TENNIS NEWS, RESULTS, SCORES & MADRID WRAP & A LOOK AT ROME

TENNIS TIDBITS

 

* Nadal ends Berdych’s hopes of reaching #4; Murray knocks Nishikori out of Top Five

* Lousy day to be a Lopez: Lopez/Mirnyi, Granollers/Lopez both lose

 

MAX MIRNYI IS GOING TO WIN A SLAM THIS YEAR. HE IS HUNGRY.

 

ARTEM SITAK AND NICK MONROE LOSE IN ANOTHER DOUBLES FINALS BUT GOT PRETTY TROPHIES

 

MADRID

 

Singles – Semifinal: (3) R Nadal def. (6) T Berdych 7-6(7-3) 6-1

When Tomas Berdych plays a really big, tense match… you generally know how it’s going to turn out. So it was in this case. For Rafael Nadal, it still didn’t help his ranking much; he is still #7 in safe points, and needs to defend his title to stay at #4. But it’s a tough blow to Berdych; it meant that the only way that he could reach the #5 ranking was for Andy Murray to beat Nadal in the final. And that, of course, meant that first Murray had to win the other semifinal….

 

Singles – Semifinal: (2) A Murray def. (4) K Nishikori 6-3 6-4

Kei Nishikori may be knocking at the door, but he just isn’t Big Four yet. In fact, he isn’t even Top Five any more; this knocks him down to no better than #6, and it will be #7 if Rafael Nadal wins Madrid. The big beneficiary is Milos Raonic — he is now guaranteed, finally, to be Top Five. He’ll be #4 if Andy Murray wins Madrid, #5 if Rafael Nadal wins. As for Murray, he’ll be #3 no matter what happens in the final, but he’ll be a much stronger #3 if he wins, plus of course he’ll have his first ever big clay title.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doubles – Semifinal: (5) Matkowski/Zimonjic def. (WC) F Lopez/Mirnyi 6-3 6-7(5-7) 10-7

Big news for Nenad Zimonjic, who is back in the final here and so should stay Top Five. But it was a tough day to be named “Lopez”: both Lopezes (Feliciano and Marc) were in the semifinals, and neither made the final:

 

Doubles – Semifinal: Bopanna/Mergea def. (6) Granollers/M Lopez 6-7(4-7) 6-3 11-9

An astounding result, given the surface. And given how badly Rohan Bopanna had been fading lately. This is a nice revival, and it’s even bigger for Florin Mergea, who at age thirty still has only three relatively minor doubles titles.

 

 

LOOKING AT THIS WEEKS TENNIS IN ROME

 

He’s back.

 

Having decided to skip Madrid, Novak Djokovic will be using Rome to make his final clay preparations for Roland Garros, the one Slam he has never won. Given his record so far this year, if he can win this event, he will obviously be the strong favorite going into Paris.

 

Of course, this being a Masters event, he still has a lot to do before he can manage that. Rome doesn’t quite have everyone, but it’s close; the only Top Ten player missing is Milos Raonic. The players who are showing up include Roger Federer, who is seeded #2; he had thought about skipping this event, but presumably concluded that he still had some things to work on. (Given his struggles at both Istanbul and Rome, this seems a good argument.) Andy Murray, who is in the best clay form of his career, is #3 and in Djokovic’s half; Rafael Nadal is #4 and in Federer’s even though his ranking could still tumble this week. Kei Nishikori, who like Murray is playing some of the best clay tennis of his life, is #5 and in Djokovic’s quarter. Tomas Berdych is #6 and in Federer’s quarter (Federer can’t have liked the look of his draw very much!). David Ferrer, who had a disappointing quarterfinal against Nishikori in Madrid, will be #7 and will try to redeem himself against Murray. Stan Wawrinka, who rises to #8 in the absence of Raonic, is in Nadal’s quarter.

 

In the Round of Sixteen, Djokovic would take on #14 seed Roberto Bautista Agut — a nice draw for Djokovic, given that Bautista Agut just took a ranking hit and would be unseeded had the current rankings been used. Nishikori is up against #11 Feliciano Lopez, who has been in excellent doubles form but who has really been struggling in singles on the clay. Murray faces #13 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is no fan of clay. Ferrer is drawn against #9 Marin Cilic, still struggling with his game this year.

 

In the bottom half, Wawrinka is due to take on #12 Gilles Simon. (There seems to be a sort of a case of Musical Frenchmen going on this month. Last week at Madrid, the top player missing, other than Djokovic, was Simon. This week, Simon is in the draw, but the next Frenchman down, Gael Monfils, is out. Raonic, Monfils, and Tommy Robredo are the only Top Twenty players not in the draw. Ivo Karlovic is the only other Top 25 player missing.) Nadal faces #16 John Isner. Berdych is supposed to play #10 Grigor Dimitrov. And Federer is drawn against #15 Kevin Anderson.

