Week 7: Rotterdam [Boros], Brazil [Altman], San Jose [Murdoch], Bergamo [Cobos]

[SirBloody Idiot]

Season II SAP Open - Singles

Just the one CWLander made the cut in San Jose for the SAP Open, and it results in a brutal first round match for Scotland Rivers as he was drawn against second seed Henry Charles. Rivers started the season off tremendously with a semi final berth in Chennai, but was dealt a rough draw in Melbourne as he was beaten in four sets by World No. 2 Daniel Páez Blanco in the second round. Charles, meanwhile, bounced back from iffy performances in Brisbane and Sydney to make his first Grand Slam quarter final. Rivers, however, boasts a win over Jefferson Drake and will fancy himself to blow the bottom half of an American-heavy draw wide open.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Season II ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament Open - Singles

500 points are up for grabs in the first of the aptly named ATP 500 Series in Rotterdam, and West CWLand's Jojo Mustard has been seeded seventh. He begins his campaign against Croatia's Ivan Češljar who, ranked No. 61 in the world, last made the second round in Zagreb before losing 6-4, 6-4 to Becker Haas. Mustard finds himself facing a possible second round match with talented Czech player Petr Brožik and then probably World No. 8 József Boros in a stacked draw.

Roy Daniels, meanwhile, intended to qualify in San Jose before he was accepted into Rotterdam thanks to a withdrawal. One doesn't imagine his stay will be long, though, against Mustard's doubles partner and sixth seed Danijel Micic.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

[B]Internazionali di Tennis di Bergamo "Trofeo Trismoka"[/B]
Bergamo, Italy
February 8-14, II
Hard (Indoor) - €42,500+H ($50,000+H)

[B]Singles
Seeds: (cut: Jason Lawley - 385)[/B]
1. Matt Bre
2. Nestor Moreno
3. Emelio Cobos
4. Michael De Kinsele
5. Massimo Prodi
6. Pablo Scalforo
7. Jeremy Natale
8. Renato Varas
9. David Lebegue
10. Felipe Pelayo
11. Sebastien Lachance
12. Guilermo Crespo
13. Marcuss Deane
14. Rick Langley
15. Michel Paquette
16. Eugenio Galindo

[B]First Round[/B]
(1)Matt Bre (CDR) bye
(Q)Silvano Zanotti (ITA) vs. Stefan Vicini (ITA)
(Q)Alessandro Sarnelli (ITA) vs. Leander Solent (IND)
(WC)Montel Finelli (ITA) vs. (13)Marcuss Deane (FRC)
(12)Guilermo Crespo (ARG) vs. Maurizio Barbini (ITA)
Nick De Koning (NED) vs. (WC)Dino Abondio (ITA)
(Q)Riccardo Vannuccio (SMR) vs. (Q)Vitali Panov (RUS)
(8)Renato Varas (CHL) bye
(3)Emelio Cobos (ARG) bye
Henri Ducard (FRA) vs. Anders Helgostam (SWE)
(WC)Ric Lazzari (ITA) vs. (Q)Fons Van Den Driessche (BEL)
Mat Mitchell (CDR) vs. (16)Eugenio Galindo (ESP)
(11)Sebastien Lachance (FRA) vs. Evans Russo (ITA)
Brendan Tito (PUR) vs. Pawel Wisniewski (POL)
Koal Kao (FRC) vs. Eddy Descamps (FRA)
(7)Jeremy Natale (AUS) bye
(5)Massimo Prodi (ITA) bye
Romel Solares (MEX) vs. Javier Espinoza (ECU)
Srdjan Ivic (SRB) vs. Blain Girard (CAN)
Roberto Calabrese (ITA) vs. (9)David Lebegue (FRA)
(15)Michel Paquette (CAN) vs. Phoenix Wleft (CDR)
Luca Rossi (ITA) vs. (Q)Jesper Overgaard (DEN)
Marco Masi (ITA) vs. Adam Schroder (GER) 
(4)Michael De Kinsele (ITA) bye
(6)Pablo Scalforo (ITA) bye
Vasos Lazos (CYP) vs. Leonel Romero (CHL)
Ciro Gigante (ITA) vs. Jason Lawley (FRC)
Orazio Rizzo (ITA) vs. (10)Felipe Pelayo (MEX)
(14)Rick Langley (FRC) vs. Olivier Lucas (MON)
Claudio Toledo (BRA) vs. (Q)Jack Loughman (FRC)
(WC)Mario Constantino (ITA) vs. (Q)Pierre Rose (FRC)
(2)Nestor Moreno (ECU) bye

