more match previews and reports available at tennistalk.com
Open 13 (Marseille, France) (2/11/08 - 2/17/08)
click here for the draw in PDF format
Open 13 Tournament Summary If ever a player cruised quietly to an
ATP tournament title, it was Andy Murray this week in Marseille, France at the
Open 13. Although the Scot hoisted the trophy when it was all said and done, it
was runner-up Mario Ancic and fellow injury-plagued star Robin Soderling who
made the most noise. Third-seeded
Andy Murray took home the Open 13 championship on Sunday, defeating unseeded surprise
finalist Mario Ancic 6-3, 6-3. Before discussing the real stories of the
tournament, let’s give Murray the publicity he deserves for his performance
this week. The
Scot was arguably the favorite to emerge from the top half of the draw coming
into the tournament, especially considering top seed Novak Djokovic was still
feeling the effects of a sickness that derailed his efforts in Serbia’s
opening-round Davis Cup tie. Murray delivered on those expectations, and it
started with a routine 6-4, 6-4 victory over little-known Dutch qualifier Jesse
Huta Galung in the first round. He then took care of Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1 in
the third set, beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 7-6(5) in the quarters, and
destroyed Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-2 before ending Ancic’s incredible run. Not
surprisingly, it was a remarkably consistent week for the ever-solid Murray. Ancic,
however, stole the headlines in Marseille. He had not yet played a match in
2008 due to lingering back and shoulder problems, and the tournament draw did
him no favors by pairing him with Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfriend Tsonga
in the fist round. But Ancic upset the Frenchman in straight sets and he never
looked back. The 6’5’’ Croat used some other-worldly serving to take out
Teimuraz Gabashvili, Robin Soderling, and Marcos Baghdatis is succession en
route to the final. Baghdatis, the 2007 runner-up, looked impressive in making
it back to the semifinals despite a tough draw. His three match wins came over
Arnaud Clement, Ivo Karlovic, and in-form Mikhail Youzhny. Soderling
had been dealing with injury troubles of his own. The Swede last played back in
August, but he was obviously ready to come back in Marseille. He stunned Jarkko
Nieminen and second-seeded Richard Gasquet—both in three sets—before bowing out
to Ancic in a hard-fought quarterfinal contest. Most
of the top guys in Marseille will next be making their way to Rotterdam, where
Rafael Nadal is the top seed. Baghdatis and Soderling will do battle in a
brutal first-round matchup. Murray has to deal with rising Dutch youngster
Robin Haase and Youzhny will meet Serb Janko Tipsarevic, now well-known thanks
to his epic five-set loss to Roger Federer in Australia.
----------------------------
Mario Ancic is in the final of his first
tournament in 2008, as he takes out Marcos Baghdatis in the semifinals of the
Open 13 on Saturday afternoon. It
doesn’t matter how he got there; the bottom line is that unseeded Mario Ancic
is in the final of his first tournament of the year after missing time with
nagging back and shoulder injuries. The
6’5’’ Croat upended sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-2 in a match that produced
nowhere near the same standard of tennis as these competitors’ previous efforts
at the Open 13 in Marseille, France. Unlike in his first three matches this
week, Ancic was not at his best and he did not serve off the charts like he had
been (47 aces through three matches). He put in just 53 percent of his first
serves and struck only four aces. Nonetheless, Ancic was able to save all three
break points he faced against Baghdatis and he has still not dropped serve this
entire tournament. The
good news for Ancic is that he didn’t have to be at his best in order to
dispatch Baghdatis, whose level dropped considerably on Saturday. Unable to get
into the same kind of rhythm he had been enjoying earlier in the week, the
Cypriot had no answer from the baseline for Ancic’s attacking style of play. As
is normal for Baghdatis when things are not going well, it was his forehand
that let him down. He sprayed far too many errors off that side, allowing Ancic
to cruise into the final with surprising ease. Ancic
will meet fourth-seeded Andy Murray in Sunday’s championship match. It’s the
second head-to-head clash between the two finalists. Ancic holds a 1-0
advantage over the Scot, having prevailed in Auckland, New Zealand back in 2006
with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win. Thumbs
Up: Ancic, who is a perfect 7-for-7 saving break points this week, lost just
four points on his first serve Thumbs
