Week 8: Marseille (Špidlá), Memphis (Mustard), Buenos Aires (Smeltz), Belgrade (Berg)

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Memphis thx

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Final entry lists for this week:

Marseille

1 Špidlá, Radek CZE 3
2 Henson, Rick USA 12
3 Brdar, Miroslav CRO 14
4 Varga, Zoltán HUN 17
5 Amato, Carlo ITA 19
6 Pascaul, Patrick FRA 21
7 Zhijun, Sun CHN 28
8 Li, Wang CHN 32
9 Davis, Heath FRC 33
10 Orlov, Dmitry RUS 44
11 Sae-ul, Atthaphol THA 47
12 Maxum, Jarkko CDR 57
13 Schmidt, Pascal SUI 59
14 Genghini, Jean-Christophe FRA 63
15 Bowenburg, Rob FRC 67
16 Isaev, Denis BLR 68
17 Denisov, Boris RUS 72
18 Dorogan, Roman UKR 74
19 Färkkilä, Lari FIN 75
20 (SE)
21 (SE)
22 (Q)
23 (Q)
24 (Q)
25 (Q)
26 (WC) Fosdike, Mikel FRA
27 (WC) Lebègue, David FRA
28 (WC) Lachance, Sébastien FRA

Alternates
1. Cordiero, Valter POR 85
2. Peters, Alex GER 87
3. Aksu, Emrem TUR 90
4. Emsis, Ivars LAT 92
5. Heug, Gunther GER 96
6. Brozik, Petr CZE 97
7. Maurer, Bogdan ROU 99
8. Buur, Kasper DEN 105
9. Reiter, Martin AUT 106
10. Zeman, Václav CZE 110
11. Hewitt, Pat AUS 111
12. Bertolotto, Miguel ARG 117
13. Dinov, Gjorgji MKD 119
14. Berianidze, Gocha GEO 121
15. Juraev, Anvar UZB 124
16. Tu, Haifeng TPE 125

Buenos Aires

1 Moreno, Juan ARG 13
2 Smeltz, Randy CDR 18
3 Benaglio, Almen SUI 22
4 Matías, Tiago POR 24
5 Emelio, Sanchez ESP 26
6 Bachunelli, Antonio ITA 37
7 Joaquín, Sergio ESP 39
8 Andueza, Ion ESP 40
9 L'Estrange, Pierre FRA 41
10 Brookes, Toby AUS 43
11 Varga, János HUN 45
12 Vuriak, Viktor UKR 53
13 Gorshkov, Gregor RUS 54
14 Mandonna, Paolo ARG 55
15 Santos, Roberto BRA 58
16 Villaneuva, Javier ESP 61
17 Parmentier, Yves BEL 64
18 Harmel, Mark BEL 66
19 Alavos, Marcelo PAR 69
20 Engel, Oliver LUX 73
21 Carretero, Marc ESP 76
22 Navarro, José PAR 83
23 Zakov, Yordan BUL 88
24 (SE)
25 (SE)
26 (Q)
27 (Q)
28 (Q)
29 (Q)
30 (WC) Serrano, Juan-Pablo ARG
31 (WC) TBA
32 (WC) TBA

Alternates
1. Aksu, Emrem TUR 90
2. Marín, Aldo PAR 93
3. Quezada, Jefferson CHL 95
4. Maurer, Bogdan ROU 99
5. Rodrígues, Dênis BRA 100
6. Moreno, Néstor ECU 101
7. Ortiz, Johan COL 102
8. Machado, Carlos BRA 104
9. Buur, Kasper DEN 105
10. Menon, Felipe BRA 109
11. Bertolotto, Miguel ARG 117
12. Chasiotis, Dimitris GRE 120
13. Cobos, Emelio ARG 122
14. Aguero, Fernando ESP 123
15. De Kinsele, Michael ITA 131

Memphis

1 Cowan, Darcy USA 6
2 Murdoch, Dwayne USA 10
3 Drake, Jefferson CDR 11
4 Charles, Henry GBR 15
5 Kennedy, Davis CAN 16
6 Stewart, Oneil JAM 20
7 Champion, David AUS 27
8 Mustard, Jojo FRC 29
9 Carter, Morgan USA 30
10 Haas, Becker GER 31
11 Bradley, Jason USA 35
12 Boyd, Wayne USA 42
13 Vollan, Tom NOR 46
14 Cohen, Tal ISR 50
15 Depuis, Jean-Alain FRA 51
16 Cesljar, Ivan CRO 62
17 Doh, Ninteh JPN 65
18 James, Hugh USA 70
19 Delev, Spas CDR 78
20 Henson, Eric USA 80
21 Puder, Oleg RUS 81
22 Boniek, Zbiginiew AUT 82
23 Li, Ming-Wang CHN 84
24 (SE)
25 (SE)
26 (Q)
27 (Q)
28 (Q)
29 (Q)
30 (WC) Adams, Jesse USA
31 (WC) Lazzeri, Sam USA
32 (WC) Jones, Waylon USA

