* Nadal struggles past Verdasco in Hamburg; no rankings move yet
* Verdasco to remain below Top 40
* Garcia-Lopez retires after three games against newcomer Munar; will remain below Top 25
* No Top Thirty spot for Coric after loss to Bautista Agut
* Paire likely to hit Top Forty after win over Kohlschreiber; German may fall just short
* Klizan remains below Top Thirty after loss to Seppi
* Monaco beats Gulbis but could still fall out of Top Forty
* Different event, same result: Robredo edges Zverev for the second straight week
* In match resumed from Monday, Fognini edges Chardy but remains below Top Thirty; Chardy still below Top Forty
* Rosol still looking for a post-wedding win; falls in two tiebreaks to Bolelli
* Youzhny, who fell out of Top Hundred last week, likely to remain there after winning only three games against Carreno Busta in Gstaad
* Reister, long out with injury, advances when Kavcic injured
* Win for Bellucci might put him at #35, although he’ll probably need more
* Granollers remains in decline, loses three-set match to Haase
* Baghdatis cruises past Krajicek in Atlanta but will probably need more to stay Top Fifty
* Johnson needs three sets to beat Lacko; he too could still lose Top Fifty spot
* One week after strong showing in Bogota, Berrer retires against countryman Becker
* Teenage qualifier Donaldson beats fellow qualifier Devvarman, needs one more win to rise above #150
* Fish plays competitive match against Sela, but loses; will remain below #1000
Rafael Nadal began building confidence as he rallied past Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to open a week of clay in Europe. The Spanish top seed called the win “a very important victory”. Nadal, an early victim at Wimbledon, is playing Hamburg for the first time since beating Roger Federer for the 2008 title on the German dirt. He now stands an imposing 14-2 over Verdasco.
After losing the opening set to the world No. 41, Nadal settled in on his favorite surface, winning all but two of the remaining games to power into the second round. The comeback stated in agony, with Nadal spending 12 minutes on a hold to begin the second set.
Two other Spanish seeds joined Nadal in advancing: No. 2 Tommy Robredo, losing finalist at Bastad, beat Alexander Zverev of Germany for the second time in three days, winning 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2 after defeating him in a Swedish semi-final.
Third seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain stopped Croatian Borna Coric 6-3, 6-4. Italian fourth seed Andreas Seppi prevailed over Martin Klizan 6-2, 6-4, Argentine sixth seed Juan Monaco overcame Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 and Italian eighth seed Fabio Fognini fought to victory over Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.
Other winners included Simone Bolelli, Bastad winner Benoit Paire and Briton Aljaz Bedene.
Four seeds progressed into the second round, with No. 6 Joao Sousa of Portugal eliminating the last of the local players as he saw off Henri Laaksonen 6-2, 7-5. Souza took 84 minutes to advances as he beat the Finnish-born number 337, who now stands 1-3 at the home event on clay at more than 1,050 meters of altitude in this alpine farming village.
Laaksonen showed minor signs of life as he held a pair of set points in the second set which – had he converted one – could have taken the contest into a deciding third set.
Two-time Gstaad champion Thomaz Bellucci, seeded fifth, hit his comfort zone from the start in a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Belgian number 104 Kimmer Coppejans. Bellucci, who has earned three of his four career titles in Switzerland – he also won Geneva last May – is well accustomed to the mountain conditions.
“It’s always difficult to play a first round, I’m a little nervous every time. But I like the conditions here. In Sao Paulo at 700 meters, the air density is nearly as low as here,” said the South American.
The last two seeds also advanced, with No. 7 Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta hammering 2013 champion Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-1, 6-2 while eighth seed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia defeated Italian Pablo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-2.
German Julien Reister reached the second round 4-6, 6-2, when Slvenian Blaz Kavcic had to retire with a right quad injury which will require a scan.
Stephane Robert, of France beat Brazilian Joao Souza 6-1, 6-4; unseeded Dutchman Robin Haase (2013 finalist) put out 2011 titleholder Marcel Granollers 1-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4. Marsel Ilhan of Turkey eliminated Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-2.
Mardy Fish came and left in short order as the former champion was knocked out in the first round as the medical victim played his first singles match in two years. Fish, who has suffered with a heart scare over the past few seasons and has all but retired, lost 6-4, 6-4, to Dudi Sela.
The result was far from unexpected for the one-time No. 7, playing for the first time since making an attempt last March at Indian Wells. Fish is on the way to retirement, playing Cincinnati before hanging it all up at the US Open.
“The conditions were tough, but I’ve played on that court before so it wasn’t that big of a deal,” said Fish. “It felt like a good match-up and I felt like I could win, even though I didn’t play a lot this year. “It’ll be good to go [into the US Open] and have a last run like Pete [Sampras] did. He was just able to play freely after announcing his retirement and that’s what I’m hoping for.”
Three seeds advanced into the second round. No. 5 Marcos Baghdatis beat qualifier Austin Krajicek 6-4, 6-0, sixth seed Steve Johnson fired 15 aces to put out Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-2 and German eighth seed Benjamin Becker defeated compatriot Michael Berrer 7-5 through retirement.
