New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

That puts Federer above Ferrer, but not quite guaranteed to be back to #4 as Berdych is still in the tournament. A win against Nishikori moves him out of range of Tomas. Federer could even end the week at #3 and Swiss #1, as Wawrinka was beaten by Dolgopolov yesterday. Federer would have to win the title to do so, though.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

So, where were we?

At QF stage of the Miami Masters it seems. OK, a fair bit has happened since then.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Let’s start with the Men’s tour. The Final rounds in Miami had some big names in action. Federer stumbled with that #3 ranking in sight (this would be repeated more recently), going down to Nishikori in the QFs. Breakthrough win that for Kei, in fact a breakthrough run as he beat Dimitrov, Ferrer and Federer in consecutive rounds, which is a very fine collection of victories by anyones reckoning. That was as good as it got as Nishikori had to withdraw from his SF with Djokovic without striking a ball due to a groin injury aggravated in going six sets against Ferrer and Federer.
Unfortunately for the tournament they also lost their other Men’s semi as Berdych picked up a stomach bug between beating Dolgopolov and being due to face Nadal. Hard not to sympathise with the tournament director left in that position, particularly in the States where ‘shit happens’ [pun unintentional] probably doesn’t wash as an excuse. At least Djokovic and Nadal were both nice and fresh for the Final, but that wasn’t close to enough to make up for things as Djokovic won in pretty routine fashion, adding to his title in Indian Wells (and the last two of last year in Paris and Shanghai, for that matter). A sign that Nadal mk 2014 is not quite the same as the 2013 model, and as with Federer there have been other such indicators in the meantime.
Oh, and Murray lost to Djokovic in the QF, much as everyone expected he would.

The following week was the Davis Cup; no need to repeat SSK’s eye-witness report on Italy-Britain over on the British Tennis thread, so I’ll leave it as ‘nearly. But you really do need more than a one-man team to win in this’. As for the other ties, Nishkori’s injury was very ill-timed, as it reduced another one-man team (Japan) to no-men. Japanese #2 Go Soeda was also absent for some reason, leaving Taro Daniel, Tatsuma Ito and Yasutaka Uchiyama flying the flag. With the best will in the world, they don’t represent a World Group class team. Berdych was also missing from the Czech Rep side, but with Rosol and Stepanek the back-up was much stronger and the 5-0 result hardly surprising.
The other two matches were threatening major shocks at various times after the first two days. The Swiss dream-team of Wawrinka-Federer (in that order) ought to have steamrollered Golubev, Kukushkin et al of Kazhakstan, particularly with home court advantage. But strange things can happen in Davis Cup, as Golubev beat Wawrinka in the opening singles, and then the golden pair (Bejing 2008 Men’s Doubles winners) lost the doubles in four sets. When Kukushkin won an opening tie-break Wawrinka in the fourth rubber, the crowd must really have been panicking, but that was as close as the Kazakh’s got. A real scare though for the tournament favourites (I assume, I haven’t actually checked the odds).
Meanwhile, France’s very strong selection (Tsonga, Monfils, Benneteau, Llodra) somehow found themselves 2-0 down to a very understrength Germany side after day 1, which is a bit startling given Germany’s singles players were Kamke (#96) and Gojowczyk (#119). Tsonga losing in five to Gojokczyk was a real shocker. The French turned it around from there, presumably roared on by a patriotic Nancy crowd. A slightly provocative location to host a France-Germany international contest in, no?

Two weeks ago saw a couple of ATP250 clay court events, one in Houston, the other in Casablanca. It will come as little surprise that all four finalists were Spaniards. For the record Verdasco beat Almagro in Houston and Garcia-Lopez beat Granollers in Casablanca.

Last week was saw (most of) the big guns back in action for the Monte Carlo Masters, though one A.Murray gave it a miss. Up until last year Monte Carlo was the location of ‘the streak’ – Nadal’s credibility stretching run of eight consecutive titles, a record that surely will never be broken. That streak ended in last year’s Final when Djokovic won, but given that this must be Rafa’s second favourite tournament behind the French Open, this year’s result was a shocker. Beaten in the QFs by David Ferrer, of all people. His absolute bunny on any surface, but particularly on clay. That raises serious eye-brows.
Over in the other half, the SF pitch Federer against Djokovic, which Federer won reasonably straightforwardly. Djokovic left the tournament complaining of a wrist injury, which was initially reported as potentially keeping him out for some time. This has now been downgraded to a couple of weeks meaning he shouldn’t even need to miss the Madrid Masters and Italian Open, but as Juan Martin Del Potro and Laura Robson can tell him, wrist injuries have an annoying habit of lingering and playing on when they haven’t fully healed can be rather counter-productive.
Stan Wawrinka had beaten Ferrer in the other SF, leaving the Final as a Swiss-off. The #3 ranking was on the line, as a Federer win would have edged him just ahead. He looked on course as he took the opener, but Wawrinka levelled in a breaker and then roared through the decider. The 800 point ranking swing (±400) should see Wawrinka enter the French seeded #3 and Federer #4, baring Fed taking back-to-back titles in Madrid and Rome. As a by-the-by, it was Wawrinka’s first Masters Series win.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

And what of the WTA?

