Men Tennis Update – Rotterdam,Sao Paulo, And San Jose Saturday, February 16, 2013

Written by: Staff on 15th February 2013

Federer promotes ABN AMRO Tennis Tournament

Men Tennis Update - Rotterdam,Sao Paulo, And San Jose Saturday, February 16, 2013

epa03579183 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (R) during a promotion event of the ABN AMRO Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 11 February 2013. The tournament will take place from 11 until 17 February. EPA/KOEN SUYK |

Rotterdam (Friday)

Singles – Quarterfinal: J Benneteau def. (1) R Federer 6-3 7-5

When this came through, we couldn’t help but thing, “OK, let’s wait for the explanation. Something must have been wrong.” Not only did Roger Federer suffer his worst loss in years, but it took only an hour and twenty minutes! But he didn’t have much to say, except that he had sloppy moments.

Federer remains at #2, and for the moment a secure #2, but his title here last year was the first big result of his big spring of 2012. It’s going to be hard for him to regain #1 any time soon after this!

Julien Benneteau scores the win of his life, but of course the ATP doesn’t have bonus points any more. He’ll gain two or three spots, but he remains below #35.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (2) J del Potro def. J Nieminen 6-3 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro isn’t going to move this week, but he is now obviously the favorite to win the title….

Singles – Quarterfinal: (5) G Simon def. M Klizan 6-7(6-8) 6-3 3-0, retired (Cramping)

What a week for dud endings…. Martin Klizan will probably be #28, but this is the fifth match this week to end in a retirement.

Singles – Quarterfinal: G Dimitrov def. M Baghdatis 6-7(4-7) 7-6(7-0) 6-3

Grigor Dimitrov continues to press his case for some sort of most improved player award. He will be moving above #35 — ahead of Marcos Baghdatis. He may not have much left, though; he leapt over the net after the match — and declared that to be the last energy he had.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (1) Granollers/Lopez def. Knowle/Polasek 6-2 6-4

Sao Paulo (Thursday)

Singles – Second Round: (1) (WC) R Nadal def. (Q) J Souza 6-3 6-4

Rafael Nadal is complaining about his knee, and about the courts here, and he pulled out of the doubles — but no signs of singles problems so far….

Singles – Second Round: (2) N Almagro def. (Q) P Capdeville 6-4 6-7(3-7) 6-2

Other than Nadal, Nicolas Almagro is the only seed left — and that just barely. Lucky for him he will be #11 no matter what.

Singles – Second Round: S Bolelli def. (3) J Monaco 7-5 6-2

Is Juan Monaco still suffering the Post Davis Cup blues? It’s too early to know just where he will end up, but it will be no better than #14.

Singles – Second Round: F Volandri def. (5) T Bellucci 6-3 6-2

Pretty amazing based on recent results — but Filippo Volandri is defending finalist points; he needs to make a last stand here. He drops Thomaz Bellucci below #35.

Singles – Second Round: A Montanes def. (7) P Andujar 7-5 6-2

Pablo Andujar will remain around #45. Albert Montanes seems to be showing that, yes, he does still have something left. At least as long as the surface is clay.

Singles – Second Round: C Berlocq def. (8) A Ramos 7-6(9-7) 6-4

And so the elimination of low seeds is complete. This probably means no return to the Top Fifty for Albert Ramos.

Singles – Second Round: D Nalbandian def. G Pella 6-4 6-2

Too bad for David Nalbandian that he faces Almagro next. Even in his current somewhat dilapidated state, Nalbandian could probably handle most of the other players here.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (2) Peya/Soares def. Cabal/Giraldo 6-4 6-2

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (3) Cermak/Mertinak def. (WC) Demoliner/Zerbini 6-4 7-6(7-5)

Friday so far….

(1) R Nadal (WC) def. C Berlocq 3-6 6-4 6-4

Earlier this week, Juan Martin del Potro disagreed with Rafael Nadal on the damage hardcourt takes on knees. At least, on del Potro’s knees. We couldn’t help but think about that. Would the damage hardcourts do depend on who is playing on them?

