Week 17 (PTA): Barcelona [Blanco]

[SirBloody Idiot]

Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell II – Singles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Daniel Páez Blanco is the defending champion.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Analysis:
Back in Barcelona for the prestigious PTA Tour 500 event where Daniel Páez Blanco is defending champion after beating Sanchez Emelio in the final last year one and one. Some big names who were present last year are missing here - Randy Smeltz (SF), Sven Oxenstierna (QF) and Davis Kennedy (QF) are notable omissions. Neverthless, while those players are gone the likes of Zoltán Varga, Rasmus Olesen and Henry Charles make their debut appearances.

Some good stuff for the CWLanders here. The only seeded player is Heath Davis though he has a tough run being drawn in Olesen's eighth. A possible showdown with Scotland Rivers in the second round awaits, but Rivers has to get past Ivan Genov who is the highest ranked unseeded competitor. Jarkko Maxum meanwhile gets a cruisy start against little known wildcard Juan Manuel Cortés, and a second round clash with CW Open finalist Oneil Stewart is very winnable - the Jamaican is an unknown quantity on clay.

Spas Delev gets a lucky break with the withdrawal of Sergio Joaquín and should have no problems making the third round. It gets a lot trickier there against Season I semi finalist Illya Altman. Finally Rob Bowenburg gets it real tough - finalist from last season Sanchez Emelio stands in his way and it is tough to see him winning.

A rematch of last year's final could be in the making by the quarterfinals, and Daniel Páez Blanco is rightly favourite to retain his crown despite losing in Monte Carlo last week. The best two players in the draw are in the same half and I imagine will meet in the semis again, so my prediction is Blando def. Z.Varga in the final.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Heef on Clay ---> Epic Fail. Expecting to be dumped out by Dorogan in Round 1. If not, then Rivers will have enough in the 2nd round.

 

[ripper868]

Very Happy with the draw...cue 1st round bagel and bagel

 

[Magrat Garlick]

gl Heef, Rivers, Bowenburg

 

[Paid The Umpire]

Good Luck to all CW'ians.

 

[ripper868]

gl Heef, Rivers, Bowenburg

This won't be forgotten...

 

[Johnners]

Indeed, FRC scum!

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

lolling at the non-World Group nation.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell II
PTA Tour 500 - 1st Round - Barcelona, Spain - Clay (Red)

• West CWLand's Rob Bowenburg has snared the biggest win of his clay career; upsetting Season I finalist Sanchez Emelio in the boilover of the first round at the Torneo Godó. A big outsider against the tenth seed, Bowenburg put himself in a great position early as he claimed the first set 6-3 with a late break of serve despite being largely written off by the local commentators. After a poor first set, Emelio ramped up the pressure in the second and in taking it 6-1 looked to have returned to business as usual. But Bowenburg stuck close in the third and capitalised on some key errors and poor serving as he brought up three match points on the Emelio serve. The Spaniard saved one with a great wide serve, but at 15-40 a poor second serve was easily run around by Bowenburg who cracked a winner with confidence to secure a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 upset. He now plays former Roland Garros finalist Johan Ortiz who ousted fellow RG finalist Roberto Santos in three sets.

• The great run of form for Spas Delev looked to have continued after he claimed the first set against Jefferson Quezada, but his night out soon turned into a nightmare as he was beaten over three sets. Delev was awful in an error-laden second set as he failed to build on his recent momentum; the Chilean merely had to keep the ball in play as Delev routinely missed makeable shots. He tightened his game up considerably in the third set and at one point brought up a match point on the Quezada serve, but the unseeded Chilean held on to take it to a tiebreaker. There Delev got off to a poor start and was made to rue some bad backhands as Quezada pushed his way into the second round 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) having saved one match point.

• Jarkko Maxum looked good in victory as he ousted Juan Manuel Cortés of Spain in straight sets. Many expected Maxum to still be ironing out kinks in his game after a long absence, but in a 26-minute first set he showed few weaknesses as he thoroughly dominated the wildcard entrant. Maxum suffered at times last season due to a lack of power, but a lengthy strength and conditioning campaign with his good friend Bowenburg has seen him improve significantly. While Cortés played far better in the second set, he still was behind Maxum who broke three times in a difficult second set to win 6-0, 7-5.

• He doesn't like the clay, but Heath Davis is through to the second round in Barcelona after accounting for Roman Dorogan in straight sets. The sixteenth seed came from a break down in both sets as he secured a 6-4, 6-4 win as Dorogan failed to really produce good tennis under pressure. Davis offered just two break points all match in a largely solid serving display but found himself in trouble as Dorogan converted both of them. Despite struggling with his movement and the longer rallies, Davis looked fitter than at the same stage last season as he produced enough power and aggression to notch a rare clay win.

• He will play Bulgaria's Ivan Genov after he rallied from a set down to beat Scotland Rivers. Genov is a great mid-rank player and would have been a big scalp for the West CWLander, but Rivers isn't quite there yet on clay as Genov bossed the rallies. Rivers still produced some fine shots, but made too many errors and was outworked by the unseeded Bulgarian who eventually prevailed 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

• Elsewhere, eleventh seed Zhijun Sun was beaten by Monte Carlo quarter finalist Viktor Vuriak and Almen Benaglio served José Navarro a double bagel.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Sanchez Emelio;
  
  Zhijun Sun.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Phew. Good to get a win on Clay. What's my Win/Loss record on Clay? Pretty poor I reckon. Am I defending any points for this week?