Well, going back to Miami and my post at the bottom of page 5, Cibulkova beat Aga Radwanska in the QFs so has displaced Sara Erani from the top 10. The other QFs went to form (i.e. wins for Serena vs Kerber, Sharapova vs Kvitova and Li vs Wozniacki, all in straight sets). As did the Semis, with Serena continue her utter lock-down on Sharapova (15 straight, approaching a decade since Maria’s last win) and the Melbourne result being repeated as Li beat Cibulkova, though Dominika got a set this time. Also going to seeding, if not quite form was the Final as Serena beat Li. That win represented Serena’s 7th Miami Masters title, which is a record number of titles for that tournament, Men or Women.
One other point of interest was Martina Hingis winning the Women’s Doubles title in partnership with Sabine Lisicki, who Hingis has been coaching since January. That was Hingis’ first pro title since the between drug-busts Singles comeback. Still got it, I guess.

The big event of the following week was the Family Circle Cup, played on Charleston’s green clay. As with Miami, this is a tournament that Serena has a significant personal history with, as she came in as double-defending champion and a three-times winner. However, she was ousted in a serious shock by 20-year old Slovak Jana Cepelova. Backing up a big win is regularly difficult, so that Cepelova went on a complete roll, taking out established players Vesnina and Hantuchova, was seriously impressive.
The last four was full of young guns, as Cepelova played 17 year-old Belinda Bencic and Eugenie Bouchard (also 20) took on the one more experienced player still standing, Andrea Petkovic (a greybeard of all of 26). Bucking what would prove something of the trend of the month, it was Petkovic who ended up with the title, the first Premier level one of her career and first of any sort since 2011. In the meantime she has had some serious injuries and loss of form, so it’s good to see her back. Cepelova finished as runner-up, also a first tour final and definitely a breakthrough week.
There was also a hard court event this week at International Level, in Monterrey, Mexico. This was won by Ana Ivanovic, her second title this year, as she continues to edge back towards the top ten. However, the story was more her opponent in the Final, a fellow Serb but more importantly another 20 year-old in Jovana Jaskic.

The new faces kept on coming in the week after, including one going a step further and winning her first title. The breakthroughs in this case were from Italian Camila Giorgi, who finished as runner-up to Alize Cornet in the indoor event in Katowice, and Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who beat Jelena Jankovic on clay in Bogota. Both players had given a signal of their form in the American Prem Mandatories; Garcia had come the closest of anyone to stopping Serena in Miami, taking a set of her in R3 (the only one Serena lost all tournament) and forcing the decider to 6-4. Giorgi meanwhile recorded the stand-out win by beating Sharapova in R3 of Indian Wells.
Garcia made some waves a couple of years back when she pushed Sharapova hard in the French Open, prompting Andy Murray for one to make some hyperbolic comments on twitter predicting her as a future World No.1. Things (and Scotsmen) have gone a bit quiet in the meantime, so getting to her first final and claiming the title was big step forward, as was claiming a serious scalp in Jankovic in the title match. Garcia also took the doubles title, as an extra confirmation of her form.
Giorgi, meanwhile, might have ended up as runner-up in Poland, but she did claim a couple of major scalps prior to the Final. They were countrywoman Roberta Vinci in R2 and Carla Suarez Navarro in the Semis, both top 20 players and highly competent individuals. Giorgi is fun to watch, mostly because her father has conniptions in the stands whenever she plays. Good solid game, as well, very strong legs for someone as small and slight as she is. She didn’t disgrace herself in the Final by any means, but just fell short in a very even match (6-7 7-5 5-7). Worth noting in passing that Cornet is having her best ever season, and is improving her result by stages; she made the Semis of the January’s Premier level Paris Indoor event, as mentioned on this thread took out Serena in the Semis in Dubai but then lost to Venus in that Final, and added another top five scalp here by beating home favourite Aga Radwanska in the Semis and then taking home the pot.

Part of Giorgi’s reward for her run was to join the big time in the Fed Cup, as she was part of the Italy team that played Czech Rep in the Semis. Italy and Czech Rep are two of the three sides, alongside Russia, that have utterly dominated this competition in recent years. Between them these three countries have won the last ten editions; Russia have four wins and two runners-up spots, Italy 4+1, Czech Rep 2+0. The three of them were present in all the Semis between 2009 and 2013. This, inevitably, lead to a number of clashes, and indeed the Czech Rep-Italy match was the fourth time that the two countries had met in the Semis in recent years. On all three previous occasions the home side had won, and so it proved again in Ostrava. Apparently a slow clay court undermines Petra Kvitova (the mainstay of the Czech side), whereas a fast indoor one does for the Italian players, all of them. Who would have guessed?
Russian interest in the event seems to have waned sharply in the last few months, with wildly understrength teams being sent to Italy for the 2013 Final and Australia for the 2014 R1, leading to inevitable defeats. Makes me wonder if there was some issue between (now former) captain Myskina and her players. As a result of their elimination, the other semi was opportunity time. It pitched Australia vs Germany. The German side looked very strong on paper, with Kerber, Petkovic (fresh from her title in Charleston), Goerges and Gronefeld. Very strong on court as well, or at least much too good for the Australian team lead by Stosur and Dellacqua. Like the Czech Rep-Italy match, this one was settled after three rubbers.
The end of season final will hosted by the Czech Rep. Maybe they can follow the French example and find a suitable indoor venue in Teplice...
It wasn’t just Fed Cup action last week, there was also an international level tournament going on, the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. And the main story in that was, yep, you’ve guessed it, another youngster. Not even 20 this time, but 17 year-old Donna Vekic (that is London-based and English accented Donna Vekic. Can we claim her?!?). Despite her tender years, Vekic has some history behind her, having made two previous tour finals, the first of which came in 2012 when she was only just past her 16th birthday. This time she went a stage further, taking her first title and doing so against Cibulkova, one of the season’s form players, in the title match. Yet another note to be made.

