Stephanie Myles profiles Rafa’s doubles partner at the Rogers Cup. I’m stillnotamused. He would have been better off playing with Uncle Toni (Open Court)
Murray will be the World No. 2 on Monday (Guardian)
The Times thinks this era of mens tennis has more depth (NYT)
You were correct if you picked Andy Murray, which 12% of you did. The poll results are as follows:
37% Djokovic - Quarterfinals 25% Nadal – Quarterfinals 12% Murray - Winner 12% Haas – Second Round 12% Dancevic – First Round
The majority is now three of eight and batting 38%. The Cincinnati poll will be next. We are going to need to step up our game for the rest of the year.
Andy Murray came back from losing the first set to beat Juan Martin del Potro 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 6-1. The Argentine played well but lost steam at the end of the second set. The win continues the top three’s monopoly of Masters titles this year. It is Murray’s fifth title of the year -- two of them being Masters titles.
Championship Sunday Singles Final 3 Andy Murray def. 6 Juan Martin del Potro 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 6-1
Doubles Final 3 M. Bhupathi/M. Knowles def. 7 M. Mirnyi/A. Ram 6-4 6-3
Saturday’s Results Singles Semifinals 3 Andy Murray def. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 7-6(8) 6 Juan Martin del Potro def. 5 Andy Roddick 4-6 6-2 7-5
Doubles Semifinals 7 M. Mirnyi/A. Ram def. 1 B. Bryan/M. Bryan 3 M. Bhupathi/M. Knowles def. 2 D. Nestor/N. Zimonjic 5-7 6-2 10-4
Championship Sunday Singles Final 3 Andy Murray vs. 6 Juan Martin del Potro Doubles Final 3 M. Bhupathi/M. Knowles vs.7 M. Mirnyi/A. Ram Sunday’s Order of Play
When Andy Roddick won the first set, it looked like he would be off to the races. The American broke Juan Martin del Potro in the tenth game of the set to win the first set. The 20 year old amazingly shook off the loss and then took off on a four-consecutive-game streak to win the second set in no time.
In the third set, the two players dug in and traded service games. In game ten, Del Potro fought off one match point. In the the next game, Roddick double faulted at 30-40 to give del Potro a break in game eleven. The Argentine was able to close out the match by taking the twelfth game, set and match 4-6 6-2 7-5.
The Argentine youngster’s maturity is astounding. He was able to pick apart Roddick’s game clean after losing the first set. It seems the kid has nerves of steel because he came up with some really big serves and hitting when he needed to.
Now, the Argentine will play Andy Murray, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 7-6(8) in the first semifinal of the day, in tomorrow’s final. The win will move the Scotsman into the world no. 2 position on Monday. Murray is currently 3-1 over the Argentine with del Potro winning their last meeting in Madrid. The two players have a spirited rivalry, so there will be no love lost between them tomorrow.
The Argentine will try to break up the monopoly the top three have on the Masters titles, as they have won all of them so far this year. If del Potro wins tomorrow, it will be his first Masters title of his career. It would be exciting if the kid breaks through tomorrow.
Friday’s Results Singles Quarterfinals 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. 1 Roger Federer 7-6(5) 1-6 7-6(3) 6 Juan Martin del Potro def. 2 Rafael Nadal 7-6(5) 6-1 3 Andy Murray def. 8 Nikolay Davyenko 6-2 6-4 5 Andy Roddick def. 4 Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-6(4)
Doubles Quarterfinals 1 B. Bryan/M. Bryan def. M. Anci/J. Coetzee 6-3 7-5 2 D. Nestor/N. Zimonjic def. P. Mathieu/M. Youznhy 7-6(4) 6-4 3 M. Bhupathi/M. Knowles def. 6 M. Frystenberg/M. Matkowski 6-3 6-4
Saturday’s Matches Singles Semifinals 3 Andy Murray vs. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – 3:00 PM 5 Andy Roddick vs. 6 Juan Martin del Potro - 7:00 PM
Doubles Semifinals 1 B. Bryan/M. Bryan vs. 7 M. Mirnyi/A. Ram 2 D. Nestor/N. Zimonjic vs. 3 M. Bhupathi/M. Knowles
Juan Martin del Potro continued to play well last night against Rafael Nadal. He easily upset the second-seed 7-6(5) 6-1 to advance into the semifinals. This is his second-straight win over the Spaniard.