Great win from Bowenburg. Can't be far from being one of his biggest wins on tour.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Not defending points this week, but you've got 130 points to defend before and including Roland Garros.

Record on clay at PTA level is 3-4 including that win. You won Lugano at Challenger last year and I'm not sure if you've had Davis Cup matches on the stuff.

 

[Johnners]

Might as well give up on clay.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Not defending points this week, but you've got 130 points to defend before and including Roland Garros.

Record on clay at PTA level is 3-4 including that win. You won Lugano at Challenger last year and I'm not sure if you've had Davis Cup matches on the stuff.

Ah. That's right. I was failing so badly that I did my French Open preparation at a Challenger and won the thing. Can't see me getting past the next round here, but good to chalk up a win.

 

[Mister Wright]

Go Heath!

 

[NUFAN]

What a win against the world number 26, and on clay too, pretty pumped to make the 2nd round.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell II
PTA Tour 500 - 2nd Round - Barcelona, Spain - Clay (Red)

• Frustration was yet again the order of the day for Rob Bowenburg as the West CWLander missed a golden opportunity to make the third round against Colombian qualifier Johan Ortiz. The World No. 71 was fresh off upsetting last year's finalist in three tough sets, but would have thought his fortune had changed on his non-preferred surface. It hadn't. The former French Open finalist was in dynamic touch as he controlled rallies from two feet behind the baseline and showed some of his old power on his forehand wing. He hit the ball cleanly and confidently while Bowenburg struggled for rhythm en route to a disappointing 2-6, 4-6 defeat.

• His doubles partner Jarkko Maxum had more lucky as he defeated CW Open finalist Oneil Stewart in straight sets. Stewart has had some good results on clay with a 14-5 record (including a quarter final at Roland Garros) but hadn't played on the surface since making the semifinals at Hamburg last season. To Maxum he was ripe for the picking; on his most productive surface Maxum engaged in a gruelling two set affair with the Jamaican as two great athletes engaged in possibly the match of the tournament. Ultimately it was Maxum who showed surprising maturity against a proven big stage performer en route to a 6-4, 7-6(5) win and now faces Monte Carlo quarter finalist Viktor Vuriak. Whether Maxum can pull up well after a two hour and seven minute victory is not certain, but he's starting to show he's a threat in this clay season despite last week's disappointment.

• Finally Heath Davis hasn't enjoyed clay in the past, but while he was on the end of a loss today against Ivan Genov he won't be all too disappointed with his effort. The unseeded Bulgarian is a two time fourth rounder in Grand Slams but had it tough against Davis whose serve was almost unreturnable at times. He offered just one break point in the first set - unfortunately the Bulgarian returned a second serve with interest for a clean winner to secure the first 6-4. But Davis wasn't done; he stuck with the Bulgarian and secured his first break of the match at 4-4 before serving out the set with a hat trick of aces to take his tally to nine. Where last year his fitness was his undoing, this year he could only really blame the loss on being outplayed as Genov pulled out all the stops with twelve third set winners. Davis, unflappable on serve for the most part, was heartbroken by a late break as Genov's deft touch left a ball out of his reach as the Bulgarian nailed just his second break and a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win.

• In other results, highly rated Spanish youngsters Marc Carretero and Javier Villaneuva will vie for a quarter final spot after defeating fourth seed Henry Charles and fourteenth seed Tiago Matías respectively; while Season I semi finalist Illya Altman was stunned by Pierre L'Estrange 6-4, 6-3.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Illya Altman (3);
  
  Antonio Bachunelli (12);
  
  Henry Charles (4);
  
  Heath Davis (16);
  
  Tiago Matías (14).

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Not unexpected, but a decent performance against a solid player who's clearly some kind of force on clay (well, comparatively speaking anyway)

 

[ripper868]

Maxum, WAG. What girl wouldn't want to be in bed with him.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell II
PTA Tour 500 - 3rd Round - Barcelona, Spain - Clay (Red)

• Jarkko Maxum is through to the quarter finals of the Torneo Godó after an impressive straight sets victory over Viktor Vuriak of the Ukraine. Vuriak was fresh of a quarter final appearance in Monte Carlo, but showed obvious fatigue despite winning both his matches in straight sets this week as an energetic Maxum confidently dispatched him. After a lop-sided first set, Maxum charged ahead in the second with some luck on the Vuriak serve before the World No. 41 edged back into the contest with some top quality defence to draw errors from Maxum. But those errors disappeared in the tiebreaker as the left-hander was floored by some deep forehands with serious power from Maxum as the World No. 51 advanced 6-2, 7-6(3). He will now play sometime clay struggler Ivan Genov in the quarters as he recovered from a disastrous second set to beat a lacklustre second seeded Rasmus Olesen 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.

• In the big upset of the day, 2004 French Open finalist Johan Ortiz edged out eighth seed Carlo Amato 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4. At 27 years of age, Ortiz still looks hungry for a run at the top but will be forced to test his form against top seed and World No. 2 Daniel Páez Blanco who beat Almen Benaglio four and love.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Carlo Amato;
  
  Rasmus Olesen;
  
  Patrick Pascaul.