 

That’s the good news for Federer. The not-so-good news is, his opener is likely to be against Pablo Cuevas, who made life fairly tough for him at Istanbul. Djokovic’s draw is easier; he faces either a wildcard or long-injured Nicolas Almagro, who can’t seem to win back-to-back matches. Bautista Agut opens against his countryman Marcel Granollers, who had a pretty good event at Madrid. Lopez can’t like the look of his draw — first Nick Kyrgios, then either Bernard Tomic or Viktor Troicki. Nishikori will start against either Ernests Gulbis (hardly a threat these days) or inconsistent but talented Jiri Vesely. Murray starts against Jeremy Chardy or Lukas Rosol. On this surface, Tsonga really ought to be able to handle his opener against Sam Querrey, but then he faces David Goffin, the top unseeded player. Cilic’s course passes through Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who is in very good form despite an early loss at Madrid, then fragile-but-talented Martin Klizan. Ferrer is likely to open against Richard Gasquet, the #2 unseeded player. Wawrinka’s first match will probably be against Juan Monaco. Simon’s draw runs through Jack Sock, whose clay results this year have been better than most people expected, then Dominic Thiem or Italy’s Simone Bolelli. Isner will have to face Leonardo Mayer in round two. Nadal’s and Berdych’s draws are nice, but Dimitrov’s runs through Jerzy Janowicz and Italian #1 Fabio Fognini. (Sadly, Italy’s other top player, Andreas Seppi, isn’t able to play.) And Anderson will start against Florian Mayer, who has a good history on clay even though he’s still playing himself into shape, then Philipp Kohlschreiber, who has to be glad he isn’t anywhere near Andy Murray in the draw this week.

 

The Rankings

 

This is the week that will settle who gets seeded in Paris. And we could well see some big changes in the rankings. Although not at the top, even though Novak Djokovic is defending champion; he is safe at #1, and Roger Federer at #2. Even Andy Murray looks fairly secure at #3, although not yet clinched. But below that… things get wild. Especially for Rafael Nadal, since he’s defending finalist points. The semifinalists at Rome last year were Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic; quarterfinalists were Murray, Tommy Haas (who of course isn’t back and is going to see what is left of his ranking evaporate), Jeremy Chardy, and David Ferrer. Of the rest of the Top Ten, Federer lost his opener (to Chardy), Berdych lost in the round of sixteen, Nishikori didn’t play, Wawrinka lost in the Round of Sixteen, and Cilic lost second round.

 

We find that three of the top four Paris seeds are set: Djokovic #1, Federer #2, and Murray at least #4 and probably #3. But who gets the last Top Four spot? The Roland Garros organizers have said that they won’t just hand it to Rafael Nadal; he’ll have to earn it. And that almost certainly means that he has to win either Madrid or Rome and make the final of the other. As for who gets it if he doesn’t… there isn’t much we can say except that it will be Berdych or Nishikori or just possibly Ferrer. Raonic is out of the hunt because he isn’t playing Rome, and Wawrinka and Cilic are too far behind.

 

That means that the rest of the Top Eight will almost certainly be the four “left over” guys — that is the four members of the group Nadal, Raonic, Berdych, Nishikori, and Ferrer who aren’t #4. Only Ferrer is under even faint pressure, and it is faint.

 

The players from #9 to #12 will be Wawrinka, Cilic, Dimitrov, and one other, almost certainly either Lopez or Simon. Odds are that #13-#16 will be Lopez or Simon, Tsonga, probably Monfils, and one other, with that one other wide open; the primary candidates are Anderson, Isner, Robredo, Bautista Agut, and Goffin; Anderson goes in with the lead.

 

#17 to #24 should include Isner, Robredo, Bautista Agut, or Goffin (or Anderson if one of them overtakes him). Gasquet, Gulbis, Kohlschreiber, and Cuevas currently round out the group, but since they’re all within a hundred points of each other and there are lots of others close to them, none of them can be considered clinched.

 

The #25 to #32 block will surely include Karlovic, Mayer, and Tomic (unless one of the latter two moves up), but the rest of the group is very hard to tell (except that it almost certainly won’t include Chardy). Our guess is that the guys who will qualify are Garcia-Lopez, Mannarino, Kyrgios, Fognini, Klizan, and two others, with Troicki, Sock, Verdasco and Monaco being the primary candidates for those two spots.

