Men Tennis Update (02/20/13) – Marseille, Memphis, Buenos Aires

Written by: Staff on 20th February 2013

Men Tennis Update (02/20/13) - Marseille, Memphis, Buenos Aires

epa03536343 Michael Llodra of France during his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on day two of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 15 January 2013. EPA/MARK DADSWELL AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Marseille

French players went 1-3 on the day at an event stacked with locals. The only joy for home fans came as Michael Llodra started the week with a win over Belgian baby face David Goffin 6-2, 6-4. For three more French players, there were immediate exits, with Luxembourg veteran Gilles Muller beating this month’s Montpellier winner Richard Gasquet, the fifth seed, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). Somdev Devvarman of India knocked out Benoit Paire in a tight 7-6(6), 6-7(7), 6-4 result. Marcel Granollers ended the run of wild card Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4 with aficionados still talking about the showman’s athletic sliding recovery of a ball with a return which landed good a week ago in Holland

The revitalization of Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis as he beat fellow Nordic Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-2. Former top 30 player Gulbis has improved his ranking to 118 after qualifying into last week’s Rotterdam draw and winning a round before running into eventual champion Juan Del Potro. Eleswhere, veteran Nikolay Davydenko beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and Robert Bautista Agut of Spain stopped Serb Filip Krajinovic 4-6, 7-6(5) 6-0

Memphis

Big John Isner couldn’t handle the game of Denis Istomin, with the American third seed falling to the Uzbek 6-4, 6-3 as Isner’s disappointing start to 2013 continues. Good friend Sam Querrey made up the difference with his first-round win over Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-3. There was also a blast from the past for spectators as wild card James Blake beat German Florian Mayer in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 thriller.

Fifth seed Kei Nishikori defeated Illya Marchenko 6-4, 7-5 and Igor Sijsling beat Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 7-6(3). American lucky loser Michael Russell, still fighting on at age 34, advanced over Alex Bogomolov 6-2, 6-4. Feliciano Lopez, who has struggled recently with injury, beat German Benjamin Becker 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Buenos Aires

Third seed Stan Wawrinka provided much-needed star power on the day, winning his first-round match over Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-3 while Spain’s Albert Montanes accounted for seventh seed Pablu Andujar 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Spaniard Tommy Robredo got in a win over Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-3, 6-0

In other results, qualifier Julian Reister defeated breakthrough player Martin Alund 7-5, 6-1 after the Argentine’s surprise run to the Sao Paulo semis last week where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Argentine Leo Mayer beat Italy’s Simone Bolelli 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, Daniel Gimeno-Traver stopped Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 7-5 and Andrey Kuznetsov defeated Filippo Volandri 7-6(5), 6-3.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Buenos Aires tennsi news, David Goffin, Marseille tennis news, Memphis tennis news, Michael Llodra, Sports, Tennis News