After their singles victories yesterday, Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic teamed up to play doubles against Nicolas Lapentti and Giovanni Lapentti in Varazdin, Croatia. The Croatian twin towers proved too much for the Brothers Lapentti and surpassed the Ecuadorian team 7-6(3) 6-3 7-5 to clinch a quarterfinal spot.

The Croatians now wait for the winner of the Serbia-USA tie. Serbia and the US are still duking it out in Belgrade. The US managed to win doubles today to keep hope alive. Novak Djokovic looks to secure Serbia’s first Davis Cup quarterfinal berth on his racket tomorrow.

Saturday’s Results
R3 – M Cilic (CRO)/I. Karlovic (CRO) def. G. Lapentti (ECU)/N. Lapentti (ECU) 7-6(3) 6-3 7-5

(Image: AP)

Third-seed Thomaz Bellucci rallied to beat veteran Nicolas Lapentti in an extremely evil first-round matchup. After 1 hour and 46 minutes of play, Bellucci bested the veteran from Ecuador 3-6 6-1 6-1.

The top-ranked Brazilian is holding steady in the top 40 and is starting out the year well. The world no. 35 advanced to the quarterfinals in Brisbane where he lost to Tomas Berdych and then advanced to the second round of the Australian Open where he lost to Andy Roddick. The 22 year old is now beating the players he should beat, but now he needs to overcome the top 30 players.

Up next for the Brazilian is Chilean Paul Capdeville, who had a much easier time with a qualifier in his first-round matchup. The two players have never met in ATP action but did meet twice on the challenger circuit. Bellucci won both of those meetings by the way.

Tuesday’s Results
Singles First Round
1 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) def. Oscar Hernandez (ESP) 6-2 6-1
3 Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) def. Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) 3-6 6-1 6-1
Ricardo Mello (BRA) def. 4 Pablo Cuevas (URU) 7-6(5) 6-3
Lukasz Kubot (POL) def. 5 Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 3-6 7-5 6-3
6 Jose Acasuso (ARG) def. WC Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) 6-1 6-1
Q Joao Souza (BRA) def. 7 Simon Greul (GER) 3-6 6-4 7-6(5)
Eduardo Schwank (ARG) def. Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 4-6 7-6(3) 6-3
Pere Riba (ESP) def. Santiago Ventura (ESP) 6-3 7-5
Paul Capdeville (CHI) def. WC Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan (CHI) 4-6 6-2 6-1
Q David Marrero (ESP) def. Q Juan-Martin Aranguren (ARG) 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(2)
Q Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) def. Victor Crivoi (ROU) 6-4 6-2

Doubles First Round
1 L. Kubot (POL)/O. Marach (AUT) def. J. Chela (ARG)/S. Ventura (ESP) 6-3 7-6(7)
S. Greul (GER)/P. Luczak (AUS) def. R. Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP)/E. Schwank (ARG) 7-6(3) 6-4
B. Dabul (ARG)/P. Lorenzi (ITA) vs WC S. Gonzalez (MEX)/N. Massu (CHI) – TBD

Wednesday's Order of Play

(Image: El Mercurio)

Rafael Nadal



















Juan Carlos Ferrero

























Gilles Simon


















David Ferrer

















Nicolas Kiefer



















Marat Safin


















Juan Monaco



















Viktor Troiki















Nicolas Lapentti


















Evgeny Korolev
















Frank Dancevic











There are some tennis polls some readers have pointed out and felt outrage at some the choices in these polls. I have received recent requests from readers over the week to do a proper topless poll. In light of the recent weather developments at the Open, I thought I would give you a treat.

I have gone to through the tennisfiend photo archives to compile a list for my fellow tennis fiends. By no means is it a comprehensive list, as I do not have photos of everyone. This poll will also be a tribute to the many of the fallen and the few who remain in the tournament that is steadily coming to a close this week despite the weather.

So, please participate in a proper poll of the ATP’s finest. Since this is a scientific poll and it may be hard for you to choose just one, we are going to do this one Chicago style -- so vote early and vote often.

Update: The formatting in IE is messed up. If viewing this post in IE , the pictured are as follows from the top to the bottom: Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gilles, David Ferrer, Nicolas Kiefer, Marat Safin, Juan Monaco, Viktor Troiki, Nicolas Lapentti, Evgeny Korolev and Frank Dancevic.

(Images: Denise/tennisfiend)

After his qualifier brother lost yesterday, world no. 163 Nicolas Lapentti rallied from being two sets down to knock off nineteenth-seed Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6 3-6 7-6(8) 7-6(3) 6-3. The victory is the 33 year old’s ninth win of the season and his first second-round appearance in a grand slam this year.