Down: Baghdatis is now a disappointing 1-4 head-to-head against Ancic
Ancic’s Run Continues With Straight-Set
Win Over Baghdatis
------------------------
Open 13 Semifinal Previews: Murray vs. Mathieu and Baghdatis vs. Ancic
Some brilliant shot-making should be on
display on Saturday at the Open 13 in Marseille, France, as the semifinals
feature four super-talented players. Andy Murray will play Paul-Henri Mathieu
in the first match of the afternoon before Marcos Baghdatis takes on Mario
Ancic. (4) Andy Murray vs. (8) Paul-Henri
Mathieu Murray
got off to a flying start in 2008 by capturing the season-opening title in
Doha, Qatar with a three-set win over Stanislas Wawrinka in the final. His
momentum, however, was quickly derailed at the Australian Open, where Murray
had to face eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round and lost
in a fourth-set tiebreaker. From all indications in Marseille, Murray has
recovered from that setback in style. That should not come as any surprise considering
how well Murray played in 2007. He finished the year ranked ninth in the world
despite missing both the French Open and Wimbledon with a wrist injury. Mathieu
has been his typical inconsistent self so far this season. The Frenchman
reached the quarterfinals in Adelaide at the beginning of the year and also
made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open, but his 2007 campaign has
also featured some serious disappointments. Mathieu’s run in Adelaide concluded
with an upset loss to little-known Australian Joseph Sirianni. He then retired
to Evgeny Korolev in the first round of Sydney after dropping the opening set
6-1. When Mathieu is playing well, however (as he appears to be in Marseille),
he is one of the premier talents on the ATP Tour. For example, he enjoyed a
remarkable stretch during the summer and fall of last on the U.S. hard courts,
including a semifinal appearance in New Haven and a runner-up finish in Moscow. Keep
in mind that Mathieu will have the full support of the crowd on Saturday. Not
only will the Marseille faithful obviously side with the Frenchman, but the
fans also did not take kindly to Murray during his quarterfinal win over
another Frenchman, unseeded Gilles Simon. (6) Marcos Baghdatis vs. Mario Ancic While Baghdatis’ performance this week does not come as a huge surprise, he had not exactly been streaking into this event with momentum. The 17th-ranked player in the world lost in the first round of the season-opening event in Doha and then fell to Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of the Australian Open in an epic five-setter that ended after 4:30 in the morning. Baghdatis, however, has clearly turned things around here at the Open 13. He handled Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4 in the first round before cruising past 6’10’’ Croat Ivo Karlovic with surprising ease 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. The Cypriot then pulled off a minor upset of third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(2), 6-3. Ancic, who is down to No. 135 in the world after once being ranked all the way up at No. 7, had not played in 2008 prior to the Open 13 due to nagging shoulder and back injuries. But the Croat has announced his return to the ATP Tour in emphatic fashion through three matches this week. In the first round he stunned seventh-seeded and Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 7-6(3) and in the second destroyed qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2. Ancic next took out a fellow injury-plagued player in Robin Soderling. He recovered from a second-set hiccup to win 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2. Ancic fired a whopping 25 aces past the Swede and now has 47 aces through just three matches. Like Baghdatis, he has not been broken once this entire tournament and he has only had to fend off four break points.
This
is the second head-to-head matchup between the 21st-ranked Mathieu
and No. 11 Andy Murray. The Scot won their only meeting last year in the fourth
round of the Masters Series Miami 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and seven minutes.
It will be the fifth career head-to-head meeting between Marcos Baghdatis and Mario Ancic when the two players do battle in the semifinals of the Open 13. Ancic holds a 3-1 advantage over Baghdatis, but the Cypriot prevailed in their most recent matchup in Beijing, China two seasons ago. Baghdatis dominated that hard-court match 6-4, 6-0 in just one hour and 12 minutes. Ancic, however, took the first three encounters, two of which came on hard courts and the third on grass. One of the matchups was contested two years ago in the first round of this very same Open 13. The 6’5’’ Croat survived that thrilling encounter 6-2, 6-7(11), 6-4.
