Cette semaine se déroule à Hertogenbosch aux Pays Bas un tournoi ATP qui permet aux joueurs de peaufiner leur préparation en vue de Wimbledon. La saison de gazon a peine débuté, c’est déjà l’heure des choses sérieuses. Certains critiquent d’ailleurs vivement la trop petite période de temps accordée au gazon pendant la saison, souhaitant voire l’instauration d’un Master 1000 pour les prochaines saisons.

Faisons donc un petit point sur les résultats à ce tournoi, alors que les 1/4 de finale joueront demain. Une fois n’est pas coutume, débutons par les français. Leurs résultats sont d’ailleurs plutôt satisfaisant, puisque l’on retrouvera deux français en 1/4 demain. Il s’agit tout d’abord de Micka Llodra qui s’est débarrassé successivement de Zverev et de Vliegen. On le sait, Llodra est adepte du service volley et son style de jeu se marrie ainsi à merveille avec le gazon. Pourtant, le francilien n’a jamais réalisé de grands résultats sur cette surface, assez étonnamment. Il affiche sur ce tournoi une fraîcheur physique encourageante et une solidité dans le jeu qui peuvent lui permettre d’espérer de réaliser de belles choses, d’abord sur la fin de ce tournoi où il jouera Benjamin Becker en 1/4, puis ensuite à Wimbledon.

L’autre français encore en lice n’est autre que Jérémy Chardy qui a battu cette après midi le vétéran belge Dick Norman en 3 sets disputés. Une bonne victoire pour le jeune français, qui plus est face à un spécialiste de la surface, qui lui donne le droit de disputer un 1/4 face à Schüttler. Je parlais l’autre jour de joueurs reverdissants à l’orée de Wimbledon, l’allemand en est une nouvelle illustration. Alors qu’il lutte depuis maintenant deux ans avec son tennis, ne parvenant plus à aligner plusieurs matchs d’un bon niveau, l’allemand, demi-finaliste surprise à Wimbledon l’an passé, semble renaître à nouveau. Affaire à suivre.

Parmi les autres 1/4 de finales à suivre donc demain, à noter l’opposition assez cocasse entre deux espagnols, sur herbe, Ferrer et Navarro. Le dernier 1/4 opposera Sela à Sluiter. Ce dernier a battu cette après midi Bagdhatis sur abandon. Je suis toujours assez triste de voir le chypriote autant galérer avec ses blessures à répétition. Depuis sa fabuleuse épopée à l’Australian Open, Bagdhatis a été poursuivi par le mauvais sort, enchaînant blessure sur blessure. C’est bien dommage, quand on connait le potentiel de ce joueur et la façon qu’il a d’enflammer les foules. Espérons qu’il parvienne à revenir prochainement dans les tous meilleurs.

Un petit mot sur les femmes, qui sont cette semaine à Eastbourne. Marion Bartoli est en 1/4 et pourrait retrouver en 1/2 Razzano tandis que Mauresmo s’est inclinée cette après midi en 1/8 face à Makarova.

A bientôt !

Fab

David Nalbandian y Juan Martín del Potro accedieron a los cuartos de final del torneo Indian Wells. Les ganaron por doble 7-6 al indio Paes y el checo Dlouhy, que son quinto y décimo del ránking de dobles respectivamente.

En la próxima instancia Del Potro y Nalbandian se las verán con el ganador del partido entre los estadounidenses Mardy Fish-Andy Roddick y la dupla integrada por el francés Michael Llodra y el checo Radek Stepanek.

Coin bt Ivanovic

6-3, 4-6, 6-3

A shock round 2 defeat for the women’s number 1 Ana Ivanovic, she looked very nervous in her opening match which she scraped though in 3 sets, managing to keep her cool at the death. This game though her nerves got the better of her and she gifted games away, she did show flashes of excellence however being labelled top seed you are expected to keep your cool under pressure.

Nothing taken away from Julie Coin who has never been in such a pressured situation, she really played with no fear, the first set she dominated Ivanovic and hit some powerful winners to take it 6-3, Ivanovic battled back second set getting the early break and using her experience to get the upper hand.