The once world no. 6 will now meet world no.108 Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. The two players have never met, but this is a good opportunity for Lapentti to advance to the third round. His best performance this year was the round of 16 in Monte Carlo.

(Image: AP)

In an evil first-round matchup, Juan Carlos Ferrero and lucky loser Nicolas Lapentti had to play one another early in the tournament. The world no. 29 took the first set, but the Ecuadoran was able to sneak off with the second set in the tiebreak. Ferrero then got his act together and steamrolled Lapentti in the third set for a 6-4 6-7(5) 6-0 victory after playing 150 minutes.

JCF moves on to play countryman Tommy Robredo in another evil matchup in second round. The two players are even at 2-2 in their head-to-head matchup with Ferrero winning their last meeting in Cincinnati three years ago.

Today was a cooler day than other two days. Play was suspended for two hours due to a rain delay. Most of the matches were completed, but the Clement/Tursunov and Santoro/Rochus matches were not completed due to lack of light and will finish tomorrow. The winners of both of these matches will play each other, so there will be no rest advantage.

Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Tommy Robredo advanced in straight-forward fashion. Djokovic only played two sets after Nicolas Lapentti had to pull out after spraining his left ankle. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced but dropped a set in a tricolor battle with compatriot Julien Benneteau.

James Blake was the only top-seeded casualty of the day. This was no surprise since he has been struggling, in general, of late. He is also part of the latest incarnation of no-clay-playing Americans. The deadly combination resulted in a first-round boot out of Roland Garros this year.

The surprise of the day was Juan Carlos Ferrero’s win over Ivan Ljubicic. Ljubicic had been playing well over the last couple of weeks, and Ferrero has been struggling for years with injury and lack of play. The former French Open champ and current world no. 103 upset Ljubicic 2-6 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3 after three hours and 17 minutes of play.

Ferrero will meet German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round. Kohlschreiber leads their head-to-head matchup 2-1. His wins come courtesy of the hardcourts of Auckland for the last two-consecutive years. Ferrero’s victory came at Roland Garros three years ago.

(Images: FFT)

Juan Monaco has no trouble with Marat Safin, who is playing in his last Barcelona Open tournament. Monaco dismissed the Russian 6-4 6-1 after 65 minutes of play. The Argentine will play the Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the next round. The two players have never met in ATP action.

Nicolas Lapentti had a more difficult time overcoming from fellow-veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu. The Ecuadorian qualifier persevered and bested the Frenchman 6-3 2-6 6-2. Lapentti had a good week in Monaco but will play Fernando Verdasco play in the next round. The Spaniard leads Lapentti 4-2 though Lapentti won their last meeting in Cincinnati in 2008.

On the other hand, Fabio Fognini did not survive after having a good week in Monte-Carlo last week. Fellow-qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver beat the Italian pretty handily 6-1 6-3. The Spaniard plays Juan Monaco in the second round.

Gaston Gaudio beat fellow Argentine Diego Junquiera 6-4 3-6 6-4. The 2004 Roland Garros champion will meet sixth-seed Tommy Robredo in the next round. The Argentine leads their match-up 4-3 with Gaudio winning their last meeting in Monte-Carlo in 2006.

The match of the day was Mikhail Youzhny versus Viktor Troicki. It looked like the Serb would take the match, but the Russian rallied from behind to send the Serb home 6-7(5) 7-6(6) 6-3 after 163 minutes of play. Youzhny will now play Stanislas Wawrinka, who made it to the semifinals in Monte-Carlo last week. The Russian is 1-0 over Wawrinka.

In doubles, all three Spanish teams lost today, plus Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez lost yesterday. Doubles team, Travis Parrot and Filip Polasek rallied to beat Frantisek Cermak and Mertinak Mertinak 6-7(4) 6-2 10-7. They will play top-seeds Bryan brothers in the next round. The Bryan brothers and Travis Parrott are the only American players currently playing on the European clay circuit.

(Image: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)

Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) def. Marc Lopez (ESP) 7-5 6-2 6-1
Frederico Gil (POR) def. Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP) 6-3 2-6 6-1
Santiago Ventura (ESP) def. Mischa Zverev (GER) 6-4 6-7(3) 6-3
Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) def. Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5
Pere Riba-Madrid (ESP) def. Flavio Cipolla (ITA) 6-2 7-6(5)
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) def. Pablo Anujar (ESP) 6-4 4-6 6-2
Fabio Fognini (ITA) def. Kristof Vliegen (BEL) 2-6 6-3 6-4

After the rain caused havoc yesterday, the tournament got back on track. Rafael Nadal’s half of the draw had to play twice because they did not finish their matches yesterday. At the end the day, all of the qualifiers and wildcards were knocked out of the draw while the usual suspects, minus Roger Federer and plus Stanislas Wawrinka, advanced to the semifinals.

