Hamburg, Atlanta Previews; Soderling, Ferrero Title Winners; X-Notes

by Staff | July 17th, 2011, 9:55 pm
  • 29 Comments

bet-at-home Open — German Tennis Championships 2011
Hamburg, Germany
Surface: clay

Seeds: Gael “Force” Monfils, Jurgen “Tuna” Melzer, Nicolas Almagro, Mikhail Youzhny, Gilles Simon, Florian Mayer, Juan Ignacio Chela, Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco, Janko Tipsarevic, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Nikolay Davydenko, Marin Cilic, Andreas Seppi, Guillermo “G-Lo” Garcia-Lopez, Fabio Fognini, Al Montanes
ADHEREL
Floaters: Philipp Kohlschreiber, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Marcel Granollers, Andrey Golubev

Notes: All 16 seeds receive first-round byes; the top seed Monfils is 0-1 career in Hamburg; the former Masters Series event is now a lower-tier event headlined by a betting website; returning champs in the field are Golubev (2010) and Davydenko (2009).


Atlanta Tennis Championships
Atlanta, Ga., USA
Surface: hard

Seeds: Mardy Fish, Kevin Anderson, John Isner, Xavier “X-Man” Malisse, Grigor Dimitrov, Igor Kunitsyn, Alex Bogomolov Jr., Somdev Devvarman

Floaters: Nicolas Mahut, Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake, Ernests Gulbis, Gilles Muller, Tommy Haas

Notes: Interesting openers include (1) Fish vs. the Mahut-Richard Bernakis winner after a bye, (8) Devvarman vs. Ryan Sweeting, Blake vs. Gulbis in a battle of strugglers, (7) Bogomolov vs. Muller, (WC) Haas vs. (WC) Robby Ginepri, and (WC) Donald Young vs. “Iron” Mike Russell (winner to face (2) Anderson); Fish beat Isner in last year’s final.

Baku Cup
Baku, Azerbaijan
Surface: hard

Seeds: Vera Zvonareva, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Elena Vesnina, Ekaterina Makarova, Monica Niculescu, Elena Baltacha, Ksenia Pervak, Evgeniya Rodina

Floaters: Aravane Rezai

Notes: Nine Russian gain direct entry in this close-to-home event, a first-time event on the WTA tour calendar and the lone WTA event this week.

Soderling Pounds Ferrer for Home Swedish Open Title

Top-seeded Robin Soderling powered past No. 2 seed David Ferrer 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to win his second SkiStar Swedish Open title in three years in his third straight Bastad final. It was his fourth ATP title of the season, and he improved to 10-10 overall in career finals.

“Now finally, my body feels good,” said Soderling, who skipped Sweden’s Davis Cup meeting with Serbia last week, citing the need for a rest. “I struggled a little bit with some injuries the past couple of months. My confidence is really good.” Soderling, who keeps his coaches on a short leash (and contract), joked, “I’ve won at least one title with all of my coaches — it seems like I could pick anyone. We’ve (Fredrik Rosengren and I) had some good results since we started working together, but it’s not until now that everything has come together.”

31-Year-old Ferrero Regains Clay Touch with ATP Stuttgart Title

Former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-0 for the MercedesCup title in Stuttgart.

It was the 16th career title for the 31-year-old, who improved to 16-18 in career finals. He also took home a white Mercedes convertible for his week’s worth of effort. The 25-year-old Andujar dropped to 1-2 in career finals. Ferrero is the seventh Spaniard to win Stuttgart after Jose Higueras (1983), Alberto Berasategui (1994), Alex Corretja (1997), Rafael Nadal (2005, 2007), David Ferrer (2006) and Albert Montanes (2010).

Martinez Sanchez Wins 1st 2011 Title at WTA Bad Gastein

Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez captured her fourth career title on Sunday at the NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies in Austria, defeating Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-0, 7-5 in the championship.

