TENNIS NEWS FROM FEDERER IN DUBAI TO RAFA IN BUENOS AIRES Y ACAPULCO SCORES & RESULTS & MORE

10sballs.com editorial.

 

Men’s Tennis Is So Exciting Right Now.. There’s Roger juggling four kids under four. There’s Grigor who’s so awesome to watch playing tennis , holding hands with Maria Sharapova , or cliff diving in Acapulco.. there’s Rafa who is always charming and played past his bedtime with his shorts on backwards. Tennis is a bit of a traveling road show. Loaded with conflicts and conflicts of interest. Tommy Hilfiger signing Rafa but getting signed onto the ATP board ? Andy stay on course. Great your new people realize you were overworked and left some of your best tennis on the practice court or gym. (LJ)

 

 

Tennis Tidbits

 

* Federer cruises in first Dubai match; now 16-0 against Youzhny

* Gulbis’s losing streak reaches five; Top Fifteen ranking in some danger

* Gasquet leaves Seppi still below Top Thirty

* Bellucci will probably fall below #75 after loss to Lorenzi in Buenos Aires

* Mayer loses only one game against Robert, but Top Thirty spot still not quite safe

* Dolgopolov survives scare against Groth in Acapulco, but still in danger of losing Top Forty spot

* Matosevic upsets Granollers, who will probably remain below Top Fifty

 

 

Dubai Summary

 

Roger Federer began the campaign for a seventh title in the emirate as he beat Mikhail Youzhny for the 16th time without a loss, 6-3, 6-1. The second seed spent 56 minutes on court, making sure he did not get too careful in his tennis – a mistake he made in his shock third-round Australian Open loss to Andreas Seppi a month ago.

 

“The last thing I want to do is lose back-to-back matches playing careful. You cannot leave it up to the other guys sometimes if you are going to win or lose,” said the second seed. Over the years I have won my biggest matches by playing on my terms, and you can’t always do it. It was close in that first set. We were both trying to find our range. I’m happy I didn’t start to play too careful after it, because it is tough to play here in Dubai with the quick conditions.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Youzhny lost the 2007 final to Federer and the 2010 title match to Novak Djokovic. He has won only four sets against Federer in their long rivalry. The loss was Youzhny’s fifth to Federer in Dubai.

 

Enigmatic Latvian Ernests Gulbis continued to confound as one of the biggest puzzles in tennis lost his fifth straight match of the season, going down to Uzbek Denis Istomin 7-5, 6-2.

 

Gulbis has ridden the ranking roller coaster through out his career, reaching the 2014 French Open, where he lost to Djokovic. But he then had a modest remainder of 2014, with only two semi-finals and a quarter to his credit.

 

So far in 2015, the No. 13 has yet to win a match after finishing in the top 20 for the first time in his career last November, winning a career-high 41 matches and lifting two titles. “I don’t know what’s going on, I’m not in good form right now. I’m not feeling my shots at all. I have no timing. In practice I have been playing worse than in the match,” said Gulbis.

 

Kazakh Andrey Golubev beat Fabrice Martin of France 7-5, 6-4 and awaits the winner from top seed Djokovic and Canadian Vasek Pospisil.

 

Portugal’s Joao Sousa Portugal defeated only the third Irishman to ever play an ATP match since records began in 1990, defeating James McGee 6-1, 6-2. Richard Gasquet missed on two second-set match points, but won his first-rounder in the third after coming from 4-2 down in the final set as he beat Seppi 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4.

 

Acapulco

 

Alexandr Dolgopolov led two fellow seeds into the second round with the No. 5 starting his North American week with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 win over Australian Sam Groth. Dolgopolov is defending semi-final points from 2014 and needed to break the huge serve of his opponent five times to insure safe passage. Dolgopolov claimed his fourth victory of the season as he reached the second round.

 

German No. 8 Benjamin Becker beat compatriot Tobias Kamke 7-6(4), 6-2, taking 96 minutes to advance. There was also good news for 15th seed Kevin Anderson, who put aside his second-round loss last week in Florida to make a fresh start south of the border.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tall South African hammered German Dustin Brown 6-1, 6-2 in well under an hour. never facing a break point in the rout. “It was a very good match for me today, I felt I played very well,” said Anderson. “It was very close last year losing in the finals here, and I hope to go one step further this year. It’s really about taking one match at a time.”

