Men Tennis News Update – Montpellier, Zagreb, Vina del Mar

Written by: Staff on 10th February 2013

Men Tennis News Update - Montpellier, Zagreb, Vina del Mar

epa03577022 Richard Gasquet of France returns the ball to Benoit Paire of France during their final match of the Open Sud de France tennis tournament, in Montpellier, France, 10 February 2013. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO |

Montpellier

Singles – Final: (3) R Gasquet def. (8) B Paire 6-2 6-3

This was only the second career final for Benoit Paire, and he was going for his first title. And he’s a little odd anyway. This was probably more about the minds of the two players than anything else. The outcome probably didn’t surprise anyone.

Even with the loss, Paire appears headed for a career high, probably #38. If he can get his head together, that first title is likely to come.

Richard Gasquet won’t move in the rankings; he remains #10. But he gained enough points that he might be able to threaten Janko Tipsarevic next week. And he earns his ninth career title, and his second of the year. It is only the second time in his career that he has won two titles in a year (he won Doha to start the year). The first time he did it was in 2006, when he won three. He’s obviously on track to blow past that record. He is also the first player this year to win two titles. Now he just needs to win something bigger than a 250 pointer.

Doubles – Final: Gicquel/Llodra def. Brunstrom/Klaasen 6-3 3-6 11-9

The ATP came up with the strange fact that eight different all-French teams have won this title, and that all-French teams have won it in six of the last eight years. Of course, some of that could have something to do with the fact that the French training methods produce a lot of good doubles players, and most of them tend to play French events….

Michael Llodra sounded especially happy: “Now I can say that I won all the French tournaments — except Roland Garros — as Montpellier was the one I was missing. My objective in doubles is to beat Guy [Forget]’s doubles record of 28 titles. I won’t stop until I beat him. I am very happy about this 24th title. I’m not sure how many different partners I’ve had, but I am very happy to have won with my friend ‘Marco’ here in Montpellier. He’s a great guy and we had a blast all week.”

It was a pretty big win for Gicquel, too — he hadn’t won a doubles title since Brisbane 2010.

Zagreb

Singles – Final: (1) M Cilic def. (4) J Melzer 6-3 6-1

Think Marin Cilic likes this place? He now has nine career titles — and three of them are here; he won Zagreb in 2009 and 2010 also.

This marks the sixth straight year in which Cilic has won at least one title. Three times, he has won two. And, in all three cases, one of them was at an event in Croatia (in 2009 and 2010, he won Zagreb and Chennai; in 2012, he won Umag and Queen’s). Seems like a pretty auspicious omen.

What it doesn’t do is help his ranking. #12 he came in; #12 he stays.

Jurgen Melzer does move — but only a little; we show him ending up at #27.

Doubles – Final: (2) Knowle/Polasek def. Dodig/Pavic 6-3 6-3

Julian Knowle talked, after the match, about the big teams Dodig/Pavic won on the way to the title. Ivan Dodig really does seem to be maturing into a pretty good doubles player. But he’s lacking in doubles titles, and Pavic doesn’t have any big match experience. Knowle and Polasek do…. They earn their first title of the year.

Vina del Mar (Saturday)

Singles – Semifinal: (1) R Nadal def. (3) J Chardy 6-2 6-2

What can we say except that it’s as if Rafael Nadal had never been away? Jeremy Chardy will probably be #25.

Singles – Semifinal: H Zeballos def. (8) C Berlocq 6-3 7-6(7-4)

Horacio Zeballos made quite a splash when he first came up — then he seemed to lose it completely for more than three years. Is he finally rediscovering his game? This was only his second final, his first coming at St. Petersburg 2009.

Sunday

Singles – Final: H Zeballos def. (1) R Nadal (WC) 6-7(2-7) 7-6(8-6) 6-4

If this didn’t work the kinks out of Rafael Nadal’s game, nothing will…. The first two sets took two hours (less two seconds) and involved no breaks at all — the two players had only two break points each. The final set was “fast” by those standards — only about three-quarters of an hour. Probably because both players were breaking down. Nadal faced five break points, and managed to save only three; Zeballos faced only one, but lost it.

It’s the first-ever title for Zeballos, and it will set his ranking zooming. Our rough cut is that he will rise from #73 to #43. It isn’t quite a career high, but it’s his best in almost four years, and we would expect he will hit a career high this year. He’ll be getting to play higher-tier events, too, so his income should increase.

And, of course, he gets to take home a trophy.

It will be interesting to see how Rafael Nadal does next week. He remains #5; that was certain from the start. Considering how long he had been out, we’d consider this a pretty credible return to action. But perhaps the killer instinct isn’t quite there yet; he had real problems in the second set tiebreak.

Topics: Benoit Paire, Marin Cilic, men tennis news, Montpellier tennis news, Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, spirts, Vina del Mar tennsi news, Zagreb tennis news