“At the start I was playing almost 100% perfectly,” Martinez Sanchez said. “It’s normal to have a bit of difficulty after such a good start, but I stayed calm all the time until the end, and that’s why I won…I got here a bit late and didn’t have too many days to get used to the altitude here, but day by day I was learning.” Mayr-Achleitner reached her first WTA final on her home soil.

Medina Garrigues Beats Hercog for WTA Palermo Title

Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues, now the active leader for claycourt titles on the WTA tour, won her fifth career Palermo title on Sunday, defeating Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-2.

“I think Polona was a little bit tired, because she won in Bastad last week and made the final here too, but I played a really good match,” Medina Garrigues said. “I was very serious today. I was focusing on the tactics me and my coach talked about, and it worked. I’m also just trying to enjoy playing tennis and trying not to think about winning or losing, my ranking, or anything else.”

Medina Garrigues joined Venus Williams (Wimbledon), Serena Williams (Australian Open, Miami) and Kim Clijsters (Luxembourg) on the list of players winning an event five times, improving to a 32-3 win-loss in Palermo. Hercog ended a nine-match winning streak, capturing her first WTA title last week in Bastad, and fell to 1-2 in career finals.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Moscow-based 22-year-old Russian Alisa Kleybanova has been diagnosed with cancer, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “It’s my birthday today and I want to thank all of you for the wonderful messages. I haven’t written anything for a long time about why I haven’t been on tour, so that’s why I’m writing this today,” she said in a statement. “It’s not an easy time for me right now. I’ve been a bit unlucky with my health…I’ve been having treatment in Italy and it has been going well, but it takes lots of patience and I’ve had to be really strong to get through this. The good news is after I do treatment for a few more months, if I feel well, there’s a chance I’ll be able to play tennis again.”…During Tennis Channel’s U.S. Davis Cup doubles coverage, how many times did commentator Justin Gimelstob say “Free Safety Position” to refer to the guy at the net? 150? 350? Give it a rest…The U.S. Davis Cup crowd in Austin, Tex., over the three days at the Frank Erwin Center of 48,807 fans, was the second-largest home crowd in U.S. Davis Cup history…Panasonic, after losing out in court in an effort to null its contract with the USTA and pull out of the US Open as a sponsor, is “proudly” back in launching a promotional contest: “For two weeks every year, the sporting world and tennis fans worldwide turn their attention to the courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York for one of the most unique and exciting events in sports, the US Open,” said Shiro Kitajima, president of Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “As a proud sponsor of the US Open, Panasonic wants to give one lucky consumer the opportunity to experience the excitement of a US Open final in person.” — Ha ha hyuk.


You Might Like:
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Rafael Nadal To Face Jiri Vesely In Hamburg; 2-Time Defending Champ John Isner Opens In Atlanta
ATP/WTA Previews: Soderling, Verdasco Headline Bastad
ATP Previews: Davydenko Opens vs. Safin in Moscow; Stockholm
Rafa Heads Hamburg, Isner in Atlanta; ATP/WTA Previews

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29 Comments for Hamburg, Atlanta Previews; Soderling, Ferrero Title Winners; X-Notes

Hypnos Says:

What is Gimelstob’s deal? Why is he so eager to please?

For his sake I hope he figures it out.


Chico Says:

Dunno, but Panasonic got hit pretty hard by the Fukushima incident. Might be that they want to give atleast a sign that they keep their focus on rebuilding.


Mike Says:

Tennis x is so cynical.
I love it. Hahah hyuk


Gibby Says:

Gimelstob is the captain of the douche canoe.


Humble Rafa Says:

Gimelstob’s dad is rich and influential. That is why he has a job. His has strange views on women.


Kimmi Says:

jane – love your post on the other thread. I agree re fed and rafa. I think you got that spot on. But for nole..eyes, hmmm! I guess we all see it different but now that you mentioned will keep an eye on them closely.

nole has a perfect figure for tennis imo, now that he is lost some weight. Lean, slender, powerful! I think he has fabulous hair too..i would like to see him in a big Afro though, i think that is what his hair will be like if he grows it ha-ha.

murray smile does it for me…

just finished watching my recorded women’s final for the 10th time. i am falling more and more in love with petra. such beautiful eyes. cant wait to see her on court again..beating everybody up ofcourse.


