Monfils Wins Montpellier, Haas Loses to Cilic in Zagreb And More Men’s Updates

Written by: on 9th February 2014
Open Sud de France tennis tournament in Montpellier
Monfils Wins Montpellier, Haas Loses to Cilic in Zagreb And More Men's Updates

epa04064625 Gael Monfils of France returns the ball to Richard Gasquet of France in their final match of the Open Sud de France tennis tournament in Montpellier, France, 09 February 2014. Monfils won the final. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO  |

PRO TOUR NEWS – MEN

 

* Monfils wins first title since 2011

* Cilic defends at Zagreb

* Fognini cruises to Vina del Mar title

****** TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS ******

 

Montpellier

 

Singles – Final: (5) G Monfils def. (1) R Gasquet 6-4 6-4

Gael Monfils really does like playing in France. And indoor hardcourts. This was career final #21. He has won only five of them. Four of the titles (Metz 2009, Montpellier 2010, Stockholm 2011, and now Montpellier 2013) have been on indoor hardcourts, and three (all but Stockholm 2011) have been in France. This marks the first time he has ever won a title twice.

He did it pretty impressively. He had nine aces, and never faced a break point. It will give him a nice rankings boost; #30 coming in, we show him rising to #23. And nothing to defend until after Miami, and nothing important until late May. At this rate, he has a very good shot at the Top Twenty.

Richard Gasquet, last year’s champion, lasted long enough to keep the #9 ranking, but his lead over #10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is now rather thin. He might well lose the spot at Rotterdam.

Doubles – Final: Davydenko/Istomin def. Gicquel/Mahut 6-4 2-6 10-7

The world truly is changing. Nikolay Davydenko — a doubles specialist? Doubles has truly never been his thing. It’s only his second career doubles title, the last coming almost ten years ago (Moscow 2004, with Andreev). Still, he hadn’t won a title of any kind since Munich 2011 (after winning at least one singles title every year for nine years in a row), so it must feel very good indeed!

It is also doubles title #2 for Denis Istomin, but he hasn’t been waiting nearly as long — his other one was at Moscow 2013, with Elgin. His chances for more frankly look a lot better than Davydenko’s….

Zagreb

 

Singles – Final: (5) M Cilic def. (1) T Haas 6-3 6-4

How much does Marin Cilic love Zagreb? Consider this: This is career title #10 for him. And four of them have been here: 2009, 2010, 2013, and now 2014. He also won Umag 2012, so half his total titles have been in Croatia.

It was perhaps a little closer than the score, but there really wasn’t much doubt about the outcome; Cilic led Tommy Haas in almost every category. Haas broke in the first game of the match, but never again; Cilic broke three times.

The bad news for Cilic, of course, is that he was the defending champion, so this doesn’t really do him any good. #37 he came in, and #37 he remains. Which probably means no seeding in Indian Wells and Miami. He will probably be the most dangerous floater in the draw.

Cilic has now won at least one title per year for seven straight years. The one problem is, they’re all small titles. Unless he can change that, he may have a tricky time going much higher in the time between now and Wimbledon.

Tommy Haas had scored career win #550 to get here, and in one sense, the final didn’t matter — he was going to be #12 either way. But he has 26 events — an incredible load for a top player even if you ignore the fact that he is almost 36 years old. A divisor would put him a lot lower. If he’s going to play all these little events, it’s very disappointing that he isn’t winning more of them….

Doubles – Final: (2) Rojer/Tecau def. Marx/Mertinak 3-6 6-4 10-2

The streak continues. Horia Tecau has real trouble winning big titles (no Slams, and his only Masters was Cincinnati 2012), but he does a great job of winning small ones. This is career win #17, and he has at least one title every year for five years straight. Indeed, he has at least three titles in every year leading up to this one, and this keeps him on track to match that record. Interestingly, Jean-Julien Roger is only the fifth player with whom he has won a title, following Daniell, Lindstedt, Norman, and Mirnyi.

Roger’s totals aren’t as good — this is only his tenth title — but he too has won at least one title for five years straight. (Sounds like he and Tecau are made for each other….) Tecau is the third partner with whom he has won a title, following Butorac and Qureshi.