 

 

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of May 9, 2015

 

 

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….13845

2..(2) Federer…………8645

3..(3) Murray………….6630

4..(6) Raonic………….5160

5..(7) Berdych…………5140

6..(5) Nishikori……….5040

7..(4) Nadal…………..4990

8..(8) Ferrer………….4310

9..(9) Wawrinka………..3575

10.(10) Cilic…………..3360

11.(11) Dimitrov………..3075

12.(12) Lopez…………..2245

13.(13) Simon…………..2210

14.(14) Tsonga………….2090

15.(15) Monfils…………2065

16.(17) Anderson………..1925

17.(18) Isner…………..1855

18.(19) Robredo…………1755

19.(16) Bautista Agut……1715

20.(21) Goffin………….1700

21.(23) Gasquet…………1580

22.(20) Gulbis………….1560

23.(24) Kohlschreiber……1535

24.(22) Cuevas………….1502

25.(25) Karlovic………..1480

26.(27) Mayer…………..1442

27.(26) Tomic…………..1400

28.(28) Garcia-Lopez…….1290

29.(29) Mannarino……….1268

30.(35) Kyrgios…………1220

 

DRAWS

 

Madrid — Week of May 4

 

 

………………3R………………QF………..SF…………F

1 Federer………Kyrgios

16 Isner……….(16)Isner………..Isner

12 Tsonga………(12)Tsonga

6 Berdych………(6)Berdych……….Berdych……Berdych

 

3 Nadal………..(3)Nadal…………Nadal……..Nadal……..Nadal

15 Anderson…….Bolelli

10 Dimitrov…….(10)Dimitrov……..Dimitrov

8 Wawrinka……..(8)Wawrinka

 

7 Ferrer……….(7)Ferrer………..Ferrer

9 Cilic………..Verdasco

14 Bautista Agut..(14)Bautista Agut

4 Nishikori…….(4)Nishkori………Nishikori….Nishikori

 

5 Raonic……….(5)Raonic………..Raonic

11 Lopez……….L.Mayer

13 Monfils……..Granollers

2 Murray……….(2)Murray………..Murray…….Murray…….Murray

 

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Federer……….lost 2R (Kyrgios)

2 Murray

3 Nadal

4 Nishikori……..lost SF (Murray)

5 Raonic………..lost QF (Murray)

6 Berdych……….lost SF (Nadal)

7 Ferrer………..lost QF (Nishikori)

8 Wawrinka………lost 3R (Dimitrov)

9 Cilic…………lost 2R (Verdasco)

10 Dimitrov……..lost QF (Nadal)

11 Lopez………..lost 2R (L. Mayer)

12 Tsonga……….lost 3R (Berdych)

13 Monfils………lost 2R (Granollers)

14 Bautista Agut…lost 3R (Nishikori)

15 Anderson……..lost 1R (Bolelli)

16 Isner………..lost QF (Berdych)

 

Rome — Week of May 11

 

 

1 Djokovic

–bye

Vanni (WC)

Almagro (PR)

Qualifier

Qualifier

Granollers

14 Bautista Agut

 

11 Lopez

Kyrgios

Tomic

Troicki

Gulbis

Vesely

–bye

5 Nishikori

 

3 Murray

–bye

Chardy

Rosol

Qualifier

Goffin

Querrey

13 Tsonga

 

9 Cilic

Garcia-Lopez

Klizan

Qualifier

Gasquet

Qualifier

–bye

7 Ferrer

 

8 Wawrinka

–bye

Monaco

Qualifier

Bolelli

Thiem

Sock

12 Simon

 

16 Isner

Sousa

Gaio (WC)

L Mayer

Mannarino

Qualifier

–bye

4 Nadal

 

6 Berdych

–bye

Donati (WC)

Giraldo

Johnson

Fognini

Janowicz

10 Dimitrov

 

15 Anderson

F Mayer (PR)

Kohlschreiber

Young

Cuevas

Lorenzi (WC)

–bye

2 Federer

 

 

SCORES

 

SATURDAY

 

MADRID

Singles – Semifinal

(2) A Murray def. (4) K Nishikori 6-3 6-4

(3) R Nadal def. (6) T Berdych 7-6(7-3) 6-1

Doubles – Semifinal

(5) Matkowski/Zimonjic def. (WC) F Lopez/Mirnyi 6-3 6-7(5-7) 10-7

Bopanna/Mergea def. (6) Granollers/M Lopez 6-7(4-7) 6-3 11-9 .

 

 

CONTENT via Bob LARSON tennis news service

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