Latest Men’s News

****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******

* Gulbis comes back from brink to win St. Petersburg

* Simon breaks title drought

* Marrero/Verdasco win first title of 2012

 

****** TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS ******

 

St. Petersburg

 

Singles – Final: (6) E Gulbis def. G Garcia-Lopez 3-6 6-4 6-0

Ernests Gulbis was down a set and 3-0 in the second. And then — he managed to get things working. Obviously he lost only one more game.

It’s very tough for Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who sees his three year title-less streak extended. But at least he put himself back in the Top Sixty.

Ernests Gulbis picks up career title #4, and second of the year — the first time in his career that he has won two titles, and also his first title on any surface other than outdoor hardcourt. In the process, he rises from #36 to probably #28. That means he has risen more than a hundred places since Rotterdam — he came there at #132. And he still has lots of room to add points, so it seems likely he will be rising higher still. He said as much: “I made my short term goals. I’m going to be seeded in Melbourne with these points, so that’s done. Now everything that comes, comes. I have nothing to defend so it’s all good.

“The main key why I’m not yet a top player is the consistency. Everybody knows I can play well for a tournament or a match and then I go downhill. I just need to bring this consistency to bigger tournaments, especially Grand Slams. Then I believe I am a Top 20 player for sure, and not so far from Top 10.”

Doubles – Final: (1) Marrero/Verdasco def. Inglot/Istomin 7-6(8-6) 6-3

Fascinating to see Marrero/Verdasco win their first title of the year indoors. They had four titles last year — Buenos Aires, Acapulco, Umag, and Hamburg — but all four were on clay. And the last of them was more than a year ago (Marrero did manage to win Acapulco and Umag again this year, this time with Kubot and Klizan, respectively). We’d regard this as more evidence that Fernando Verdasco is truly back in form — bad news for the rest of the Tour, probably.

Metz

 

Singles – Final: (2) (WC) G Simon def. (1) J Tsonga 6-4 6-3

When Jo-Wilfried Tsonga struggles on serve, you know he’s in trouble. When he struggles on serve on an indoor court in France, he’s in big trouble. He was broken four times (twice in each set; he managed to get one of the first set breaks back). It really seemed as if he was tired.

The loss ends his two year streak of titles here, and it costs him some points. He remains #8 — at least for now; he isn’t much ahead of #9 Gasquet and #10 Wawrinka. But he has a fair amount to defend in the rest of the year — a Beijing final, a Shanghai quarterfinal, a Stockholm final, a Paris quarterfinal. His spot at the year-end Championships is in grave danger; his year-end Top Ten spot is at some risk.

Gilles Simon rises from #16 to #14, moving ahead of not only John Isner but also Jerzy Janowicz. And he earns his eleventh career title, and first of the year. He could well fall next week. But after a tough summer — he lost four straight matches starting with the Eastbourne final, and missed the U. S. Open — he appears to be back on track.

In an interesting footnote, Simon is now tied with Guy Forget for second place among Frenchmen in titles in the Open Era. Only Yannick Noah, with 23, has more. Simon isn’t going to match that, but he has a good chance at becoming sole #2….

Doubles – Final: Brunstrom/Klaasen def. Mahut/Tsonga 6-4 7-6(7-5)

It just wasn’t Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s day. He and Nicolas Mahut led for most of the second set tiebreak, but couldn’t serve it out, and then suffered the last minibreak…. It has been a long, long time since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won a doubles title; his last was Shanghai 2009 with Benneteau. Mahut is doing much better; he won Newport with Roger-Vasselin, as well as making the Roland Garros final with Llodra. But he was last year’s champion (with Roger-Vasselin), so he will slip several places.

Brunstrom/Klaasen is a team that seems to be better than the sum of its parts. They have two titles this year, having also won Nice. It will be worth watching to see how they do next year.