 

Marinko Matosevic got a win for Australia over Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2 on opening day.

 

Buenos Aires

 

Rafael Nadal will steal the spotlight this week as the Spaniard tries to recover after his semi-final loss at the weekend in Rio. But before the king of clay makes a start, there were other matches to deal with.

 

It was all about the home players on day 1, with Leonardo Mayer hammering out a win with the loss of just one game over Frenchman Stephane Robert. The easy victory required just 46 minutes, with the fifth-seeded Mayer converting on five of 12 break points. He moved into the second round to meet compatriot Juan Monaco.

 

The former champion booked his place by beating fellow Argentine Maximo Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2. Monaco has a proud home history at the event, winning the title in 2007 and finishing runner-up two years later. Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi beat Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1.

 

TODAY’S FEATURE

 

This Week’s Movers — Men

 

Each week, Daily Tennis will look at the biggest movers of the week, looking at how they did what they did.

 

Biggest Upward Mover — Most Places Moved (Top 100)

 

Leader: Farrukh Dustov — Moved 20 places, from #118 to #98.

Dustov won the Wroclaw Challenger.

 

Runner-Up: Damir Dzumhur — Moved 18 places, from #105 to #87

Dzumhur made the final of the Morelos Challenger, losing to red-hot Victor Estrella Burgos.

 

Biggest Percentage Mover — Cut Ranking By Highest Percent (Top 100)

 

Leader: Andy Murray — Moved 1 place, 25%, from #4 to #3

Murray didn’t do anything, but Rafael Nadal failed to defend his Rio title, so Murray moved up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Runner-Up: Andreas Haider-Maurer — Moved 17 place, 23%, from #74 to #57

Haider-Maurer made the Rio semifinal before losing to eventual champion David Ferrer.

 

Biggest Loser — Most Places Lost (Top 100)

 

Loser: Andrey Golubev — Dropped 26 places, from #81 to #107

Last year, Golubev won the Astana Challenger. This year, he lost his Marseille opener.

 

Biggest Percentage Loser — Worst Percentage Increase in Ranking (Top 100)

 

Loser: Alexandr Dolgopolov, ranking increased 9 places, 38%, from #24 to #33.

Last year, Dolgopolov made the Rio final. This year, he lost in the Delray Beach quarterfinal — a lesser result at a smaller tournament; the combination translated into a big loss.

 

Ranking Notes

 

We didn’t have any really spectacular moves this week, but there were plenty of substantial improvements. Murray rose 25%. Haider-Maurer rose 23%. Fabio Fognini’s win over Rafael Nadal helped him to a 21% increase, to #22. Ivo Karlovic’s Delray Beach title — making him the oldest title winner since Jimmy Connors in 1989 — took him up 21%, to #23. The guy who lost to Karlovic, Donald Young, gained 20%, to #45. Dzumhur rose 17%. And Dustov gained 17%.

 

On the down side, Dolgopolov fell 38%. Pablo Andujar lost 34%, to #67. Nadal fell 33%. Golubev lost 32%. Interestingly, no one else fell more than 16%.

 

Bob Larsons team Personal Picks for “Best Mover of the Week”

 

These are subjective picks!

 

A tough choice. Murray had the biggest move, but didn’t play. Haider-Maurer was second, and he really surprised us, and he’s at a career high, but he did’t do something really special, the way Fognini did (beating Nadal) and Karlovic did (winning a title at his age). We’d say Murray is out, but we truly can’t decide between the other three. So we take the default choice of the player who had the biggest move. That’s Haider-Maurer.