With so many youngsters on the rise the next few months on the WTA will be intriguing. It throws into contrast the lack for 16-21 year olds showing significant promise in the Men’s game. The Women have so many that working out who to follow is becoming rather difficult.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

And that brings us more or less up to date. Now I just need to proof read all of it...

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Almagro beats Nadal in the QFs in Barcelona. Nadal hadn't won as many titles there as Monte Carlo, but only because he skipped it a few times. It was over a decade since he actually lost a match. And his conqueror is again a fellow Spaniard. More of this an a Federer-like loss of aura will be occurring.

[Seven Saxon Kings]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

It was good to see Stan finally back his slam win up with a bit of form, and a big title to boot. I saw some of the Nadal-Ferrer match and he was very poor, making some extremely uncharacteristic errors. Ferrer defended well but really just seemed like his usual self. Hopefully Rafa can lift it at the French.

Almagro-Girlado-Nishikori-Gulbis must be Barcelona's weakest semi-final line-up for a very long time, if not forever.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

So, this has been left for a while again. Where did we leave it? Ah yes, most of the way through Barcelona (ATP) which was also the week of Stuttgart on the WTA although that seems to have flown under the radar.

Forgive the focus on the WTA, but due to TV subscriptions that is where my knowledge is stronger. It isn’t a preference as such, more circumstance, but it isn’t unwelcome either.

Right, so. The Stuttgart WTA tournament is a rather big one in terms of profile, a Premier event. It is also consistently the one the players vote as their favourite tournament. This may or may not have something to do with the tournament sponsors being Porsche, and courtesy car pick-ups in the sponsor vehicles or even (I think I heard this right) the chance to borrow one for the week. The tournament winner also has the option of her prize money, or the brand new car that sits in the corner of the court.
Despite its profile it is, however, an indoor clay event that just has one court so the main draw field consists of just 28 players (top 4 seeds getting byes through round one). The combination of popularity and scarcity makes for a very high profile field; the last direct acceptance was #28 Lucie Safarova, and she nearly caused an upset in R1 as she lost an 3+ hour epic to double-defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-6(2). Maria had only entered Stuttgart twice previously so came in with a perfect record on this particular court, but was two points away from defeat a couple of times iirc.
There were limited shocks through the tournament, with all the seeds making R2 and 5 of the 8 getting to the QFs. Notable R2 scalps went to Carla Suarez-Navarro, who beat home favourite Angie Kerber [4], to Alisa Kleybanova, who burned one of her protected ranking entries on her comeback from cancer (Hodgkin’s Lymphona) and must be delighted with her choice as she looked nerveless in deservedly taking down Petra Kvitova [3], her best win since her return to the action. And finally to Svetelana Kuznetsova who beat Simona Halep in what was only Sveta’s fourth win of the year and first over a top 50 opponent.
However, these players were all eliminated in the next round, as things went to the form book, if not the seedings (i.e. Sharapova [6] took here h2h to 7-2 against A.Radwanska [1]). The Semis likewise followed h2h form as Sharapova crushed Errani and Ana Ivanovic continued her hold over countrywoman Jelena Jankovic, now 9-3, albeit in two tough sets this time.
The final was pitched as a dream final. Hmm, the no. 6 and no. 9 seeds. OK, they are two former World No.1s and Slam champions but one was without a title of any sort to her name since Stuttgart 2013 and the other has been outside the top 10 for about five years and hadn’t even made a Premier level Final in that time, much less won one. Oh, right, you mean No.1 and 2 in the world in terms of modelling and calendar sales. Ah, right, well that also explains the big screen at the end of the hall displaying the slogan Play! Girls (the initial reaction to which was “you don’t realise the connotations of that” but on seconds thoughts maybe they did) and accompanying artful shots of the players with hair flying as if hitting shots, which is something they are always carefully coiffure and wearing make-up. There must have been a serious modelling session to get those images.
*ahem*, rant aside, it was a very good match, particularly early in set 2 when both players were playing at their peaks. Ivanovic started brilliantly, dominating with her forehand and making hardly any errors. She took the opening set and was a break up in set 2 and seemingly on course for her biggest title for many years. Sharapova did what she does and hung tough to break back, but then in the next game found herself 30-40 down and having to chase across the baseline to her backhand corner with Ivanovic climbing all over the net. Somehow she found the strength to fire the ball down the line from nearly behind her for a crucial winner. Most players would have sprayed it wide of the trams, if they had even bothered running for it at all. Maria’s determination and will to win is exceptional at times. The match turned on this as Maria went up a level and Ana begun to miss a bit, as if she was wondering what she needed to do to win, which resulted in Ana winning just two more games. So Maria remains unbeaten on Stuttgart’s clay and now owns three Porsche’s. It reminded me of the Marilyn Monroe quote 'Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world', except swapped to ‘Show a girl a Porsche she can win’ etc...