[B]Doubles
Seeds: (cut: Dosoudil/Fenin - 520)[/B]
1. Roel Hervelle/Jerzy Kosecki
2. Johan Engstrom/Erik Viksten
3. Nico Hoffman/Benjamin Rabin
4. Ivo Nikolic/Vilmos Petricevic

[B]First Round[/B]
(1)Roel Hervelle/Jerzy Kosecki (BEL/POL) vs. Peter Dosoudil/Lukas Fenin (SVK)
Philipp Dlopst/Roland Winkler (AUT) vs. (WC)Maurizio Barbini/Mauro de Luigi (ITA/SMR)
Angel Vallejo/Elvis Vallejo (ECU) vs. (3)Nico Hoffman/Benjamin Rabin (LUX/ISR)
Rick Langley/Pierre Rose (FRC) vs. (WC)Andrea Ciano/Stefan Vicini (ITA)
Massimo Prodi/Pablo Scalforo (ITA) vs. Blain Girard/Michel Paquette (CAN)
(4)Ivo Nikolic/Vilmos Petricevic (CRO) vs. Marcuss Deane/Koal Kao (FRC)
Orazio Rizzo/Luca Rossi (ITA) vs. Srdjan Ivic/Adam Schroder (SRB/GER)
Henri Ducard/David Lebegue (FRA) vs. (2)Johan Engstrom/Erik Viksten (SWE)

In contrast to the PTA tournaments, Italy is brimming with CWLanders - both East and West - ahead of this week's $50K+H Challenger indoors in Bergamo. After claiming a huge title a fortnight ago in Heilbronn, Matt Bre earns the top seeding and a bye before facing either Silvano Zanotti or Stefan Vicini in the second round. He could be pitted against FR CWLand's Marcuss Deane in the third round after the Australian Open boys' champions earned the thirteenth seeding and a showdown with unknown local Montel Finelli.

Mat Mitchell will be feeling confident of victory after his semi final in Johannesburg despite being unable to land a seeding in Bergamo. Spain's Eugenio Galindo waits in the first round, and should he win that he will face either a wildcard or a qualifier as he looks to surge further inside the world's top 200. In the same section is Koal Kao who will like his chances against Eddy Descamps first. Then he needs to hope jetlag hits seventh seed Jeremy Natale who plays the final of the Burnie Challenger this Sunday.

Michel Paquette is seeded 15th and will hope to build on his second round appearance at Melbourne Park with a win over Phoenix Wleft, but cannot afford to underestimate the quickly improving Easterner whose ranking has leapt to No. 270 in the world.

It is the last quarter, though, that is jam-packed full of CWLanders. Fourteenth seed Rick Langley leads the charge against Monaco's Olivier Lucas, and he could face fellow Westerner Jack Loughman in the second round as he takes on clay court native Claudio Toledo. Pierre Rose will hope that qualifying will give him a solid base to crush wildcard entrant Mario Constantino, but then a second round clash with second seed Néstor Moreno looms large. Finally, it is Jason Lawley - one of the final players to make the entry cutoff - who gets underway against local Ciro Gigante for a spot in the second round against Felipe Pelayo or Orazio Rizzo.