The final set ended up an emotional battle and one of the best sets I have seen so far this tournament, both women gave it their all and both making big unforced errors, but it was Ivanovic who really gifted the game at the end, and Coin took full advantage.

Ivanovic’s general game is brilliant, I consider her one of the best in her ability, its her mental strength that needs work on, she will most likely lose her number 1 spot at the end of the season. As for Coin, she now has nothing to lose as she has gone past expectations, we’ll see how she copes if she meets one of the Williams sisters.

Andy Murry bt Llodra

6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9-7)

A decent performance by Murray was just good enough to get past the Frenchman Michael Llodra in four sets. Murry would be the first to admit he didn’t play his best, and if he is to compete at a higher level he really needs to try and mop these type of games up easily. However, after the first set, which went quite smoothly, Llodra began outsmarting Murray as he exposed Murray’s weak and deep shots he likes to play and most of all exposed his second serve.

The second set ended in Murray being broken twice for Llodra to take the second set 6-1. Thankfully, Murray woke up from this in the third and fourth and though Llodra posed a threat, Murray held his nerve and took down both sets to move into the next round.

It was quite a fun game to watch with a baseline player vs a net player, there aren’t many net players around these days and Murray adapted well, each game he looks to be maturing and as I keep saying, just needs to sort his attitude a tiny bit more to really compete against the top 3.  

Murray’s best showdown at a Grand Slam has been a quarter final at Wimbledon against Nadal, so the 21 year old will really look to better that this year and feel like he has a good chance to win.

From ATPtennis.com

Wawrinka/Federer Win Gold at Beijing Olympics

Swiss fourth seeds Stanislas Wawrinka and Roger Federer (pictured) achieved their dream of Olympic glory by defeating Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4 to win the gold medal on Saturday.

In a thrilling encounter, Federer and Wawrinka barely faltered. After having dispatched top pairing Bob and Mike Bryan in the semifinals, they combined to convert four of seven break point chances and fire 14 aces as they secured the victory in 2 hr., 48 min.

Making up for the disappointment of Federer’s loss in the singles to James Blake, Switzerland has now earned its second Olympic tennis medal, following Marc Rosset’s gold medal victory at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

Bob and Mike Bryan Blog From Beijing

Federer and Wawrinka were playing together for just the fourth time and had only won one match prior to arriving in Beijing. It is Federer’s eighth ATP doubles title, his first since 2005 Halle (w/ Allegro), while it is Wawrinka’s first title.

Silver medalists Aspelin and Johansson were looking to win Sweden’s first Olympic tennis gold medal after Kempe/Setterwall won silver in Stockholm 1912. They had advanced to the final after a marathon 7-6(6), 4-6, 19-17 victory over Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra in four hours and 46 minutes in the semifinals on Friday night.

This season the Swedish pair has made semifinal exits at Doha (l. to Coetzee/Moodie) and Bastad (l. to Bjorkman/Soderling).

Earlier in the day, in a bronze medal match packed with Grand Slam champions, American top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan edged out Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Olympic Games Photo Gallery

© Getty Images
The 30-year-old Bryan brothers can now add an Olympic medal to their five Grand Slam titles and 48 ATP doubles titles overall. The medal also takes the USA’s Olympic tally in men’s doubles to seven.

The California natives have won four titles from 10 finals this season, most recently at ATP Masters Series Cincinnati with victory over Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram. They were also victorious at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (d. Bhuptahi/Knowles), Barcelona (d. Fyrstenberg/Matkowski) and ATP Masters Series Rome (d. Nestor/Zimonjic).

This year’s Australian Open runners-up Clement and Llodra have won five titles together, including Wimbledon last year. They were looking to win France’s eighth Olympics men’s doubles medal.

Finally we have made it to the players who have deserved to be going into 2nd week. RG is IMO the hardest of the 4 slams to get past the first 3 rounds. There are so many clay lover below top 100 who could take the advantage and get instant fame. Who am I talking about…hmm
Well, there’s Chardy!! That’s the only one who’s left, but there are always a few players who come from nothing and get big wins against big guys.

Let’s go to today’s action and find the man of the day… IVAN LJUBICIC!!!