Rafael Nadal finished off Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-0 in the morning and beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-3 in the afternoon to advance. He will meet Andy Murray, who beat Fabio Fognini and Nikolay Davydenko today, in the semifinals. It will be a rematch of the Indian Wells final, except on clay. Alex Corretja has done a good job with Murray for the clay season, and this is Murray’s best result on clay to date.

Novak Djokovic resisted a challenge from Fernando Verdasco and beat the Spaniard in straight sets. The Serb is starting to get back to form and is playing with a lot more confidence than at the beginning of the year. Djokovic will meet Stanislas Wawrinka in the next round where he leads the Swiss 5-2. He has won their last four meetings.

At the end of the day, it was good to see veteran players like Ivan Ljubicic and Nicolas Lapentti make a run in the tournament. Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Monaco returned from injury and played well this week. Hopefully, the young qualifiers, Andreas Beck and Fabio Fognini will be in the mix in the future.

Friday’s Results
Singles Quarterfinals
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. WC Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 6-3 6-3
3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. 7 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-2 4-6 6-3
4 A. Murray (GBR) def. 8 N. Davydenko (RUS) 7-6(1) 6-4
13 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) def. Q Andreas Beck (GER) 6-2 6-4

Singles Round of 16
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Q Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) 6-3 6-0
4 Andy Murray (GBR) def. Q Fabio Fognini (ITA) 7-6(11) 6-4
8 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) def. 12 David Nalbandian (ARG) 6-4 5-7 6-3
WC Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) def. Simone Bolelli (ITA) 7-5 7-6(2)

Doubles Quarterfinals
1 B. Bryan (USA)/M. Bryan (USA) def. 6 M. Fyrstenberg (POL)/M. Matkowski (POL) 4-6 6-2 10-4
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) def. M. Cilic (CRO)/N. Kiefer (GER) 6-7(3) 6-4 10-8
3 L. Dlouhy (CZE)/L. Paes (IND) def. 7 J. Knowle (AUT)/A. Ram (ISR) 7-6(3) 6-3
N Djokovic (SRB) / V Troicki (SRB) def. 4 M. Bhupathi (IND)/M. Knowles (BAH) 6-4 4-6 12-10

Doubles Round of 16
4 M. Bhupathi (IND)/M. Knowles (BAH) def. F. Lopez (ESP)/F. Verdasco (ESP) 6-4 6-4

Saturday’s Matches
Singles Semifinals
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. 4 Andy Murray (GBR)
3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. 13 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)

Doubles Semifinals
1 B. Bryan (USA)/M. Bryan (USA) vs. 3 L. Dlouhy (CZE)/L. Paes (IND)
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) vs. N. Djokovic (SRB)/V. Troicki (SRB)

Saturday’s Order of Play

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(images: Getty Images, AFP)

Rafael Nadal resumed his clay-court domination today. The unfortunate victim was Juan Ignacio Chela. He beat Chela 6-2 6-3. This win was his 23rd consecutive win in Monte-Carlo.

Nadal jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Chela then won 11 consecutive points to cut Nadal’s lead 4-2. Nadal tightened the hatches and cruised to take the next two games and the set. A similar scenario happened in the second set, but Nadal took control again and cruised to victory.

The Spaniard will meet qualifier Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, who dismissed Marat Safin in a 3 ½ hour epic match. Safin lost 6-7(6) 6-2 6-7(6). Safin lost the first set, but cruised to take the second set.

It look like Safin had rallied to send the ATP World No. 98 home after being up 4-0 in the final set. The Russian served for the match at 5-2, but somehow Lapentti dug in to fight off two match points. The Ecuadorian broke Safin and then rattled off another three consecutive games and saved another match point along the way.

It looked like they were headed to a tiebreak, but then Lapentti broke Safin in the eleventh game. He then served for the match and had three match points, but Safin broke the Ecuadorian to send the match to a tiebreak.

Lapentti jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and then later Safin missed a forehand for 5-1. Safin took a minibreak and held serve for 5-4. He then mishit a forehand to give Lapentti three match points.

Naturally, Safin saved two match points to tie it at 6-6. Lapentti dug in again, and it did not help that Safin double faulted to give Lapentti match point number 6. This time Lapentti converted to upset the Russian in his final Monte-Carlo appearance.

