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WTA Marrakech - Women's Final
6 Francesca Schiavone d Lourdes Dominguez Lino - 61 63
And the old lady bags WTA title #6.
Her 1st since winning at Strasbourg last May.
It's really hard not to like this charismatic 2010 French Open champ.
Post match: I'm just enjoying playing for these crowds and
giving the fans the best that I can give.
She's always been a generous giver!
Bucharest ATP 250 - Men's Final
Lukas Rosol d Guillermo Garcia-Lopez - 63 62
It was at Wimby a year ago that he made his name beating Rafael Nadal.
Today he won his very first ATP title.
But it wasn't without great heartache as his father died 10 days ago.
Post match: I wanted to dedicate this trophy to someone,
so I found the energy. I felt somebody was helping me from up top.
It’s not just about me. My family has always supported me and my tennis.
I felt match after match, my dream was coming true.
A big blogger hug to you, Lukas.
WTA Stuttgart - Women's Final
1 Maria Sharapova d 2 Li Na - 64 63
Title #29 represents a defense of her win at Stuttgart last year.
This is her 7th clay title and 4th of the last 2 clay seasons.
Suddenly she is the default 'queen of clay' - can she keeps this up?
She had a tough week being pushed to 3 3-setters but came thru.
Post match: No matter how difficult those other matches were or
how tired I was, I stepped it up today.
This is shaping up to be a fun road to Roland Garros.
Barcelona ATP 500 - Men's Final
2 Rafael Nadal d 4 Nicolas Almagro - 64 63
This is Rafa's 8th title at BCN - he's only lost 1 match here - 10 years ago.
This marks his 54th title and 39th on clay.
He is now 13-0 against fellow Spaniards in finals. And 10-0 against Nico.
If that weren't enough - Rafa is the only man to win 2 tournies 8 times.
And he'll be looking for an 8th in about a month at Roland Garros.
Post: I feel very happy to lift the trophy once again here in Barcelona.
It means a lot especially after the difficult year I’ve had.
But what a comeback: 6 finals in 6 tournies - winning 4 of them.
In fact, he is the tour leader is titles so far in 2013.
Talk about a big vamos.
And the point of the match - Rafa's twenner realness:
Barcelona ATP 500 - Men's Quarterfinal
4 Nicolas Almagro d 7 Juan Monaco - 63 75
Nico reaches his 4th Sf on the season: 1-2 and 3rd Sf here at BCN: 0-2.
He'll play a very winnable foe in Philipp Kohlschreiber - H2H: 4-3/Nico.
But... Nico leads 3-1 on clay. I've got a good feeling...
Post match: I've felt great during this week and I'm going to fight
to reach my first final here in Barcelona.
WTA Stuttgart - Women's Quarterfinal
1 Maria Sharapova d Ana Ivanovic - 75 46 64
The queen of clay (well she was las year) is still on course to defend.
Remember: last year she won clay titles at Stuttgart, Rome & the French.
That's a lot of points to protect in the coming 6 weeks.
But Masha is playing some awesome ball in the last year so...
Will she finally win a 2nd title at a single Slam?
It would be freaky for that to happen on clay at Roland Garros.
But hey, freaky happens.
Barcelona ATP 500 - Men's Second Round
2 Rafael Nadal d Carlos Berlocq - 64 62
Seems M-C is a distant memory as Rafa extends his win streak here to 35.
He has not lost a match here in 10 years and is looking for title #8.
Since his return at Vina Del Mar it's been nothing but finals - 3-2:
Vina Del Mar (RU), Brazil (W), Acapulco (W), Indian Wells (W), M-C (RU).
Hard to imagine he won't make it 6 finals out of 6 tournies played.
He'll next face Benoit Parre (ranked 33) - they've never played.
And heading toward possible matches against...
Nishikori, Berdych, Raonic, Almagro and Monaco.
Like I said, it's hard to imagine him not winning the title this week.
Course I just jinx him.
Barcelona ATP 500 - Men's Second Round
Q Dmitry Tursunov d 1 David Ferrer - 75 36 61
That old dog nicknamed Dima still has a few tricls up his sleeve.
Quite impressive as Ferrer entered as the runner-up the last 2 years.
Currently ranked #66 he'll get a nifty little boost up on Monday.
