The last ever Kitzbühel event is happening and hope it is a good one, though they have some funny things there about the site. First of all on the tournament web page it has a picture of LaLo on it and he is not even playing the event.
It seems Mafioso Tiriac isn’t happy with the event and also the fact that they didn’t pay their bills on time in the last couple of years, plus the town wouldn’t let him build a big mansion there and Ion the svengali wants to move the event, it’s just a question of where it will go now.
The tournament sees the comeback of the PMK and Boredo and it’s a surprise the PMK took a week off, that is a rare thing for him and Boredo now has a new coach in Jordi Vilaro who used to work with Beto Martin and Felix Mantilla, well 2 out of 3 isn’t bad is it.
It’s good that they play in the mountains with a bit of altitude around, though not as high as the Mexico City or Bogota in the old days, it’s definitely cleaner air wise and the ball does fly further and the players need to adjust their length and be even fitter to play well at altitude.
The field isn’t as strong as it was, especially with the growth of Umag and the fact that Umag has matches starting at 6pm , so people can hang on the beach during the day and then enjoy the parties in the evening. There is no secret that Mr Carlos Moya is the Umag king and he loves the place, a beach and a party. So the question is whether you are a beach or mountains person.
Onto the events itself in Kitzi well the Bye makes an appearance the Bye is always welcomed. The best thing is the big Serbian Maltese living Boris Pashanski has a Bye and with that it’s the first 2nd round he has made in his last 11 tournaments. This was the man who made the top 100 last season, without winning an ATP match, he started out OK this year, but he has gone 0-11 in his last events.
Both finalists Gaudio and Verdasco are in the same section and they would need to improve on their recent form to reach there again. Gaudio has now won more doubles titles this season than singles and he loves playing in Kitzi, but maybe this could give him some impetus to improve his singles results and disappointingly he and Max are not playing doubles in Kitz, so the odd couple are no more. Verdasco is the epitome of talented, but tactically inept player on the tour, so trying to guess his results are like trying to find neo-nazi skinheads in Saudi Arabia.
- As for the rest Seppi has the Bye and could play Yayo Massa.
- Lucho is back and hopefully his shoulder/elbow are ready to go.
- Big Marach after his QF showing in Stuttgart, is now at his best ever ranking and wants to do well at home, he has a potential meeting with Gordo Calleri.
- Nieminen comes back after Davis Cup and that disappointing loss to Boredo in Båstad and this event could be good for him.
- Pavel well he got a Bye and he has done well enough to stay in the top 100 and that’s a good thing as I don’t want him to retire just yet. I mean look at the thighs Jonas Björkman has come out of nowhere and played a couple of good singles events and now can keep going, so there is hope for Pavel.
- Luczak qualified and made the second round over challenger maestro Minar and could make the 3rd round as he plays German ballbasher Kohlschreiber.
Umag sees the new Stuttgart champ David “Froggy” Ferrer as the top seed and whether he has been partying too much or not it should be still enough to defeat Carlos “I thrashed DY 6-0 6-0 on hardcourt” Berlocq. He is in the same section as “Mr Umag” Carlos Moya who will probably do well here and quite possibly win it.
Among the other matches, there is a match between promising youngsters Marin Cilic and Evgeny Korolev. Cilic, like most Cro players is tall with a big serve, but he says clay is his favourite surface and both are familiar to each other, if all goes well then these two will make some noise on the ATP and they have already done well this year.
Vicente plays form horse Ramirez Hidalgo, who has been doing something Vicente hasn’t of late, that is winning matches. Then “Dropshot” Dlouhy against the “Chicken Man” anything could happen there.
14 comments:
Just watched Korolev vs Cilic. Interesting match it was, both players showed why they will be very good players in a near future. Evgeny had big problems with the double faults during first set specially. Both players had a couple of break chances till the 11th game where Korolev got broken, just to break inmediately back. Tie-breaker with more errors than winners, Evgeny closed it out with an ace. In 2nd set Korolev was twice up a break but managed to blow it with crazy errors the first one and a mixture of errors and solid display from Cilic the 2nd. After Cilic got that break back at 4-4 in 2nd set he was the better player by far, way more consistent, served better and looked like he was in better physical conditions. As I said, interesting match between two young players that will likely face themselves in big tourneys many more times in the future
Deivid
David Ferrer has pulled out of Umag (not surprising after Sunday's marathon Final) - so maybe it will be Carlos' tournament again.
Not surprising that Froggy pulled out and I hope he is celebrating hard in Umag and he deserves to.
Thanks for the report on the Cilic and Korolev match and I can't wait to see these guys in person, they seem to have very good futures and Cilic the clay loving Croat, it's a good thing.
