It’s another 3 tournament week and the rush for the Masters is in full force and apart from Federer and Nadal, the other 6 places are still open, but in reality those ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th on the Race should be there in Shanghai.
Basel, Lyon and St Petersburg are the venues for the shenanigans this week and they are played on carpet, which is a surface that isn’t used that much these days. Personally that is a good thing as the horror days of the serving festivals that passed off as tennis were hideous to watch.
First event to be profiled will be Basel. The hometown hero Federer is back playing his home event for the first time since 2003 due to injuries in 04 and 05. This event is special to him as he has never won it and he used to be a ballboy there and is a huge FC Basel fan. Federer has made the final twice losing to Henman and Enqvist and he is coming back from winning in Madrid and if he wins here, then he is unlikely to play in Bercy.
Enough of Federer, there are a few former champs in this field Jiri Novak who will be retiring at the end of the year and he could easily play against Federer in the quarters. Henman is another one who enjoys Basel winning it twice and making the final once, he plays the gimp Chris Rochus in the 1st round and should be an easy win, though he will play the winner of Wawrinka and Calleri which is along with del Potro and Murray are the best matches of the 1st round.
Acasuso has quarter final points to defend and he is in a pretty good section of the draw and hope he can match that result from last year. Gonzalez is back in Basel to defend his title after making his 1st TMS final in Madrid and it will be interesting to see how he backs up from this and Nalbandian another winner of this event is there and loves playing there and should be able to consolidate his place in Shanghai.
Lyon
Lyon the culinary capital of France and home to France’s most successful football team at the moment and an indoor event that has been going for a number of years, well the field isn’t as strong as it could have been with the withdrawals of Ljubo and Roddick,
Baghdatis is the only player that is capable of making Shanghai therefore leaving this event fairly open and as for Marcos he could win this event or lose in the first round. Well he is playing in his nation of residence and the tough dwarf Clement won’t be an easy opponent for him.
Mr overhyped Gasquet and Marat “my farts smell better than others” Safin is the highlight of the 1st round in name anyway. It’s good to see Marat supporting his home country tournament in St Petersburg and decided to play in Lyon, it must be hard to overcome that jet lag from St Petersburg to Paris, then again the appearance fee should just cover the difference. Got to say either this will be a huge beatdown by Safin or a close match.
The main question in Lyon this week is whether Gaudio or Seppi can win a round here.
St Petersburg
Good to see the other Russians are supporting the St Petersburg event and it wouldn’t surprise if there was another Russian victory here. The PMK has drawn Santoro and he is a heavy favourite for this and it will be interesting to see how he approaches this event. He should qualify for Shanghai, but he needs a good result in Paris, as he has done well in the optionals.
Hopefully ToJo and Pavel can get some momentum and win enough matches to make sure that they are able to qualify directly for the Aussie Open. This is getting to the end of the year and some players will be looking forward to a break and then get ready for the Australian summer.
Kunitsyn hope he can do as well here as he does in Moscow, but that has not been a strong point. The ironman Tursunov is starting to rust at the moment, but he will be ready come Davis Cup time.
Just hope young Korolev can beat Hernych, cause he could do well in this tournament and take out Boredo and maybe prevent him from qualifying for Shanghai.
11 comments:
Lyon, the culinary capital of France. Well that comment is all yours.......seriously, playing Clément is never easy, especially in front of a French public, and this will probably be the only time Marcos won't have the whole crowd with him. As he is pretty much liked in France. He's called "the most French of all Cypriots". Just hope he can take advantage of being N°1 seeded player. As for Gaudio & Seppi, who knows?
Gaston had another poor performance in Lyon as did Seppi and Baghdatis at least lost to a decent opponent in Clement.
PMK was one again too good for Santoro and the Kunitsyn show is still going. I just wish St Petersburg would paint the courts a different colour.
Some good matches in Basel today potentially.
Well I know I should be giving serious tennis reports from Basel - but - you know me - they are more likely to be "who is doing what with who in the Bar" reports:-)) I am in Basel primarily to see some friends who I will not see again until about April next year - so tennis is not my priority, and so far I have watched only one match. That of course, was Ferrer v Ciudinelli which was a horrible, scrappy match which, as a Ferrer fan, I did not enjoy very much.
