Men Tennis Update – Casablanca and Houston Sunday, April 14, 2013

Written by: Staff on 13th April 2013

Men Tennis Update - Casablanca and Houston Sunday, April 14, 2013

epa03615557 Tommy Robredo of Spain hits a return against Marinke Matosevic of Australia during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 08 March 2013. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

Casablanca

Singles – Semifinal: T Robredo def. (1) S Wawrinka 1-6 6-3 6-2

Good news for Tommy Robredo, who is now just below the Top Fifty; he’ll make it in if he wins the title. But it increases the risk that Stanislas Wawrinka will lose his Top Twenty spot after Monte Carlo; see the Feature.

Singles – Semifinal: (2) K Anderson def. (3) M Klizan 2-6 6-4 6-2

Kevin Anderson’s prospects for the final don’t really look all that good. He was out there for half an hour longer than Tommy Robredo, and he had the late match. Still, he will gain at least three ranking spots, and he is in his first-ever clay final; all four of his previous finals have been on outdoor hardcourt. It appears Martin Klizan will end up #29.

Doubles – Semifinal: (1) Knowle/Polasek def. Klizan/Zelenay 0-6 6-3 10-5

Houston

Friday (Complete Results)

Singles – Quarterfinal: (1) N Almagro def. (7) P Lorenzi 6-4 6-4

Nicolas Almagro is going to have to hurry quite a bit if he is to arrive in Monte Carlo in decent shape. And he hasn’t even earned anything that counts yet!

Singles – Quarterfinal: (3) J Monaco def. (Q) R Ginepri 6-1 6-0 NEW

It looks as if Juan Monaco wants to defend his title. Which sets up an interesting situation:

Singles – Quarterfinal: (5) J Isner def. R Berankis 6-3 3-6 6-3 UPDATED

This was amazingly quick, considering the score — less than an hour and a half. John Isner now needs one more win to defend his points.

The problem for Isner is that that one win has to come against last year’s champion Monaco. So one or the other will lose ground.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (WC) R Williams def. R Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6(7-1) 1-6 6-4

This is getting to be quite an impressive result by Rhyne Williams. He had two wins where luck might be involved — but beating Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo on clay requires genuine tenacity if nothing else. He has now increased his points by almost a quarter.

Doubles – Semifinal: (1) Bryan/Bryan def. Brunstrom/Levine 6-3 6-4

Doubles – Semifinal: J Murray/Peers def. Almagro/Ramirez Hidalgo 6-3 7-6(7-5)

This is career final #13 for Jamie Murray. He has never won a clay title. Could he be thirteenth time lucky?

Saturday

Singles – Semifinal: (1) N Almagro def. (WC) R Williams 6-2 6-1

The dream had to end sometime for Rhyne Williams. It was still the best event of his career. Nicolas Almagro finally starts earning some points; he can’t rise this week, but he improves his odds of climbing at Monte Carlo. Assuming he actually makes it there and has enough energy left to play….

Singles – Semifinal: (2) J Isner def. (3) J Monaco 1-6 6-4 6-4

Juan Monaco is proving very hard to understand. Hot streaks we can figure out; slumps we can figure out. But he’s having both at once. Indeed, he’s having both in the same match! We have no explanation. We can at least say that this reverses the result of last year’s final. That means that John Isner will stay at #23 (which is as high as he can go this week). But Monaco, who was last year’s champion, falls from #18 to #20; he could well be lower after Monte Carlo.

Doubles – Final: J Murray/Peers def. Bryan/Bryan 1-6 7-6(7-3) 12-10

The Bryans should have won this match — they had break points in the eleventh game of the second set, and couldn’t convert, and generally seemed to be struggling. In the second set tiebreak, they earned the first three points, then lost seven in a row. In the match tiebreak, they played level until the very end — then gave away a minibreak on a double fault.

The Bryans still have four titles this year, but they don’t have one on clay. Jamie Murray now does — the first of his career. As for John Peers, he has his first title, period. Talk about a match with a big turnaround….

©Daily tennis wire

Topics: Casablanca, Houston, men tennis news, Nicolas Almagro, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News, Tommy Robredo