Men Tennis Update – Dubai,Acapulco, and Delray Beach Thursday, February 28, 2013

Written by: Staff on 27th February 2013

Men Tennis Update - Dubai,Acapulco, and Delray Beach Thursday, February 28, 2013

epa03601730 Michael Llodra of France returns the ball to his countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis ATP Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 26 February 2013. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

Dubai

The Story So Far:

TUESDAY: M Llodra def. (5) J Tsonga 7-6(7-3) 6-2

Michael Llodra’s ranking just took a beating, so he can use this, but still, it makes you wonder about Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s motivation. He’ll stay #8.

TUESDAY: N Davydenko def. (6) J Tipsarevic 6-0 7-5

Fewer questions here; Janko Tipsarevic currently seems pretty battered. But he remains stuck at #9, and isn’t likely to go higher any time soon.

TUESDAY: V Hanescu def. B Tomic 3-2, retired (illness)

Bernard Tomic remains below #40.

Wednesday

Singles – Second Round: (1) N Djokovic def. R Bautista Agut 6-1 7-6(7-4)

No one will be gaining any ground on Novak Djokovic this week if he can keep this up.

Singles – Second Round: (2) R Federer def. M Granollers 6-3 6-4

Marcel Granollers remains two or three spots below the Top Thirty. He, at least, may be hoping rather desperately that Rafael Nadal fulfills his threat not to play the spring hardcourt Masters — that could be the difference in whether Granollers gets seeded.

Singles – Second Round: (3) T Berdych def. T Kamke 7-5 6-1

If Tomas Berdych wins his next match, he’ll start to earn points, but he can’t move this week….

Singles – Second Round: (4) J Del Potro def. (PR) S Devvarman 6-4 6-4

Indeed, Berdych might yet fall. He is only 135 points ahead of Juan Martin del Potro. Of course, Del Potro has the bigger eighteenth event. So del Potro needs a title to move up, and he needs to face someone other than Berdych in the final.

Singles – Second Round: (7) A Seppi def. L Rosol 6-4 7-6(7-4)

One more win might let Andreas Seppi rise to #19 — but that win has to come against Djokovic.

Singles – Second Round: (Q) D Brands def. (8) M Youzhny 6-4 6-4

Daniel Brands is on a real hot streak all of a sudden. Mikhail Youzhny is likely to return to the Top Thirty despite the loss, but he loses the chance to build up any cushion.

Singles – Second Round: (WC) D Tursunov def. M Llodra 7-6(7-5) 2-6 6-3

Speaking of hot streaks… Dmitry Tursunov is back in the Top Hundred and climbing fast. The last two weeks have been probably his best in two years.

Singles – Second Round: N Davydenko def. V Hanescu 6-4 7-6(7-2)

Nikolay Davydenko is on the verge of a return to the Top Forty; one more win would clinch it.

Doubles – First Round: Bopanna/Ram def. (2) Qureshi/Rojer 6-4 6-4

Rohan Bopanna really seems to have the number of his old partner Aisam Qureshi; that’s two wins in a row, and with two different partners.

Doubles – First Round: (4) Fyrstenberg/Matkowski def. Knowle/Polasek 6-3 6-2

Doubles – First Round: Bhupathi/Llodra def. Tipsarevic/Troicki 6-3 6-3

Doubles – First Round: Hanescu/Rosol def. (WC) Awadhy/Janahi 6-0 6-2 .

Doubles – Quarterfinal: (3) Lindstedt/Zimonjic def. Davydenko/Norman 6-1 6-4

Acapulco

The Story So Far:

MONDAY: J Sousa def. (5) J Melzer 6-4 6-3

Jurgen Melzer’s ranking just took a big hit (see the feature), and he shows no signs of overcoming his problems. He was just clinging to the Top Fifty; this won’t cost him any more points, but he may well end up below that mark.

TUESDAY: (2) R Nadal def. (Q) D Schwartzman 6-2 6-2

Rafael Nadal may be planning to skip the big hardcourt events, but no signs of clay troubles….

TUESDAY: F Fognini def. (4) S Wawrinka 6-2 7-6(7-4)

Stanislas Wawrinka gained points in Buenos Aires, but this costs him all those points and more; he was a semifinalist last year. He will lose at least one, and possibly two, ranking spots.

TUESDAY: P Lorenzi def. (7) B Paire 4-6 6-3 6-4

This made it four of eight seeds out in the first round (#6 Thomaz Bellucci is also out). Benoit Paire will not rise above #38.

Wednesday:

Singles – Second Round: (1) D Ferrer def. (Q) W Odesnik 6-2 6-1

Seven straight wins for David Ferrer, but the points so far are peanuts.

Singles – Second Round: (8) H Zeballos def. D Gimeno-Traver 6-2 6-3

This appears to guarantee that Horacio Zeballos will hit the Top Forty.

Singles – Second Round: S Giraldo def. J Sousa 7-6(10-8) 7-5

A big result for Santiago Giraldo, who still needs one more win to defend his semifinalist points from last year.

Delray Beach

The Story So Far:

MONDAY: I Dodig def. (5) A Dolgopolov 6-3 6-3

Another Top Twenty chance gone for Dolgopolov.

TUESDAY: G Soeda def. M Matosevic 2-6 6-4 7-6(8-6)

Marinko Matosevic was defending finalist points, but he was hurt. This costs him the Top Forty ranking he just gained.

TUESDAY: (6) K Anderson def. T Smyczek 6-3 6-4

A nice return to action for Anderson, but he is still closer to #40 than #30.

TUESDAY: I Karlovic def. (4) K Nishikori 5-4, retired

A depressing way to follow up a title. At least Nishikori didn’t have anything that needed to be defended; he’ll stay around #16.

Wednesday

It has been a very rainy day; they finished one doubles match (Levinsky/Lu def. Cerretani/Roger-Vasselin 6-4 7-5) but nothing in singles. So we’ll report anything that gets finished tomorrow.

Topics: Acapulco, Andreas Seppi, Delray Beach, Dubai, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Michael Llodra, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News