There was also an International level event in the same week as Stuttgart, for those players whose ranking wasn’t nosebleed enough to play in Germany. This was held in Marrakesh, drew a decent field (seeds were all inside the top 50, last direct acceptance was #120). There were two first time Finalists here, Maria Terresa Torro Flor and Romana Oprandi. Spaniard Torro Flor won in three sets. Oprandi didn’t have to wait long for a first WTA level title, as she was straight back on to court to play and win the Doubles. It is nice to see Oprandi back, as she was up to 30-odd in the world at Wimbledon last year, but then was out for months and months due to a shoulder injury, and has only played a handful of tournaments since her return. For the record, Torro Flor also missed the Aussie Open with a (less serious) injury, so a big week in both players seasons and careers. There was less good news for Oprandi in an ITF event in the week after this, as she retired hurt from her match, hopefully just precautionary.

Last week just had the one event, the Portuguese Open in Estoril. A couple of the players who had shown form in Stuttgart, Suarez Navarro and Kuznetsova, made the Final of this. Kuznetsova had a couple of handy wins along the way, beating a presumably highly confident Torro Flor in the QFs and #2 seed Genie Bouchard in the semis. Suarez Navarro had actually ended in Stuttgart with an injury retirement (wrist) in the QF against Errani, but this obviously wasn’t too serious as she cruised to the last four as #1 seed. In that she played nervously in scrambling past qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu, but saw it home.
The title match had an intriguing dynamic to it as Suarez Navarro had a 0-5 career record in Finals, whilst Kuznetsova might be a double grand-slam champion but she hadn’t won a tournament since 2010 or been in a Final since 2011. She even gave a quote that her original plan on entering was to get some time on court, nothing more, but now she had gone a long way she wanted the crown. Given the backgrounds, one might have expected Suarez Navarro to be marginally the more nervous, but that wasn’t the case; she appeared nicely relaxed and Kuzy looked tense as she lost set 1 and fell behind in set 2. With the line in sight, Suarez Navarro began to back off her shots and Kuznetsova finally got loose, powering back to take set 2 and open up a 4-1, double-break lead in the decider. But then the line came in sight, the nerves returned and Suarez Navarro capitalised to win five straight games, and take that first title. Important in the context of her career as she had previously been the highest ranked player without one, and certainly unusual in being a consistent top 20 player in the middle of her career and still being yet to get that debut winners trophy.

Also one event this week, and a biggie, the Premier Mandatory in Madrid. A few recurring names showed up again here, and also with the French Open around the corner a worrying theme of injuries to some star names. First the injuries; Angelique Kerber pulled out of her R1 match against Caroline Garcia (one of the recurring names) due to a back injury, which she hopes will come right soon. Maria Kirilenko withdrew prior to her R2, also due to be against Garcia, which is worrying as Madrid was only her second tournament back after missing the opening third of the year with a knee injury she picked up right at the conclusion of 2013. Hopefully this isn’t a reoccurrence. Caroline Wozniacki played to the end against Roberta Vinci (she would, she is a trouper in this sense) but did so obviously hampered by a knee problem. But the biggest story was Serena Williams pulling out prior to her QF with Petra Kvitova, suffering with a thigh injury. Seeing how many of them play this week in Rome will give a gauge to the seriousness of the various issues. Kirilenko and Woznaicki have pulled out, but Serena and Kerber (and Oprandi for that matter) are all still down to play as of now.
In actually hitting the ball action, Garcia took advantage of her two consecutive breaks to shock Sara Errani and make the QFs. She was the only non-seed there, alongside Serena, Li, A.Radwanska, Halep, Kvitova (the tournament’s top 5 seeds), Sharapova and Ivanovic. Some themes are emerging here. Serena-Kvitova was a w/o, Halep took Ivanovic down easily, Sharapova just about scrapped past Li from a set down (didn’t see this one, but it sounds like typical Maria) and Garcia showed that whatever her route to the QFs she was a worth participant as she took Radwanska the distance before losing. The Sharapova-Radwanska semi went to the form book as Maria won comfortably (h2h now 8-2), whilst Halep dug and when a set and a break down against Kvitova, keeping the ball alive and allowing Petra to miss.
So to today Final, which I’ve alluded to elsewhere. Halep was on a highly impressive run of title match victories coming in, 7 in a row; maybe this is why she was calm and Maria all uptight. Either way set 1 was a 6-1 blow out to the Romanian. But things changed from the start of set 2 as Maria broke and then saved a number of break-back points to retain her lead. Halep seemed to me to make a tactical error in stepping back when Maria came on at her, as if hoping that Maria would start missing again. This didn’t happen, and for the rest of the match Maria looked the likely winner, as would eventually prove the case. Her is an interesting fact for you all – the last player, other than Serena Williams, to beat Sharapova on a clay court (i.e. excluding a w/o against Errani last year in Rome) was Li Na, in the French Semis in 2011! That is some record for a player who once described herself as ‘Bambi on Ice’ on the surface.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

