Men and Women Tennis Update – Doha, Rotterdam, Sao Paulo, San Jose

Written by: Staff on 17th February 2013

Men and Women Tennis Update - Doha, Rotterdam, Sao Paulo, San Jose

epa03588855 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal poses bites the trophy of champion of the Brazil's Tennis Open after winning the final match against Argentinian David Nalbandian at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 17 February 2013. EPA/Sebastião Moreira |

Rotterdam (Saturday)

Singles – Semifinal: (2) J del Potro def. G Dimitrov 6-4 6-4
Back to the final for Juan Martin del Potro — and no Roger Federer waiting this time. He can’t quite rise to #6 this week, but a title would make it much more likely in the coming weeks. Grigor Dimitrov will be probably #34.

Singles – Semifinal: J Benneteau def. (5) G Simon 6-4 7-6(7-2)
That might make Roger Federer feel a little better. Not much, though, most likely. Julien Benneteau’s ranking, on the other hand, should feel a lot better — he’ll rise to probably #31. Gilles Simon will be #13.

Doubles – Semifinal: (3) Lindstedt/Zimonjic def. (1) Granollers/Lopez 6-2 7-6(12-10)
This is the first truly positive sign this year for Lindstedt/Zimonjic. Maybe there is hope for them after all.

Doubles – Semifinal: (WC) de Bakker/Huta Galung def. (4) Fyrstenberg/Matkowski 6-4 7-5

Sao Paulo (Friday)

Singles – Quarterfinal: (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)
If nothing else, David 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.

Doubles – Quarterfinal: Bolelli/Fognini def. Bellucci/Souza 6-4 7-6(7-4)

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) Peya/Soares def. Marach/Zeballos 3-6 7-6(10-8) 12-10

Saturday

Singles – Semifinal: (1) R Nadal (WC) def. (LL) M Alund 6-3 6-7(2-7) 6-1
Rafael Nadal can’t seem to finish a match quickly around here, but somehow he keeps winning. He now has back-to-back finals in his comeback — but no rankings movement. It’s Martin Alund who is moving; he will hit a career high, probably above #100.

Singles – Semifinal: D Nalbandian def. S Bolelli 6-3 7-5
Officially this is an upset — David Nalbandian came in at #93, Simone Bolelli at #80. Of course, Nalbandian has a lot more experience. He’ll be rising a lot — but he’ll lose a bunch of those points next week, so it may not make any real difference.

Doubles – Semifinal: (3) Cermak/Mertinak def. Bolelli/Fognini walkover – Fognini (Left Leg)

San Jose

FRIDAY

Singles – Quarterfinal: (1) M Raonic def. (6) D Istomin 7-6(7-0) 6-3
This was a replay of last year’s final, so it was sure to be bad news for someone. In this case, Denis Istomin, who falls out of the Top Fifty.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (2) J Isner def. (8) X Malisse 7-6(10-8) 6-2
John Isner and Milos Raonic are slugging it out for the last Top Fifteen place. Unfortunately for Isner, he needs a title to earn any points. That plus Raonic’s quarterfinal win means that Isner now must win the title to make it to #15.

Singles – Quarterfinal: (3) S Querrey def. A Falla 6-3 4-6 7-5
One more win and Sam Querrey stays Top Twenty.

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.

Doubles – Semifinal: (WC) Hewitt/Matosevic def. Elgin/Istomin 6-6(7-9) 7-6(7-2) 10-5
Once again we are impressed and surprised by Lleyton Hewitt’s doubles results, at least by comparison with his singles.

Saturday so far….

Singles – Semifinal: (4) T Haas def. (2) J Isner 6-3 6-4
John Isner’s serve wasn’t at its best on this day, and for him, that comes close to being fatal. In this case, that means no return to the Top Fifteen; Milos Raonic will have the last Top Fifteen spot. Tommy Haas is still at #18 in safe points — but he also has his first final in half a year.

(Women) Doha

Singles – Semifinal: (1) Victoria Azarenka def. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-3
Same old same old. Agnieszka Radwanska just can’t seem to threaten the top three players. She will stay #4.

Singles – Semifinal: (2) Serena Williams def. (3) Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-2
Serena Williams already had the #1 ranking in the bag, but the better her results here, the better her chances of staying there. She leaves Maria Sharapova at #3, and now a rather weak #3; Sharapova needed to win this to stay a serious competitor for #1.

Doubles – Semifinal: (1) Errani/Vinci def. (6) Groenefeld/Peschke 1-6 7-6.(3) 11-9

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) Petrova/Srebotnik def. (3) Kops-Jones/Spears 3-6 6-3 12-10
It is going to be very difficult for anyone to overtake Errani/Vinci in the doubles rankings any time soon, but #3/#4 Hlavackova/Hradecka haven’t been playing especially well. Nadia Petrova is looking as if the #3 ranking could come to her soon.

Topics: Doha tennis news, Rafael Nadal, Rotterdam tennis news, San Jose tennis news, Sao Paulo tennis news