 

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

 

Men’s Look Forward: Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok

 

It is, when you think about it, a very strange week. It’s the start of the Asian season — yet the events are indoors, while the big Asian events are all on outdoor hard. So this week’s events aren’t very good preparation for what is to come.

You’d normally expect that to result in weak fields. Not in Bangkok; there are two Top Ten players, and five of the Top Twenty. Although there isn’t much below that; it really looks like an appearance fee field. Tomas Berdych is #1, Richard Gasquet #2, Milos Raonic #3. Gilles Simon is supposed to fly in from Metz to be #4; Mikhail Youzhny comes from St. Petersburg to take the #5 seed. Then comes the fall-off. Feliciano Lopez is #6, Jarkko Nieminen #7, Lukas Rosol #8. There is only one other Top Fifty player — Denis Istomin, who could face Youzhny in round two — but there are still a few other interesting players. Simon’s first match will be against either Ivo Karlovic or Bernard Tomic, and Nieminen will have to start against Igor Sijsling.

Kuala Lumpur has that same feeling of “let’s buy a few seeds and let the rest fall where they may.” There are two Top Ten players: #1 seed David Ferrer, the highest-ranked player in action this week, and #2 Stanislas Wawrinka. #3 Nicolas Almagro makes it three Top Twenty players. And then — no one else in the Top 25. Jurgen Melzer is #4 and has the last bye, last year’s finalist Julien Benneteau is #5, Dmitry Tursunov will hurry in from St. Petersburg to be #6, Vasek Pospisil is #7, and Nikolay Davydenko takes the #8 spot. The most noteworthy unseeded player is probably Marcos Baghdatis, who will play Carlos Berlocq for the right to face Wawrinka in round two.

The Rankings

It is interesting to see that French players had a big role at Bangkok last year when they could have played Metz the week before. Richard Gasquet won the Thai title, over Gilles Simon, with Janko Tipsarevic and Jarkko Nieminen semifinalists. The title at Kuala Lumpur went to Juan Monaco (who at that time was contending for the Top Ten; it has been a tough year since!). The finalist was Julien Benneteau (another Frenchman!); David Ferrer and Kei Nishikori reached the semifinal.

It’s not going to make much difference in the Top Ten. David Ferrer can’t gain enough this week to overtake Andy Murray for #3 — although, with Murray likely done for the season, Ferrer could yet take the spot this year. Tomas Berdych has a chance to regain the #5 spot from Roger Federer, but it will require at least a final. The one genuinely likely move is that Stanislas Wawrinka will pass Richard Gasquet to earn the #9 spot.

Gilles Simon may well lose the Top Fifteen spot he just earned; Julien Benneteau could end up around #40. Juan Monaco, who isn’t playing this week, could find himself below the Top Forty.

KEYWORDS: Preview Kuala Lumpur Bangkok

 

******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********

 

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Kuala Lumpur (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Juan Monaco

Bangkok (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Richard Gasquet

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Beijing (500/Hard). Defending Champion: Novak Djokovic

Tokyo (500/Hard). Defending Champion: Kei Nishikori

 

******** STATS AND FACTS ********

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of September 22, 2013

 

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….11120

2..(2) Nadal………….10860

3..(3) Murray………….7075

4..(4) Ferrer………….6710

5..(5) Federer…………4515

6..(6) Berdych…………4460

7..(7) Del Potro……….4425

8..(8) Tsonga………….3325

9..(9) Gasquet…………3165

10.(10) Wawrinka………..3150

11.(11) Raonic………….2610

12.(12) Nishikori……….2325

13.(13) Haas……………2265

14.(16) Simon…………..2155

15.(14) Janowicz………..2110

16.(15) Isner…………..2025

17.(18) Almagro…………1940

18.(19) Robredo…………1855

19.(17) Fognini…………1840

20.(20) Youzhny…………1780

21.(21) Anderson………..1775

22.(22) Seppi…………..1555

23.(23) Tipsarevic………1525

24.(24) Cilic…………..1445

25.(25) Kohlschreiber……1445

26.(26) Lopez…………..1435

27.(27) Melzer………….1425

28.(36) Gulbis………….1386

29.(28) Paire…………..1380

30.(29) Dimitrov………..1375

 