It very possibly might. Nadal’s game is much more dependent on speed than del Potro’s. What’s more, Nadal is shorter, so that he takes more steps to run a certain distance. And he’s running faster, so his feet suffer a greater change in velocity. Modern technology would theoretically give us enough information to know just how many strides each player takes, and how hard they land — but if anyone has gathered it, we haven’t heard about it. As a wild guess, Nadal has twice as many impacts as del Potro. On the other hand, del Potro has more mass, so he’ll put a little more of a “hit” behind each step. So Nadal might (as a wild, wild guess) take about 1.6 times as much “knee impact” as del Potro. A big difference. So maybe del Potro is right: The player matters as well as the surface.

It will be interesting to see how much more running Nadal can do. He went down an early break in the third set of this, but managed to get it back in game six. And went on to the win. But he was out there for two hours and twenty minutes, and it was the late match….

Singles – Quarterfinal: D Nalbandian def. (2) N Almagro 7-6(7-5) 3-6 7-6(7-3)

OK, so David Nalbandian could handle Almagro after all. If nothing else, Nalbandian still has stamina. He knocks out the defending champion — although Nicolas Almagro will certainly keep the #11 ranking he came in with.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (LL) M Alund def. F Volandri 7-5 7-6(7-5)

What a week for Martin Alund! He’s now firmly in the Top Hundred. And Filippo Volandri, last year’s finalist, is out of the Top Hundred. We’d guess he’s out permanently.

Singles – Quarterfinal: S Bolelli def. A Montanes 6-4 6-4

Not the best sign for Albert Montanes’s comeback. This was a match he should have been able to win.

San Jose

Thursday

Singles – Second Round: (1) M Raonic def. M Russell 6-2 7-5

Can Milos Raonic go out of here as the two-time, and undefeated, champion? It’s looking good so far.

Singles – Second Round: (3) S Querrey def. L Hewitt 7-6(8-6) 1-6 7-6(7-4)

Sam Querrey came in here at #20, but with Tommy Haas adding points, he needs a final to stay there. That’s looking a bit problematic.

Singles – Second Round: (6) D Istomin def. B Becker 6-3 6-7(5-7) 6-2

Denis Istomin was last year’s finalist, and needs to repeat that result to stay Top Fifty. This was a tough way to stay alive….

Singles – Second Round: Alejandro Falla def. (7) M Matosevic 6-4 6-4

Clearly Alejandro Falla was right to play here…. He came here ranked just seven spots behind Marinko Matosevic; he may end up the higher of the two.

Singles – Second Round: (8) X Malisse def. M Ebden 5-7 7-5 7-6(7-1)

This took almost two and a half hours. It will be interesting to see what Xavier Malisse has left.

Singles – Second Round: S Johnson (WC) def. T Smyczek (Q) 6-3 6-3

Tim Smyczek has now won his opener at his last four ATP events straight. But only once in his career has he made it past a second round — at this event, two years ago. Had he done it again this year, he would surely have made the Top Hundred; as it is, we’ll have to wait and see.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (WC) Hewitt/Matosevic def. (1) Bryan/Bryan 6-4 6-7(4-7) 10-7

Funny. Lleyton Hewitt couldn’t beat Sam Querrey in singles, but — playing with a weak partner — he beat the Bryans in doubles! Maybe he should think about doubles-specialist-dom.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: Elgin/Istomin def. (3) Gonzalez/Lipsky 6-4 6-4

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (4) Malisse/Moser def. (Alt) Ebden/Russell 6-3 6-3

Doubles – Quarterfinal: Falla/Farah def. de Voest/Haas 5-7 7-6(7-3) 10-6

Friday so far….

Singles – Quarterfinal: (4) T Haas def. (WC) S Johnson 6-4 6-2

No question now: Tommy Haas is back in the Top Twenty. And he is once again Germany’s #1 player, ahead of Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Topics: Juan Martin Del Potro, Julien Benneteau, Martin Klizan, men tennis update, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News