Alternates
1. Morkel, Haiku NOR 89
2. Highsmith, Oscar GBR 91
3. Day, Julian USA 94
4. Brozik, Petr CZE 97
5. Fok, Zhenyu CHN 98
6. Ortiz, Johan COL 102
7. Murray, Adam AUS 103
8. Buur, Kasper DEN 105
9. S'ua, Murphy SAM 107
10. Tobin, Matthew AUS 108
11. Zeman, Václav CZE 110
12. Hewitt, Pat AUS 111
13. Lee, Inmin KOR 114
14. Daniels, Roy CDR 115
15. Bertolotto, Miguel ARG 117
16. Veno, Akihiko JPN 118

If I've missed any one out tell me.

 

[Blewy]

Am i right in assuming the qualifying for Memphis will be out soon???

 

[Mister Wright]

Memphis thx

Interested in doubles for Memphis?

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Assuming he'll be with Korpinen tbh.

 

[David]

Assuming he'll be with Korpinen tbh.

Aye

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Interested in doubles for Memphis?

lolno

 

[Mister Wright]

Haha...

 

[luffy]

if there's still time can I play in Marseille?

 

[Luffers]

Belgrade for Loughman, he's starting to challenge now!!

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Sorry about the lack of match reports, blewy. Might get them up tomorrow along with BA and Marseille qualifying rounds:

[B]Memphis qualifying
February 15-21, II[/B]
[B]
Singles
Seeds: [/B](cut: Strongth Badlee - 183)
1. Anothy Ficher
2. Randy Bruce
3. Tu Haifeng
4. David Jones
5. Matthew Tobin
6. Randy Banks
7. Rod Bosnar
8. Samuel Thorpe
[B]
First Round[/B]
Paul Arroyo (ECU) def. (1)Anothy Ficher (USA) 6-4 6-4
Justin Williamson (USA) def. (8)Samuel Thorpe (USA) 6-2 7-6(4)
(2)Randy Bruce (USA) def. Strongth Badlee (USA) 7-6(3) 7-5
Oliver Thursfield (RSA) def. (7)Rod Bosnar (AUS) 4-6 7-5 6-1
(3)Tu Haifeng (TPE) def. (WC)Jason Schmidt (USA) 6-4 2-6 6-0
(WC)Ralph Robinson (USA) def. (5)Matthew Tobin (AUS) 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(1)
(4)David Jones (AUS) def. Jack Griffen (USA) 7-5 6-7(5) 6-3
(6)Randy Banks (FRC) def. Andy Russell (GBR) 4-6 6-3 6-3
[B]
Qualifying Round[/B]
Paul Arroyo (ECU) def. Justin Williamson (USA) 6-4 7-6(7)
(2)Randy Bruce (USA) def. Oliver Thursfield (RSA) 6-4 6-4
(WC)Ralph Robinson (USA) def. (3)Tu Haifeng (TPE) 6-2 6-2
(6)Randy Banks (FRC) def. (4)David Jones (AUS) 6-4 6-1

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Withdrawals

Marseille:

OUT: Zhijun; W. Li; Z. Varga
IN: Cordiero; Aksu; Emsis; Heug; Maurer

Buenos Aires:

OUT: Benaglio; Gorshkov; Engel
IN: Marín; Quezada; Rodrígues; N. Moreno; Ortiz

Memphis:

OUT: Carter; Bradley; T. Vollan; Cesljar
IN: Morkel; Highsmith; Day; Brozik; Fok; Murray

 

[Blewy]

Sorry about the lack of match reports, blewy. Might get them up tomorrow along with BA and Marseille qualifying rounds:

No worries mate that was cool, was just worried i might have been missed...

Cheers... Happy to qualify

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

• West CWLand's Randy Banks has qualified for the main draw for the PTA 500 tournament in Memphis with a strong display against Australia's David Jones in Sunday action. Banks was made to work in the first round of qualifying against Brit Andy Russell, but eventually pulled through 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 after breaking late in the second and third sets.Jones, however, was a bigger task with the Aussie coming into the match seeded fourth and on the back of a third round appearance at the Australian Open. There was little resistance on his behalf, though, as he won just five games in a 4-6, 1-6 defeat. Banks gains twelve points for qualifying, and later today finds out who he'll face in the first round of the main draw when qualifiers are drawn. The most advantageous spot would be on the thirteenth line against local wildcard Waylon Jones, but a showdown with East CWLand's Spas Delev is also possible. He will want to avoid, however, a showdown with either sixth seed Oneil Stewart or seventh seed David Champion.