Australian Sam Groth stopped teenaged wild card Frances Tiafoe 7-6(3), 6-4. and Denis Kudla beat Ryan Harrison 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Hamburg (500/Clay). Defending Champion: Leonardo Mayer
Gstaad (250/Clay). Defending Champion: Pablo Andujar
Atlanta (250/Hard). Defending Champion: John Isner
NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Washington (500/Hard). Defending Champion: Milos Raonic
Kitzbuhel (250/Clay). Defending Champion: David Goffin
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of July 28, 2015
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Djokovic……….13845
2..(2) Federer…………9665
3..(3) Murray………….7840
4..(4) Wawrinka………..5790
5..(5) Nishikori……….5525
6..(6) Berdych…………5140
7..(7) Ferrer………….4325
8..(9) Cilic…………..3495
9..(8) Raonic………….3400
10.(10) Nadal…………..3000
11.(11) Simon…………..2765
12.(12) Tsonga………….2475
13.(13) Gasquet…………2150
14.(15) Anderson………..2090
15.(16) Dimitrov………..1970
16.(14) Goffin………….1940
17.(17) Monfils…………1930
18.(18) Lopez…………..1800
19.(19) Isner…………..1685
20.(20) Troicki…………1629
21.(21) Robredo…………1540
22.(22) Karlovic………..1495
23.(23) Bautista Agut……1475
24.(25) Tomic…………..1400
25.(26) Seppi…………..1355
26.(24) Thiem…………..1335
27.(27) Mannarino……….1210
27.(28) Garcia-Lopez…….1210
29.(30) Querrey…………1140
30.(31) Cuevas………….1125
Hamburg — Week of July 27
1 Nadal (WC)
5 Cuevas
4 Seppi
7 Garcia-Lopez
8 Fognini
3 Bautista Agut
6 Monaco
2 Robredo
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Nadal (WC)
2 Robredo
3 Bautista Agut
4 Seppi
5 Cuevas
6 Monaco
7 Garcia-Lopez…..lost 1R (Munar)
8 Fognini
Gstaad — Week of July 27
1 Goffin
6 Sousa
4 Andujar
5 Bellucci
7 Carreno Busta
3 Thiem
8 Giraldo
2 Lopez
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Goffin
2 Lopez
3 Thiem
4 Andujar
5 Bellucci
6 Sousa
7 Carreno Busta
8 Giraldo
Atlanta – Week of July 27
1 Isner
6 Johnson
3 Sock
8 Becker
7 Muller
4 Mannarino
5 Baghdatis
2 Pospisil
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Isner
2 Pospisil
3 Sock
4 Mannarino
5 Baghdatis
6 Johnson
7 Muller
8 Becker
TUESDAY
Hamburg
Singles – First Round
[1] [WC] R. Nadal (ESP) d F. Verdasco (ESP) 36 61 61
[2] T. Robredo (ESP) d [WC] A. Zverev (GER) 67(3) 64 62
[3] R. Bautista Agut (ESP) d B. Coric (CRO) 63 64
[4] A. Seppi (ITA) d M. Klizan (SVK) 62 64
[6] J. Monaco (ARG) d E. Gulbis (LAT) 63 67(5) 63
[WC] J. Munar (ESP) d [7] G. Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 12 ret. (hamstring injury)
[8] F. Fognini (ITA) d J. Chardy (FRA) 63 67(5) 64
S. Bolelli (ITA) d L. Rosol (CZE) 76(3) 76(6)
A. Bedene (GBR) d D. Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 64 61
B. Paire (FRA) d P. Kohlschreiber (GER) 63 36 61
Gstaad
Singles – First Round
[5] T. Bellucci (BRA) d K. Coppejans (BEL) 62 63
[6] J. Sousa (POR) d [WC] H. Laaksonen (SUI) 62 75
[7] P. Carreno Busta (ESP) d M. Youzhny (RUS) 61 62
[8] S. Giraldo (COL) d P. Lorenzi (ITA) 63 62
[PR] S. Robert (FRA) d J. Souza (BRA) 61 64
R. Haase (NED) d M. Granollers (ESP) 16 76(1) 64
M. Ilhan (TUR) d A. Kuznetsov (RUS) 61 62
[Q] J. Reister (GER) d B. Kavcic (SLO) 46 20 ret. (right leg injury)
Doubles – First Round
[1] M. Granollers (ESP) / M. Lopez (ESP) d [WC] A. Bossel (SUI) / M. Chiudinelli (SUI) 63 62
A. Bury (BLR) / D. Istomin (UZB) d [2] M. Fyrstenberg (POL) / S. Gonzalez (MEX) 63 76(5)
F. Delbonis (ARG) / P. Lorenzi (ITA) d P. Carreno Busta (ESP) / A. Molteni (ARG) 63 67(7) 10-6
Atlanta
Singles – First Round
[5] M. Baghdatis (CYP) d [Q] A. Krajicek (USA) 64 60
[6] S. Johnson (USA) d L. Lacko (SVK) 61 67(3) 62
[8] B. Becker (GER) d M. Berrer (GER) 75 00 ret. (illness)
[Q] D. Kudla (USA) d [WC] R. Harrison (USA) 36 64 76(5)
D. Sela (ISR) d [PR] M. Fish (USA) 64 64
[Q] J. Donaldson (USA) d [Q] S. Devvarman (IND) 61 36 64
S. Groth (AUS) d [WC] F. Tiafoe (USA) 76(3) 64
Doubles – First Round
C. Fleming (GBR) / G. Muller (LUX) d [2] V. Pospisil (CAN) / J. Sock (USA) 64 46 10-6
[3] E. Butorac (USA) / A. Sitak (NZL) d M. Ebden (AUS) / A. Mannarino (FRA) 62 60
[WC] C. Eubanks (USA) / D. Young (USA) d [4] M. Pavic (CRO) / M. Venus (NZL) 62 36 10-5
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