Men Tennis Update – Rotterdam,Sao Paulo, and San Jose Monday, February 18, 2013

Written by: Staff on 17th February 2013

Men Tennis Update - Rotterdam,Sao Paulo, and San Jose Monday, February 18, 2013

epa03587643 French Julien Benneteau celebrates after beating French Gilles Simon during the semi-final match of the ABN AMRO ATP World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 16 February 2013. EPA/KOEN SUYK |

Rotterdam (Sunday)

Singles – Final: (2) J del Potro def. J Benneteau 7-6(7-2) 6-3

A tough, tough situation for Julien Benneteau. He was trying for his first title. At a fairly big event. This after losing seven previous finals. The score looks close. It wasn’t really as competitive as it looked. Poor Benneteau is now down to 0-8 in finals.

At least he’ll move up nicely in the rankings. #39 coming in, we show him rising to #31.

Juan Martin del Potro doesn’t move; since he was defending finalist points, he adds only relatively modestly to his total. He’s now quite close to #6 Tomas Berdych, but he has the Marseille title to defend next week, so he can’t rise in the immediate future. Plus he may be a little debilitated; he suffered a nosebleed at the end of this match (which he joked was due to his big nose). But he picks up his first title of the year, and #14 for his career. And he has won at least two titles in every year in which he has won any titles at all. So he probably has more to come.

Doubles – Final: (3) Lindstedt/Zimonjic def. (WC) de Bakker/Huta Galung 5-7 6-3 10-8

Not the most impressive scoreline against a pair of wildcards, but still, it’s a title, and a 500 point title at that. It’s the first title for Zimonjic since Valencia in October. For Lindstedt, it’s his first since Cincinnati. Not really long waits, but enough that both guys must have been getting a bit itchy.

Sao Paulo (Sunday)

Singles – Final: (1) (WC) R Nadal def. D Nalbandian 6-2 6-3

It was just like old times: Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian in a final. And, just like old times, Nadal won.

It is, of course, the first title of his comeback — the first since last year’s clay season. It is his fifty-first career title, and it means that he has now won at least one title for ten consecutive years. What’s more, he has won a clay title in every one of those years. (The bad news is, he hasn’t won a title on anything other than clay since late 2010.)

In an interesting footnote, it is his first indoor clay title, after three dozen outdoors.

The points aren’t much help. They count, but he remains #5, a thousand points behind countryman David Ferrer. And almost all his points come off between now and Roland Garros. He still has a lot of defending to do….

David Nalbandian can sympathize. The points he earns here will take him from #93 to around #70, but he loses semifinalist points next week, so his overall move for the two week period is likely to be a lot smaller….

Doubles – Final: (2) Peya/Soares def. (3) Cermak/Mertinak 6-7(5-7) 6-2 10-7

Bruno Soares is definitely on top of the world right now: “It was an amazing feeling. The people in Brazil, they really like to cheer you on. For me, it’s very special, being Brazilian, to play well this week. It’s the only chance I get to play at home. Being able to have a good week and a great result is fantastic. The atmosphere on court was amazing.”

He does seem to like it here; he won the event last year also (with Butorac). And he’s gone on to do very well since — six titles in the last year: Kuala Lumpur 2012 (with Peya), Tokyo 2012 (with Peya), Stockholm 2012 (with Melo), Basel 2012 (with Peya), Auckland 2013 (with Fleming), and now this. If he can pick up a grass title this year, he’ll have done everything. (He did win Nottingham 2008 with Ullyett.) And even if he doesn’t — well, there is always Sao Paulo 2014.

San Jose

Saturday

Singles – Semifinal: (1) M Raonic def. (3) S Querrey 6-4 6-2

The day’s two semifinals were amazingly similar. They took almost exactly the same amount of time (both lasted a few seconds longer than an hour), both were straight sets, and both involved a non-American beating an American. For Sam Querrey, that means he is back out of the Top Twenty.

Singles – Semifinal: (4) T Haas def. (2) J Isner 6-3 6-4

John Isner’s serve wasn’t at its best on this day, and for him, that comes close to being fatal. In this case, that means no return to the Top Fifteen; Milos Raonic will have the last Top Fifteen spot. Tommy Haas is still at #18 in safe points — but he also has his first final in half a year.

Sunday

Singles – Final: (1) M Raonic def. (4) T Haas 6-4 6-3

Milos Raonic is going to miss this place.

We don’t know if he has said that, but surely it’s true. He leaves it, permanently, as the two-time champion. There is, of course, no other event of which he can say that.

Defending his title wasn’t enough to let him keep the #13 ranking; he falls to #14. Still, it could have been a lot worse.

Ditto for Tommy Haas. He reaching the final, he rises to #18 in the world (up from #22) and reasserts himself as the top German player. Pretty good for a guy who turned 35 in six weeks and was already touring about the time Raonic entered elementary school.

Doubles – Final: (4) Malisse/Moser def. (WC) Hewitt/Matosevic 6-0 6-7(5-7) 10-4

Hewitt and Matosevic appeared to be down and out early in the second set of this, then came roaring back — and collapsed again. A very strange match. But it’s tough to beat Xavier Malisse in doubles in California. He had two titles last year: San Jose and Los Angeles. He won Los Angeles in 2011, too. And Indian Wells. His last title outside California was Delray Beach 2007. With Los Angeles and San Jose gone, his doubles career may be in big trouble….

©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: David Nalbandian, Juan Martin Del Potro, Julien Benneteau, Martin Klizan, men tennis update, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Rafael Nadal, Sam Querrey, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych