ATP 250: Moscow, Vienna, Stockholm

Only three weeks (plus WTF) left in ATP 2013 calendar!!!
Where did the time go....

A few places for the WTF still available and maybe some crucial points to grab in order to edge out the competition. Tsonga, Gasquet and Raonic will all be keen to do well in these tournaments.


ATP 250 Kremlin Cup, indoor hard
Played indoors in Russia's bustling and chilly capital of Moscow in October, the Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow became the country's first pro international tennis tournament when it was founded in 1990. Russian players have dominated the event, winning 14 of the 21 titles, with Yevgeny Kafelnikov winning a record five consecutive titles between 1997-2001. In 2011, Janko Tipsarevic defeated Viktor Troicki in the first-ever all-Serbian final on the ATP World Tour.

Players:
Gasquet, Dolgoplov,Tipsarevic, Seppi (defending champion), Baghdatis, Karlovic, Istomin, Mannarino, Berankis
Draw:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/438/mds.pdf
Order of Play:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/438/op.pdf


ATP 250 Erste Bank Vienna, indoor hard
The Austrian capital of Vienna is the country's most populous city with 1.7 million residents and the nation's cultural, political and business centre. The Erste Bank Open, played each year in late October, is regularly frequented by the world's Top 10 players, with 18 of the 25 ATP World Tour's No. 1 players having competed in Vienna.

Players:
Tsonga, Haas, Hewitt, Fognini, Kohlschreiber, Monfils, Pospisil, Rosol, Stepanek
Draw:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/337/mds.pdf
Order of Play:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/337/op.pdf


ATP 250 Stockholm Open, indoor hard
The If Stockholm Open was first held in 1969 and has been held at the Kungliga Tennishallen except for 1989-1994, when it was held at the Globe Arena. There have been six different Swedish titlists in the tournament's history. Thomas Johansson was the last home-grown titlist in 2004.

Players:
Paire, Ferrer, Raonic, Janowicz, Dimitrov, Gulbis (you can bet on Gulbis never to miss a trip to Sweden  ), Verdasco, Chardy, Tomic, Anderson
Draw:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/429/mds.pdf
Order of Play:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/429/op.pdf



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbrBQwRmd2I

A few intersting matches tomorrow:

Hewitt-Pospisil
Gulbis-Chardy
Tomic-Sock

I found it poetic that in his last three tournaments Tomic played Frenchmen in the first round and lost all three times, I think to Benneteau, Chardy and Gasquet.
I reckon Tomic's former hitting partner Drouet has been revenged now

Did you hear Joachim Johansson is back after retiring in 2008 but fell off the cliff in 05-06. He reached a career high of 9 aged 23. Now 31, its good to see the giant swede back!

No, I didn't.
Must be strange to come back after such a long break, would be like waking up from amnesia.

Interesting matches of day 3:

Strakhovski-Vasselin
Paire-Busta
JJ-GG Lopez

Yesterday, Jack Sock continued the French vengeance and dispatched Tomic in two short sets.
Gulbis squeezed past Chardy in the 3rd set tie-break
After a while, Dimitrov finally managed to win a match.
Pospisil continued his breakthrough and after beating Gasquet last week in Shanghai, cuts Hewitt's stay in Vienna short, as well.

Weather's been too good this morning not to be playing, so...with a little delay- here come the daily announcements from day 4  

In Moscow today:
Dolgopolov-Kukushkin
Karlovic-Istomin (probably already finished)
Gasquet-Donskoy
In Stockholm:
Sijsling-Gulbis
Ferrer-Sock
Johansson-Raonic
Mecir (must be the son)-Haas
In Vienna:
Fognini-Kubot
Tsonga-Brands
Thiem-Pospisil


Yesterday, an anonymous 17 year old Russian ranked 808 beat Tipsarevic in straight sets. According to Tipsarevic, he did not play a bad match himself, so worth keeping an eye on this apparently very talented young player. Remember the name of KHACHANOV.
Vasselin beat Strakhovski in straight sets and will be playing Seppi in the QF tomorrow.
In Vienna, Pospisli continues to play well and yesterday he took another "big"scalp from Monfils, beating him in two very tight sets 7:6 7:5. Well done! He is playing Haase tomorrow.
In Stockholm, Paire through and will be playing the winner of Raonic-Johansson tomorrow. JJ also through.

Just saw Pospisil win 2nd set TB against Haas, (Haas won the 1st set also with TB)
pretty boring baseline tennis....switching to see Mecir Jr vs Haas and then Dolgo-Kuku.

Mecir Jr indeed turns out to be THE Mecir Sr's son
After his first ATP win yesterday this is what he said:

"Making my ATP World Tour debut has been amazing. I am really looking forward to my match with Tommy. I hope to do well. I have played on Centre Courts before, but never in front of a lot of people.