In the doubles draw, Rick Langley & Pierre Rose lucked out with wildcards Andrea Ciano & Stefan Vicini in the first round, whilst Koal Kao & Marcuss Deane were hit with a much tougher test against fourth seeds Ivo Nikolić & Vilmos Petričević.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

There are two Darcy Cowans in the San Jose draw

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Nothing to see here.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Internazionali di Tennis di Bergamo
Day 1 - First Round singles - Bergamo (Italy)

Men's singles: Finals - Quarter 1 - Quarter 2 - Quarter 3 - Quarter 4
Men's doubles: Finals

13th seed Marcuss Deane had some teething problems against young Italian wildcard Montel Finelli, trailing 2-5 in the first set, but got his vital break and forced the match into the tie-break with some fine forehand returns. Deane was more comfortable on serve in the second and the talented youngster eventually held on to a slightly nervy 7-6(2) 7-5 victory. He faces Indian upstart Leander Solent, who came up trumps in a low-quality match with hometown favourite Sarnelli, in the last 32.

Deane's FRC doubles partner Koal Kao started a busy week in a highly strung encounter with France's Eddy Descamps. The see-saw first set saw a highly charged tie-breaker where Kao ran out to a 6-0-lead before getting the crowd and a flashlight against him at the change of ends. Descamps smashed home five points before Kao eventually won with an ace. However, Kao seemed unsettled, and was unable to keep up the high tempo throughout the match. After keeping pace to 3-3, Descamps ran away with the second set, and a dejected Kao capitulated 1-6 in the decider as the Frenchman faces Australian journeyman Jeremy Natale in the next round. Final score 7-6(5) 3-6 1-6.

Mat Mitchell had found some fine form recently but still came into this Challenger meet as an unseeded player, but carried the first set 7-5. However, the long trip from South Africa coupled with the altitude changes took their toll on the Johannesburg finalist. After taking the first set 7-5, Mitchell rapidly wilted under the strong backhand of Eugenio Galindo, and only managed to gather three of the next fifteen games, eventually bowing out 7-5 3-6 0-6.

None of the seeds fell over, but Anders Helgostam of Sweden completed a highly tiring victory in a three-hour clash on an outside court against an outsider for the title, Henri Ducard. Battling 1.60 odds, the Swede took the first set after reeling off five straight games only to give up a match point and lose the second 7-9 in the breaker. The World No. 318 broke early in the third set and held on to book a match with Argentinian Emelio Cobos in the next round. Meanwhile, first seed Matt Bre faces Italian Stefan Vicini after the bookie favourite held on 6-4 6-4 to beat his countryman qualifier.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Pretty disappointing day for the CWLanders. Mitchell's exit particularly disappointing for me as an Easterner and considering his form last week. Could've gone far in this draw.

Deane continues to serve well under pressure, but not a great draw for him. Kao also a disappointing loss considering his opposition.

Vimes, I've been trying to do the borders tonight for the flags. What weight did you give them?

 

[Number 11]

Some of the first round is still to be played right?

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Yep, you're in the bottom half of the draw.

 

[Matteh]

sadface

 

[Jarquis]

I always start poorly! Always! Good comeback in the first though, good to see the serve holding out

 

[cricketboy29]

hey...this is still around. I thought it had gone the way of the Dodo. Could I sign up for the next couple of tournaments please?, or should I do that in the week threads?

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

hey...this is still around. I thought it had gone the way of the Dodo. Could I sign up for the next couple of tournaments please?, or should I do that in the week threads?

Good to have you back, man.

Probably worth signing up in the other threads, and good to have another (relatively) high ranking East CWLander on board. Gurpreet Rao has been getting lonely.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Vimes, I've been trying to do the borders tonight for the flags. What weight did you give them?

