Game, Set, Match News
Gael Monfils really does like playing in France. And indoor hardcourts. This was career final #21. He has won only five of them. Four of the titles (Metz 2009, Montpellier 2010, Stockholm 2011, and now Montpellier 2013) have been on indoor hardcourts, and three (all but Stockholm 2011) have been in France. This marks the first time he has ever won a title twice.
Eugenie Bouchard has been getting better almost daily in recent months. It showed in the first set of her match with Serbia's Vesna Dolonc; Bouchard blasted through it in twenty minutes. Then -- perhaps she realized that she was a set away from winning the tie.
The difference here was probably the second serves. Jerzy Janowicz won only 56% of his second serve points; Richard Gasquet won 70%. And so Gasquet is back in the final. He will stay at #9; Janowicz will stay at #21. It's almost as if this match didn't happen....
At least it looks as if the Russians will soon be out of their misery. As soon as the teams were announced, it was obvious that the Russians would be overmatched by Australia, but the actual contest was more sad than anything else.
So much for any thought of Paul-Henri Mathieu staging some sort of comeback here. He'll remain somewhere far south of #125. But defending champion Richard Gasquet now needs only one more win to keep the #9 ranking.
French players won four of five matches on the day as the home indoor event began to gain pace. Unknown Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Andres Artunedo of Spain 6-4, 6-3 while No. 249 qualifier Albano Olivetti put out compatriot Kenny De Schepper 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 with a 14-ace performance.
Australian Samantha Stosur is baffled by the lack of name recognition of a Russian team of total unknowns which will face Australia in Tasmania in weekend Fed Cup first-round play. Top Russian is the anonymous Victoria Kan on No. 158 and playing for a nation boasting six players in the top 35.
Ivo Karlovic blasted a record-leveling 44 aces in a three-set match to beat Daniel Brands 6-7(4), 7-5 7-6(3) and begin his campaign at home on a high note. The performance tied that of Australian Mark Philippoussis, set October, 1995, in Kuala Lumpur.
Almost all of the Russian women were unavailable for the tie, with Maria Sharapova most notably doing TV color work at the Sochi Olympics. Also playing for the visitors: No.650 Veronika Kudermetova and 259th-ranked Valeria Solovyeva.
Despite a brave effort from Sam Querrey, No. 6 Andy Murray clinched Great Britain’s first Davis Cup Quarterfinals appearance since 1986 on Sunday, beating the 49th-ranked American, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-3, on red clay at Petco Park in San Diego.
Was it Kei Nishikori, or was it the Tennis Gods? Consider this: Canada's three top singles players all went down in the Davis Cup tie with Japan. Milos Raonic wasn't even with the team due to an ankle injury. Vasek Pospisil had to pull out of the doubles with a back injury. That left singles duty to Frank Dancevic
This arguably should have gone the other way, and in straight sets. Sara Errani seemed to be cruising into the second set, breaking in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's first service game -- only to lose seven straight games. It looked as if the marathon she had played the night before had cost her.
The #1 way to get ahead in Davis Cup is to have great players. But the #1 way to falter is to lack players who can fill in when your top players go down. And that, unfortunately, was what has happened to Canada. Milos Raonic was already out, and as had been feared, on Saturday we learned that Vasek Pospisil was unavailable also.
Maria Sharapova's extremely disappointing 2014 continues. This event should have been her chance to get back to #4. Instead, after firing back-to-back double-faults to lose the final game of the match, she stays stuck at #5.
These are all free points for Maria Sharapova; if she can win her next two matches, she will regain the #4 ranking from Agnieszka Radwanska. She leaves Kirsten Flipkens at #20.
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