[B]Qualifying Round[/B]
(1)Kasper Buur (DEN) vs. Marcel Kurz (SUI) 7-6(0) 6-4
(8)Mat Mitchell (CDR) def. Xavier Suarez (ARG) 6-2 6-1
Imre Medgyessy (HUN) def. (3)Fernando Aguero (ESP) 6-0 6-4
(6)Carlos Machado (BRA) def. Pierre Rose (FRC) 6-3 6-3

• Despite struggling indoors in Bergamo last week, Mat Mitchell will hope to carry on his Johannesburg form to the South American clay after making it through a draw of 32 in Buenos Aires. Travelling to his third continent in as many weeks, Mitchell showed no signs of tiredness as he raced through his qualifying round match against Xavier Suarez 6-2, 6-1.
• It was not so lucky for Pierre Rose as he fell in the qualifying round of eight to sixth seed Carlos Machado 3-6, 3-6. Rose won through to the qualifying round with an upset 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7) win over seventh seed Carlos Gonzá, but could not continue that form into the Sunday to win a spot in the main draw.

[B]Qualifying Round[/B]
(1)Matt Bre (CDR) def. Roger Warren (GBR) 6-3 6-0
(2)Gjorgji Dinov (MKD) def. (7)Marc Lubbers (NED) 6-2 4-6 6-4
Jean-Luc Sagna (FRA) def. (3)Adem Tadic (CRO) 4-6 6-3 6-1
(4)Václav Zeman (CZE) def. (8)Dariusz Marzec (POL) 6-4 6-4

• Matt Bre will hope to bounce back from disappointment last week in Bergamo as he moves into the main draw of the PTA tournament in Marseille. The World No. 95 had little troubles dispatching veteran Brit Roger Warren 6-3, 6-0 to march into the main draw on the back of three wins. The placement of the qualifiers in the draw, however, will work against him as no matter where he's placed he'll face a second round clash with either Rick Henson, Miroslav Brdar or Radek Špidlá.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Copa Telmex II - Men's singles

The South American clay tour hits its final leg in Buenos Aires before next week moving north to Mexico, and it is a pretty strong field present with two top twenty players. After crashing out in the quarter finals in Santiago, Juan Moreno leads the pack in front of his home crowd but has a doozy first up against hugely rated Spanish youngster Marc Carretero. Should he get through that, Pörtschach champion Toby Brookes might await, and Antonio Bachunelli as early as the quarter finals.

Last week in Brazil, Randy Smeltz made it to the final before losing to Illya Altman in three sets. He's also got a very tough start with János Varga first up and red hot Kasper Buur a real possibility in the second round. Should he get through that, a quarter final with Sergio Joaquín could eventuate this week after being ruined last week by Javier Villaneuva, whilst third seed Sanchez Emelio could be a possible semi final opponent. He has an interesting start against Mat Mitchell who is an unknown quantity on the clay.

After last week going close, I fancy Randy Smeltz to take his second title of the year and he'll be made to earn it. I think he'll get either Tiago Matías or Moreno in the final, but in front of a home crowd I'll say the latter without any conviction.

Prediction: Randy Smeltz def. Juan Moreno

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Open 13 II - Men's singles

Marseille crowds will be pleased with the turnout at the Open 13 this week in a field led by World No. 3 Radek Špidlá. He'll be hoping to make amends for his Australian Open exit, and is almost assured of a quarter final with a bye first up and then a qualifier in the second round. No one in his section should stop him from making the semis, but there it does get tricky against someone like Carlo Amato or Jarkko Maxum. Amato needs to get back some points after losing in the Johannesburg final, but won't have it easy if Jarkko Maxum wins after the East CWLander last week beat his compatriot Antonio Bachunelli in Brazil. Davis has a dangerous first round match against Zagreb semi finalist Aksu Emrem who last week ousted David Champion in the first round.

Rick Henson slid out of the top fifteen last week by failing to defend huge points from Rotterdam, and needs a good tournament here to jump back in. After Miami he'll have an opportunity to make up some huge points, but best start now to get his hand in the Indian Wells-Miami pot. Some tricky matchups in his section with Dmitry Orlov in good form and Ivars Emsis impossible to break on his day. When he's not on, though, he can be very ordinary and that is what his first round opponent Rob Bowenburg will be praying for. Qualifier Matt Bre will like his odds of winning his first round match against a local wildcard, but will run into a massive wall against my favourite Miroslav Brdar.

