David Ferrer helped Spain advance into the Davis Cup quarterfinals against France and thus begins Spain’s road to its second-consecutive title defense. Ferrer took no time in taking apart Stanislas Wawrinka and any Swiss hopes with a 6-2 6-4 6-0 victory. Nicolas Almagro finished up strong in his emphatic victory over Marco Chiudinelli at 6-1 6-3 after 75 minutes of play.

It goes to show how deep Team Spain is. Even without Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco and Juan Carlos Ferrero, they still were able to advance comfortably. Hopefully, Spain will be much healthier in their quarterfinal matchup.

Team Spain is much deeper than France. France could be a formidable foe if Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can stay healthy and play well. Team France now has a great doubles partnership in Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau, which can now handle any of the Spanish pairings.

Tsonga had to retire with a mild foot injury in his dead rubber match against German Simon Greul this afternoon. Why Guy Forget would play Tsonga in a dead rubber matchup seems kind of crazy to me. Luckily, they won the first round in their first-three matches. If they were in a dogfight with Spain, this would definitely be a problem. Injuries are really France’s Achilles heel.

No matter what happens, the France-Spain matchup in July will be entertaining.

Sunday’s Results
R4 – David Ferrer (ESP) def. Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 6-2 6-4 6-0
R5 – Nicolas Almagro (ESP) def. Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 6-1 6-3

(Image: AP)

Tommy Robredo and Marcel Ganollers triumphed over Stanislas Wawrinka and Yves Allegro by winning 7-6(8) 6-2 4-6 6-4. The Spaniards now have some breathing room and lead 2-1 over Switzerland. They just need one victory tomorrow.

David Ferrer has good odds over Wawrinka, but the second-ranked Swiss can be trouble. Should Ferrer lose, Nicolas Almagro should be able to take out Marco Chiudinelli.

Saturday’s Results
R3 – M. Granollers (ESP)/T. Robredo (ESP) def. Y. Allegro (SUI)/S. Wawrinka (SUI) 7-6(8) 6-2 4-6 6-4

(Image: AP)

Team Spain enters their Davis Cup matchup pretty banged up. Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco and lastly Juan Carlos Ferrero all pulled out with injuries. Spain debuted today in Longrona, Spain against Switzerland with its C team – David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers.

Almagro is recovering from a wrist injury, and Robredo is not having the best year. Granollers has had success on the doubles side over the last two years and has even won a title with Robredo. Ferrer is their only rock. If the Spanish were going to be picked off, it would be this weekend.

Almagro opened well against Stanislas Wawrinka and put away the first set. The 24-year-old Swiss was able to get back into the match by taking the second set. The two players battled it out until the final set. The world no. 40 went up a break, and it looked like he would be able to put Wawrinka away. He instead allowed the Swiss back in to the match, and world no. 20 was somehow able to win the match 6-3 4-6 6-3 5-7 6-3 in just under four hours of play to put Switzerland up 1-0.

Ferrer then came out in the next rubber and put in a solid performance against Marco Chiudinelli. Though he disappeared in the second set, the Spaniard was able to sneak off with the set and slam the door in the third set. He beat Chiudinelli 6-2 7-6(5) 6-1 in under 2 ½ hours of play to level the Davis Cup tie 1-1.

Granollers and Robredo will play Yves Allegro and Wawrinka tomorrow and have a good shot at winning. Ferrer has solid odds against Wawrinka with a 4-2 record for the fourth rubber. The Spaniard also leads their meetings on clay 3-1.

If Spain loses in doubles, it has a much tougher field to hoe. Almagro should be able to beat Chiudinelli, but his wrist issues could complicate matters. It would not be surprising if Coach Alberto Costa substitutes Robredo to play the final rubber, though current world no. 23 is not having a great year with a 3-5 singles record.

Spain vs. Switzerland
Friday’s Results
R1 – Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) def. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 3-6 6-4 3-6 7-5 6-3
R2 – David Ferrer (ESP) def. Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 6-2 7-6(5) 6-1

Saturday’s Match
R3 – M. Granollers (ESP)/T. Robredo (ESP) vs. Y. Allegro (ESP)/S. Wawrinka (SUI)

(Images: AP)

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)

Thomaz Bellucci stunned top-seed Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 6-4. The Brazilian lefty and world no. 119 surprised Wawrinka in front of his hometown audience.

Bellucci started the year out strong with an appearance in the final of the Brazilian Open. He eventually lost that match to Tommy Robredo, who had the hot hand at the time, and soon faded on the tour soon afterward. Bellucci then went back on the challenger tour and won a tournament in Italy a couple of weeks ago.

Now, the 21 year old will play sixth-seed Nicolas Kiefer in the quarterfinals. The two players have never met in ATP competition.

Before Bellucci’s surprise, Marcos Daniel, another Brazilian upset Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3 7-6(8). Daniel will play another Frenchman Florent Serra. Serra leads their match-up 1-0.

(Images: AP)

City: Gstaad, Switzerland
Surface: Outdoor Clay
Championship Points: 250
2008 Singles Champion: Victor Hanescu
2008 Doubles Champions: Jaroslav Levinsky and Filip Polasek

Stanislas Wawrinka, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Igor Andreev, Victor Hanescu, Jeremy Chardy, Nicolas Kiefer, Feliciano Lopez and Paul-Henri Mathieu are the top-seeds at this tournament. This week could be a good opportunity for top-seed and hometown favorite Stanislas Wawrinka to win his first title this year, but Jeremy Chardy has been hot of late. We shall see how it all shakes out this week.