Er, well, I just chucked the whole thing into wikipedia and hit preview. Hence the lack of FRC flags.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Internazionali di Tennis di Bergamo
Day 2 - First Round singles - Bergamo (Italy)

Men's singles: Finals - Quarter 1 - Quarter 2 - Quarter 3 - Quarter 4
Men's doubles: Finals

Eastern rising star Phoenix Wleft showed flashes of brilliance in a ding-dong clash with Michel Paquette, a seeded Canadian tourist, but after dominating the second set he was unable to keep up his insistent barrage of forehands. In an error-strewn third set, Paquette triumphed 6-4 and advances to the second round.

In the 4th section, stacked with FRC players, it started well for Jason Lawley who took the first set against Ciro Gigante with a single break, serving home to win 6-4. In a match where both players served surprisingly well, though, Gigante took one break in either of the final two sets, despite Lawley saving three break points to four-all in the third. Lawley out 6-4 3-6 4-6.

However, there were better news in the bottom eighth; 14th seed Rick Langley had absolutely no problems againts Olivier Lucas of Monaco, who seemed to be carrying a niggle and didn't have a hope of fighting. After 4-0 in the first set, Lucas won a grand total of nine points. Langley double bagelled and booked a second-round match-up. Langley will face a much more tired Jack Loughman who gave up a 0-3-lead early on to Brazilian struggler Claudio Toledo. Loughman came back to force a tie-break, but once again gave up an early lead and Toledo served home just before the second change of ends. Loughman was solid on serve throughout the remainder and took the match 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 3-6.

Finally, Pierre Rose made it four out of six Westerners in the last 32 as he dispatched of Italian wildcard Mario Constantino to one in the second set after struggling to take the first. Rose's serve was slightly erratic, but once the rallies got underway, he showed the difference in class. Final score 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.

The Italians did well in this half of the draw, with Roberto Calabrese providing the largest upset in Bergamo as he triumphed in straight sets against an off-colour David Lèbegue, 9th seed. Meanwhile, Marco Masi double-bagelled Germany's Adam Schroder who is short of elephants following his trek across the Alps.

 

[Agent TBY]

Aw shucks.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Brasil Open
1st Round - Costa do Sauípe (Brazil)

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

• Second seed Randy Smeltz has overcome a woeful start to eventually tame the Czech Republic's Václav Zeman in the opening match of his tour of South America. Set to play two tournaments on the clay before moving to the lucrative Dubai tournament later this month, Smeltz was blitzed early as he looked underprepared against the match fit Zeman. Whilst no doubt better than his ranking of No. 122, Zeman was not expected to control proceedings as he did early as he skipped away to a 5-0 lead. Whilst Smeltz avoided the bagel, he took a breadstick and was sent to the break between sets with a lot of thinking to do. Now a top 16 player, Smeltz showed resilience as he fought back in the best possible way in the second with some dominating ground strokes as he snatched a 6-0 set off a shellshocked Czech player to send the match to a deciding third set. There, Smeltz proved too good as he broke away from 3-3 to secure the match 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 and to avoid a shock first round exit. He'll now face quality Colombian Johan Ortiz who was far too good for qualifier Christopher Durand 7-6(6), 6-0.

• A much more convincing display came from Jarkko Maxum as the East CWLander picked up a very impressive 6-4, 6-4 win over local hope Roberto Santos. As the highest ranked Brazilian, the world No. 55 would have expected to at least take a set off the man one spot below him on the PTA rankings. It was not to be, though, as Maxum continued where he left off late last season to move into the second round with a confident baseline display that saw he be broken just once en route to victory. He now faces an even stiffer challenge against fourth seed Antonio Bachunelli who, like Smeltz, started shaky but advanced 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 over little-known local Diogo Santo.

