Men’s Tennis Results

Written by: Staff on 13th September 2013

Men's Tennis Results

epa03866169 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Juan Monaco of Argentina during the Davis Cup World Group semi-final between the Czech Republic and Argentina in Prague, Czech Republic, 13 September 2013. EPA/FILIP SINGER |

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

* Czechs one point away from return to Davis Cup final

* Serbia, Canada tied

* Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Israel one win away from World Group

TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS

Davis Cup

Radek Stepanek is one of those guys who really comes to life in Davis Cup. Juan Monaco… had never really been tested. He’s spent too much time behind Juan Martin del Potro and David Nalbandian. But there was no cover for him this time. He was in the #1 singles spot for Argentina — and he wasn’t up to it. Stepanek, despite being ranked thirty-odd places lower, put the Czechs in the lead by beating Monaco 7-6 6-3 6-2. Which put things in the hands of Tomas Berdych and Leonardo Mayer — chosen to play #2 singles for Argentina even though he had the lowest singles ranking of their four players. It appears to have been a good choice — he at least made Berdych work. But that was all. Berdych won 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-4, and the Czechs are one point away from the final.

And the Argentines still don’t have a real doubles team. They’re listing Carlos Berlocq and Horacio Zeballos. And they might as well play them, given that they’re down 2-0….

The day’s very last action came in the semifinal between Serbia and Canada. It started routinely enough, with Novak Djokovic beating Vasek Pospisil 6-2 6-0 6-4. The second match was anything but routine. Janko Tipsarevic showed few signs of his recent slump as he took on Milos Raonic. That one went five sets — and it went overtime in the fifth…They were at it for more than four hours. Tipsarevic midway through the final set had a match point on Raonic’s serve, but failed to convert; Raonic finally won 5-7 6-3 3-6 6-3 10-8. That leveled the tie — and, fortunately, neither Raonic nor Tipsarevic is supposed to play doubles. It’s still going to be a very big doubles match.

In the World Group Playoffs, Japan got probably about what it expected, though a little less than it had hoped. The tie began with Kei Nishikori trouncing Alejandro Falla 6-3 6-4 6-4. But Japan’s Go Soeda remains in a severe slump; one wonders if Japan might not have been better off playing, stay, Tatsuma Ito, who is ranked a little lower and has less experience but has more upside. Perhaps they should have, but they didn’t, and Soeda lost to Santiago Giraldo 6-4 3-6 7-5 3-6 6-1, leaving the two nations level.

The first match to finish in Europe was, not surprisingly, in the tie between Great Britain and Croatia — because that was the match between Andy Murray and sixteen-year-old Borna Coric. Murray trashed the kid 6-3 6-0 6-3 (and then said nice things about him, not that that helped with the score). But the real question was what would happen in the other matches. Match #2 was between Ivan Dodig and Daniel Evans. And it wasn’t much more exciting. Dodig won 6-3 6-2 6-3. It doesn’t help much, though, since Dodig now has to team with Mate Pavic to try to beat Murray and Colin Fleming. And then he has to try to beat Murray solo….

The playoff between Spain and the Ukrainians appears to be just about over. The best Ukrainian chance was in the first match, but Fernando Verdasco squashed that, beating Alexandr Dolgopolov 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-2. And then Rafael Nadal took care of Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-0 6-0 6-4. 2-0 Spain, and that tie looks just about over. Of course, it looked just about over before it even started….

Four other ties resulted in 2-0 scores after day one. The most absurd result came from Austria. They were supposed to have Andreas Haider-Maurer play #2 singles, but he couldn’t. That left the task to doubles specialist Oliver Marach, who hadn’t even been on the team until U. S. Open doubles finalist Alexander Peya pulled out. So Marach, who doesn’t even have a singles ranking any more, had to play Robin Haase on three days’ notice — and naturally lost 6-4 6-3 6-1. Then it was Jurgen Melzer’s turn. But Melzer melted, as he does so often these days; Thiemo de Bakker beat him 5-7 7-5 5-7 6-4 6-1. It seems likely that Haase, since he didn’t have to spend much time on court, will be called on for doubles too; he’s likely to team with Jean-Julien Rojer as the Dutch try to clinch the tie.

Getting to 2-0 by more predictable means was the tie between Switzerland and Ecuador; Stanislas Wawrinka beat Emilio Gomez 6-4 6-3 6-3, then Marco Chiudinelli put the Swiss one win away by beating Julio-Cesar Campozano 3-6 6-1 6-3 7-6. Wawrinka and Chiudinelli are scheduled for the doubles, against two more unknown Ecuadorans, so this is likely to be over on Saturday.

Thomaz Bellucci used to be a pretty good player, but he seems to be just about used up, and that leaves Brazil in a pretty bad spot. Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany opened the tie with Brazil by beating Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3 7-5 6-4, and Florian Mayer beat Bellucci 6-4 6-1 6-2. The Brazilians should win the doubles, but it’s hard to imagine them winning both reverse singles.

Australia was the last team to achieve a 2-0 lead, but it wasn’t because their matches against Poland were tough. Lleyton Hewitt started things by beating Lukasz Kubot 6-1 6-3 6-2. Then it was the turn of Michal Pzzysiezny, playing only due to the absence of Jerzy Janowicz. He wasn’t much of a substitute. Bernard Tomic beat him 7-5 7-6 6-4. The Poles have a good chance in the doubles, since their team is Fyrstenberg/Matkowski, but that isn’t likely to help much.

The tie between Israel and Belgium won’t be settled on Saturday, but that’s because they won’t be playing. Israel is up 2-1; Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram struggled but beat Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus 6-3 5-7 1-6 7-5 6-3. And Israel has its #1, Dudi Sela, is up first on Sunday. Of course, he struggled to start the tie….

THIS WEEK IN TENNIS

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Davis Cup

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Metz (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

St. Petersburg (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Martin Klizan

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