Kimmi Says:

OK, lets see. now that djokovic is number 1 he should get murray in his half of the draw?

watching the mens final again..djokovic is AMAZING, that second set he was unplayable. rafa give him a series of huge FHs, djokovic gets all of them back..with interest…and then turn the defense into attack with cross-court BH winner.

he is really getting pumped up when playing rafa haha. are we going to see them play again soon..bring it on!!


Kimmi Says:

blakes likes the american hardcourts. he beats gulbis for the first time..good for him.

for gulbis, back to the drawing board.


tennisfansince76 Says:

@Kimmi. Gulbis goes back to the drawing board every time he plays seems like.


roy Says:

gulbis doesn’t have a drawing board. he never had the work ethic of other pros, never will. so people should stop pretending he is some major player waiting to happen. he should just quit and follow his true calling, being a party boy on the eurotrash club scene.


Mike Says:

Does someone have more details on the gilbert and gimelstob feud….
Andre said he thought justin was a sub caliber player or something then gimelstob hated on gilbert? They were gonna fight or something haha

As for gulbis, he needs to take a lotta time off get a trainer and smarten up….I think blake has one more run in him. He’s got a great forehand and is still so speedy. He was outta shape last year and with new fitness he could be a dark horse. Hes kinda like andre and the williams sisters in that even tho hes older he hasnt worn himself out.

Keep on rockin TENNIS-X mike


Humble Rafa Says:

Dear Staff,

Why is Federer not in the trunk. I mean, he belongs there all the time. You remember our agreement?

Repeat after me. Fed in the Trunk..all the time until he retires. After he retires, give him a break, may be once every month.


Kimmi Says:

yes dari, Atlanta is on..the first casualty is gulbis. after my dinner, i will try to stream some of them.

Hewitt match is on now i think.

Ram vs dimitrov and Ginepri vs haas looks good.

i don’t know who to root for, but dimitrov needs some good results PLEASE!


Kimmi Says:

ah dimitrov, i will not hold my breath!!!


Kimmi Says:

Dementieva Marries Afinogenov In Moscow

http://www.wtatennis.com/page/OffCourtNews/Read/0,,12781~2396793,00.html


truthsquad Says:

Is it just me or is Robin Soderling a dead ringer for Dana Carvey? It kind of unnerves me…


Humble Rafa Says:

Congratulations to Elena Dementieva. She was one of the most classy players in the last 10 years.


Margaret C Says:

Austin did us proud! I was there. Austin is obviously a great place for events like this. Of course, it has to be indoors in the summer.


Kimmi Says:

the davydenko struggles continues. last week he lost in the first round (Stuttgart) to somebody ranked 197. Today he loses in the first round (hamburg) again to somebody ranked 168.

At wimbledon he lost (first round) to tomic ranked 158 (Ok, Tomic manage to beat a lot of players so he is forgiven there). At RG second round, he lost to somebody ranked 227..at least he won a match here…..

Seriously, how can he get out of this???


Kimberly Says:

i think retire? or play Rafa it seems.

At least want him to stick around long enough for nadal to reverse the H2H


Kimberly Says:

it looks like verdasco and cilic actually have a chance to win two matches in a row tomorrow at Hamburg. Can they do it?


Kimmi Says:

blake vs isner – tie break 8-8 at the moment. nail biter!


Kimmi Says:

just as i type, isner gets a mini break..take the set.


jane Says:

Kimmi are you watching on TV or streaming?


Kimmi Says:

Hi jane, streaming. I have been on and off the match though. great to see blake fighting

Go blake!


Kimmi Says:

This looks like a third set tie break..they are both poor returners. Isner is the worst.


jane Says:

Kimmi, yeah, I found it on streaming and like you I have been on and off watching. I am hoping for Blake to pull out the win. But I suspect Isner will win.


Kimberly Says:

3rd set for cilic/youzney


Kimberly Says:

hewitt lost last night??? i guess its time for retirement

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