ATP. Well, briefly;

Top 8 guys

Nadal – poor in Barcelona (QFs, Almagro, really?!?), better in Madrid (Won, but was losing to Nishikori until the Japanese got injured), still has question marks against him.
Djokovic – missed Madrid due to the wrist injury, but currently due to play in Rome. Wrist injuries are not good for Tennis players.
Wawrinka – shock R2 defeat to Thiem in Madrid, but he did win Monte Carlo (see posts passim) so no real problems.
Federer – not only is he in the tiniest of tiny percentages of the human population in terms of winning Grand Slams, he is also in the same when it comes to producing babies. You can produce one, Roger will conjure up two. Actually, that is more Mirka’s doing, but then she has always been a huge part of Team Federer. Is due back on court in Rome, and got to the Final in Monte Carlo so missing Madrid is not an issue.
Ferrer – poor early defeat in Barcelona, decent run in Madrid but would be disappointed to have lost to Nishikori in the Semis. Looks like it was a real battle, though. Typical effort, really. Can look back to Monte Carlo and draw comfort from a first clay court win over Nadal for around a decade.
Berdych – put himself down for the ATP250 in Estoril in search of court time, having gone out early in Monte Carlo. Made the Final of that, wiped the court in set 1 with Berlocq, but then it all turned around bizarrely. Coped badly with Berlocq’s drop-shotting and will disappointed not to have collected the pot. Lost comprehensively to Nadal in Madrid QFs. Needs a convincing showing in Rome.
Del Potro – injured.
Murray – dire form continues. I though the back surgery was meant to make him play better, not significantly worse. Needs a new direction urgently.

Other notables from the last three weeks

Kei Nishikori – the revelation of the clay court campaign so far and the season general. Champion in Barcelona, runner-up in Madrid and only that due argunably to injury. Add in a title on hard in Memphis and a run to the SFs of Miami that was only stopped by another injury and he is having a stand-out year. I haven’t checked this, but surely he breaks the top 10 for the first time in tomorrow’s rankings. Hopefully the back injury isn’t too serious and he can show his worth in Paris.
Grigor Dimitrov – won the ATP250 event in Bucharest that took place in the same week as Barcelona. Was the top seed, but delivered. First title on clay.
Fabio Fognini – runner-up as #1 seed in last week’s ATP250 event in Munich, so can’t have been that badly hurt the previous week in Barcelona when retiring hurt against Giraldo.
Ernests Gulbis – has shown up well all season, and this continued with a SF run in Barcelona followed by a QF in Madrid. Beginning to come closer to living up to his own hype.
Nicolas Almagro – SF in Barcelona to back up the R-Up spot in Houston from earlier in the season. But its not the round reach that was important, its who he beat; Senor Nadal, joining a very select list to have beaten the greatest clay court player ever on his best surface. Didn't back up the huge win, mind, losing to Giraldo in the next match in Barcelona and going out fairly early in Madrid.
Feliciano Lopez – listed for completeness as I've mentioned all the other Madrid Quarter-Finalists. A bit of luck involved as instead of playing Wawrinka in R3, he had a walkover against Thiem. No mug on clay (if he had been, he probably would have quit the game as a junior seeing as that is about the only surface in Spain), but it doesn't really help him as a surface, so should bank those points and be happy with the return.
Roberto Bautista-Agut – made the Madrid SFs by beating Giraldo and is flying up the rankings (excepted ~30ish next week). A fun player to watch and a growing threat to the top guys.
Santiago Giraldo – Madrid QFs as a qualifier, with a series of serious scalps in Hewitt, Tsonga and Murray before going down to Bautista-Agut. Finalist in Barcelona having beaten Fognini (albeit by retirement), Thiem, Kohlschreiber (again by retirement) and Almagro, before losing to Nishikori. Also made the SFs of the US Clay Court Champs in Houston a few weeks back, which included a win over Robredo.
Carlos Berlocq – Got his first ever top ten win against Raonic in the Estoril QFs, made that Final and then like London Buses git his second top ten win in the title match against Berdych, despite losing the opening set 6-0. Was his second career title, aged 31, with the first coming last year. Makes the most incredible racket when hitting the ball, a roar look a wounded lion. Well above the Sharapova/Azarenka league, this is in Larcher de Brito territory.
Lukas Rosol – did a decent job defending his title in Bucharest, making the Final with wins over Niemenen and Simon en route. Lost to Dimitrov, but defended a good chunk of his points.
Martin Klizan – won the ATP250 in Munich, as a qualifier. Beat Fognini in the Final for the second title of his career. Oddly his other title, in 2012, came in his only other career Final so far and that was also against Fognini. But it was on an indoor hard court which would suit him far more than the Italian. Winning against Fognini on a clay court is a significant achievement, as Andy Murray would testify.
Dominic Thiem – unlike everyone else mentioned, he didn't get to the latter stages of an event. But he did beat Wawrinka in R2 of Madrid, which is a significant achievement. Thiem came through the qualifiers and a R1 match to get his shot at Stan, and is making serious waves. The qualies are were his big achievements have come this season. He has only failed to win through once in eight attempts, which is madly good. Clearly a much, much better player than his current ranking, and is only heading in one direction. Injury permitting. Which might be crucial as he didn’t take to the court again in Madrid after beating Wawrinka, but withdrew before his next match with an arm injury of some kind.