Vina del Mar

 

Singles – Final: (1) F Fognini def. L Mayer 6-2 6-4

This frankly looked like a veteran playing a first-time finalist. Fabio Fognini won the first four games before Leonardo Mayer finally managed a hold. Mayer played better after that, but then was broken again in the third game of the second set. And he never even managed a break point against Fognini. It took the Italian only an hour and 23 minutes to win the title.

It’s the third title in the past seven months for Fognini, all on clay; he won Stuttgart, Hamburg, and now Vina del Mar. The bad news is, it’s only a 250, and he’s running out of room for those. He rises only from #15 to #14. At least he’s a pretty strong #14.

Leonardo Mayer failed to win his first title, but he did make his first final, and will rise to around #70. He’s 5-2 this year, and his other ATP loss was to Novak Djokovic. This is starting to look like a breakthrough year for him.

Doubles – Final (late Saturday): (3) Marach/Mergea def. (2) Cabal/Farah 6-3 6-4

Oliver Marach is 33. Florin Mergea is 29. And yet, they had their first success together last year playing in Challengers. At the ATP level, they were only 2-2 entering this event. It makes you wonder how they have managed to survive this long… and how they got to be the #3 seeds in an ATP event.

Of course, they’ll be moving higher. Mergea picks up only his second career title (and expects to hit a career high inside the Top Fifty); Marach earns title #13 — but his first in more than two years.

 

 

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

 

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Rotterdam (500/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Juan Martin del Potro

Memphis (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion (as an ATP 500): Kei Nishikori

Buenos Aires (250/Clay). Defending Champion: David Ferrer

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Rio de Janeiro (500/Clay). Defending Champion: New Event

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

Delray Beach (250/Hard). Defending Champion: Ernests Gulbis

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

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of February 9, 2013

 

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Nadal………….14330

2..(2) Djokovic……….10580

3..(3) Wawrinka………..5710

4..(4) Del Potro……….5370

5..(5) Ferrer………….5280

6..(6) Murray………….4795

7..(7) Berdych…………4540

8..(8) Federer…………4355

9..(9) Gasquet…………2950

10.(10) Tsonga………….2885

11.(11) Raonic………….2690

12.(12) Haas……………2495

13.(13) Isner…………..2320

14.(15) Fognini…………2260

15.(14) Youzhny…………2100

16.(18) Almagro…………2020

17.(17) Nishikori……….1965

18.(16) Robredo…………1960

19.(19) Dimitrov………..1810

20.(20) Simon…………..1700

21.(21) Janowicz………..1660

22.(22) Anderson………..1580

23.(30) Monfils…………1475

24.(23) Gulbis………….1443

25.(25) Pospisil………..1359

26.(26) Lopez…………..1355

27.(27) Kohlschreiber……1330

28.(28) Tursunov………..1314

29.(24) Paire…………..1275

30.(29) Mayer…………..1245

**DRAWS

 

Montpellier — week of February 3, 2014

WINNER: Gael Monfils

………………..QF……………..SF……….F

1 Gasquet………..(1)Gasquet………Gasquet…..Gasquet

8 Benneteau………Olivetti(Q)

3 Janowicz……….(3)Janowicz……..Janowicz

7 Roger-Vasselin….(7)Roger-Vasselin

 

5 Monfils………..(5)Monfils………Monfils…..Monfils

4 Tursunov……….Istomin

6 Nieminen……….(6)Nieminen……..Nieminen

2 Simon………….Gicquel(Q)

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Gasquet………..lost F (Monfils)

2 Simon………….lost 2R (Gicquel)

3 Janowicz……….lost SF (Gasquet)

4 Tursunov……….lost 2R (Istomin)

5 Monfils………..WON TOURNAMENT

6 Nieminen……….lost SF (Monfils)

7 Roger-Vasselin….lost QF (Janowicz)

8 Benneteau………lost 1R (Davydenko)

Vina del Mar — week of February 3, 2014

WINNER: Fabio Fognini

………………..QF…………….SF………F

1 Fognini………..(1)Fognini……..Fognini….Fognini

5 Chardy…………(5)Chardy

3 Almagro………..(3)Almagro……..Almagro

8 Delbonis……….Daniel(Q)

 