Post match: It wasn't Ferrer's best match. He didn't play his best tennis.
He had the advantage over me because he's been playing on clay.
But I played very quickly and I didn't make it easy for him.
Ferrer was the favourite based on surface and ranking.
It was a match where there were a lot of opportunities for both players.
He gets Bellucci next so maybe one more upset is in the offing?
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Final
1 Novak Djokovic d 3 Rafael Nadal - 62 76(1)
Let's just hear from a happy Nole from his Facebook right up front:
Dreamed of winning this tournament for a long time!
Dear ATP World Tour, no need to ship my trophy, it stays right here :)
Meaning, at his home in Monte-Carlo:
This is Nole's 37th ATP title and his 8th on clay.
It's also his 14th Masters 1000 title out of 24 finals.
He's now won all the current M1000 titles except for at Cincinnati.
Where he has finished runner-up on 4 occasions.
Nole also closed the H2H gap on Rafa to 15-19.
He ties Rafa with most titles on the year with 3: Aussie Open & Dubai.
We will next see Nole at Madrid and Rafa next week at Barcelona.
Interesting to note - they could meet in the Qf's at Roland Garros.
Which would suck. Wake up RG seeding committee, seed Rafa #4.
Hello.
ATP MAsters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Final Preview
1 Novak Djokovic vs 3 Rafael Nadal - H2H: 19-14/Rafa
Round 34 will be played on Rafa's turf. Well, Nole's turf too.
Rafa is going for a 9th straight title at MC and Nole has made MC his home.
Let's breakdown the head-to-head a little more:
Clay: 12-2/Rafa --- Finals: 8-7/Rafa --- at M-C: 2-0/Rafa
On paper it looks like Rafa's match. But he's still on the comeback trail.
It'll be a huge test. But Factor in Nole's ankle problem.
Who know's. I'd bet Rafa in a 3 set thriller. But really it's 50-50.
***
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Semifinals
3 Rafael Nadal d 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - 63 76(3)
For the 2nd match in-a-row Rafa made a mess of the 2nd set.
Let's see... he served for it twice and had match point in 2 JW games.
Rafa will go for a 9th straight title in a tourney he calls his favorite.
It's amazing. It's unprecendented. It's historic.
***
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Semifinals
1 Novak Djokovic d Fabio Fognini - 62 61
What ankle injury?
Nole is in his 3rd MC final - he lost the last 2 to RafaL '09 & '12.
He is looking for his 14th M1000 title and 37th on the ATP tour.
His main focus this year is a title at Roland Garros.
This would be a major first step in obtaining that goal.
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Quarterfinal
Fabio Fognini d 7 Richard Gasquet - 76(0) 62
He has never even been close to a Masters 1000 Sf before.
He's played 32 M1000 main draws and has been to the 3rd round 3 times.
That's it.
His reward - he gets Novak in the semi's: 4-0.
He has taken 2 sets off of Nole including last month at Indian Wells.
And who knows how Nole's bum ankle will turn up tomorrow.
Post match: This is one of the best performances ever for me.
It's my first semi-final at a Masters 1000.
I have another opportunity to play with a great player here in the
centre court in front of so many people, special friends and family.
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Quarterfinal
3 Rafael Nadal d Grigor Dimitrov - 62 26 64
It may not have been pretty but Rafa's kept his quest for a 9th title alive.
Rafa just won his 45th straight match at MC and is now 20-1 for 2013.
But this match was very much one that could have gotten away from him.
Post match: I know that when you have these tough matches,
it is decisive to keep fighting. If you keep fighting, you will lose some ones,
but you will have a chance to win a lot of ones, too.
I gave that fight. Finally he had his chance, and I had my one,
and I converted. That's it. I think I played better the last couple of games.
Obviously I'm trying to find better rhythm all the time.
In my opinion, I did it in the end. It was great.
For his Rafanatics it was great.
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Third Round
Grigor Dimitrov d Florian Mayer - 62 64
Baby Fed Grigor finally makes his first quarterfinal at a Masters event.
A loss tomorrow will bump him from #36 to around #25.
I say 'a loss' because he next will play the King of Clay.
About that: I know tomorrow is another point of view,
since clay court you're playing against the greatest of all time.
