Ferrer Monfils and Del Potro victorious in Valencia

Written by: Global Chick on 3rd November 2011

Ferrer Monfils and Del Potro victorious in Valencia

French player Gael Monfils returns the ball to Spain's Pablo Andujar during their second round match of the Valencia Open ATP tennis tournament at Agora building in Valencia, eastern Spain, 02 November 2011. Monfils won 6-2 and 7-6(5). EPA/KAI FOERSTERLING |

The number six seed Juan Martin Del Potro defeated Russian Dmitry Tursunov in his opening round 6-4 6-1 on Wednesday at the Valencia Open.

The Argentinian is steadily climbing back up the rankings after having surgery in 2010. The former world number four is looking to win his third title this year after having won Delray Beach and Estoril. There is still a chance for this tall big serving player to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Del Potro will next face another big server South African Kevin Anderson.

American Alex Bogomolov Jr. surprised Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in the first round. Bogomolov took out Lopez 4-6 6-4 7-6 (2) after spending over two hours on court in Valencia. The American reached the semi-finals of St. Petersburg last week and lost to Janko Tisparevic. He will now meet with former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round.

World No. 14 Gael Monfils finished off Spaniard Pablo Andujar in straight sets in the second round. Monfils was the Champion two weeks ago in Stockholm and is continuing his winning streak.

In the top half of the draw the top seed David Ferrer is into the quarterfinals. Ferrer comfortably defeated Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil 6-3 6-3. The Spaniard is the only player in the Valencia draw who has already qualified for London. Next up for Ferrer is former Top 10 player Nikolay Davydenko who got a walk over from Nicolas Mahut.

2011 has been a great year for the World No. 5 who won in Auckland and Acapulco. Ferrer was also the runner up in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Bastad and Shanghai.

Last week’s St. Petersburg Open winner Marin Cilic won 6-4 6-4 over Canadian powerhouse Milos Raonic in the first round. Cilic will play Marcel Granollers of Spain in the next match.

Top seeds in the Valencia doubles draw Bob and Mike Bryan are to finish as the world number one team for the seventh time in nine years. The twins continues their success with a win in the first round over Lukas Dlouhy and Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 6-2. The Bryans will take on Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek in the second round.

Already through to the semi-finals are the big serving duo of John Isner and Kevin Anderson. They had a tough second round win over Marcel Graonllers and Marc Lopez of Spain eventually winning 10-6 in the third set match tiebreak.

The number two seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland were beaten by Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer in the first round. The Poles are currently No. 8 on the YTD rankings. There will be a tough and close competition for the three last remaining spots for the London doubles event in November.

SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, 3 NOVEMBER, 2011  AGORA start 1:00 pm

S Querrey (USA) vs [2] J Tsonga (FRA)

M Granollers (ESP) vs M Cilic (CRO)

J Ferrero (ESP) vs A Bogomolov Jr. (USA)

Not Before 8:00 PM

[6] J del Potro (ARG) vs K Anderson (RSA)

[WC] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) / P Riba (ESP) vs E Butorac (USA) / J Rojer (AHO)

PISTA 1 start 1:00 pm

[4] R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) vs M Melo (BRA) / B Soares (BRA)

[WC] J Monaco (ARG) vs F Fognini (ITA)

Topics: Gael Monfils, Juan Martin Del Potro