I think Brdar had his coming out party at the Australian Open, and will push further towards the top ten in Marseille. His big threat will be local Patrick Pascaul, but I think he has enough to handle him, Henson and Radek who has not played for a few weeks and might just be warming up ahead of the North American swing.

Prediction: Miroslav Brdar def. Radek Špidlá

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Regions Morgan Keegan Championships II - Men's singles

The PTA 500 tournament comes to Memphis the week, and so do a lot of players who weren't present in San Jose. Among those is World No. 10 Jefferson Drake who makes this an absolutely jam-packed draw that includes four top fifteen players. He'll have more than enough matches here with the doubles draw as well, and should do some real damage. There's potential for an all East CWLand clash in the second round between Drake and Spas Delev who should be too much for Randy Bruce the Carson finalist. At the other side of this section is Jojo Mustard who needs some big results in singles soon. He's been dealt a stinker, though, against Becker Haas. Despite being in poor form, Haas is the highest ranked non-seed and was in a good position last week against Darcy Cowan before falling away considerably. San Jose champion Dwayne Murdoch looms large for Mustard in the quarter final which makes it two weeks in a row the World No. 29 has a very tough opponent likely for the round of eight.

After falling in the semis last week, Cowan won't face Murdoch until the final if both make it that far. He'll face a dangerous quarter final against the CW Open runner up Oneil Stewart who will no doubt be as unpredictable as ever. Henry Charles will also hope to bounce back strongly from his shock first round exit in San Jose, and has a draw where he can build up a good head of steam against guys that don't have the ability to match him.

I like Charles to reverse his form last week with a tournament victory here in Memphis, but he'll need to hit form early. In the bottom half it is a toss up between Murdoch and Drake as Mustard, Haas and David Champion simply aren't in the form to challenge for it. I'm tipping Murdoch to go back-to-back in finals, but to just fall short.

Prediction: Henry Charles def. Dwayne Murdoch

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

GEMAX Open II - Men's singles

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Copa Telmex
1st Round - Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Seeds - Draw)

• Second seed Randy Smeltz was always going to have a tough start to his singles campaign against unseeded Hungarian János Varga, but managed to produce the goods when it mattered in yet another come-from-behind win. Smeltz has regularly been a danger after dropping the first set, and yet again found himself needing to do all the work as the Hungarian No. 3 clinched the set with a perfectly crafted point. Ranked outside of the top 40, Varga has been an underachiever so far in his career and at 4-1 in the second set looked odds on favourite to cause a huge upset. But the dogged Smeltz, now ranked a career high No. 15, showed that this clay season will see him really threaten the top players as he surged back to take six of the last seven games with a much-needed surge in aggression. Varga continued to attack the Smeltz forehand, but was not hitting the winners and Smeltz wasn't hitting the unforced errors to give the Hungarian the ascendancy. After taking the second, the Costa do Sauípe runner up was not going to be stopped as he broke twice more to escape with an important 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win. He'll now face Paraguay's Aldo Marín after he ended the recent hot streak of Kasper Buur in a tough 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2 upset.

• Qualifer Mat Mitchell was unable to back up his big performance in Johannesburg as he fell in the first round for the second week in a row with a 3-6, 3-6 loss to third seed Sanchez Emelio. Mitchell, without an PTA level match on clay to his name, was always going to be up against it with one of the more consistent clay court players on the other side of the court. Mitchell managed to bring up two break point chances in the first set, but was not able to convert as the experienced Spaniard took advantage of his chances to seal the first 6-3. He then surged ahead 3-0 in the second set, and despite Mitchell making a late comeback was too good 6-3, 6-3. For Mitchell, the signs were OK as he tried to find his feet on the clay, but one feels that the smarter move would have been to test his luck indoors in Serbia.

• Elsewhere, fourth seed Tiago Matías was the big casualty of the first round as he was ousted in three sets by former French Championships runner up Johan Ortiz. Ortiz, ranked outside the top 100, picked up arguably the most important win in his PTA career thus far with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 upset over a highly talented clay court player. He now faces qualifier Carlos Machado; another seeded player at the first Australian Open who has slumped out of the top 100. Also falling was Santiago semi finalist Ion Andueza who gave up a set lead to collapse against the improving Belgian Yves Parmentier; Parmentier sealing the match with a trademark backhand 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Finally, eighth seed Pierre L'Estrange made it two first round exits from two in a poor South American tour as he was stunned 6-7(3), 1-6 by Emelio Cobos who successfully made the transition from last Sunday's title indoors at Bergamo to his home clay courts on Tuesday.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Ion Andueza;
  
  Pierre L'Estrange;
  
  Tiago Matías.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Can Smeltz win in two sets?