ATP 250: Mossele Open, St Petersburg

Tennis tour keeps rolling and comes back to Europe, to two 250 events: Mossele Open in Metz and St Petersburg, both played on indoor hard courts.

MOSELLE OPEN:

According to the ATP website: "Renowned for its yellow limestone architecture and for its reputation as 'The Green City,' Metz is a must-see French destination for international visitors. It is also home to the Moselle Open" and has strong field for a tournament of this size:
Defending champion Tsonga, Kohlschreiber, F. Mayer, Seppi, Granollers, MONFILS (now we know he's back and fine), Nieminen, Muller, Karlovic, Davydenko, PAIRE ,Blake, Malisse.

The Draw:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/341/mds.pdf

Order of Play:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/341/op.pdf

Official website:
http://www.moselle-open.com




ST PETERSBURG:

A relatively new tournament, "St. Petersburg is known for its thousands of beautifully preserved historic buildings of a rich architectural mix. Against this backdrop, the St. Petersburg Open began in 1995 when Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov lifted the trophy. Marat Safin won back-to-back titles in 2000-01 and Andy Murray became the only other winner of consecutive titles in 2007-08. "

Field comprises of defending champion Youzhny, Istomin, Klizan, Lacko, Fognini, Lu, Petzchner, Strakhovski, Serra, Kamke

The Draw:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/568/mds.pdf

Order of Play:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/568/op.pdf

Official Website:
http://www.spbopen.ru/eng/index.html


So some nice matches available this week. No rain delays. GUARANTEED

For James Blake fans: he is playing Olivetti of France at the moment, leading 5:2 in the first set.

I'll be watching Paire Malisse match tomorrow, for sure !

Also back in action: Monfils, Davydenko and Foot-fault king - Ivo Karlovic!

A bit annoyed with myself I never got round to watching Paire Malisse match, the nice weather was too tempting

Still, he seems to have thrashed him alright, so I won't repeat the same mistake on Thursday!

Davy, Le Monf and Mr Footfault through, as well.

Tsonga playing tomorrow.

Blake out in 3 against F. Mayer today. Tsonga through in straights.

Tomorrow, a few good matches on:

Match of the day: Paire vs Kohlschreiber

Davydenko vs PHM/Muller, Monfils vs Mahut should be fun, too.

In St Petersburg: Strakhovski vs Fognini

Monfils and Mahut slogging it out , Monfils wins first in tie-break.

And Monf wins 7:6 7:5. Mahut

He played with his heart, as usual.

Next up match of the day:
Paire vs Kholi, Go Ben!!!!!!!!!

After losing the first set, glorious Benoit serving for the second at 5:1

Tenez, where are you to translate what the crowd are saying?

And Ben goes down in the third . He really needs a good coach ASAP! someone to channel him and steady that fire.

For those who care :

In Metz:

Monfils beats Kohli in 3 after losing the first set in a tie-breaker.
Davydenko beats Karlovic, also in 3, 3rs set: bagel (first two, tie-breaks, what else!)

So, semi-final matches tomorrow:

Sepi - Monfils
&
Tsonga - Davydenko

In St Petersburg,

Klizan - Youzhny
Fognini - Gimeno- Traver (yes, what's a Spaniard doing in Russia, indoor hard...)

Seppi beats Monfils.

Davy after being bagelled, wins the second set 6-3 breaking Tsonga from 40-0 and will server first. Davy played some good returns and a dipping BH at Tsonga's feet.

Can he take the third set and the match?

will be interesting to see. I'd like to see a bit of a Davy come-back. Such a character!

Up in St Petersburg, Klizan, continues his break-through season and beats Youzhny in 3 sets for his first final (will play Fognini unless he chooses to retire )

Will tune in Davy Tsonga match now

laverfan wrote:Seppi beats Monfils.

Davy after being bagelled, wins the second set 6-3 breaking Tsonga from 40-0 and will server first. Davy played some good returns and a dipping BH at Tsonga's feet.

Can he take the third set and the match?

Wow!! I remember Davy beating Nadal after being bageled in the opening set. It was Doha 2010 I believe.
Can he do it today?

I think he could. Looks a bit stronger than Tsonga with his groundstrokes at the moment.

Silly Davy gets broken by his trademark spraying forehand....
Tsonga serving for facing Seppi in the final.

Great serving out performance from Tsonga, so he's through. Nice to see a bit of indoor tennis after a while...No wind, no glaring sun....

Tsonga vs Seppi in the final. Can be interesting. Seppi is playing well and Tsonga looks unsettled despite his wins.

Seppi's good opportunity to take his first title of the year.

Tsonga needs a coach, badly. Larry stefanki is an option now since Roddick retired.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Larry stefanki is an option now since Roddick retired.

With Larry it's going to be like Gilbert: Get fitter and defend more.

Do you have anyone else who could be the right person for the job?

Ideally someone who will give him confidence. Certainly by getting fitter but also by pushing him to stay closer to the baseline and go forward more. Anyone from Fed's camp but I am sure there are plenty similar out there.

A player like Tsonga it's all about execution....he just needs to execute a bit better and more consistently and his confidence will improve a lot.

Right. Anyone trying to transform his game to suite the current tennis is going to cause a catastrophic damage to a free flowing player like Tsonga. But who exactly among the current available people could do the job?

Also I wonder why doesn't Tsonga approach his old coach?

Tenez wrote:Ideally someone who will give him confidence. Certainly by getting fitter but also by pushing him to stay closer to the baseline and go forward more. Anyone from Fed's camp but I am sure there are plenty similar out there.

A player like Tsonga it's all about execution....he just needs to execute a bit better and more consistently and his confidence will improve a lot.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Right. Anyone trying to transform his game to suite the current tennis is going to cause a catastrophic damage to a free flowing player like Tsonga.

Both Tenez and ROTLA absolutely spot on about Tsonga here

He needs to attack from the baseline, and take charge of the match.
If his approach shot is good enough then he should also try and move in to the net when possible, his volleys are good and he can move (dive) very well when at the net.

However atm he loses his intensity too often in big tournaments. Mentally he has to stay focused for longer periods, a new coach could potentially help him with this.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Right. Anyone trying to transform his game to suite the current tennis is going to cause a catastrophic damage to a free flowing player like Tsonga. But who exactly among the current available people could do the job?

Also I wonder why doesn't Tsonga approach his old coach?

I thought Tsonga played well yesterday, his ball-striking is better than what I can remember. I think he's fine without a coach. He probably has a few who advise him anyway.

He'd need somebody very calm. Rafter?

Paire could possibly do with a first class coach.

Klizan demolishes Fognini in St Petersburg to win his first title: 6:2 6:3

Just as I was getting all ready and comofrtable to start watching Metz final, I realised CET was 1 hour ahead, not behind
Anyway, Tsonga does a Klizan and beats Seppi easily : 6:1 6:2.

That's it for this week of Atp tennis....

Tsonga has a support from the French DC coach.