I didn’t think that this dream to come true as two years ago I thought about quitting tennis. I had inflammation of the elbow ligaments and I did not play for four months. I practised hard for one year and then last year I started an IT course at college. I am now in my second year, but I continue to play as I knew my money from tennis could help put me through college.

I found a good programme that requires me to only go in once every two weeks and do the exams. I have to study on my own, but when I am home I try to attend lectures during the day. When I was injured, I thought it was a good idea to not only play tennis, but also use my mind.

I always wanted to be better than my Dad. I have been told that I have a pretty similar playing style to my father. I can adjust my style dependent on who I play. I can take the ball early, especially on hard courts, and I also have the ability to finish points without my opponent making a mistake.”

Watching him now, he does have the nice soft way about him and quite an unrushed, still, compelling game, unnecessarily extra high ball toss on serve, as well.
Making Haas work extremely hard for his service game. Shame about the DBH - sign of times  ....

Some good matches on today starting at 11.00 AM UK time.

In Stockholm:

Gulbis-JJ - match of the day
Ferrer-Verdasco
Raonic-Paire (allleeeeezz!!! )
Dimitrov-DeSchapper

In Moscow:
Karlovic-Khachanov (the young, 17 year old Russian I mentioned yesterday that beat Tipsarevic, time to check him out!)
Gasquet-Gabashvill
Vasselin-Seppi

In Vienna:
Fognini-Haase
Stepanek-Haas

Yesterday, Pospisil's engine finally ran out of steam against Haase, and Haas managed to beat Mecir Jr in a very, very tight 2nd set TB.
In Stockholm, Raonic ended Johansson's comeback, also in the 2nd set TB.
In Moscow, Kukushkin beat Dolgopolov

Anyone watching Gulbis-JJ?

Gulbis just broke JJ back by using a bit of gamesmanship when JJ was serving at deuce, got himself a second serve at the and blasted a CC BH winner.

Nearly smashed his racquet the point before.

JJ playing very well and very aggressively, with Llayani in the ump's chair, this match is beautifully poised now with 5:5 in the first set!

Gulbis takes the first set 7:5 and pulverises the racquet at the start of the 2nd.

What a pair of characters: the ultimate big mouths, one a rich daddy's boy, the other one sleeping in his car not being able to afford a hotel, both loving life and playing with tons of heart and passion.

They are even wearing exactly the same Adidas gear!
JJ doing really well keeping his temper under control so far, esp after chasing down a great dropshot from Gulbis, then catching Gulbis's volley, and still losing the point ater Gulbis smashes his lob to take the game.

And JJ takes the 2nd set.
He has really improved his BH and looks excellent now, by far the best of the young guns.
Third set, here we come!

And Gulbis wins in the end and will be playing Ferrer who just got a walkover from Verdasco.

Raonic Paire started 5:all in the first set

ALLEZ BENOITTTTT!!!!!   

Wow, Raonic already playing dirty mind-games, sitting on his bench sipping water while Paire is waiting to serve.....

An Paire plays a wonderful tie-break and wins the first set !!!   

He is a classic example of a talented tall player who does not dope and plays a really nice, natural, intuitive (though sometimes fragile) attacking  game, really good serve when it's on, a pleasure to watch!
The most elegant and deadly double backhand on tour atm.
Looks like he is enjoying himself tonight!
A complete contrast to Raonic.

And he does it!!!!!!!!!!!             

I hope you watched this match JS, because it was a classic lesson in shotmaking!


whooooooo-hoooooooo!!!! 

A really nice scene on the court now, a random kid playing a few points with Paire...

And this Raonic is apparently going to get to number 1

Yes I watched the match NITB, and apart from serve Paire simply outclassed Raonic. The placement and precision in Paire's shots made the difference.

However though I do feel that is surfaces are sped up again, with new technology, people like Raonic coudl become impossible to beat on serve.

Julia Santamaria wrote:And this Raonic is apparently going to get to number 1

Yes I watched the match NITB, and apart from serve Paire simply outclassed Raonic. The placement and precision in Paire's shots made the difference.

However though I do feel that is surfaces are sped up again, with new technology, people like Raonic coudl become impossible to beat on serve.

Paire served as well if not better than Raonic.
He could improve his 2nd serve, though.

As for Raonic, he is still quite young and has done well to get into top 15 in this era.
I've seen worse players than him be number one...

Who do you see as a future number one in 5 years' time for example?

Paire-Dimitrov should be good tomirrow!

ALLEZ!!!

Semi-finals day today!  