This is Lapentti’s first round of 16 appearance this year. His last round of 16 was in 2008 in Cincinnati where he eventually lost in the quarterfinal to Rafael Nadal, incidenttally. That was their last meeting. Their only other meeting was in 2003 in Bastad where Lapentti won in three sets.

(Images: AP)

Marat Safin was in good form as he beat Hewitt, who is fresh off his Houston title. He bested the Aussie 6-4 7-5 in routine fashion. Safin will play Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in an old-school matchup. Safin currently leads their head-to-head match 1-0 after the Russian beat Lapentti in Barcelona in 2000.


Tuesday’s Matches Singles First Round
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) def. 9 Gael Monfils (FRA) 6-3 6-1
10 David Ferrer (ESP) def. Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-2 6-3
12 David Nalbandian (ARG) def. Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 6-4 3-6 6-3
Albert Montanes (ESP) def. 16 Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 7-6(6) 4-6 7-6(5)
Q Fabio Fognini (ITA) def. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 1-6 6-3 6-3
Marat Safin (RUS) def. WC Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 6-4 7-5
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Florent Serra (FRA) 6-4 6-4
WC Jean-Rene Lisnard (MON) def. Christophe Rochus (BEL) 6-2 6-2
Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG) def. Igor Andreev (RUS) 2-6 7-6(5) 6-2

Singles Second Round
3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. Q Oscar Hernandez (ESP) 6-1 6-2
4 Andy Murray (GBR) def. Victor Hanescu (ROU) 6-3 6-2
Q Andreas Beck (GER) def. 6 Gilles Simon (FRA) 7-5 6-1
Juan Monaco (ARG) def. 11 Tommy Robredo (ESP) 6-2 6-4

Doubles First Round
N. Davydenko (RUS)/O. Marach (AUT) def. J. Chardy (FRA)/G. Simon (FRA) 6-4 6-1
WC M. Gicquel (FRA)/P. Mathieu (FRA) def. L. Arnold Ker (ARG)/P. Cuevas (URU) 7-6(5) 6-3
S. Aspelin (SWE)/W. Moodie (RSA) def. R. Lindstedt (SWE)/R. Soderling (SWE) 6-2 6-4

Doubles Second Round
M. Cilic (CRO)/N. Kiefer (GER) def. 5 B. Soares (BRA)/K. Ullyett (ZIM) 6-4 1-6 10-7

Wednesday’s Matches Singles Second Round
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)
2 WC Roger Federer (SUI) vs. Andreas Seppi (ITA)
5 Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) vs. WC Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)
7 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
8 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) vs. Ivo Karlovic (CRO)
10 David Ferrer (ESP) vs. Marc Gicquel (FRA)
12 David Nalbandian (ARG) vs. Marcel Granollers (ESP)
13 Stani Wawrinka (SUI) vs. Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG)
14 Marin Cilic (CRO) vs. Q Fabio Fognini (ITA)
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs. Simone Bolelli (ITA)
Marat Safin (RUS) vs. Q Nicolas Lapentti (ECU)
Albert Montanes (ESP) vs. WC Jene-Rene Lisnard (MON)

Doubles Second Round
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) vs. WC M. Gicquel (FRA)/P. Mathieu (FRA)
3 L. Dlouhy (CZE)/L. Paes (IND) vs. A. Montanes (ESP)/T. Robredo (ESP)
6 M. Fyrstenberg (POL)/M. Matkowski (POL) vs. N. Davydenko (RUS)/O. Marach (AUT)
7 J. Knowle (AUT)/A. Ram (ISR) vs. S. Aspelin (SWE)/W. Moodie (RSA)
8 J. Coetzee (RSA)/J. Kerr (AUS) vs. N. Djokovic (SRB)/V. Troicki (SRB)

Wednesday's Order of Play

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(Image: AP)

Qualifier Fabio Fognini, who is currently ranked number 108, rallied to upset Tomas Berdych 1-6 6-3 6-3. The 21-year-old has not advanced passed the round of 16 this year and is 6-7 as of today. He will play Marin Cilic in the next round. The two players have never met in an ATP event.

Albert Montanes upset Nicolas Almagro 7-6(6) 6-4 7-6(5). After Nadal, Almagro is probably Spain’s second best player on clay. This victory is Montanes’ second-consectutive victory over Almagro. He will play wildcard Jean-Rene Lisnard of Monaco.