There's that feeling and anxiety that you want to come out and
do the best you can. I think most of all you have to keep a good composure.
Remember: He's 22 next month - the age Roger kicked off his GOAT-ness.
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Third Round
3 Rafael Nadal d 16 Philipp Kohlschreiber - 62 64
And that's 44 straight match wins at Monte-Carlo.
Nuf said.
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Third Round
13 Stanislas Wawrinka d 2 Andy Murray - 61 62
It's not often Andy loses in under an hour but today Stan wholloped him.
Swiss brotherhood: Stan's win helped Roger get back to #2 next week.
This is his 3rd M-C Qf: 1-1. He'll next play Tsonga - I'll call that 50-50.
Post match: He's an amazing player. He's always tough to beat.
Therefore, to beat Andy that easy was a big surprise, for sure.
I'm playing really good, really strong, really confident with my game.
I know what he's looking for in his game. He's playing slow,
he's playing from the baseline, he's not putting so much pressure.
For me on clay, it's perfect.
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - Men's Second Round
1 Novak Djokovic d Mikhail Youzhny - 46 61 64
Phew... That was a little closer than Nole might have liked.
But remember he suffered a severe ankle twist just 10 days ago.
It can't be 100% so he's lucky to be playing. Let's see how far he goes.
***
2 Andy Murray d Q Edouardo Roger-Vasselin - 61 64
Andy has been in M-C practicing for a week or so...
He's keen on proving himself on clay.
He's never been to a clay court final on tour.
Tho he's been to a couple Sf's here at M-C.
He got a tough draw this week so that 1st clay final may have to wait.
***
3 Rafael Nadal d Marinko Matosevic - 61 62
In the 9 years Rafa has played here he's lost ONE match.
And he's only given up EIGHT sets. These are crazy stats.
In his eight straight title runs he's not lost a set before the Sf's.
That won't change tomorrow against 16 Kohlschreiber either.
ATP 250 Houston - Men's Final
5 John Isner d 1 Nicolas Almagro - 63 75
John won his 6 title and has now won an ATP title 4 years running.
Post match: I've always known I could play well on clay.
Then two days later he's across the Atlantic playing at M-C.
***
ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - First Round
Ernests Gulbis d w/c John Isner - 46 62 63
I'm thinking he should have pulled from this tournament.
But he asked for a wild-card and I suppose he didn't want to waffle.
Almagro (Houston runner-up) barely got out of the first round himself.
This has to be one of the toughest turn-arounds in tennis.
Rest up. This is just the start of the long European swing.
ATP 250 Casablanca - Men's Final
Tommy Robredo d 2 Kevin Anderson - 76(6) 46 63
It's seems to be a great time for the over 30 set in tennis.
A few weeks shy of his 31st birthday and Tommy wins a sweet title.
This is his 11th title - 10th on clay. And his 1st in more that 2 years.
It must feel good as his ranking dipped into the 400's last year.
Tommy: Today, I was pretty nervous since this is very important for me.
I really wanted to win this.
I'm very happy to win a title again after my injury. It's just great!
Those points will help me a lot in the ranking.
The goal is to arrive in Roland Garros in the best form possible.
He's not too far off from being seeded at RG.
Another good run somewhere and you just never know...
And the GOAT is practicing ahead of his clay court season.
Looks like his back feels much better.
But he's elected to skip Monte-Carlo next week. He'll see him in Madrid.
And he's jumping into the fire as he'll play there as the defending champ.
He also has Sf showings to defend at Rome and Roland Garros.
He's taken the approach of resting and playing the big ones...
At some point that's gonna start backfiring on him, I would think.
But we are talking about Roger Federer so he'll probably shut me up.
Ryan Harrison Opts for Challenger Tournaments and Moves Up the Rankings
Before the start of the Savannah challenger tourny Ryan was ranked #100.
With the trophy lift on Sunday he bumped that ranking up to #81.
Will lightning strike twice?
This week he's playing the challenger at Tallahassee.
I suppose that feels better than qualifying for tourneys in Europe.
He'll need to go across soon tho.
But in the meantime gobble those challenger points Ryan.
Posted at 06:33 PM in Commentary, Mens Tennis, Rankings, Ryan Harrison | Permalink | Comments (0)
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