Ancic Overpowers Soderling; Baghdatis
Next Mario Ancic scores an impressive win
over Robin Soderling on Friday in Marseille, France and will meet Marcos
Baghdatis in the semifinals of the Open 13. Prior
to this week, unseeded Mario Ancic had not played yet in 2008 due to lingering
back and shoulder injures. The 6’5’’ Croat, however, has announced his
reemergence on the ATP Tour with authority at the Open 13, where he is now in
the semifinals after a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2 quarterfinal triumph over Robin
Soderling. Not
surprisingly, the story of this match was Ancic’s serve. Despite bombing 22
total aces in his first two matches and not being broken a single time, Ancic
served even better on Friday afternoon. He blasted a ridiculous 25 aces past
Soderling and faced only one break, which he saved early in the third set.
Ancic lost just 18 points in 14 service games, and his booming made the match
quite a bit more lopsided than the score would suggest. The Croat won 94 points
overall while the Swede took just 76. It
wasn’t that Soderling played poorly, Ancic was simply too good. He played
aggressive tennis throughout the match, but never more than on the big points
in the third set. Ancic secured both of his breaks of serve in the decisive set
by dashing into the net and finishing off the points with crisp volleys.
Ultimately Ancic’s aggression wore Soderling down and made for an unexpectedly
routine third set after the Swede had dominated the second-set tiebreaker. Ancic
advances to his first ATP semifinal since winning the St. Petersburg title back
in the fall of 2006. He will take on sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, a straight
set winner over third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny on Friday. Ancic holds a 3-1
advantage in four career head-to-head meetings with the Cypriot.
-------------------------
Baghdatis Ousts Youzhny to Advance to
Marseille Semis Marcos Baghdatis takes out Mikhail
Youzhny in straight sets to set up a semifinal clash with huge-serving Mario
Ancic. Sixth-seeded
Marcos Baghdatis put on an impressive display of tennis on Friday night in the
quarterfinals of the Open 13 to defeat third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(2),
6-3. Baghdatis
also sent the Russian packing at the very same stage of the tournament last
year. That match went to 7-5 in the third and lasted two hours and 30 minutes,
but it was not nearly as tough this time around. The first set, however, was
neck-and-neck. Both players dominated on serve, as Baghdatis did not face a
single break point in the first frame of play and Youzhny saved the one break
opportunity he faced. Inevitably progressing to a tiebreaker, the opening set
was ultimately decided by a 7-2 margin in favor of Baghdatis. Having
dropped the first set, Youzhny began to break down in the second frame. His
baseline game deteriorated, but it was the serve that especially failed him.
The eighth-ranked player in the world saw his serve decline in terms of both
percentage and effectiveness, as Baghdatis won 36 percent of Youzhny’s
first-serve points in the second set after winning just two total points
against Youzhny’s first offering in the opening set. Always one of the best
returners in tennis, Baghdatis also won an impressive 56 percent of points in
the match on Youzhny’s second serve. Youzhny
made too many errors from the baseline as well, although even better play would
probably not have been enough to stop Baghdatis on this day. The 2007 Open 13
runner-up was feeling it off both sides with his groundstrokes in addition to
controlling play with his unbreakable serve. Baghdatis,
who was runner-up in Marseille last year (lost to Gilles Simon in the final),
is back in the semifinals, where he will take on unseeded Mario Ancic. The
Cypriot is just 1-3 in four career head-to-head meetings with the 6’5’’ Croat.
-------------------------
Open 13 Previews: Ancic vs. Soderling and Baghdatis vs. Youzhny
The bottom half of the Open 13 draw has
delivered two marquee quarterfinal matchups, with Mario Ancic playing Robin
Soderling during the day session and Marcos Baghdatis going up against Mikhail
Youzhny in the nightcap.
Mario Ancic vs. Robin Soderling
This
all-unseeded matchup features two injury-plagued players who are making their
returns to the ATP Tour following relatively extensive absences.
Ancic,
who is down to No. 135 in the world after once being ranked all the way up at
No. 7, had not played in 2008 prior to the Open 13 due to nagging shoulder and
back injuries. But it’s clear after just two matches that the 6’5’’ Croat is
more than ready to come back. In the first round he stunned seventh-seeded and
Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 7-6(3) and then crushed
qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2 in the second. When his shoulder is
healthy Ancic possesses one of the strongest serves in tennis, and that has
been on full display so far in Marseille.
