Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Where's the beef in Montevideo

Montevideo has faded over time and Uruguayan tennis hasn't been the same since the days of the legendary Marcelo Fillipini and Diego Perez, but Pablo Cuevas is trying. Uruguay is more known for its beef and it's footballers usually nasty defenders and the odd skilful forward. The Copa Petrobras series has moved on here which as the name suggests is supported by a Brazilian oil company and they run these South American challengers.

Now the 1st round has been completed and saw the return of Roitman who is defending some points this time around, also Zabaleta and Horna coming back from injuries to try and gain some confidence before the 2008 season starts.

Too bad Yayo Massa failed to qualify for this event, but at least he will get in directly in Asuncion and should get a WC to Buenos Aires. Andre Ghem the Brazilian gaucho and one of the best friends of Tomas Ugo Behrend who has sadly decided to retire finally won a MD match after a lot of recent close losses he defeated the "Maxi Lopez" lookalike in a 3rd set tiebreaker and now plays Roitman in the 2nd round. Ghem has had a difficult year, just hope he can pull off the upset here and try and get some momentum for next season. They say winning is a habit, which it is, so is losing and more matches lost in a row, the harder it becomes to win.

Lucho made a good comeback to win 6-2 6-2 over Maxi Gonzalez the Mexican who had been in good form in the year, but has tapered lately and now he plays Villagran in the next round who was the beneficiary of a retirement by Puerta (The Door) at 4-4 in the 1st set. Maybe "The Door" was afraid of Lucho and decided to retirement was the best option for him. He is in a good section and would play the winner of Cuevas and the midget from Tandil Junquiera who upset Brzezicki in 3 sets. I need Brzezicki and Guzman to win some matches, so at least one of them makes the MD at the Aus Open.

Zabaleta lost his comeback match to the champ from last week Devilder in straight sets, just hope that he is healthy that is more important than results at the moment. The bottom half lost both seeds Berlocq lost to the Portuguese Federico "Gilberto" Gil and Hartfield lost to the youngster Belucci from Brazil who seems to have a good future. This event does have more interest for me than Bercy.

Whoring for the last places in Bercy

Bercy hasn't had all the usual withdrawals as previous seasons. Seems that Federer and Nadal wanted the surface changed and the divas got that, plus there was a bonus pool as well for playing all 9 TMS events, ah money the cure of all evils. Of course the stupid Sunday starts where fans aren't allowed in for some reason, well at least they have good officials and ballkids, plus the plant watering system doesn't leak unlike Madrid.

Federer has to play Karlovic in his 1st match and then plays the winner of Nalle and Moya. I hope Nalle wins and then he can beat Federer again, which is always a good thing to see when big Dave can feel bothered and I think Moya has had a long year and wants to do something else now and rest for 2008.

Seppi finished his year quite well by qualifying and defeating Big Sam Querrey before losing to Canas in straight sets, he had a strange year, but more about that in another entry. Just hope Willy can take out Boredo who defeated Simple Simon in a very very nauseating match at best.

Melzer losing 6-0 to Volandri indoors is hilarious for so many reasons, maybe Pippo bought out that lethal serve which stunned Melzer, though he can always go back and fuck Vaidisova which wouldn't be a bad thing.

Berdych and Baghdatis were very impressive in their performances and hope they can continue on that vein during the week.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Tomas Berdych returning to the scene of the "ssssssssshhhhhhhh" in Madrid the 8th TMS of the season

First of all it was a disgrace that Oscar Hernandez didn't get a wildcard to the singles in Madrid, then again when it's Santana and that crook Ion Tiriac involved in the organisation then this is not exactly surprising. The model ball girls are there to see, but fortunately I am more interested in the tennis, at the same time maybe it could inspire Safin to play better.

Monaco and Andreev, these guys have played plenty of 3 setters in their match ups and Andreev wasn't really there today. Monaco was up a break in the 1st, but couldn't hold it and for a change Andreev won a tiebreaker, then it's usually the final set tiebreakers that he loses. Igor should have been favoured here as he is better indoors than Monaco, but Pico has been improving off the clay and was able to hold his level of play for longer and let Andreev implode with errors everywhere. Definitely not the prettiest match, but got to take a victory anyway you can. Next up for Monaco is Haas, who would be very happy that he isn't playing Andreev.