The Argentine looked great on the court last night. He served, hit and moved well last night in an all-around solid performance. One thing that stood out was that he effectively moved Nadal around the court, which is something the Spaniard tends to do to other people.
It is kind of scary to think this 20 year old now possesses the skills and the maturity to now take on the top players on tour. He will meet for the second week in a row Andy Roddick. He got the best of the American last week in Washington D.C. and is 2-0 over the world no. 5. We shall see if it will be two wins in two weeks.
As for Nadal, he is far from his top form and has some work to do. Hopefully, he can get back into form before the US Open. It is really a shame what being sidelined can really do for a player’s confidence and continuity. For me, injuries are an untold story of the game.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rallied to beat Roger Federer today in Montreal after the Swiss champion was up 5-1 in the third set. The Frenchman came from behind in the last set to tie and then put away the match 7-6(5) 1-6 7-6(3) after 2 hours and 19 minutes of play.
It was a good win for the Tsonga, and it is good to see a Frenchman in the mix. At the beginning of the year, there was talk of the Musketeers, but that has not lived up to fruition between Gasquet’s suspension, Monfils injuries and Simon’s lackluster play. Tsonga won two titles in Johannesburg and Marseille earlier this year, but his season stalled. After Miami, he has yet to advance into the round of 16 until now.
Tomorrow, Tsonga will play Murray in the first semifinal match of the day. Hopefully, he can build on this win and give Andy Murray some trouble. The two players are even at 1-1 with Tsonga winning their last meeting in Australia in 2008. Tomorrow’s match should be a good one.
Thursday’s Results Singles Round of 16 1 Roger Federer def. Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 7-6(5) 2 Rafael Nadal def. Philipp Petzschner 6-3 6-2 3 Andy Murray def. Q Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1 6-3 4 Novak Djokovic def. Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-4 5 Andy Roddick def. 10 Fernando Verdasco 7-6(2) 4-6 7-6(5) 6 Juan Martin del Potro def. Victor Hanescu 3-6 6-3 6-4 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. 9 Gilles Simon 6-3 6-3 8 Nikolay Davydenko def. 11 Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(2) 7-5
Doubles Second Round 1 B. Bryan/M. Bryan def. R. Lindstedt/M. Melo 6-4 7-5 5 W. Moodie/D. Norman def. F. Lopez/F. Verdasco 7-6(7) 7-6(5)
Doubles Quarterfinals 7 M. Mirnyi/A. Ram def. L. Dlouhy/P. Petzschner 6-2 6-3
Rafael Nadal had an easy to time dismissing German Philipp Petzschner. He defeated Petzschner 6-3 6-2 after just 66 minutes of play.
Nadal will meet Juan Martin del Potro in today’s quarterfinals. The Spaniard is 4-1 over del Potro, but the Argentine won their last meeting in Miami this year. While Nadal is returning from injury leave, del Potro is currently on a roll with a title win in Washington D.C. last week and is continually improving his quality of play.
This match will be a good test for both players. We will see how close (or far) Nadal is away from his usual form and where del Potro's level is in comparison with the top three.
Fernando Verdasco and Juan Carlos Ferrero lost their round-of-16 bids yesterday, which now leaves Rafael Nadal the last Spaniard standing in Montreal. Ferrero lost to Andy Murray 3-6 1-6. In a valiant effort, Verdasco lost a close match to Andy Roddick 6-7(2) 6-4 6-7(5).
Yesterday was round two of the adventures of Nadal and Co. I detailed yesterday what happened the first round. In the second round, they ran into an experienced doubles team of Max Miryni and Andy Ram, who also happened to be seated seventh. This time the experienced team picked on Roig and kept the ball away from Nadal.