OK, fairly briefly. Briefly by my standards.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Nishikori is indeed into the top ten for the first time (both personally and for Japan as a nation). His new ranking is #9, and that doesn't underrate him. His race ranking, which is just results from the 2014 season, is #6. Andy Murray, by contrast, is 13th on that list.
Gulbis (#17), Bautista Agut (#28), Giraldo (#36) and Thiem (#61) are also at new career highs in the rolling rankings.

Full Race top 15 is an interesting read, actual. Today’s standings are;
1. Nadal
2. Wawrinka
3. Djokovic
4. Federer
5. Berdych
6. Nishikori
7. Ferrer
8. Dimitrov
9. Fognini
10. Dolgopolov
11. Cilic
12. Gulbis
13. Murray
14. Anderson
15. Bautista Agut
That does feel like a more accurate representation of the current leading players in the world.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

People to have beaten Rafa Nadal on a clay court, from a start date of 1/1/2005 (i.e. the start of his first top 10 season)

Djokovic x3
Federer x2
Gaudio
Andreev
Ferrero
Soderling
Verdasco
Zeballos
Ferrer
Almagro

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Lets try and keep a little more on top of things as they develop in Rome.

Qualifying is done, so what of the various players making waves mentioned above?
Well, Giraldo and Berlocq were the #1 and #2 seeds in the Men's section, and that followed form somewhat. Giraldo, who has won loads lost just six games across his two matches and now faces Cilic in main draw R1. Timings must have been tight to get to Rome for the sign-in, seeing as he was playing a QF in Madrid on Friday. Must be glad he made it. Berlocq will be less pleased as he went out in q1 to Albert Ramos. But even that fits with form, as Berlocq's trophy in Portugal was much more of a flash-in-the-pan, as his season record prior was a pretty poor 4-8.
In the Womens qualies, Torro Flor was the top seed, but she was gone quickly, thrashed by Mona Barthel. Another player who made a impact a few weeks ago, Jana Cepelova (beat Serena on clay in Charleston and followed it up by making that Final) was seeded #2. But she also went in q1, to Petra Cetkovska. Belinda Bencic, who also had a good run in Charleston, did get through to the main draw, however.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

There have also been some main draw R1 matches today. Both the Men's and Women's draws give byes to the top eight seeds, so action was confined to seeds 9-16 (or 17 due to late injury withdrawals) and also those whose good previous form makes them worth tracking.

Again, let’s start with the Men and the highest possible seed to fall on day 1, #9, did so as John Isner was beaten by Jurgen Melzer. Not a great surprise on a clay court, really. Melzer is relatively freshly into a comeback from injury and was in on a protected ranking, so it’s a useful win for him as he tries to lift himself back towards being the Grand Slam seed he had commonly been before the time away from the circuit. One other seed was eliminated on court, and that was bad news for the crowd as Italian no.1 Fognini was beaten by Rosol (in a match bringing two of our players together). One other seeding spot is blank after Nishikori’s withdrawal came too late to re-jig the draw. Other results saw Dimitrov beat Roger-Vasselin in three and Lopez beat in straight sets by countryman Marcel Granollers. Granollers next plays Murray...

Over on the WTA, and Romina Oprandi was fit enough to take to the court against Andrea Petkovic, but must now wish she hadn’t bothered (3-6 0-6). That used up one of the precious protected rankings to no great avail. Kuznetsova got a handy win over Kirilenko, but at least that means I was misinformed and Maria’s injury in Madrid wasn’t too serious as she felt fit enough to play. Two seeded causalities, Sabine Lisicki (#15) went down to Sam Stosur in straight sets, but that is no great surprise on a clay court, and Genie Bouchard (#17) also lost in straight to home favourite Francesca Schiavone. Bouchard seeding spot of 17 gives enough information to know that she wasn’t originally meant to play Cesca – she will have got moved into the seeded spot when Wozniacki announced her withdrawal after the draw had been made but before the R1 matches had started. This wasn’t advantageous, as Bouchard’s replacement in the draw, lucky loser Paula Ormaechea found herself in a much less challenging match against Kurumi Nara and duly won it!

[Seven Saxon Kings]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Fognini v Rosol must have been a massive clash of styles. I guess Rosol can beat anyone on his day - even the GOAT - but that's still quite a surprising result. One thing very apparent about watching Fabio in the flesh last month is how good his touch and volleys are for someone we think of as such a clay courter. His serve is powderpuff but if that was better he'd be at least the equal of Ferrer as a player (on current form anyway, clearly he's quite new at the level he's playing at and has nowhere near Ferrer's longevity).

Half of Murray's ranking points are now Wimbledon. I know he's defending nothing here or at the French but assuming he does nothing particularly good at either then anything less than the final could see him drop out of the top ten - and that's if he can defend Queens...