Good to hear that it was an interesting match between the 2 young guys in Umag.
Massa made the 3rd round and this would be a difficult match for GWH, considering he likes them both and Seppi's form slump continues.
Gaston won through against Monaco, even though it was a retirement. It would be good if he could be the last winner of Kitzbühel.
Berlocq won another match at ATP level, thanks to Ferrer withdrawing and he beat a lucky loser, who thought they would be lucky playing him.
Cilic lost a tough one to Wawrinka and the Umag tournaments looks quite open.
Good day in Kitz with both Davydenko and Boredo losing and it was not that surprising as Lapentti likes playing Davydenko and is a Kitzi legend and likes the altitude and plays Koubek next.
Melzer the inconsistent one who only seems to beat Boredo in Austria. He is quite talented, but not all there mentally and plays Pavel next.
Reading all your comments about it being the last Kitzbuehel - just thought I would mention that I was speakng to a guy in Stuttgart last week - who was quite "high up" in the ATP, and he said that there may well be a reprieve for the tournament after all. Will keep you posted if I hear anything more.
And have to say - isn't my little star JMDP doing well in Umag:-))
Thanks for the news Rosie and I'd love the event to stay and well then again to me the party is as important as the tennis.
Gaudio and Calleri that will be a difficult match for me. Gaston is a shadow of himself and seems to be going through the motions. He almost to Gremelmayr and he really shouldn't be getting to close to Gaudio on clay. The thing is that we got the W and saving match points in the process and the crowd does love him there. As for Calleri he has been going quite well and he needs some good results, so either or it's a good result.
Yayo just couldn't hold serve today and therefore following the same thing as usual. Beating a player I like and not going on with it, that tends to happen a lot. He had a good week.
As was said earlier the Kitz QF is very open and any of the 8 could win the title.
Umag well king Carlos is still in the tournament and he is a hard to defeat here. As for del Potro some good signs as well, but big Stani will be a good test for him.
That Gaudio/Calleri match will also be hard for me. I like both players and both need results there. But, I have to say that I'd be happier if Calleri won it. Because, he simply has been more consistent than Gaudio and he will give it all till where he can in that event. Which is absolutely not sure with Gaudio. I'd love to think that yesterday's match against Gremelmayr was the start of some good feelings for him, but I admit I have lost faith...Hence why I would like to see Agustin win. I know, some might find it hard to believe and some others might even consider me a traitor. But, is it so hard to understand? Gaston needs to have a serious break. Playing isn't the solution to me. He has everything in life but seems to not enjoy anything anymore. He needs to go back to "normal" life. To remind himself about the hard side of life. To remind him how hard he's worked to reach that RG dream. To me, he seems to have short memory. Maybe I'm wrong....but I also may be right. Just come to think of it.
JMDP is doing good things and Stani certainly won't be an easy match for him. But whatever the outcome, I'll be happy.
I agree with you Choupi. And I am thrilled that Calleri won today. He is another fighter (like JMDP) - he has been through bad times and injuries, but he never gave up - he worked hard to follow his dreams and it's good to see him getting some good results in the "twilight" of his career. As for Gastón - people will "hate" me too but I am rapidly losing patience with someone who cares so little when so many care so much.
Yes, I am happy about Calleri's win today. And of course, there are things and opinions that can't be expressed everywhere so freely. I hope he gets to the final now.
Verdasco ended the run of Lapentti and that is not a surprise, that he was able to hit through him.
Calleri won easily and it's a good result for him, but both he and Verdasco need to do something for entirely different reasons.
El Gordo has had a lot of injury problems and he still needs to shed a few kgs, but he has had some good recent results and it's not surprising he won easily as Gaudio is really going through the motions at the moment and worst of all he is cheating himself.
Who would have thought that Calleri would meet Chela in the final? Anyway, that's a match I really would like to see. Vamos Agustin!!
In Umag, Djokovic vs Wawrinka. This is a match I will see. I'll be 100% for Stan but I honestly don't see him win that event. Djokovic's too strong at the moment. And Stan has to considerably reduce his errors if he wanna stand a chance. Anyway, allez Stan!!
Well I will see Calleri v Chela on Eurosport - and will be firmly cheering for Agustin. Not only because I am a fan of gorgeous El Gordo (shallow woman that I am!), but because since witnessing Chubby Chela's not so sporting behaviour against del Potro in Stuttgart last week ,- he is NOT on my list of Favourite People! As for Umag - it's "Ajde Nole" all the way!!!
I'm happy about Agustin's win. That was really deserved and awaited. 1st title for Stan but sad that it had to happen that way.
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