Moscow:
Gasquet-Karlovic
Kukushkin-Seppi

Vienna
Rosol-Haas
Tsonga-Haase

Stockholm
Ferrer-Gulbis
Paire-Dimitrov

some of the most stupid shot selections I've ever seen, and Rosol loses the 2nd set..

Time to watch some tennis, Paire-Dimitrov one set all, 2 all in the 3rd

ALLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZ BENOIT!!!!!!!!        

I simply love watching Paire when he is in the mood, he is so exciting, you never know what he is going to pull out of his bag of thrills, superb player, right down to all the outbursts of emotion  

After some breathtaking and gorgeous tennis from Paire, the match goes to Dimitrov who did nothing but scramble and capitalise on the few tiny outs.
and

Other results from today:
Haase beats Tsonga in two tight sets
Haas def. Rosol in the 3rd set  TB
Gasquet def. Karlovic
Kukushkin def. Seppi
&
Ferrer def. Gulbis in 3

Tomorrow's finals:
Ferrer-Dimitrov
Haase-Haas
Gasquet-Kukushkin

Haas, Ferret, and Gasquet to win; easy easy money for anyone into betting.

Kukushkin for me is one of those players who somehow pulls off upsets despite the fact I think he's rubbish.
1 set up on gasquet.

Haas a set up on haase.

Gasquet comes back and wins in 3 and haas also wins in 3 .
Normally I would be very happy but this win puts pressure on feds!

Of the remaining guys I want feds, stan and reechard to qualify.

Dimi's game is really strange, he plays tennis like he is a DBH-er...it would be great if he won this, still!
About time a "young gun" put their hands on a trophy beating a top 5 player.

serving for the match!

So nice to see emotional Dimi in the end...my eyes going misty, too  

And it's a triumphant week for the glorious SBH:

Winners in:
Moscow  - Gasquet  
Vienna - Haas  
Stockholm: Dimtrov  

YIPEEEEEEE!!!!
                    

Good to see Dimi finally win a title - and against an opponent he had bad record previously.

Glad to see you go misty-eyed, nitb. So you do not dislike him so much after all.

And yes, very nice to see three SHBHs win - one from an older generation, one from the current crop, and one from the young guns.

nice summary

I don't mind Dimi, just frustrated with the way he chooses to play.

He is actually quite unique in his raw, unsophisticated and unPR-ed ways.
I found his winners' speech hilarious, he just said whatever came to his mind, he didn't give a stuff about Swedish prince behind him, or doing any fake congratulating talk, he was just happy and couldn't wait to get back to the locker room.
David on the other hand was a picture of a speech pro....bland just like his tennis!
I mean, how many times can one listen about thanking sponsors, ballkids etc...I can understand it means a lot to them, but to "us" that listen to it every week it's really boring!
On another topic now, how do you see Nole's year end number one chances now that Nadal withdrew from Basel?
To me they look still theoretical, but not hypthetical like they were the last week.
I have a feeling we won't see Nadal in Paris either.

I really don't get this "regrouping" of the body palaver from him.
What is there to regroup?!!!

Well he was scheduled to play 3 weeks in a row; now he's going to play 2 weeks in a row (if he plays Paris and London which is scheduled)

Smart thing to do by Nadal.

noleisthebest wrote:On another topic now, how do you see Nole's year end number one chances now that Nadal withdrew from Basel?
To me they look still theoretical, but not hypthetical like they were the last week.

That describes well how I feel about it too.  A very long shot still, but not entirely outside the realm of possibilities.

If Nole won Paris and then WTF with a clean slate (i.e., winning all his RR matches), that would put him at 12,110 points.  That is only 440 points ahead of what Rafa already has.  Given how Rafa has been playing this HC season, gaining those 440 points would seem relatively straightforward.  On the other hand, if he somehow slips in Paris very early or skips it entirely, then he might need to get more than 400 points at WTF.  While even that seems like something he would likely accomplish, it is not a given.

So, in summary, Nole would have to be pretty much perfect in Paris and WTF and Rafa would have to be very poor in both.

Nole is due another 225 points if Serbia win DC.
Still, I can't see him busting himself in Paris next weekend only to travel to London for a potential Monday match.
Ridiculous scheduling.
Mind you, Ferrer won Paris last year and didn't look too tired in London at all.

Ah I forgot about Davis Cup.  Is that another 225 points?  Well, still hard but a little bit more realistic.

summerblues wrote:Good to see Dimi finally win a title - and against an opponent he had bad record previously.

Glad to see you go misty-eyed, nitb. So you do not dislike him so much after all.

And yes, very nice to see three SHBHs win - one from an older generation, one from the current crop, and one from the young guns.

 Yes a fantastic week of tennis. I wished Gulbis was in the finals. Dimi's first title was due long time. On the other hand Ferrer is now losing to almost all the players he probably should have always been losing to.