Before
this week, Soderling had not played since last August at the Masters Series
Canada, where he retired in his first-round match against Marat Safin. The
Swede was ranked 26th in the world when a wrist injury forced him
out of tennis, but the missed time has dropped him to his current position of
No. 52. Now that Soderling is healthy, however, it is not hard to see that he
has the potential to get back where he belongs. He defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6-3,
5-7, 7-5 in the first round and on Thursday upset second-seeded Richard Gasquet
4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. Highlights for Soderling in 2007
before his injury included semifinal appearances in Doha, Marseille, and Dubai,
a quarterfinal run at the Masters Series Monte Carlo, and a berth in the third
round at Wimbledon, where he put up a great fight against Rafael Nadal before
losing 7-5 in the fifth.
This
is the first-ever meeting between Ancic and Soderling and it should be one in
which breaks of serve are few and far between. The 6’3’’ Swede has fired 33
aces past his opponents in two matches at the Open 13, while the 6’5’’ Croat is
still yet to lose serve after two contests.
(6) Marcos Baghdatis vs. (3) Mikhail
Youzhny
Baghdatis
and Youzhny have squared off twice during their impressive careers. The first
meeting came in 2005 at Wimbledon, where Youzhny prevailed 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Their second encounter was contested exactly one year ago in this same exact
situation—the quarterfinals of the Open 13. Baghdatis exacted revenge for his
loss at the All-England Club by defeating the Russian 2-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 in two
hours and 30 minutes.
Baghdatis
is not exactly riding a wave of momentum into Marseille. He lost in the first
round of the season-opening event in Doha and then fell to Lleyton Hewitt in
the third round of the Australian Open in an epic five-setter that ended after
4:30 in the morning. The Cypriot, however, has clearly turned things around here
at the Open 13. He handled Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4 in the first round before
cruising past 6’10’’ Croat Ivo Karlovic with surprising ease 6-4, 6-4 to reach
the quarterfinals.
Youzhny,
on the other hand, has been one of the most consistent performers on tour
recently and he is up to a career-high ranking of eighth in the world. In his
first event of 2008, Youzhny captured the title in Chennai by destroying
Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-1 in the final. The
Russian followed that up with a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open.
Youzhny is simply picking up right where he left of his 2007. In his final two
tournaments of last season he made the semifinals in St. Petersburg and the
quarterfinals of the Masters Series Paris.
Comment on the Open 13 Coverage -------------------------
Second-Round Open 13 Summary: Bottom Half
Robin Soderling isn’t the only player
coming back from injury to pull off a big win on Thursday at the Open 13 in
Marseille, as Mario Ancic takes care of Teimuraz Gabashvili in straight sets.
In the other section of the bottom half, Mikhail Youzhny and Marcos Baghdatis
cruise to set up a huge quarterfinal showdown.
Mario
Ancic, who had not played in 2008 prior to this week due to nagging shoulder
and back injuries, rolled over qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2 to reach
the quarterfinals of the Open 13. The 6’5’’ Croat served 11 aces in eight
service games and did not drop serve once. Ancic lost only eight total points
on serve the entire match. He also broke the Russian a whopping four times in
just nine return games. Ancic’s next match, a quarterfinal tilt with Swede
Robin Soderling, will feature some huge serving and most likely very few—if any—breaks
of serve. Soderling bombed 19 aces in his second-round upset of Richard
Gasquet.
Third-seeded
Mikhail Youzhny is also through to the quarterfinals after a 7-5, 6-3 victory
over Juilien Benneteau. Both players dominated on serve in the first set before
Youzhny capitalized on the first break point of the match to take the opening
frame 7-5. Although the second set also featured just one break of serve,
things were much different throughout the last nine games of the match.
Benneteau had seven break chances against the Russian’s serve, but Youzhny
saved all of them. While he was solid off both sides from the baseline, Youzhny
benefitted from several net cords and that helped him fend off the pesky
Frenchmen.
In
the quarterfinals Youzhny will take on sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, a 6-4,
6-4 winner over Ivo Karlovic on Thursday night. It’s never an easy task to
break the booming serve of the 6’10’’ Croat, but Baghdatis did it once in each
set. The difference in this match was simply break-point conversions. Karlovic
squandered all six of his break chances while the Cypriot capitalized on two of
his three opportunities. Always one of the best returners in the game thanks to
his short backswing and clean ball-striking, Baghdatis dictated play right from
the start on points in which Karlovic failed to put in his first serve. He won
53 percent of Karlovic’s second-serve points and even won eight points against
the giant’s first serve, not a huge number by any means but certainly better
than most.
