Verdasco Does Double Duty In Houston Texas

Written by: on 12th April 2014
BNP Paribas 2013 Masters Tennis Tournament
Verdasco Does Double Duty In Houston Texas

epa03929051 Fernando Verdasco of Spain returns the ball to Richard Gasquet of France during their second round match at the BNP Paribas 2013 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 29 October 2013. EPA/IAN LANGSDON  |

By Ricky Dimon

 

It will be an all-Spanish singles final at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship on Sunday afternoon. The two compatriots, though, are heading into it after much different days at the office.

 

Fernando Verdasco spent two hours and 53 minutes on the court on Saturday. By contrast, Nicolas Almagro spent zero seconds on the court. Whereas Almagro got a walkover past Sam Querrey (back), Verdasco beat Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 7-5 then lost the doubles final with fellow Spaniard David Marrero to Bob and Mike Bryan 4-6, 6-4, 11-9.

 

“Both finals; I can’t ask for anything more,” Verdasco said following his semifinal singles victory. “Now I’ll try to recover and give my best this afternoon.”

 

The Spaniards certainly gave everything they had against the Bryan brothers and it was almost enough. Marrero and Verdasco broke in the seventh game of the first set before two more holds gave then an early lead. They dropped the second set and fell behind 9-7 in the match tiebreaker but battled back to even the score at 9-9. However, the Bryan’s took the next two points to clinch the title and help erase the demons of last year’s final loss to Jamie Murray and John Peers after missing a championship point.

 

Now it is Verdasco’s turn to attempt to bounce back from a narrow defeat in a final. He is 6-3 lifetime against Almagro, including 6-2 on clay. Verdasco, though, is just 5-13 for his career in ATP finals. Almagro, meanwhile, is second among active members on the ATP Tour with 12 clay-court titles–trailing only Rafael Nadal.

“He’s really dangerous on clay,” Almagro said of Verdasco. “He’s serving well. It will be a nice final. We are going to do our best.”

Topics: , , , , , , ,








10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA thumbnail

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.
TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!
TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!
Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife thumbnail

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos
ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS thumbnail

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.