PRO TOUR NEWS – MEN
****** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******
* Another wrist problem forces del Potro out of Dubai
* Djokovic starts title defense with easy win over Istomin
* Berdych, Tsonga, Youzhny also through in straight sets
* Stakhovsky leaves Dodig still below #30
* In Acapulco, Karlovic tops Isner 15 aces to 8, two sets to none; Isner to stay #13 or lower
* Murray perhaps one win away from return to Top Five after win over Andujar
* Roger-Vasselin out of Top Forty after loss to Lopez
* Pospisil returns to action but loses to Dolgopolov; will remain below #25
* Gulbis beats Lu to extend winning streak, but needs more to stay Top Twenty
* #1 Ferrer, #4 Dimitrov, #5 Anderson, #6 Simon also reach second round
* Mass upsets continue in Sao Paulo; bottom four seeds out after Dutra Silva beats Garcia-Lopez (who won’t reach Top Fifty), Bellucci tops Giraldo (who loses 90 points and will fall below #60)
Acapulco
Top seed David Ferrer, champion at three of the last four editions, showed as much prowess on the new hardcourts of the former clay event as he did in previous years on the dirt, with the Spaniard beating Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round. It took a fightback from second seed and debutant Andy Murray to beat Spain’s Pablo Andujar 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, keeping organizers happy with his victory as a major drawcard.
Croatian Ivo Karlovic dealt out third seed John Isner as the American crashed to 7-6(4), 7-6(5) defeat. Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov resumed normal service, putting out Australian Marinko Matosevic 7-5 6-1. Weekend Delray finalist Kevin Anderson, seeded fifth, advanced over Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-2, 7-6(7) while sixth-seeded compatriot Gilles Simon stopped Tim Smyczek 6-1, 6-2. Marseille winner Ernests Gulbis continued to impress over Lu Yen-Hsun 6-1, 6-1.
Former grand slam finalist Marcos Baghdatis beat Miguel Angel Reyes of 6-2 6-4, American Donald Young put out Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 6-3 and Rio finalist Alexandr Dolgopolov started with a defeat of eighth seed Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-2.
Dubai
Novak Djokovic earned a quick opening win despite playing for the first time in a month, while Juan Martin del Potro had to quit the tournament with a left wrist injury. Top seed Djokovic a four-time champion, played and won for the first time since going down to Stanislas Wawrinka in an Australian Open semi-final, defeating Denis Istromin 6-3, 6-3.
“It wasn’t easy as the scoreline indicates, I needed to work for my games. My serve worked really well in the second set, and that helped me to get some free points. But having not played for more than four, five weeks, an official match, obviously it takes its toll on the court. I do feel it a little bit,” said the winner.
Second seed Del Potro lasted only through a losing tiebreaker against India’s Somdeve Devvarman before retiring trailing 7-6 (3).Djokovic beat Istomin for the second time in as many months after an Australian Open victory. The Serb world number two has played a mere six matches this season.
Third seed and Rotterdam champion Tomas Berdych opened his account at the Aviation Club against Marius Copil of Romania 6-3, 6-4 while fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame jet-lag after flying to the Gulf from the weekend Marseille final. The Frenchman started with a defeat of Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-4.
Sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny beat Poland’s Michel Przysiezny 6-3, 6-4. Czech Lukas Rosol beat German Daniel Brands 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; Radek Stepanek won a battle of 35-year-olds over Michael Russell 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 to next face Roger Federer. Brit wild card and Davis Cup hero James Ward won a marathon over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), coming form 1-5 down in the final set.
Sao Paolo
Brazilians produced a home double on the clay, with Rogerio Dutra Silva putting out sixth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 and 108th wild card Thomaz Bellucci defeating eighth seed Santiago Giraldo 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 with six aces. “I couldn’t hold on to a 3-0 lead in the first set but I started playing better after that,” said the winner. “It makes a big difference to be playing at home with the support of the fans. They got behind me and I got to play more aggressively toward the end. It made a huge difference.”
A pair of Spaniards advanced, with Albert Ramos beating Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and Albert Montanes overcoming Slovenian Aljaz Bedene 6-2, 6-2. It went by twos for the Italians on the day: Potito Starace beat Colombia’s Alejandro Gonzalez 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 while Paolo Lorenzi advanced to the second round against Pere Riba 7-5, 6-3. There were wins for Slovak Martin Klizan, Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer and Argentine Federico Delbonis.
THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Dubai (500/Hard). Defending Champion: Novak Djokovic
Acapulco (500/Hard). Defending Champion: Rafael Nadal
Sao Paulo (250/Clay). Defending Champion: (new event)
NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Indian Wells (1000/Hard). Defending Champion: Rafael Nadal
RANKINGS
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of February 25, 2013
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Nadal………….14085
2..(2) Djokovic……….10125
3..(3) Wawrinka………..5560
4..(4) Ferrer………….5160
5..(5) Del Potro……….4870
6..(7) Murray………….4840
7..(6) Berdych…………4635
8..(8) Federer…………4170
9..(9) Gasquet…………2950
10.(10) Tsonga………….2785
11.(11) Raonic………….2485
12.(12) Haas……………2435
13.(13) Isner…………..2320
14.(14) Fognini…………2230
15.(15) Youzhny…………2100
16.(16) Robredo…………2005
17.(17) Almagro…………1840
18.(19) Janowicz………..1750
19.(20) Nishikori……….1715
20.(21) Anderson………..1685
21.(22) Dimitrov………..1675
22.(18) Gulbis………….1571
23.(23) Simon…………..1520
24.(24) Monfils…………1475
25.(25) Cilic…………..1455
26.(26) Kohlschreiber……1375
27.(27) Pospisil………..1359
28.(28) Paire…………..1275
29.(30) Mayer…………..1245
30.(29) Tursunov………..1212
**DRAWS
Dubai — week of February 24, 2014
1 Djokovic
Istomin
Bautista Agut
Qualifier
Gabashvili
Ward (WC)
Przysiezny
6 Youzhny
4 Federer
Becker
Stepanek
Russell
Rosol
Brands
Qualifier
8 Tursunov
5 Tsonga
Hanescu
Davydenko
Golubev
Dodig
Stakhovsky
Qualifier
3 Berdych
7 Kohlschreiber
Qualifier
Seppi
F Mayer
Jaziri (WC)
Sijsling
Devvarman
2 del Potro
Acapulco — week of February 24, 2014
1 Ferrer
Kukushkin
F Lopez
Roger-Vasselin
Querrey
Hank (WC)
Qualifier
5 Anderson
3 Isner
Karlovic
Sela
Qualifier
Chardy
Ebden
Dolgopolov
8 Pospisil
7 Gulbis
Lu
Kubot
Qualifier
Reyes-Varela (WC)
Baghdatis (WC)
Matosevic
4 Dimitrov
6 Simon
Qualifier
Melzer
Nieminen
Sousa
Mannarino
Andujar
2 Murray
Sao Paulo — week of February 24, 2014
1 Haas
–bye
A Gonzalez
Qualifier
Cuevas (PR)
Zeballos
Pella
7 L Mayer
4 Monaco
–bye
Qualifier
Ramos
Lorenzi
Qualifier
Qualifier
6 Garcia-Lopez
8 Giraldo
Bellucci (WC)
Reister
Haider-Maurer
Klizan
Clezar (WC)
–bye
3 Granollers
5 Haase
Souza (WC)
Bedene
Montanes
Volandri
Delbonis
–bye
2 Almagro
******** SCORES ********
TUESDAY
Acapulco
Singles – First Round
[1] D Ferrer (ESP) d M Kukushkin (KAZ) 62 63
[2] A Murray (GBR) d P Andujar (ESP) 36 61 62
I Karlovic (CRO) d [3] J Isner (USA) 76(4) 76(5)
[4] G Dimitrov (BUL) d M Matosevic (AUS) 75 61
[5] K Anderson (RSA) d [Q] S Robert (FRA) 62 76(7)
[6] G Simon (FRA) d [Q] T Smyczek (USA) 61 62
[7] E Gulbis (LAT) d Y Lu (TPE) 61 61
A Dolgopolov (UKR) d [8] V Pospisil (CAN) 62 62
F Lopez (ESP) d E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 64 62
[Q] D Goffin (BEL) d L Kubot (POL) 64 26 64
[WC] M Baghdatis (CYP) d [WC] M Reyes-Varela (MEX) 62 64
*[LL] D Young (USA) d J Nieminen (FIN) 63 63
J Sousa (POR) d A Mannarino (FRA) 16 62 62
*[LL] D Young (USA) replaced J Melzer (AUT) – shoulder
Dubai
Singles – First Round
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) d D Istomin (UZB) 63 63
[WC] S Devvarman (IND) d [2] J Del Potro (ARG) 76(3) ret. (wrist)
[3] T Berdych (CZE) d [Q] M Copil (ROU) 63 64
[5] J Tsonga (FRA) d V Hanescu (ROU) 62 64
[6] M Youzhny (RUS) d M Przysiezny (POL) 63 64
[WC] J Ward (GBR) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 26 64 76(6)
R Stepanek (CZE) d M Russell (USA) 57 63 61
L Rosol (CZE) d D Brands (GER) 76(4) 64
N Davydenko (RUS) d A Golubev (KAZ) 76(6) 64
S Stakhovsky (UKR) d I Dodig (CRO) 76(6) 67(4) 62
[WC] M Jaziri (TUN) d I Sijsling (NED) 06 64 76(4)
Doubles – First Round
[1] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d [WC] O Awadhy (UAE) / H Janahi (UAE) 64 60
L Rosol (CZE) / A Seppi (ITA) d [3] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 76(4) 76(5)
R Bautista Agut (ESP) / I Sijsling (NED) d J Marray (GBR) / D Tursunov (RUS) 63 46 10-2
D Brands (GER) / F Mayer (GER) d J Knowle (AUT) / J Peers (AUS) 63 46 10-8
Sao Paolo
Singles – First Round
[Q] R Dutra Silva (BRA) d [6] G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 16 75 63
[WC] T Bellucci (BRA) d [8] S Giraldo (COL) 46 75 63
[Q] P Starace (ITA) d A Gonzalez (COL) 46 62 63
A Ramos (ESP) d [Q] G Elias (POR) 63 36 62
P Lorenzi (ITA) d [Q] P Riba (ESP) 75 63
A Haider-Maurer (AUT) d J Reister (GER) 62 46 61
M Klizan (SVK) d [WC] G Clezar (BRA) 64 63
A Montanes (ESP) d A Bedene (SLO) 62 62
F Delbonis (ARG) d F Volandri (ITA) 61 62
Doubles – First Round
M Granollers (ESP) / P Riba (ESP) d [WC] A Sa (BRA) / J Souza (BRA) 46 63 10-7
Topics: 10sballs, Acapulco, Alejandro Gonzalez, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Andy Murray, Atp, Donald Young, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Ivo Karlovic, Jarkko Nieminen, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, John Isner, Juan Martin Del Potro, Kevin Anderson, Marco Baghdatis, Miguel Angel Reyes, Novak Djokovic, Rio, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Vasek Pospisil
Del Potro Out Of Dubai & Donald Young Wins In Acapulco as Lucky Loser & All Men’s Results- http://t.co/lhyODtbIFw #Dubai #ATP #results