7 Garcia-Lopez……(7)Garcia-Lopez

4 Granollers……..Giraldo………..Giraldo

6 Dolgopolov (WC)…Gimeno-Traver

2 Robredo………..L.Mayer………..Mayer……Mayer

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Fognini……….WON TOURNAMENT

2 Robredo……….lost 2R (L. Mayer)

3 Almagro……….lost SF (Fognini)

4 Granollers…….lost 2R (Giraldo)

5 Chardy………..lost SF (Fognini)

6 Dolgopolov (WC)..lost 1R (Gimeno-Traver)

7 Garcia-Lopez…..lost QF (Giraldo)

8 Delbonis………lost 2R (Daniel)

Zagreb — week of February 3, 2014

WINNER: Marin Cilic

………………QF……………..SF………F

1 Haas…………(1)Haas…………(1)Haas….Haas

8 Sijsling……..(Q)And.Kuznetsov

3 Kohlschreiber…(3)Kohlschreiber

[(LL)Evans]…….Evans(LL)……….Evans

 

5 Cilic………..(5)Cilic………..Cilic……Cilic

4 Dodig………..(4)Dodig

6 Rosol………..Sela

2 Youzhny………Phau(Q)…………Phau

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Haas…………lost F (Cilic)

2 Youzhny………lost 2R (Phau)

3 Kohlschreiber…lost QF (Evans)

4 Dodig………..lost QF (Cilic)

5 Cilic………..WON TOURNAMENT

6 Rosol………..lost 1R (Sela)

7 Stepanek……..WITHDREW

8 Sijsling……..lost 2R (Kuznetsov)

Rotterdam — week of February 10, 2014

1 del Potro

Monfils

Mathieu (Q)

Dodig

Gulbis

Istomin

Tursunov

8 Dimitrov

 

3 Berdych

Seppi

Mahut

Simon

Janowicz

Benneteau

Verdasco

6 Haas

 

7 Youzhny

Sijsling (WC)

Huta Galung (WC)

Berrer (Q)

Kohlschreiber

Stakhovsky (Q)

de Bakker (WC)

4 Gasquet

 

5 Tsonga

F Mayer

Cilic

Rosol

Thiem (Q)

Nieminen

Roger-Vasselin

2 Murray (WC)

Memphis — week of February 10, 2014

1 Nishikori (WC)

–bye

Lacko

Becker

Phau (SE)

Harrison

Bogomolov

6 Querrey

 

3 Hewitt

–bye

Baghdatis (WC)

Qualifier

Kyrgios (WC)

Smyczek

Russell

7 Przysiezny

 

8 Kukushkin

Gabashvili

Qualifier

Qualifier

Qualifier

Young

–bye

4 Lu

 

5 Matosevic

Vesely

Sock

Mannarino

Ebden

Karlovic

–bye

2 F Lopez

Buenos Aires — week of February 10, 2014

1 Ferrer (WC)

Qualifier

Montanes

Giraldo

Qualifier

Volandri

Ramos

7 Monaco

 

4 Almagro

Zeballos

Qualifier

Gimeno-Traver

Dolgopolov

Cuevas (PR)

A Gonzalez

8 Chardy

 

6 Haase

Qualifier

Sousa

Berlocq

Garcia-Lopez

Pella (WC)

Carreno Busta

3 Robredo

 

5 Granollers

Bedene

Delbonis

Andujar

Aguello (WC)

L Mayer

Reister

2 Fognini

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

 

SUNDAY

Montpellier

Singles – Final

(5) G Monfils def. (1) R Gasquet 6-4 6-4

Doubles – Final

Davydenko/Istomin def. Gicquel/Mahut 6-4 2-6 10-7

 

Zagreb

Singles – Final

(5) M Cilic def. (1) T Haas 6-3 6-4

Doubles – Final

(2) Rojer/Tecau def. Marx/Mertinak 3-6 6-4 10-2

Vina del Mar

LATE SATURDAY

Singles – Semifinal

(1) F Fognini def. (3) N Almagro 6-4 1-6 7-6(7-5)

L Mayer def. S Giraldo 7-6(7-2) 6-3

Doubles – Final

(3) Marach/Mergea def. (2) Cabal/Farah 6-3 6-4

SUNDAY

Singles – Final

(1) F Fognini def. L Mayer 6-2 6-4

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