Why, you say? Firstly he was down 2-0 against the 4th best clay player, the robotic Davydenko. Second, he has fallen down from top 3-4 to #30 very fast and with no good results to show in recent time. Third, he is one of the BIG guys with the big serve as main weapon. History shows that these guys succeed more on hard courts and grass. Fact of the matter is Ljubi played great tennis, few errors and made Davydenko come up with the good stuff. He wasn’t able anymore after the first two sets, and Ivan took over. Great match, great setting and a great result for the big guy from Croatia. Kinda the only surprise left, apart from Chardy in the last 16.

Gonzalez did the same thing today, but you would excpect him to play a lot better than what he showed during the first two sets. Gonzo is a rollercoaster of another dimension and needs stability to get a big title. Wawrinka playing his best is perhaps not as good as Gonzo playing his best. That’s why Gonzo won, I think.

Ok, here’s a breakdown of the remaining candidates:
Federer-Benneteau (Federer just torn Ancic apart, will do it to Benne as well)
Gonzo-Ginepri (is this for real?! If Gonzo loses this, shame on him!)
Ljubicic-Monfils (this could go either way, depending on mental strength+best tennis possible)
Stepanek-Ferrer (probably to of the biggest dark horses to win the entire thing, super match!)
Gulbis-Llodra (big chance for both of them, is Gulbis mature enough to take it? 50-50 IMO)
Mathieu-Djokovic (either Mathieu plays his best and has a chance, or plays poorly and gets humiliated at home)
Chardy-Almagro (bye bye Chardy, Almagro losing this would be a big upset! who knows?)
Verdasco-Nadal (bye bye Verdasco. never beaten him, never even close, except for once on grass..Nadal in 3 I’m afraid)

Four tennis superpowers – Russia, U.S.A, Spain and Argentina have all advanced to this years semi-finals of the Davis Cup.

On paper, Argentina had the easiest task, at home on slow courts against Sweden, who (Bjorn Borg aside) are not renowned for having the best clay court players. However they came up against an inspired force in Swedish number one Robin Soderling, who was determined not to let the Argentines have it all their own way.

After David Nalbandian defeated Jonas Bjorkman in the opening rubber, Soderling stormed back, beating Acasuso 6-0 6-4 6-1. The home nation clinched the doubles, but the deciding rubber was the third singles, as Nalbandian was stretched to his absolute limit in defeating Soderling 9-7 late into the fifth set.

Spain had the simplest passage through, as Nadal and Ferrer both notched up singles wins over Kiefer and Kohlschreiber respectively.The only worry for them came in the doubles, as Germans Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner put up a terrific fight, only to succumb 12-10 in the fifth set to Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez (pictured right).

The U.S.A overcame a weakened France side 3-2, and in truth it was down to blistering form of world no.6 Andy Roddick who beat Michael Llodra, before crushing Paul-Henri Mathieu. James Blake also overcame Mathieu, this time in five sets to send the US 2-0 up, before France pulled one back in the doubles, as the much vaunted Bryan brothers were beaten by Llodra and Arnaud Clement. But Roddick was on hand to clean up the mess and seal the tie, before Blake put the icing on the cake, defeating Gasquet over three tight sets.

The most dramatic of the ties was to be found in Moscow though, as Russia had to pull out all the stops to defeat Czech Republic 3-2. The mercurial Marat Safin, who has a 1-5 win/loss record this season, found his true colours in the opening match as he battled his way past world no.10 Tomas Berdych in five sets.

Radek Stepanek tied the match by defeating Igor Andreev in straight sets, only for Russia to take the lead again by winning the doubles. With the home nation 2-1 up, the crucial match was Nikolay Davydenko vs. Berdych in the third singles match, and the 26 year-old Russian was gifted the match, as Berdych was forced to retire early in the fifth set with an ankle injury.

Russia now face a tough away tie to Argentina, who have only lost four of the last 60 matches on home soil. Spain host the USA, who will be hoping to bounce back, following their loss to the Spanish team in the 2004 Davis Cup final.

Click here for more information on the Davis Cup draw and all of the teams.