – Semifinal: Monaco/Nadal def. Berlocq/Mayer 6-3 6-4 .

©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: Jurgen Melzer, Marin Cilic, men tennis news, Mikhail Youzhny, Montpellier, Richard Gasquet, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Vina del Mar, Zagreb