Men Tennis News Update – Bogota, Hamburg and Rankings

Written by: Staff on 16th July 2013

Men Tennis News Update - Bogota, Hamburg and Rankings

epa03651128 Colombia´s Santiago Giraldo returns a ball to Uruguay´s Marcel Felder during their Davis Cup match of the American Zone´s Group 1, in Cucuta, Colombia, 05 April 2013. EPA/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda |

* Mahut wins Newport doubles title to go with singles win
* Brands moves closer to Top Fifty win over Lorenzi in Hamburg
* Florian Mayer blocks Davydenko’s Top Forty hopes
* Andujar might lose Top Fifty spot after loss to Tursunov
* Montanes wins clay-lovers’ battle with Mathieu
* Mannarino struggles past Columbian in Bogota

TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS

Bogota

Sixth seed Santiago Giraldo claimed a home win at the inaugural edition of the tournament which was formerly played in Los Angeles, with the Colombian defeating No. 310 Carlos Salamanca 6-2, 6-4. French fifth seed Adrian Mannarino followed suit of Colombia’s Alejandro Gonzalez 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.

Australian Matt Ebden began with a victory against Jimmy Wang of Taiwan, with their three-setter swing form one extreme to another, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

Italy’s Matteo Viola beat Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine 6-3, 2-6, 6-0.

Hamburg

Germany placed three of four opening-day players into the second round as the event waits for the mid-week start of Roger Federer after the bye given to all 16 seeds at the ATP 500 event on clay. The Swiss now ranked fifth is the undisputed star of the week after making a late decision to play here and next week in Gstaad following his early defeat last month at Wimbledon where he was defending the title.

Federer is playing Hamburg for the first time in five years when it was a Masters 1000. The venue has a special meaning for him. “I first entered into the Top 10 here in 2002. That is something that can never be taken away from Hamburg or me. It was one of my dreams. I have always enjoyed coming back here, winning here. I have had milestone victories here and also times when I have learnt a lot.

Unseeded locals began their run of success at the Rothenbaum club as Daniel Brands bat Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 7-5, 6-3, putting Brands into the second round as Federer’s opening opponent. The Swiss is looking to improve his

29-4 tournament record.

Florian Mayer ambushed veteran Russian and 2009 champion Nikolay Davydenko with the loss of just four games and Tobias Kamke defeated Czech Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-0.

Czech qualifier Jan Hajek put out Wimbledon quarter-finalist Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 6-2 while a pair of Spaniard advanced. Robert Bautista Agut beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-2; Albert Montanes, one of 11 Spaniards in the field, stopped Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 6-4.

Russian Dimitry Tursunov beat Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-2.

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Men’s Look Forward: Hamburg, Bogota

Just in case there were any doubting Thomases out there, it’s now official: Roger Federer is in the Hamburg draw. He is the only Top Ten player in the 48-draw 500 point tournament. (16 seeds, all with byes.)

Even though Federer is the only Top Ten player, it’s not a bad draw at all; it features about half the players from #11 to #30. Tommy Haas is the #2 seed, with Nicolas Almagro #3 (and in Haas’s half). Jerzy Janowicz has the #4 seed. Defending champion Juan Monaco is #5 and in Almagro’s quarter, Andreas Seppi #6 and in Haas’s, Alexandr Dolgopolov #7 and in Federer’s, Jeremy Chardy #8 and in Janowicz’s. Federer could hardly have hoped for a kinder draw! — except, perhaps, in the third round, when he is to face #15 Ernests Gulbis. The other Round of Sixteen matches pit Dolgopolov against #11 Feliciano Lopez, Janowicz against red-hot #14 Fernando Verdasco, Chardy against #10 Tommy Robredo (which sounds upset-ish), Monaco against #9 Benoit Paire, Almagro against #13 Mikhail Youzhny, Seppi against #12 Fabio Fognini, and Haas against #15 Martin Klizan.

There are a few interesting unseeded players, too. Dolgopolov will open against the winner of a match between Nikolay Davydenko and Florian Mayer. Monaco will likely open against Gael Monfils. Paire will face either Paul-Henri Mathieu or Albert Montanes. Almagro might open against Lukas Rosol. And Seppi will have to face either Marcel Granollers or Thomaz Bellucci.

Next to that, Bogota looks like a Challenger. Some of that is that it’s a 250 point event, but it probably has more to do with the fact that it’s a new event in a part of the world with a rather poor reputation. There are only two Top Fifty players, and one rather suspects they were given appearance fees. #1 seed Janko Tipsarevic, after all, does not need more 250 point events! Kevin Anderson is the #2 seed. #3 Igor Sijsling and #4 Edouard Roger-Vasselin have the other two byes; the remaining seeds are #5 Adrian Mannarino, #6 Santiago Giraldo, #7 Aijas Bedene, and #8 Xavier Malisse. There are no obvious unseeded threats.

The Rankings

This is another week of year-after-Olympics unwinding. In 2012, there were three events in this week: The 500 pointer at Hamburg plus the 250s at Gstaad and Atlanta. Juan Monaco won Hamburg, with Tommy Haas the finalist and and Nicolas Almagro and Marin Cilic semifinalists. The title at Gstaad went to Thomaz Bellucci, over Janko Tipsarevic, with Paul-Henri Mathieu and Grigor Dimitrov semifinalists. Andy Roddick won Atlanta, over Gilles Muller, with John Isner and Go Soeda semifinalists.

