Men Tennis Update – Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles

Written by: Staff on 25th July 2012

Men Tennis Update - Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles

epa03292601 Xavier Malisse of Belgium returns to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their fourth round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 02 July 2012. EPA/JONATHAN BRADY |

Kitzbuhel

Singles – First Round: (7) E Gulbis def. (WC) A Haider-Maurer 2-6 7-5 6-1

With Jurgen Melzer not here, Andreas Haider-Maurer was almost the only Austrian hope in singles. And he came close to fulfilling that hope — he was up 5-2 in the second and had a match point. But Ernests Gulbis is defending champion’s points, so (for once) he managed to dig deep….

Singles – First Round: R Dutra Silva def. J Hajek 4-1, retired (dizziness)

This seems almost inevitable, these days: Jan Hajek was having a pretty good run in recent events — so, naturally, he couldn’t finish. At least it doesn’t sound too serious.

Singles – First Round: (Q) P Oswald def. D Brands 4-6 6-2 6-3

This was “QP” day: Two Qualifiers whose first name began with “P” won. In three sets. With the first set score 4-6 and the last 6-3. Talk about a day for pattern geeks….

There isn’t much pattern to Philipp Oswald’s ATP results, though. This is his first ATP main draw since Kitzbuhel 2008, and he lost his opener there.

Singles – First Round: (Q) P Cervenak def. R Ramirez Hidalgo 4-6 7-6(7-1) 6-3

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo is another one of those guys who doesn’t really exist away from clay, so this is a year-ending fizzle.

Singles – First Round: S Bolelli def. H Zeballos 7-5 7-5

That’s four straight losses for Horacio Zeballos.

Doubles – First Round: (1) Cermak/Knowle def. Begemann/Emmrich 6-4 6-2

Doubles – First Round: (2) Brown/Hanley def. Klizan/Mertinak 2-6 6-2 10-8 (Match TB)

Doubles – First Round: (4) Elgin/Moser def. Dutra Silva/Volandri 2-6 6-3 10-8 (Match TB)

Doubles – First Round: (WC) M Fischer/Oswald def. Kavcic/Zelenay 7-5 6-1

This seems likely to prove the biggest day of Philipp Oswald’s career. Two ATP wins on one day!

Doubles – First Round: Marx/Zovko def. Garcia-Lopez/Marrero 7-5 6-4

Just two days after winning his fourth title of the year, David Marrero is out. Of course, he won Hamburg with Fernando Verdasco, who is his primary partner this year.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: Norman/Waske def. Bednarek/Kowalczyk 6-2 7-6(7-5)

We’re still waiting for a straight-faced explanation of why they are playing doubles quarterfinals on Tuesday….

Los Angeles

Singles – First Round: (5) X Malisse def. (Q) N Meister 6-4 6-1

Nicolas Meister is ranked #625. Little wonder that he wasn’t especially competitive! Just making it through qualifying ought to take him above #575.

Singles – First Round: (6) M Matosevic def. (Q) C Guccione 3-6 6-3 6-3

Chris Guccione is down to #510, so just qualifying is useful for him.

Singles – First Round: (Q) R Berankis def. (7) B Phau 7-6(10-8) 6-4

Ricardas Berankis is a player with big ups and big downs. Bjorn Phau is a lot more consistent, but his best is below Berankis’s. So no real surprise here.

Singles – First Round: T Kamke def. J Blake 6-2 5-7 7-6(7-4)

A bad loss for James Blake, considering Tobias Kamke’s horrid form. He will remain below #100.

Singles – First Round: I Sijsling def. (WC) S Johnson 7-6(7-4) 6-3

Steve Johnson has now had back-to-back wildcards with nothing much to show for it….

Singles – First Round: M Russell def. J Levine 6-3 6-4

Michael Russell faces top seed Benoit Paire next. And Russell seems to like hardcourts a lot better. That could be rather interesting.

Singles – First Round: M Ebden def. M Berrer 4-6 6-2 7-6(7-4)

It was at about this time last year that Matthew Ebden really started to emerge — a quarterfinal at Newport, a second round at Washington and Tokyo, a quarterfinal at Shanghai. To that point, he has only four wins in all of 2010 and 2011 combined. He is now ranked about a hundred places higher than he was then. So he’ll have a fair bit of defending to do in coming weeks. This seems a rather tougher start than we would have expected.

Singles – First Round: P Lorenzi def. (Q) B Klahn 6-4 3-6 6-0

Given how weak the field is, this event should have spelled a big chance for qualifiers. But three out of four lost.

Singles – First Round: I Andreev def. D Sela 7-6(7-4) 6-4

Dudi Sela remains stuck below #100. Indeed, almost certainly below #110.

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