PRO TOUR NEWS – MEN
* Cilic tops Rosol in Rotterdam, extends winning streak to six
* Janowicz knocks Benneteau out of Top Fifty
* Dimitrov leaves Tursunov still below Top 25
* Youzhny tries to play, but loses easily to Sijsling; Top Fifteen spot in slight danger
* Gulbis ends Istomin’s Top Forty hopes
* Dodig/Melo suffer another shock exit
* Baghdatis finally earns first win of 2014; beats Ram at Memphis — but needs two more wins to defend points
* Fognini beats Reister at Buenos Aires to extend winning streak
* Leonardo Mayer also wins as players who had good luck in Vina del Mar continue to play well in South America
* Ferrer survives tough match in first round in Argentina
* 32-year-old Volandri edges 17-year-old Garin in battle of the generations
* Haase knocks last year’s semifinalist Alund below #150
Buenos Aires
Top seed and winner of the last two editions David Ferrer looked unstoppable on South American clay as the Spaniard began his Argentine title defence by beating Maximo Gonzalez 7-6(7), 6-4 and running his Buenos Aires win streak to 11 matches. Ferrer, fifth in the world, next plays Colombian Santiago Giraldo, who beat Spain’s Albert Montanes 7-6(4), 6-2. Ferrer improved to 17-4 in BA as he bids to reach a fourth consecutive final at the clay venue.
Italian second seed Fabio Fognini maintained his own winning run, beating German Julian Reister 7-5, 6-2 to complete 20 wins from his last 21 matches, including last week’s title in Chile. He now stands a career-best 14th on the ATP. The winner held off 13 of 17 break points on the way to his victory. Fognini next lines up against Leonardo Mayer, a winner over fellow Argentine Facundo Argueello 6-3, 6-4.
Dutch sixth seed Robin Haase, skipping this week’s home event in Rotterdam, advanced over Argentine Martin Alund 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 while Spain’s Albert Ramos upset seventh seed and 2007 champion Juan Monaco 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2. Italy’s Filippo Volandri put out teenaged qualifier Christian Garin of Chile 5-7 6-0 6-3.
Memphis
Alex Bogomolov handed slumping sixth seed Sam Querrey a fourth straight defeat with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7), with the American unable to convert on a match point in a contest where he managed 18 aces. Kazak eighth seed Mikhail Kukushkin beat Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 7-6(9), 7-5 at the struggling event, being run without a title sponsor.
There was some good news for Ryan Harrison as one-time hope of the US game won his first main draw singles match since August with a defeat of Bjorn Phau 6-3, 6-4. Jack Sock of the US started with a defeat of Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(5) while Alex Kuznetsov stopped Belgium’s David Goffin 6-4 6-3.
There were victories for German Benjamin Becker over Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-2 and one-time Australian open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who defeated Rajeev Ram 6-3 6-4. Croatian Ivo Karlovic hammered 14 unreachable serves against Australian Matthew Ebden, 7-5, 6-4.
Rotterdam
Former title holder Mikhail Youzhny was sent packing in the opening round as Igor Sijsling triumphed 6-2, 6-2. The Dutchman accelerated the Russian’s losing streak into a second month after Youzhny won his only match of the season in mid-January at the Australian Open.
The seventh seed suffered double breaks in both sets of the first-round contest to go down in 74 minutes as Sijsling, ranked 64th, produced nine aces for his home audience. Youzhny was making his tenth appearance in the Dutch city where he won the title in 2007.
Latvian Ernests Gulbis advanced through a defeat of Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 7-6(4) while Croatian Marin Cilic, winner of his fourth career title at home in Zagreb 48 hours earlier, returned to the court with a win over Czech Lukas Rosol 6-2, 6-2.
“Overall I played a solid match,” said the 37th-ranked Cilic, a former top 10 player. “I didn’t have too many mistakes but it took me a few games to get used to conditions. I played well on return and mixed it up, he was making some errors in critical moments. It helped a lot to win five matches at home last week,” said the Croatian, “It gives you confidence plus I’ve always enjoyed playing indoors,” said the holder of 10 career titles. “Facing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (his next opponent, who he beat in their last meeting) is always a challenge but I hope to be ready.”
Eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in his tournament start. Eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in his tournament start while Jerzy Janowicz defeated Frenchman Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********
THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Rotterdam (500/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Juan Martin del Potro
Memphis (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion (as an ATP 500): Kei Nishikori
Buenos Aires (250/Clay). Defending Champion: David Ferrer
NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Rio de Janeiro (500/Clay). Defending Champion: New Event
Marseille (250/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Delray Beach (250/Hard). Defending Champion: Ernests Gulbis
RANKINGS
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of February 11, 2013
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Nadal………….14085
2..(2) Djokovic……….10580
3..(3) Wawrinka………..5710
4..(5) Ferrer………….5280
5..(4) Del Potro……….4960
6..(6) Murray………….4795
7..(7) Berdych…………4540
8..(8) Federer…………4305
9..(9) Gasquet…………2950
10.(10) Tsonga………….2885
11.(11) Raonic………….2485
12.(12) Haas……………2435
13.(13) Isner…………..2320
14.(14) Fognini…………2260
15.(15) Youzhny…………2100
16.(17) Robredo…………1980
17.(16) Nishikori……….1965
18.(18) Almagro…………1930
19.(20) Janowicz………..1705
20.(19) Dimitrov………..1675
21.(22) Anderson………..1580
22.(21) Simon…………..1565
23.(23) Monfils…………1475
24.(24) Gulbis………….1423
25.(25) Pospisil………..1359
26.(26) Lopez…………..1355
27.(27) Kohlschreiber……1330
28.(28) Tursunov………..1314
29.(29) Paire…………..1275
30.(30) Mayer…………..1245
**DRAWS
Rotterdam — week of February 10, 2014
1 del Potro
Monfils
Mathieu (Q)
Dodig
Gulbis
Istomin
Tursunov
8 Dimitrov
3 Berdych
Seppi
Mahut
Simon
Janowicz
Benneteau
Verdasco
6 Haas
7 Youzhny
Sijsling (WC)
Huta Galung (WC)
Berrer (Q)
Kohlschreiber
Stakhovsky (Q)
de Bakker (WC)
4 Gasquet
5 Tsonga
F Mayer
Cilic
Rosol
Thiem (Q)
Nieminen
Roger-Vasselin
2 Murray (WC)
Memphis — week of February 10, 2014
1 Nishikori (WC)
–bye
Lacko
Becker
Phau (SE)
Harrison
Bogomolov
6 Querrey
3 Hewitt
–bye
Baghdatis (WC)
Qualifier
Kyrgios (WC)
Smyczek
Russell
7 Przysiezny
8 Kukushkin
Gabashvili
Qualifier
Qualifier
Qualifier
Young
–bye
4 Lu
5 Matosevic
Vesely
Sock
Mannarino
Ebden
Karlovic
–bye
2 F Lopez
Buenos Aires — week of February 10, 2014
1 Ferrer (WC)
Qualifier
Montanes
Giraldo
Qualifier
Volandri
Ramos
7 Monaco
4 Almagro
Zeballos
Qualifier
Gimeno-Traver
Dolgopolov
Cuevas (PR)
A Gonzalez
8 Chardy
6 Haase
Qualifier
Sousa
Berlocq
Garcia-Lopez
Pella (WC)
Carreno Busta
3 Robredo
5 Granollers
Bedene
Delbonis
Andujar
Aguello (WC)
L Mayer
Reister
2 Fognini
******** SCORES ********
TUESDAY
Buenos Aires
Singles – First Round
[1] [WC] D Ferrer (ESP) d [Q] M Gonzalez (ARG) 76(7) 64
[2] F Fognini (ITA) d J Reister (GER) 75 62
[6] R Haase (NED) d [Q] M Alund (ARG) 64 67(6) 63
A Ramos (ESP) d [7] J Monaco (ARG) 67(3) 64 62
S Giraldo (COL) d A Montanes (ESP) 76(4) 62
F Volandri (ITA) d [Q] C Garin (CHI) 57 60 63
L Mayer (ARG) d [WC] F Arguello (ARG) 63 64
Memphis
Singles – First Round
A Bogomolov Jr. (RUS) d [6] S Querrey (USA) 26 64 76(7) – saved 1 M.P.
[8] M Kukushkin (KAZ) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 76(9) 75
B Becker (GER) d L Lacko (SVK) 63 62
R Harrison (USA) d B Phau (GER) 63 64
[WC] M Baghdatis (CYP) d [Q] R Ram (USA) 63 64
[Q] A Kuznetsov (USA) d [Q] D Goffin (BEL) 64 63
J Sock (USA) d A Mannarino (FRA) 75 16 76(5)
I Karlovic (CRO) d M Ebden (AUS) 75 64
Doubles – First Round
F Cermak (CZE) / M Elgin (RUS) d [4] S Groth (AUS) / M Mirnyi (BLR) 62 76(4)
C Guccione (AUS) / L Hewitt (AUS) d T Bednarek (POL) / I Karlovic (CRO) 67(2) 64 10-7
Rotterdam
Singles – First Round
[WC] I Sijsling (NED) d [7] M Youzhny (RUS) 62 62
[8] G Dimitrov (BUL) d D Tursunov (RUS) 62 16 64
E Gulbis (LAT) d D Istomin (UZB) 64 76(4)
J Janowicz (POL) d J Benneteau (FRA) 36 64 64
M Cilic (CRO) d L Rosol (CZE) 62 62
Doubles – First Round
L Rosol (CZE) / A Seppi (ITA) d [1] I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) 46 76(2) 10-6
J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Nieminen (FIN) d [4] R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) 76(4) 26 11-9
J Rojer (NED) / H Tecau (ROU) d [Q] M Berrer (GER) / S Stakhovsky (UKR) 62 67(6) 10-5
J Knowle (AUT) / J Peers (AUS) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) / F Mayer (GER) 63 36 10-7
Topics: 10sballs, Atp, Benjamin Becker, Buenos Aires, David Ferrer, Ernests Gulbis, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic, Maximo Gonzalez, Memphis, Mikhail Youzhny, Rotterdam, Sam Querrey, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News