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Rosol gets consistently better results on clay than he does on other surfaces. His wikipedia page notes a win over Jurgen Melzer at the 2011 French (must admit to not remebering this, or possibly not aware when it happened), when Melzer was at his peak and inside the top ten. Also see winning Bucharest last year and getting to the final again this, Rosol's only two ATP-level Final apperences. And in Grand Slams Rosol has four wins at the French including a R3 apperence, 2 at Wimbledon, 1 in Australia and none in New York.

He doesn't really come forwards, just thumps it from the back of the court which is a style that fits clay as well as it does any of the alternatives.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

What of yesterday in Rome?

Bad news for Santiago Giraldo, who retired hurt from his match with Cilic. Stated reason is a hip flexor strain, but how serious that might be is not something I’ve found. Maybe the info is out there if one searches in Spanish or Italian? Given Roland Garros begins in just 11 days it is ill-timed.
Disappointing defeat for Roberto Bautista Agut, gone in straight sets (one of them a bagel) to Tursunov. Lets ascribe that to tiredness after the run to the Madrid Semis.
Luck went the other way for Ernests Gulbis. He was originally down to play Nishikori, which would have been a fascinating match given the two players respective form. But when Kei withdrew late, Gulbis found himself up against a lucky loser instead of a seed. And the breaks continued as that LL, Alejandro Falla, withdrew with foot pain after one set. Gulbis next plays a qualifier, Stephane Robert, which he obviously should win.
No further seeded casualties in R1, but in there was one in the handful of completed R2 matches. That was Tommy Robredo, beaten by Kohlschreiber. Robredo has had an underwhelming clay court season so far, not even making a Quarter-Final. Bigger news from R2 was a seed who won; Novak Djokovic made a winning return from the wrist injury, beating Stepanek in straight sets. He plays Kohlschreiber next, which feels like the sort of schedule someone would draw up for a heavyweight fighter feeling his way back, with bouts of increasing toughness step-by-step.

If the Men’s was relatively shock free yesterday, the same cannot be said of the Women’s as three top ten players departed the tournament in their opening match. 9th seed Dominika Cibulkova was beaten in straight sets by rising young Italian player Camila Giorgi, presumably amid a very noisy and excited crowd. Giorgi was in on a wild card, but the win may well see her into the top 50 which is where she belongs on ability at the moment.
That happened in R1, the other two shocks were R2 matches after the seeded player had had a bye. One to fall was Angelique Kerber, who was beaten in three sets by Petra Cetkovska. If Robredo’s clay season has been poor, Angie’s has been disaterous. Her record is 0-3, gone in R2 of Stuttgart to Suarez Navarro, R1 of Madrid to Garcia and R2 and then this. Her defeat in Madrid was by retirement, so maybe there was a hangover of that, the silver lining being that at least she felt fit enough to play and indeed play to the end of a three set match. The other seed to fall was Petra Kvitova (so a varied day for Czech fans), who put in a performance against Zhang Shuai that could be best described as “very Petra”. From a set and 3-5 down, it ran like this; win four games in a row to take set 2 7-5, lose 3 games in a row to fall 0-3 down in the decider, win 3 in a row to level, lose 3 in a row to seal defeat. As usual with Petra there was no radar adjustment. If she was overhitting, she just kept doing so.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Well, well. Federer beaten in R2 by Chardy. That imperils Federer's top 4 seeding for Roland Garros. He will lose it to Ferrer if Ferrer makes the Semis in Rome. Forunately for Fed, Djokovic stands in Ferrer's path to that stage.
No other seeds went today (note, this is good news for Andy Murray, seeing as he was playing), so let us concentrate on the other players I've been following.
Gulbis is through, though Robert made him worked harder than maybe was expected by taking the opening set. He plays Ferrer next, btw. Dimitrov is also through, beating Ivo Karlovic in straight sets (how old is Ivo nowadays?!? It seems amazing that he is still playing. He must be a real veteran). Rosol went out though, in highly disappointing fashion, getting three games against Dodig.
Other notable happenings included Jo-Willy Tsonga winning 16-14 7-5 against Kevin Anderson. Those are the tie-break scores, of course. You wouldn’t expect service breaks in this match [crosses fingers that they were in fact no breaks]. Jurgen Melzer is also into R3 after he beat Cilic in three. He is the next challenger for Mr Murray.

Women’s? Injuries again are the biggest news. Serena played, and beat Petkovic 2&2, so that scare seems to be over. The next one concerns Simona Halep, who fought back to beat Madison Keys, dropping just one game in sets 2 and 3, and then promptly announced her withdrawal from the tournament to get treatment for an abdominal strain. Her win in R2 combined with the early defeat for Petra Kvitova and the continued absence of Vika Azarenka meant that Halep was certain of a top four seeding in Paris. Was that co-incidental to the withdrawal? You decide. But essentially I’m very hopeful that it is nothing serious.
The main beneficiary of Halep’s premature departure is Carla Suarez Navarro, who suddenly found her R2 victory over Venus Williams propelled her to the Quarter-Finals. Another retirement saw Sveta Kuznetsova abandon against Jelena Jankovic. This one is more of a wait and see effort.
Elsewhere, Camila Giorgi didn’t back up her big win over Cibulkova, as she went down in R2 to American qualifier Christina McHale. A similar thing happened when Giorgi shocked Sharapova at Indian Wells earlier in the season. Dealing with big wins and going again is therefore an area to work on for her and her coach. McHale’s win was good news for American fans, and somewhat makes up for yet another disappointing showing from Sloane Stephens, who went down 2&2 to Varvara Lepchenko. People are really beginning to give up on Sloane.