 

KEYWORDS: Movers Men Haider-Maurer

 

THIS WEEK IN TENNIS

 

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Dubai (500/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Roger Federer

Acapulco (500/Hard). Defending Champion: Grigor Dimitrov

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

 

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Davis Cup

 

STATS AND FACTS

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of February 23, 2015

 

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….12865

2..(2) Federer…………8750

3..(4) Nadal…………..5425

4..(3) Murray………….5345

5..(5) Nishikori……….5205

6..(6) Raonic………….4980

7..(7) Wawrinka………..4595

8..(8) Berdych…………4250

9..(9) Ferrer………….4185

10.(11) Cilic…………..3450

11.(10) Dimitrov………..3055

12.(13) Lopez…………..2300

13.(12) Tsonga………….2255

14.(16) Simon…………..2050

15.(14) Gulbis………….2045

16.(17) Bautista Agut……2020

17.(15) Anderson………..1870

18.(18) Robredo…………1755

19.(19) Monfils…………1740

20.(20) Isner…………..1720

21.(21) Goffin………….1614

22.(22) Fognini…………1530

23.(24) Cuevas………….1492

24.(23) Karlovic………..1455

25.(26) Garcia-Lopez…….1405

26.(27) Gasquet…………1365

27.(28) Benneteau……….1335

28.(25) Kohlschreiber……1325

29.(29) Mayer…………..1284

30.(31) Verdasco………..1225

 

DRAWS

 

Dubai — Week of February 23

 

1 Djokovic

6 Lopez

4 Berdych

5 Gulbis

 

8 Goffin

3 Murray

7 Bautista Agut

2 Federer

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Djokovic

2 Federer

3 Murray

4 Berdych

5 Gulbis………lost 1R (Istomin)

6 Lopez

7 Bautista Agut

8 Goffin

Acapulco — Week of February 23

 

1 Nishikori

5 Dolgopolov

4 Anderson (WC)

7 Giraldo (WC)

 

6 Karlovic

3 Dimitrov

8 Becker

2 Ferrer

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Nishikori

2 Ferrer

3 Dimitrov

4 Anderson (WC)

5 Dolgopolov

6 Karlovic

7 Giraldo (WC)

8 Becker

Buenos Aires — Week of February 23

 

1 Nadal

8 Carreno Busta

4 Fognini

6 Vesely

 

5 L Mayer

3 Cuevas

7 Andujar

2 Robredo

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Nadal

2 Robredo

3 Cuevas

4 Fognini

5 L Mayer

6 Vesely

7 Andujar

8 Carreno Busta

 

SCORES

 

MONDAY

 

Dubai

Singles – First Round

[2] R. Federer (SUI) d M. Youzhny (RUS) 63 61

D. Istomin (UZB) d [5] E. Gulbis (LAT) 75 62

A. Golubev (KAZ) d [Q] F. Martin (FRA) 75 64

J. Sousa (POR) d [WC] J. McGee (IRL) 61 62

R. Gasquet (FRA) d A. Seppi (ITA) 64 67(1) 64

Doubles – First Round

[4] R. Bopanna (IND) / D. Nestor (CAN) d [WC] L. Djere (SRB) / N. Djokovic (SRB) 62 75

D. Inglot (GBR) / F. Mergea (ROU) d F. Lopez (ESP) / F. Verdasco (ESP) 76(3) 76(5)

 

Acapulco

Singles – First Round

[4] [WC] K. Anderson (RSA) d D. Brown (GER) 61 62

[5] A. Dolgopolov (UKR) d S. Groth (AUS) 63 46 60

[7] [WC] S. Giraldo (COL) d [Q] A. Krajicek (USA) 76(8) 61

[8] B. Becker (GER) d T. Kamke (GER) 76(4) 62

D. Lajovic (SRB) d [Q] T. Kokkinakis (AUS) 64 76(4)

M. Matosevic (AUS) d M. Granollers (ESP) 64 62

Doubles – First Round

[WC] C. Ramirez (MEX) / M. Reyes-Varela (MEX) d A. Sitak (NZL) / V. Troicki (SRB) 75 76(5)

 

Buenos Aires

Singles – First Round

[5] L. Mayer (ARG) d S. Robert (FRA) 60 61

P. Lorenzi (ITA) d T. Bellucci (BRA) 64 67(5) 61

J. Monaco (ARG) d M. Gonzalez (ARG) 62 62

Doubles – First Round

[WC] F. Delbonis (ARG) / A. Molteni (ARG) d F. Bagnis (ARG) / A. Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 76(2) 64

 

Content Via Bob LARSON tennis News Wire.

Topics: Acapulco, Atp, Buenos Aires, Dubai, Federer, Tennis, Tennis Results, Wta

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