**DRAWS

 

Metz — Week of September 15

WINNER: Gilles Simon

……………….QF…………SF………F

1 Tsonga………..(1)Tsonga…..Tsonga…..Tsonga

7 Chardy………..Kamke

4 Kohlschreiber….Berlocq

8 F Mayer……….(8)Mayer……Mayer

 

5 Paire…………Becker

3 Seppi…………Mahut………Mahut

6 Querrey……….(6)Querrey

2 Simon (WC)…….(2)Simon(WC)..Simon…..Simon

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Tsonga………lost F (Simon)

2 Simon (WC)…..WON TOURNAMENT

3 Seppi……….lost 2R (Mahut)

4 Kohlschreiber..lost 2R (Berlocq)

5 Paire……….lost 1R (Becker)

6 Querrey……..lost QF (Simon)

7 Chardy………lost 1R (Fucsovics)

8 F Mayer……..lost SF (Tsonga)

St. Petersburg — Week of September 15

WINNER: Ernests Gulbis

……………QF………….SF…………F

1 Fognini……Przysiezny…..Przysiezny

7 Rosol……..(7)Rosol

3 Tipsarevic…Bautista Agut

6 Gulbis…….(6)Gulbis……Gulbis……..Gulbis

 

5 Verdasco….Sousa………..Sousa

4 Tursunov….(4)Tursunov

8 Istomin…..(8)Istomin

2 Youzhny…..Garcia-Lopez….Garcia-Lopez..Garcia-Lopez

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Fognini…..lost 2R (Przysiezny)

2 Youzhny…..lost 2R (Garcia-Lopez)

3 Tipsarevic..lost 1R (Bautista Agut)

4 Tursunov….lost QF (Sousa)

5 Verdasco….lost 1R (Stakhovsky)

6 Gulbis……WON TOURNAMENT

7 Rosol…….lost QF (Przysiezny)

8 Istomin…..lost QF (Garcia-Lopez)

Bangkok — Week of September 22

 

1 Berdych

–bye

Qualifier

Bautista Agut

Lu

Donskoy

Kubot

8 Rosol

 

4 Simon

–bye

Karlovic

Tomic

Haase

Gimeno-Traver

Sijsling

7 Nieminen

 

6 Lopez

Djere (WC)

Qualifier

Qualifier

Trongcharoenchaikul (WC)

Matosevic

–bye

3 Raonic

 

5 Youzhny

Lorenzi

Jeong (WC)

Istomin

Lacko

Qualifier

–bye

2 Gasquet

Kuala Lumpur — Week of September 22

 

1 Ferrer

–bye

Qualifier

Qualifier

Harrison (WC)

Sousa (SE)

Cuevas (PR)

8 Davydenko

 

4 Melzer

–bye

Qualifier

Zeballos

Chung (WC)

Delbonis

Hanescu

7 Pospisil

 

5 Benneteau

Przysiezny (SE)

Zemlja

Andujar

Brands

Mannarino

–bye

3 Almagro

 

6 Tursunov

Qualifier

Bogomolov

Carreno Busta (WC)

Baghdatis

Berlocq

–bye

2 Wawrinka

 

******** SCORES ********

 

SUNDAY

St. Petersburg

Singles – Final

(6) E Gulbis def. G Garcia-Lopez 3-6 6-4 6-0

Doubles – Final

(1) Marrero/Verdasco def. Inglot/Istomin 7-6(8-6) 6-3

Metz

Singles – Final

(2) (WC) G Simon def. (1) J Tsonga 6-4 6-3

Doubles – Final

Brunstrom/Klaasen def. Mahut/Tsonga 6-4 7-6(7-5)

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