Murray was impressive over Thunder Lips, he lobbed and passed very well and was able to keep Stepanek from closing the net with his varied play and the continental forehand of Stepanek broke down under pression and I like Murray's style of play and it will be interesting to see how he goes against the very solid Chela. He beat him last time at the AO in straight sets, he will need to exploit Chela's lack of forward movement.

Baghdatis vs Pavel: As usual Marcos is shit after a break and it was good for Marcos to get the win and the last set he played very well. The 1st set was tight and Pavel played one poor service game and Marcos converted and today he was serving well especially in the 1st and 3rd sets, the 2nd set was poor serving and Pavel maintained a good level from the 1st set and was able to convert his chances. Pavel's backhand wasn't as good as it usually is and Marcos kept attacking it. Hopefully he can play better against Nadal than he has in the past.

Good win for Koubek against Nieminen and he will need to be sharp to take out Ljubo. Del Potro did the expected job on Starace and now he has big chances against Boredo provided he serves well.

It will be interesting to see what reception Berdych gets from the Madrid crowd this time around. Nalbandian will be on as well against Clement and thanks to deivid for the background with Mucho Almagro being pissed off with Santana for not giving him a WC last year, he could use this as motivation to play with more discipline than usual. Having something to prove can do funny things to people.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Oscar and Luczak doubles maestros in Stockholm oozing style. Koubek and Seppi in the city of Falco and rah rah Rasputin in Moscow

Vienna

The indoor circus moves to the stately Austrian capital Vienna. Where it's not hard to get a good coffee, beer, schnitzel and some great cakes, but enough of the promotion. Mr Vienna Ivan Ljubicic is back on tour after having problems with the kidney stones and it wouldn't surprise if he defended his title again for the 3rd time. He loves the court, just feels at home and then he becomes very hard to beat, especially since his serve has been broken only once in 3 years. He defeated Haider-Maurer and not that isn't Jorg Haider and he was the one to break Ljubo's serve and then Ivan had some problems with "Fisker med" Mardy Fish but he got over the line.

Calleri continued to struggle in his comeback in singles and he lost with Seppi in the doubles 10-7 in the champs TB against Damm/Paes. Gonzo was kidding himself losing a set to Volandri indoors, but came through and is in the quarters against Ferrero, who is hard to pick when he is going to play well or going to be shit and he defeated Canas who lead 5-3 in the 3rd and couldn't close it out and Benneteau. Nalbandian made a successful comeback and has a tough one against Wawrinka next time around.

Local hero Koubek defeated Moya in an impressive performance and he is keen to put behind the shenanigans after the ludicrous disqualification in Metz last week, seems that the umpire Steiner Recliner has problems in France and with Grosjjean. Good that he is using it as a positive and has a tough match against LaLo, but if he makes it he has a good chance of making the semis here, but with Stefan expect the unexpected.

The South Tyrolean Seppi has made the quarters for the first time in an indoor event on the main tour. He has won without losing a set in taking out Baghdatis easily 6-2 6-2, this is no surprise that he lost because he doesn't play well after a break, thescore was a definite surprise. Andy didn't blow the chance against Haase, hope he can win the event, but this is unlikely.

Stockholm

The news of this is that the King and Luczak are playing doubles and won their 1st match. Both had to travel from Spain after playing on the heavy clay to a fast indoor surface. Luczak was able to win and will now play Nieminen for a place in the quarters. Just hope Frankie "goes to Hollywood" Dancevic can end the James Blake streak, so we can have a finalist that is different. Welcome back to the tour for Pim Pim and his second round match should be the epitome of baseline tennis.

Here is a Luczak article in the main Swedish-language paper in Finland.

http://hbl.fi/text/sport/2007/10/10/d6477.php

Australian happy about the income

It should have been Benji Becker, but Jarkko Nieminen’s opponent today in the Stockholm Open is Peter Luczak.

