Halle
While not the focus of the day, the doubles debut of Roger Federer and Tommy Haas, a pair of former singles champions, drew the biggest interest on opening day. But the fairytale duo started poorly, losing their first-round match against former Wimbledon winners Jurgen Melzer of Austria and German Philipp Petzschner 76(3), 64. The defeat will hopefully not bode poorly for the singles chances of five-time winner Federer and holder Haas.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Canadian Milos Raonic, now coached by former top 5 Croatian Ivan Ljubicic started with a doubles victory over Aisam Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 67(4), 76(5), 10-3.
In singles, only a handful of matches were scheduled on the stadium which is built to be a miniature version of Wimbledon’s Centre court, with German eighth seed Florian taking a victory over Martin Fischer 6-2, 6-2. Czech Jan Hernych put out Daniel Brands 6-2, 6-4 a fortnight after the German gave Rafael Nadal an early fright at the French Open.
Russian veteran Mikhail schooled Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-1, 6-2 and German Mischa Zverev eliminated Belgian David Goffin in a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 comeback.
London
Plucky qualifier Dan Evans made a fighting start for Britain on home grass as he beat Argentine Guido Pella 6-3, 6-1 to begin the pre=Wimbledon season in west London. But compatriots Jamie Baker and James ward met a more familiar fate with first-round losses at the elite tune-up event.
French ninth seed Benoit Paire handed Baker a 7-5, 6-2 loss while 2012 semi-finalist Ivan Dodig fired 18 aces and worked for two and three-quarter hours to beat Ward 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 7-6(2). The Brit had his chances, missing on two match points and also serving twice for the match.
Andy Murray is making his comeback after the back injury from May which kept the world No. 2 and former champion away form the French Open, but will not play until Wednesday in his season grass debut.
Only moments into the match, the No. 277 Evans took a nasty sliding fall on the grass and was treated on court during the second game. But he brushed off the incident to take the win. “I guess we’ll see if it’s pretty sore tonight if there’s anything wrong with it. I heard a bit of a crack and a crunch.
“It was a good match. I started well last week also (Nottingham Challenger, quarter-finals). The Brits have had one more extra week on the grass than most other players. This was a good way to start and get some matches on the grass.”
A pair of Dutchmen reached the second round as Thiemo de Bakker defeated Ilija Bozoljac of Serbia 6-2, 7-6(5) and Igor Sijsling beat Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 7-5. Australian Marinko Matosevic overcame Wimbledon doubles champion Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 7-5, 6-2.
Four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt completed an Aussie double as he fought back to beat American Michael Russell 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. There were also wins for Santiago Giraldo, Aljaz Bedene and Xavier Malisse.
RANKINGS
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of June 10, 2013
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Djokovic……….11830
2..(2) Murray………….8310
3..(3) Federer…………7505
4..(4) Ferrer………….7220
5..(5) Nadal…………..6895
6..(6) Berdych…………4515
7..(7) Tsonga………….4155
8..(8) Del Potro……….3960
9..(9) Gasquet…………3090
10.(10) Wawrinka………..2810
11.(13) Nishikori……….2495
12.(11) Haas……………2425
13.(12) Cilic…………..2410
14.(14) Tipsarevic………2390
15.(15) Raonic………….2225
16.(16) Almagro…………2195
17.(17) Simon…………..1985
18.(18) Kohlschreiber……1885
19.(19) Querrey…………1810
20.(20) Monaco………….1740
21.(21) Isner…………..1735
22.(22) Janowicz………..1591
23.(23) Anderson………..1510
24.(24) Dolgopolov………1500
25.(25) Paire…………..1450
26.(26) Seppi…………..1440
27.(27) Chardy………….1416
28.(30) Robredo…………1355
29.(31) Fognini…………1345
30.(28) Dimitrov………..1330
DRAWS
Halle — Week of May 10
1 Federer
–bye
Stebe (WC)
J Wang (Q)
Zverev (WC)
Goffin
Petzschner
7 Janowicz
3 Haas
–bye
Baghdatis
Gulbis
Hernych (Q)
Brands
Monfils
5 Raonic
6 Kohlschreiber
Berlocq
Kamke
Kubot
Youzhny
Gimeno-Traver
–bye
4 Nishikori
8 F Mayer
M Fischer (Q)
Struff (WC)
L Mayer
Melzer
Ghedin (Q)
–bye
2 Gasquet
Queen’s — Week of May 10
1 Murray
–bye
Mahut
Williams
Nielsen (LL)
Matosevic
Llodra
15 Andujar
12 Rosol
Groth (Q)
Becker
Tomic
Giraldo
Levine
–bye
7 Dolgopolov (WC)
4 Tsonga
–bye
Rufin
Roger-Vasselin
Ito
Sijsling
And. Kuznetsov
14 Istomin
9 Paire
J Baker (Q)
Delbonid
Kudla
de Schepper
R Ram
–bye
8 K Anderson
6 Querrey
–bye
Bedene
Mathieu
Hewitt
Russell
Sela
10 Dimitrov
13 Nieminen
Harrison
Pella
Evans (WC)
Garcia-Lopez
Malisse
–bye
3 del Potro
5 Cilic
–bye
Dodig
Ward (WC)
Lopez (Q)
Berankis
Mannarino
11 Benneteau
16 Zemlja
Edmund (WC)
Corrie (WC)
Stakhovsky
de Bakker
Bozoljac (Q)
–bye
2 Berdych
MONDAY
Halle
Singles – First Round
[8] F Mayer (GER) d [Q] M Fischer (AUT) 62 62
[WC] M Zverev (GER) d D Goffin (BEL) 16 64 75
[Q] J Hernych (CZE) d D Brands (GER) 64 62
M Youzhny (RUS) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 61 62
Doubles – First Round
K Nishikori (JPN) / M Raonic (CAN) d [1] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED) 67(4) 76(5) 10-3
J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER) d R Federer (SUI) / T Haas (GER) 76(3) 64
London
Singles – First Round
[9] B Paire (FRA) d [Q] J Baker (GBR) 75 62
[10] G Dimitrov (BUL) d D Sela (ISR) 46 62 76(4)
M Matosevic (AUS) d [LL] F Nielsen (DEN) 75 62
S Giraldo (COL) d J Levine (CAN) 64 64
E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d G Rufin (FRA) 67(1) 75 76(5)
I Sijsling (NED) d T Ito (JPN) 63 75
D Kudla (USA) d F Delbonis (ARG) 60 63
A Bedene (SLO) d P Mathieu (FRA) 76(5) 63
L Hewitt (AUS) d M Russell (USA) 46 61 63
[WC] D Evans (GBR) d G Pella (ARG) 63 61
X Malisse (BEL) d G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 64 57 64
I Dodig (CRO) d [WC] J Ward (GBR) 67(8) 76(2) 76(2)
S Stakhovsky (UKR) d [WC] E Corrie (GBR) 64 76(1)
T de Bakker (NED) d [Q] I Bozoljac (SRB) 62 76(5)
Doubles – First Round
N Mahut (FRA) / J Tsonga (FRA) d J Nieminen (FIN) / G Simon (FRA) 75 75
R Harrison (USA) / S Querrey (USA) d [Alt] P Mathieu (FRA) / M Matosevic (AUS) 46 63 10-5
M Cilic (CRO) / J Del Potro (ARG) d P Andujar (ESP) / F Lopez (ESP) 62 64