[multipleman78]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Nadal v Murray is next. I think this is the first time that they have met in around 3 years. I don't give Murray much of a chance especially on the red stuff. Nadal does appear more vulnerable in 2014 but Murray has hardly looked strong enough to do anything about that.

Murray said today that it will be a good barometer of where he is in preparation for the French. I would agree with this. Even in defeat, Murray could certainly take something from the match to help him moving forward unless he plays utter shit and gets crushed.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Janik wrote: the last player, other than Serena Williams, to beat Sharapova on a clay court (i.e. excluding a w/o against Errani last year in Rome) was Li Na, in the French Semis in 2011! That is some record for a player who once described herself as ‘Bambi on Ice’ on the surface.

No longer. Ana Ivanovic gets quick revenge for her defeat in the Stuttgart Final, seeing the second set home this time. She has won the French Open before, of course...
No other surprises in the Women's, and one notable and one partial shock in the Men's. The notable shock was another loss for Stan Wawrinka, this time to veteran Tommy Haas. Monte Carlo now feels a while ago. The partial shock was Dimitrov beating Berdych. I said after Madrid that Tomas needed a good run in Rome. R3 doesn't count as that.

QF lineups
Women
S.Williams [1] vs Zhang
Suarez Navarro [13] vs Ivanovic [11]
Jankovic [6] vs A.Radwanska [3]
Errani [10] vs Li [2]

Men
Nadal [1] vs Murray [7]
Haas [15] vs Dimitrov [12]
Raonic [8] vs Chardy
Ferrer [5] vs Djokovic [2]

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Murray-Nadal has been covered on the other thread. The main news from the rest of the matches was Djokovic beating Ferrer in another tight three setter, thereby keeping Federer in the top four for Paris. Ferrer will be disappointed by that, but not by his level of play and none of the top four will want to see him in their segment of the draw.
All the other results went in the expected direction (i.e. mostly to seeding and Jankovic beating Radwanska, which hardly counts as unexpected on clay), apart from Sara Errani bucking various recent trends by beating Li Na. That must have pleased the home fans. Errani continues to be a tough old nut to crack on dirt.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Another slow puncture in the Nadal clay-court aura, as Djokovic beats him in the Rome Final. The game score sounds close (4-6 6-3 6-3), but some of the statistics make for very poor reading for Rafa fans.
Points won behind 1st serve - 54%
Points won behind 2nd serve - 43%
Winners - 15
Unforced errors - 27
Total points 92-73 in Nole's favour.

Basically it looks like Nadal's serve was under constant pressure, and its only by being efficient in converting his (far fewer) opportunities on Djokovic's delivery that saved him from a trouncing. Nadal only held serve in 8 out of his 14 tries, and Djokovic hit 46 winners to Rafa's 15, which is an astonishing disparity.

Serena routinely beat up on Sara Errani in the Women's Final. That is a match-up that the underdog doesn't even have a punchers chance in.

[via vicaria]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

The Errani-Williams scoreline was actually closer than I expected, which is saying something. I feared another French Open 6-0 6-1 style beating.

I have to say though (and this is qualified with the knowledge that it's clay court season, and it's her best surface): Errani is performing much better at present than I expected. Say what you will, but she's one of the best examples of a player who maximises what she's got. With a decent serve (which still eludes her), she could have been (could be?) an outside bet for a random Slam win. Well, at the French, anyway. The 2012 Final could've been very different had Errani been serving with more power and pace.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Poor Caro. What shitty timing, both personal and professional.

[multipleman78]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

The draw for the French has thrown up a possible first week belter. If Nadal and Thiem win then they play one another in round 2. Nadal would win but i think it would be a wonderful encounter as Thiem goes through spells of playing ridiculous tennis. This might be an eye opener for Rafa especially if he is off his game slightly.

[Janik]

New world order? Post Aussie open tennis thread

Nadal of previous years would win. Nadal 2014? Not a certainty. Thiem somewhat fits with the template of the type of player that has given Nadal surprising amounts of trouble in the past, even on clay; a tall bloke who hits flat from the back of the court. Think Brands in last years first round, Soderling, Isner, Rosol on grass, etc. Except Thiem takes this a stage further and has more cuteness in his locker than most of those, and possibly less outright power than Soderling. He has the option of both powering Nadal off the court like those other guys, or pulling him about all over the place as Thiem did to Wawrinka in Madrid.

Either way, I hope this match comes to pass because it would be worth a watch. [checks draw to see who stands in the way] Ginepri on a wild card? Nadal will win that in his sleep. Mathieu against Thiem? Hmm, that could be a spanner in the works.