In Finland the 28 year old Australian of average heigh is known for his finalist appearance in the Tampere Open this summer.

Luczak isn’t a player that Nieminen needs to fear. His latest assignment was made easier that Becker lost 2-6 6-3 6-4 to the “Aussie”.

Luczak is married to a Swede. This is his first year in the top 100 and he is unusual that he is reaching the peak of his career at an older age.

“Of course I have been trying to reach there for 6 years and it feels good. But also enjoy the effects. Now all of a sudden I am among the top 90, lately in the 80s. Luczak is now ranked 84th, his best ever.

The Australian who plays with steadiness and placement is unusual among the Australians who is at his best on clay. 19 out of his last 20 events have been on clay, except for the US Open on hardcourt, which strongly indicates a Nieminen win.

“I was actually in a Challenger final in Spain last week and played 5 Spaniards on slow clay. After a long trip here on Monday morning I had no absolutely no expectations. It was my first hardcourt event in ages and I could only hit one ball, but the following time it got better and yesterday I hit with “Pim-Pim” Johansson and it already felt decent.

Met twice

Jarkko Nieminen is familiar with Peter Luczak. “We are good friends and I have respect or him as a player, he is a good fighter” says Luczak.

“We have met twice. It was a long time ago in Sydney 2003. It was my first ever match on the ATP tour and I was so nervous that I lost the 1st set 6-0. But I was able to get it to a 3rd set and Jarkko successfully won 7-5.

In a Czech Challenger on clay in 2005 Niemien won 6-4 6-4.

Luczak is so far satisfied with the Stockholm Open. He has made the 2nd round in both singles and doubles. Better than he expected.

“Good money for me about 15 200 euro. Now I can provide food towards the baby for a week”, smiled the fair haired Aussie who was born in Poland.

Moscow

Vodka, mafia and hot women at the Kremlin Cup. Kunitsyn fucked up this time around. Safin/Andrev is an interesting 2nd round match and Russian will win the event.

Thunder Lips Stepanek is in the quarters with wins over Gabashvili and Tursunov, he will swoon the women with the moves and the swinging of the hips, though his game is definitely worth watching.

Chucho came through unscathed and that's a good sign.

Yayo Massa made a comeback to tennis, he lost 7-6 7-6, but he is back and that's good for me.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Reporter Choupi in Metz cheering on her faves and booing Boredo

Since this event has already started, it would be stupid to write a preview and best of all we will have some fan reports from Metz and we all know that is the best way to see things. It's much better getting directly than through some propaganda network.

Flo"The German Gigolo" Mayer once again lost a match after having match points for the 3rd time this season against Boredo who is vulnerable indoors. Boredo escaped, but he might not be so lucky next time. Paulo Mathieu after a great run of form is in a mini-slump at the moment and lost to the "Chicken Man" Benneteau in straight sets and can't seem to find his game. Korolev defeating Starace was a huge upset and the only thing Calleri did in his match with Kohli was upset Choupi.

Tuesday was a great day with "El Fashionista" Koubek laying the smackdown on Simple Simon 6-2 6-1 and there was some excuse of a knee injury, if it was that bad, then no shame in withdrawing from the event or retiring in the match if it was legit. The day got better when Andy "the South Tyrolean sex machine" Seppi decided to dump Clement the arse clown in straight sets out of the event without facing a break point. It's a great day when Clement is eliminated from an event, at least the ballkids will be happy because they are spared the poor treatment from him. Seppi now plays Boredo and if he knocks him out, then losing in the quarter-finals isn't bad.

Lapentti was 3-5 down in the 3rd set against Massu, but Massu is in horrid form and couldn't stop his losing streak and Wawrinka lost to Tsonga as well leading a break in the 3rd set. Tsonga is a tough guy to play indoors, especially if his serve is going well.

Tokyo, well I hope Russell or Berdych can do well in this event and they don't retire in their matches at 3-5 down in the 3rd set like del Potro because he was having a bad day.