Tournament Draw
Singles / Doubles

(Images: Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad)

Stanislas Wawrinka tested the Scotsman in a five-set thriller that ended at 10:38 PM. To avoid suspending the match, the tournament put its new roof to use by closing it and turning on the lights. It was essentially Wimbledon's first late night match.

In the end, Andy Murray prevailed 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3 after withstanding the Swiss onslaught in just under four hours of play. The match was a good challenge for the World No. 3 and should be a good tuneup for his possible final matchup with Roger Federer. Murray will first meet Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarterfinals.

(Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Novak Djokovic bested Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6 6-1 6-3. In the opening set, the two went toe-to-toe from the baseline, and the Swiss got the better of the two players. After four break points, Wawrinka broke Djokovic after the Serb double faulted in game nine. Wawrinka then held serve to take the set.

In the second set, Djokovic tightened up his serve and groundstrokes. He also started coming into the net, and the changes paid off. Djokovic broke early in the second game and then jumped out to a 5-0 lead. He then cruised to take the set easily.

Now tied with a set apiece, Wawrinka struck first in the second game of the final set. After a long rally, Djokovic broke back and held to level the set at two. Djokovic would win another two games in a row and go on a four-game winning streak. Wawrinka stopped the Serb’s run by holding serve. In the ninth game, the Swiss had a sloppy game and allowed Djokovic to break him for the match.

Djokovic now awaits the winner of the Nadal-Murray match. This will be his first Monte-Carlo final.

(Image: AP/Claude Paris)

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)

The rain caused havoc in Monte-Carlo today. It caused delays throughout the day. The tournament had to move some matches from the show courts to the outer courts, causing me to not see the Beck-Monaco match. Boo!

Fernando Verdasco halted David Ferrer, who had been cruising in the draw under the radar. Verdasco took care of his compatriot 6-2 6-1 after 62 minutes of play. He will next meet Novak Djokovic, who dismissed Spaniard Albert Montanes. Their head-to-head matchup is 2-2, with Djokovic winning the last two matches last year.

The match of the day was on the outer courts with a surging Andres Beck and a resurgent Juan Monaco. Each player split the first two sets then dug in the final set. Juan Monaco was ahead 4-2 until Beck rallied to even the set. Beck then broke Monaco, for the final time, at the end of the set to take the match, thus continuing his upset tour of Monte-Carlo. The German will meet Stanislas Wawrinka, who upset Roger Federer. The two players have never met in ATP competition.

Fabio Fognini was ahead 5-3 in the first set, but Andy Murray broke him and held serve to level the match. Murray took the set when he saved three set points and outlasted the Italian in the first-set tiebreak. Rain delayed their match until tomorrow, as well as the Nadal-Lapentti, Nalbandian-Daydenko and the Bolelli-Ljubicic matches.

Tomorrow will be wacky. Verdasco may have to play three times because of doubles.

Thursday’s Results
Singles Round of 16
13 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) def. 2 WC Roger Federer (SUI) 6-4 7-5
3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. Albert Montanes (ESP) 6-1 6-7(4) 6-0
7 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) def. 10 David Ferrer (ESP) 6-2 6-1
Q Andreas Beck (GER) def. Juan Monaco (ARG) 3-6 6-2 7-5
4 Andy Murray (GBR) vs. Q Fabio Fognini (ITA) 7-6(11) 1-0 To Finish
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. Q Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) 0-1 To Finish
8 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) vs. 12 David Nalbandian (ARG) To Finish
Simone Bolelli (ITA) vs. WC Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) To Finish

Doubles Round of 16
F. Lopez (ESP)/F. Verdasco (ESP) vs. 4 M. Bhupathi (IND)/M. Knowles (BAH) To Finish

Doubles Quarterfinals
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) vs. M. Cilic (CRO)/N. Kiefer (GER) To Finish

Friday’s Matches
Singles Round of 16
4 Andy Murray (GBR) vs. Q Fabio Fognini (ITA) 7-6(11) 1-0 To Finish
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. Q Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) 0-1 To Finish
8 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) vs. 12 David Nalbandian (ARG) To Finish
Simone Bolelli (ITA) vs. WC Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) To Finish

Singles Quarterfinals
7 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB)
13 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) vs. Q Andreas Beck (GER)
1 R. Nadal (ESP) or Q N. Lapentti (ECU) vs. S. Bolelli (ITA) or WC I. Ljubicic (CRO)
4 A. Murray (GBR) or Q F. Fognini (ITA) vs. 12 D. Nalbandian (ARG) or 8 N. Davydenko (RUS)

Doubles Round of 16
F. Lopez (ESP)/F. Verdasco (ESP) vs. 4 M. Bhupathi (IND)/M. Knowles (BAH) To Finish

Doubles Quarterfinals
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) vs. M. Cilic (CRO)/N. Kiefer (GER) To Finish
1 B. Bryan (USA)/M. Bryan (USA) vs. 6 M. Fyrstenberg (POL)/M. Matkowski (POL)
3 L. Dlouhy (CZE)/L. Paes (IND) vs. 7 J. Knowle (AUT)/A. Ram (ISR)
N Djokovic (SRB) / V Troicki (SRB) vs. 4 M. Bhupathi (IND)/M. Knowles (BAH) or F. Lopez (ESP)/F. Verdasco (ESP)

Friday's Order of Play

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(Image: AP)