In the rematch of the Buenos Aires final, Juan Monaco exacted revenge on the eleventh-seed Tommy Robredo 6-2 6-4. He will play the German troublemaker, Andreas Beck in the round of 16. The two players have never met in ATP competition. This could be an exciting match. Both players are vying for the chance to play Roger Federer, should he make it through the next two rounds.

With all of the upsets, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, David Ferrer and David Nalbandian restored some order with their victories.

In doubles, Nikolay Davydenko teamed up with Austrian doubles-specialist Oliver to beat the French duo of Gilles Simon and Jeremy Chardy 6-4 6-1. Next up for Davydenko and Marach are sixth-seeds Frystenberg and Matkowski.

Some good news for France today, Marc Gicquel and Paul-Henri Mathieu bested the doubles specialists Arnold Ker and Cuevas from South America. They will play second-seeds Nestor and Zimonjic.

After his upset in singles yesterday, Nicolas Kiefer and partner, Marin Cilic upset fifth-seeds Brunno Soares and Kevin Ullyett.

(images: AP)

Nicolas Lapentti upset fifteenth-seed Radek Stepanek 6-3 1-6 6-3. It is his first win over the Czech, who has a 3-0 record over Lapentti prior to this match.

The former world number 6, who had to qualify this weekend, is currently ranked 98th. He awaits the winner of the Hewitt-Safin match. This year, Lapentti has yet to pass the round of 32 and has a 5-6 singles record to date.

Could he be inspired by JCF this week? We shall see.

What do you know about 18-year-old Leonardo Lapentti? Is he the 3rd brother? Is he cute?
- Mrs. Polasek

Your guess is correct. To answer your first and second questions, Leonardo Lapentti is apart of the Lapentti Gomez clan of Ecuador. He is the younger brother of Nicolas and Giovanni Lapentti (pictured right). Their father is an Ecuadorian politician and former college basketball player. They are distant cousins of Andres Gomez, who is the 1990 French Open champion, on their mother's side of the family.

Nicolas Lapentti, 32, is a veteran player of the ATP tour. He stormed onto the scene when he won the junior Orange Bowl tournament in 1994 and then won the junior French Open doubles title with Gustavo Kuerten the same year. In 2000, he achieved his highest ATP ranking of world number 6. He has won five ATP titles, the last title coming in 2002 in St. Poelten. Nicolas is currently ranked 95 and just qualified for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament. In late 2000, he established the Nicolas Lapentti Foundation to help bring tennis to underprivileged children and develop future champions.

Giovanni, 26, is a fixture on the challenger tour when he is not qualifying for ATP tournaments. He is currently ranked 190. His best ranking came in 2005 when he was ranked 110. This year he helped Ecuador, with the help of Nicolas, overcome a 0-2 deficit to upset Canada in Davis Cup action.

Leonardo Lapentti hit the futures circuit following in his brothers’ footsteps. His current record is 0-5. There is not really going to be much written about him until he is around longer and/or wins something.

To answer your third question, is he cute? I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. He is the one the left with his brother Giovanni.

Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) def. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-3 6-4
Fabio Fognini (ITA) def. Steve Darcis (BEL) 3-6 6-1 6-1
Flavio Cipolla (ITA) def. Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 6-4 6-3
Alberto Martin (ESP) def. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) 6-1 6-3
Andreas Beck (GER) def. Nicolas Devilder (FRA) 6-2 6-2
Kristof Vliegen (BEL) def. Pablo Cuevas (URU) 1-6 7-6(5) 6-4
Oscar Hernandez (ESP) def Pablo Andujar (ESP) 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2

(image: Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters)

César Pincheira


Poor Nicolas Lapentti lost today to Pablo Cuevas of Uraguay.

Singles:
Maximo GONZALEZ def. Bosris PASHANSKI 6-3 6-2
Pablo CUEVAS def. Nicolas LAPENTTI 6-3 3-6 7-5
Sebastian DECOUD def. Fabio FOGNINI 6-3 7-5
Thomaz BELLUCCI def. Juan Pablo BRZEZICKI 6-2 6-3
Brian DABUL def. Diego JUNQUEIRA 6-2 6-7(2) 6-1

Doubles:
F. CERMAK/M. MERTINAK def. N. DEVILDER/O. MARACH 6-3 6-2
A. MARTIN/T. ROBREDO def. J. BRUNSTROM/J. ROJER 7-6(1) 7-6(2)
O. HERNANDEZ/A. MONTANES def. J. GUZMAN/D. MUNO-DE LA NAVA 6-3 6-3
L. ARNOLD KERR/J. MONACO def. J. ACASUSO/S. PRIETO 6-1 7-6(1)