Men and Women Tennis Update – Budapest, Palermo, Bastad, Newport, Stuttgart

Written by: on 10th July 2013
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* Cornet upset in Budapest but likely to return to Top Thirty anyway
* Safarova wins only one game against Solovyeva, loses Top 25 chance
* Begu out of Top Sixty after loss to Voracova in Palermo
* Karolina Pliskova also upset
* Dulgheru’s comeback cut short by another retirement
* Vinci opens with tough win

****** TODAY’S WOMEN’S NEWS ******

Budapest

Top seed Lucie Safarova was crushed 6-1, 6-0 in her opening match by unknown Russian Valeria Solovyeva the WTA No. 190. Second seed Alizé Cornet met a similar fate on a day of upsets, losing to Czech Andrea Hlavackova 6-4, 6-2.

South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers restored order for the seeds as the No. 6 beat Michaela Honcova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1. Eighth seed Anna Tatishvili of Georgia reached the second round over local entry Reka-Luca Jani 6-3, 6-4.

Austrian Yvonne Meusburger started with a victory over Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, losing just two games in the process, while Shahar Peer beat Swiss newcomer Xenia Knoll 6-2, 6-2.

Palermo

Second seed Roberta Vinci began with a defeat of fellow Italian and qualifier Giulia Gatto-Monticone 7-6(6), 6-3, saving a set point in the tiebreaker. Virtual tennis twins Klara Zakopalova and Flavia Pennetta – born a day apart 31 years ago – met again, with Czech Zakopalova earning a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win after saving a set point in the tiebreaker before winning the last six games of the match to advance over her rival. “I’ve had played Flavia a lot of times before so I knew it would be very tough,” said Zakopalova, now 4-5 in the series. “She’s very experienced like me and she has almost exactly the same age as me. We always have battles.”

Fifth seed Lourdes Domínguez Lino of Spain had an easy day on clay as Romanian opponent Alexandra Dulgheru quit with a toe injury trailing 5-1.

Sixth seed Irina-Camelia Begu went out to Renata Voracova, 7-5, 6-2; eighth seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova lost to Dinah Pfizenmaier, 7-5, 7-5.

Italy’s Karin Knapp got a win as did five-time champion Anabel Medina Garrigues, who beat German qualifier Kristina Barrois 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Medina Garrigues stands 33-4 at the tournament with titles in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2011 but losing in the first round a year ago

—

MEN Tennis News

* Querrey shocked by Smyczek in Newport — but is likely to regain Top Twenty spot anyway
* #6 Matosevic retires
* Karlovic fires 22 aces to upset Roger-Vasselin, earn first win since Indian Wells
* Seeds Sijsling, Hewitt, Ram advance; de Schepper upset
* Bellucci makes strong comeback with upset of Rosol in Stuttgart
* Gulbis knocks 2012 finalist Granollers down to around #50
* Fognini, Florian Mayer win; Monfils tops Mathieu
* 2012 semifinalist Hajek eliminated by Garcia-Lopez in Bastad
* Verdasco squelches another Vinciguerra comeback attempt

****** TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS ******

Bastad

Spain’s Fernando Verdasco carried his Wimbledon quarter-final form into his start in Sweden, with a 6-4, 7-6(3) defeat of local Andreas Vinciguerra. Joining Verdasco in the second round was Serbian sixth seed Serbian Viktor Troicki, who put out 119th-ranked Joao Souza of Brazil 6-4, 6-2.

Verdasco, seeded eighth, last played the event in 2010, reaching a semi-final. The Spaniard will next take eon German Jan-Lennard Struff, who dispatched Roger Federer’s Wimbledon conqueror, Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3, 6-3.

Verdasco’s exploits in Wimbledon lifted his ranking from 54th to 35th as he competes on the Scandinavian clay. Other winners included Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who defeated Czech Jan Hajek 7-6(4), 6-1 and Albert Ramos who put out German qualifier Julian Reister 6-3, 6-3.

Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker stopped Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-2, 6-4 and Italian Filippo Volandri, who beat Estonian Jurgen Zopp 6-1, 6-2.

Finnish-born Swiss qualifier HenriLaaksonen came back over Croatian Antonio Veic 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

 

Newport

Even 16 aces were not enough for top seed Sam Querrey has the was beaten in his opening match at the North American grass event 6-4, 7-6(8) by fellow American Tim Smyczek. The winner saved nine of 10 break points to upset the 2009 finalist. Querrey, who has had time off since losing in the Wimbledon first round, blamed a “lack of rest” over the past couple of weeks. “I couldn’t really find a flow out there. I just felt off the whole time.” Smyczek notched his 11th ATP-level career win and next tests himself against Nicolas Mahut after the Frenchman beat American Rhyne Williams 6-2, 6-4. Mahut is fresh from the grass title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch the week before Wimbledon.

Fourth seed Lleyton Hewitt, a former finalist, started with a win over fellow Australian Matthew Ebden 6-4, 6-1 victory. 2009 champion Rajeev Ram beat Swiss qualifier Adrien Bossel 6-2, 6-2 and one-time finalist Prakash Amritraj of India beat Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 6-3 in less than an hour.

Ivo Karlovic returned from a spring illness (viral meningitis) and made a winning start over fifth-seeded Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6(5), 6-4. Third seed Igor Sijsling, who beat Milos Raonic at Wimbledon, crushed Italian Matteo 6-4, 6-1. American Jack Sock claimed a 6-2 win as Aussie Marinko quit with food illness.

Canada’s Vasek Pospisil beat Denis Kudla 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Stuttgart

Gael Monfils returned to tennis after skipping Wimbledon, with the French showman defeating compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6(0), 6-4 for a second round place on the clay of the Weissenhof club. He now faces German sixth seed Florian Mayer. Monfils admitted he had adjustment troubles on the fast clay of altitude in Stuttgart. “I didn’t expect clay like this. This is very fast, very dry, slippery, a bit windy, so it wasn’t easy conditions today. I needed to adapt myself. It was tough,” said the winner.

Italian fifth seed Fabio Fognini put out Briton Alexander Ward 6-3, 7-6(5) while Mayer also advanced over German qualifier Andreas Beck 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci eliminated seventh seed Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-4.

Russian Dmitry Tursunov exited as Romanian Victor Hanescu came from a set down, saving a pair of match points in a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7) decision. Russian Nikolay Davydenko, twice a semi-finalist. beat Spanish qualifier Daniel Munoz-De La Nava 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4, taking nearly two and a half hours.

Argentine Leonardo Mayer recovered to get past Pablo Andujar 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) over nearly three hours of struggle. Latvian Ernests Gulbis made another recovery to beat Spaniard Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

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