Roddick of course doesn’t care, and Isner doesn’t need those points. But Bellucci does, and Tipsarevic, and Cilic, and Haas, and Muller — interesting that Cilic isn’t in the Hamburg draw.

The lack of high-ranked players in action means that there will be no changes in the Top Ten. Federer can’t add enough points to catch up with #4 Rafael Nadal, and no other Top Ten players are playing. Haas comes in at #11, but so far behind #10 Wawrinka that he can’t rise even if he wins Hamburg. He’s in greater danger of falling to #12. Tipsarevic, who is already out of the Top Fifteen, could lose another spot or two. Monaco’s Top Twenty spot is in grave danger. Bellucci could find himself not much above #100.

KEYWORDS: Preview Hamburg Bogota

THIS WEEK IN TENNIS

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Hamburg (500/Clay). Defending Champion: Juan Monaco
Bogota (250/Clay). Defending Champion: New Event

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Atlanta (250/Hard). Defending Champion: Andy Roddick
Gstaad (250/Clay). Defending Champion: Thomaz Bellucci
Umag (250/Clay). Defending Champion: Marin Cilic

STATS AND FACTS

RANKINGS

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of July 15, 2013

Rank & Prior...Player...........Points 1..(1) Djokovic..........12310 2..(2) Murray.............9360 3..(3) Ferrer.............7120 4..(4) Nadal..............6860 5..(5) Federer............5785 6..(6) Berdych............4865 7..(7) Del Potro..........4500 8..(8) Tsonga.............3480 9..(9) Gasquet............3045 10.(10) Wawrinka...........2915 11.(12) Nishikori..........2495 12.(11) Haas...............2395 13.(13) Raonic.............2225 14.(14) Cilic..............2075 15.(17) Janowicz...........2064 16.(18) Simon..............2055 17.(15) Almagro............2045 18.(16) Tipsarevic.........2025 19.(19) Querrey............1730 20.(21) Isner..............1610 21.(23) Anderson...........1590 22.(24) Seppi..............1550 23.(25) Fognini............1515 24.(26) Dolgopolov.........1500 25.(22) Kohlschreiber......1445 26.(27) Chardy.............1406 27.(28) Paire..............1405 28.(29) Robredo............1335 29.(31) Lopez..............1300 30.(20) Monaco.............1270

**DRAWS

Hamburg — Week of July 15

1 Federer --bye Lorenzi Brands Kubot (Q) Hajek (Q) --bye 15 Gulbis

11 Lopez --bye L Mayer Struff (WC) Davydenko F Mayer --bye 7 Dolgopolov 4 Janowicz --bye Schwartzman (Q) Haase A Zverev (WC) Bautista Agut --bye 14 Verdasco 10 Robredo --bye Delbonis (Q) Reister (WC) Andujar Tursunov --bye 8 Chardy 5 Monaco --bye Monfils Golubev (Q) Mathieu Montanes --bye 9 Paire 13 Youzhny --bye Garcia-Lopez Gimeno-Traver Kamke Rosol --bye 3 Almagro 6 Seppi --bye Granollers Bellucci Zeballos Ramos --bye 12 Fognini

15 Klizan --bye Berlocq Bachinger (WC) Kavcic (Q) Hanescu --bye 2 Haas

Bogota — Week of July 15

1 Tipsarevic --bye Barrientos (WC) Bemelmans J Wang Ebden Falla 8 Malisse

4 Roger-Vasselin --bye Marchenko Viola Pospisil Przysiezny Duckworth 7 Bedene 5 Mannarino A Gonzalez Arguello Qualifier Qualifier Karlovic --bye 3 Sijsling

6 Giraldo Salamanca (WC) Korolev Qualifier Qualifier Struvay (WC) --bye 2 Anderson

SCORES

MONDAY

Bogota
Singles – First Round
[5] A Mannarino (FRA) d A Gonzalez (COL) 64 06 64
[6] S Giraldo (COL) d [WC] C Salamanca (COL) 62 64
M Ebden (AUS) d J Wang (TPE) 61 26 61
M Viola (ITA) d I Marchenko (UKR) 63 26 60
Doubles – First Round
[1] J Cabal (COL) / R Farah (COL) d M Przysiezny (POL) / A Shamasdin (CAN) 26 76(7) 13-11

Hamburg
Singles – First Round
D Brands (GER) d P Lorenzi (ITA) 75 63
[Q] J Hajek (CZE) d [Q] L Kubot (POL) 63 62
F Mayer (GER) d N Davydenko (RUS) 61 63
R Bautista Agut (ESP) d [WC] A Zverev (GER) 63 62
D Tursunov (RUS) d P Andujar (ESP) 67(5) 76(4) 62
A Montanes (ESP) d P Mathieu (FRA) 64 64
T Kamke (GER) d L Rosol (CZE) 63 60
Doubles – First Round
F Cermak (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) d H Tecau (ROU) / H Zeballos (ARG) 64 64

Newport Doubles - Final [2] N Mahut (FRA) / E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d T Smyczek (USA) / R Williams (USA) 67(4) 62 10-5

Topics: Adrian Mannarino, Alejandro Gonzalez, Bogota tennis news, Carlos Salamanca, Hamburg tennis news, Matt Ebden, Roger Federer, Santiago Giraldo