• In other results, sixth seeded Frenchman Pierre L'Estrange was unable to capitalise on his good Australian Open run as he was beaten 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 by Croatia's Niko Ulemek, whilst Aussie Toby Brookes was easily beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Luxembourg's Oliver Engel. Defending champ Illya Altman made a strong start with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Dênis Rodrígues whilst Santiago champion Sergio Joaquín picked up where he left off in a 6-1, 6-3 thrashing of Aldo Marín.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Toby Brookes;
  
  Pierre L'Estrange.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

SAP Open
1st Round - San Jose, CA (United States)

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

• Scotland Rivers seems to many punters to be the real deal as he continued his excellent early season form with a second top 15 scalp in just two months. Against second seed and World No. 13 Henry Charles, Rivers played fantastic tennis to move into the second round in San Jose and split the draw wide open. The world No. 62 had suffered his only defeats this year to top quality players Davis Kennedy and Daniel Páez Blanco, and against a man coming off a Grand Slam quarter final looked desperately unlucky to have picked up another top quality opponent. But the signs were there for him early as he dominated the first set; putting to rest suggestions that he doesn't have the power game as he aggressively came to the net and put away important winners. Charles, however, struck back in the second set with consistent returning to send the match to a decider where it petered out to a tiebreaker after two tense breaks on either side of the net. But it was Rivers who produced the goods with a fantastic tiebreaker to walk away with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(2) win to add Charles to his list of top 15 scalps that includes Illya Altman and Jefferson Drake. He moves to a very winnable second round match with Carson champ Waylon Jones following his 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-0 win over Ninteh Doh.

• After making the semi finals in Zagreb, David Champion was ousted in straight sets by fellow Zagreb semi finalist Aksu Emrem in the upset of the day. After both men had great runs in Croatia, it was the favoured sixth seed who was beaten by the Turkish No. 1 who continued his good touch post-Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4 boilover. Becker Haas, meanwhile, had to fight to arrest his recent downward slide as he came from a set down to win 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 against Martin Reiter.

• Seeded players out:
  
  David Champion;
  
  Henry Charles.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
1st Round - Rotterdam (The Netherlands)

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

• Jojo Mustard made a winning start to the first PTA 500 tournament of the year with a tight win over Croatia's Ivan Češljar. Whilst the seventh seed was widely expected to win, he was given a tough start as the Croat took an early break with a pair of delightful cross-court backhand winners. Despite the early setback, a resolute Mustard broke back quickly as he was given an opportunity off a short forehand from Češljar. That was enough to bring the set back on service, and in a tiebreaker he got the best of Češljar after the Croat imploded with a couple of double faults with a minibreak in hand. The second set was certainly more in favour of Mustard who broke three times to Češljar's one to pick up a much-needed 7-6(3), 6-3 victory to move to the second round. It doesn't get easier, though, as the Czech Republic's Petr Brožik awaits following his 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Evgeny Volkoff. Brožik's ranking has risen from No. 97 at the start of the year to No. 78 now with impressive wins over the likes of Dmitry Orlov, Juan Moreno and Alex Peters.

• Unfortunately for Roy Daniels, a spirited display could not earn him a set against Serbian dynamo Danijel Micic in their first round clash. Micic was widely tipped to make short work of Daniels, but the American-born East CWLander took the game up to him with some quick serving and a first-set ace count pushing double figures. Despite the early pressure and two break point opportunities in the eighth game, Daniels couldn't make it count as the erratic Serbian turned it on in the ninth to take a break to love. The second set continued in much the same way as Micic did just enough to hold on against the barrage of the East CWLander. His ability to stay in the set paid off as he coasted through the tiebreaker 7-1 to move through 6-4, 7-6(1).

• It was a good day for organisers all eight seeds advanced to the second round. Johannesburg champion Zhijun Sun will be taking on Zagreb finalist Tom Vollan after their respective straight sets wins (Vollan surviving a tough first round clash against the dangerous Gregor Gorshkov), whilst Dutchman Maarten Berg won his first match in nearly six months with a tight 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win over Alex Peters. Berg's last match prior to Rotterdam came in Indianapolis last season where he was beaten first round by Hugh James 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 before finding out he needed surgery on a ruptured ACL.

• Seeded players out: None.

 

[Paid The Umpire]

My first bagel match, nice to see me getting better.