Nadal, to his credit, kept the match close. Roig played better than yesterday, but it still was not enough to move him out of mess territory. Nadal and Roig were able to win the first set, and it looked like they were going to slide by again. Mirnyi and Ram cut down on unforced errors and won the second set. They then won the third-set tiebreak and the match at 4-6 6-3 10-8.
Nadal did not look happy at the end of the match. Hopefully, he learned a valuable lesson yesterday – that he cannot just play doubles with anyone and expect to do well. (Images: Denise/tennisfiend)
Fourth-seed Novak Djokovic played the hometown favorite, Peter Polansky. The Serb had a routine win over the Canadian youngster 6-4 7-6(6). To his credit, Polansky played well in front of the hometown crowd, and hopefully will improve in the upcoming years. Djokovic will next play the winner of the Youzhny-Isner match.
Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez are good friends off the court, and they unfortunately had to play each other in the first round in Montreal yesterday. Verdasco dominated in the first set, but Feliciano Lopez rallied to take the second set in the tiebreak before the rain delay.
After the rain delay, Verdasco gathered his bearings and finished out the match strong. He dismissed Lopez 6-1 6-7(5) 6-1. Next up for the Spaniard is Argentine Leonardo Mayer in their first ATP matchup. (Images: Denise/tennisfiend)
Jeremy Chardy has improved greatly over the last year. It would have been nice to see him go further in the draw, but the Frenchman had the unfortunate task of drawing third-seed Andy Murray in the second round.
Unfortunately for the Frenchman, there would be no surprises yesterday. The Scotsman triumphed over the Chardy 6-4 6-2. Murray now awaits the winner of the Monfils-Ferrero match.
Tomas Berdych started out strong in his match with German Philipp Kohlschreiber yesterday in Montreal. It looked like the seventeenth-seed would have a routine win against Kohlschreiber. The Czech instead found himself bounced out of the tournament in his Rogers Cup debut. Kohlschreiber bested the Czech 7-6(5) 6-7(9) 6-4 after almost three hours of play.
Kohlschreiber will now play Victor Hanescu in the second round. The two players have never met in ATP competition.
In more doubles action in Montreal, Rafael Nadal and Francisco Roig met up with Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic yesterday. I don’t know where Nadal found his doubles partner, but he was a giant mess on the court. From Roig’s lack of returns and patty-cake volleys, it was clear that Nadal was going to have to go at it alone. Wasn’t Juan Carlos Ferrero available?
To the Serbs credit and detriment, they could have gone after Roig, but they instead brought the match to the Spanish champion. Nadal was able to cut his losses with his partner and take over the match. He ran everything down and hit winners from everywhere. It was pretty sick actually. Nadal kept his team within striking distance, and ultimately snatched the match from the Serbs.
The Spanish team got away with one and won the match 7-5 6-4. In future matches, other teams will only exploit the lack of balance in this pairing. They will play an experienced doubles team of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram today. We will see if Rafa & Company will get away with another one.
David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo played Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in first-round doubles action yesterday in Montreal. The Frenchmen dominated most of the first set. Somehow Ferrer and Robredo were able to rally while the French duo fell apart in the first-set tiebreak.
In the second set, Llodra and Tsonga dominated again. This time they did not allow the Spaniards back into the set. They were able to draw out the match to take it to a third-set tiebreak.
It looked like the French duo would run off with the match. Like in the first set tiebreak, things came apart again for the French duo. Ferrer and Robredo rallied to sneak off with the tiebreak and take the match 7-6(6) 1-6 10-8. (Images: Denise/tennisfiend)
Jeremy Chardy bested Lu 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 in his Montreal debut yesterday. Lu gave the Frenchman some trouble in the first set, and Chardy aided matters with his errors. Fortunately for Chardy, he was able to get his act together and close out the match for the win.
The Frenchman now advances to play Andy Murray in the second round today. Chardy will really have his hands full with the Scotsman.The two players have never met in ATP competition. (Images: Denise/tennisfiend)
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