Ferrer came into the match lacking in confidence after some bad defeats, and nursing a knee injury which was causing him to limp while walking around, let alone whilst playing tennis. He was also without his coach after the first few days - as Javi had to go home on some urgent family business. - so he was definately nervous. The first set was a nervous, error strewn affair culminating in a disastrous tie-break from Ferrer which he lost 1-7. He then spent a good five minutes whingeing and arguing wth the Umpire, throwing his racquet, and generally looking like a a spoilt child - and yes, I AM a Ferrer fan but I try to speak the truth! The 2nd set could have gone either way - but Ciudinelli tightened up and made some silly Unforced Errors which gave Ferrer the set.
In the 3rd set, both players were pretty woeful - it was a real comedy of errors - with Ferrer missing a match point on his opponent's serve and having to serve the match out - which is never an easy thing for a Ferrer fan to witness. Thankfully, he came trough in the end, though not sure how to be honest! I feel the end of the season cannot come quickly enough for Sr. Ferrer - he looks tired and jaded and is just "going through the motions" with no real heart.
Anyway - tonight my "baby" JMDP against the virtually unknown Clemens. Pity it wasn't Andy Murray as that could have been a fine match between two youngsters - but Andy has pulled out with a throat infection. Would it be cruel of me to say he has seemed fine all weekend - so maybe another player just desparate for a break and the off-season...........!!
Anyway - tat's all from me.
Love from Basel
So Froggy is looked jaded and needing a break, is he? I am surprised he won this match and I think the retiring Czech Jiri Novak will finish his interest in this event.
JMDP has to play big Bastl and that is a winnable match for him and it would be good if he makes the quarter finals here. It would be nice to have a few Argies in the QFs.
Bad news for Youzhny having an injured ankle and being out for the season.
Thanks for your report Rosie. And you know we love your "What's Happening around the Bar?" reports........
JMPD won in 3 sets against that unknown Clemens. I suppose you've seen that match.
Yes Choupi - I did see the Clemens match - and JMDP was extremely impressive. To start off, he seemed a little disorientated by the opponent's big serve, and when he lost the 1st set, I admit I thought he may go out easily. But one thing about JMDP is that he is a very clever player - he has more than one game plan, and if the first one isn't working he will try others until he finds a way to win. By the beginning of the second set he was reading Clemens' serve better and dictating from the back of the court. He won that set comfortably, and in the 2rd set, Clemens seemed a little tired and dispirited - and JMDP won easily. I didn't see the Bastl march as I was on my way home - but I understand JMDP had no problems, though I think Gonzalez will be too strong for him on a carpet court tomorrow. All great experience though - and have to admit I love Basel - the city, the venue, the chocolate (LOL!!) - AND of course the Bar in the very lovely Players' Hotel:-)) Shame I kept on bumping into Andy Murray though - as he seems to have breathed his throat infection germs all over me, and now I have a sore throat and a temperature and am feeling lousy.......
Thanks for the report Rosie. It's true that JM can learn and adapt very fast. That's what impresses me most in him.
Sorry about the sore throat. Hope you get better soon. Shame on Murray!!
Junior has done well this week and he might be able to take advantage of the fact that Gonzo is tired and make the semis and that would be great, but we will see for sure.
Glad you enjoyed the chocolate Rosie and as for Murray I'd rather see him than Gilbert.
King Kunitsyn the Russian specialist is at again, he defeated the overrated one Tommy Haas in 3 sets and he has a chance for another semi final place. He'd be top 20 if there were tournaments played in Russia all of the time.
Sadly I saw Brad Gilbert more than I saw Murray.........
Well I watched Junior Del Potro on the livestream, and he's got nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe he can regret those breakpoints he couldn't convert in the 3rd set, when he was 4-3. But it's been tight till the end. I'm amazed to see how much he improved since I last saw him in Stuttgart.
Congrats on Gicquel for reaching his first final on the tour, and also congrats Gasquet for finally bitchslapping La Clé.....As for the Basel final, well, it has a taste of deja-vu.
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