Comment on the Open 13 Coverage -------------------------
Soderling Serves Gasquet Out of
Marseille Unseeded Robin Soderling, who missed the
second half of the 2007 season with an injury, pulls of his second upset of the
week to reach the quarterfinals of the Open 13 in Marseille, France. Having
already seen their man Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bow out of the Open 13 in the first
round, the French crowd in Marseille saw Richard Gasquet get bounced in the
second round on Thursday night. Swede Robin Soderling used his overwhelming
serve to upset the second seed 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 33 minutes. Soderling
blasted 19 aces in the match, including 14 in the final two sets. Gasquet had
three break-point opportunities in the first and converted one of them, but he
did not have one single break chance throughout sets two and three. Soderling’s
scintillating serve allowed him to take complete control of the match after he
dropped the first set. The Swede, who is just now returning from a wrist injury
that sidelined him since August of last season, put in 74 percent of his first
serves in the last two sets and won 91 percent of those points. In fact,
Soderling lost just nine total points in his final nine service games. While
Soderling did his part to seize control of the match, Gasquet did not make it
difficult on his unseeded opponent. The Frenchman’s serve was nothing short of
abysmal. He double-faulted seven times and put in a horrendous 34 percent of
his first balls during the second and third sets. Soderling was nowhere close to
flawless from the baseline throughout the match, but he didn’t have to be
thanks to Gasquet’s broken-down serve and deteriorating forehand. Soderling,
who reached the semifinals of this tournament last year, advances to play
unseeded Mario Ancic in the quarterfinals. It will be the first-ever
head-to-head meeting between the two injury-plagued players. Thumbs
up: In his first two matches back from a six-month absence, Soderling has
defeated the 26th-ranked player in the world (Jarkko Nieminen) and
the 7th-ranked player (Gasquet) Thumbs
down: Gasquet appeared to be cruising after the first set, but he completely
collapsed after getting down an early break in the second
Comment on the Open 13 Coverage -------------------------
Open 13 Second-Round Previews: Soderling vs. Gasquet and Baghdatis vs. Karlovic
One of the French favorites, Australian
Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, is already out of the tournament, but that
doesn’t mean the Open 13 in Marseille is without some marquee second-round
matchups. Highlighting Thursday’s night session will be Robin Soderling and
second-seeded Richard Gasquet followed by sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis and Ivo
Karlovic.
Robin Soderling vs. (2) Richard Gasquet
This is the third head-to-head meeting for Soderling and Gasquet, and all three have come within the last two years. In the first encounter on grass in Nottingham back in 2006, the Frenchman got the better of Soderling 7-6(7), 7-6(5). Later that year on carpet in Lyon, Gasquet prevailed once again, this time in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The Swede got revenge last season for his two earlier losses, winning in the quarterfinals of this same Marseille tournament 6-1, 7-6(4). That gives Soderling a 1-0 advantage over Gasquet on hard courts, the surface on which they will do battle Thursday night.
Although
Soderling looked good in his first-round upset of Jarkko Nieminen, recent
history favors Gasquet. The Frenchman qualified for the year-end Masters Cup
last season as one of the top eight players in the world and his currently at
his career-high of No. 7. The last six weeks of Gasquet’s 2007 campaign
included a runner-up finish in Tokyo and a semifinal appearance at the Masters
Series Paris. He has carried that momentum into 2008, reaching the fourth round
of last month’s Australian Open before running into on-fire compatriot
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Prior
to his 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 win over Nieminen on Monday, Soderling had not played
since last August at the Masters Series Canada, where he retired in his first-round
match against Marat Safin. A wrist injury forced him out of tennis until now.
The Swede was ranked 26th when he was injured, but the time away
from tennis has dropped him to his current position of No. 52 in the world.
Still, if Soderling truly is healthy, he has the potential to get back where he
belongs. Highlights in 2007 before his injury included semifinal appearances in
Doha, Marseille, and Dubai, a quarterfinal run at the Masters Series Monte
Carlo, and a berth in the third round at Wimbledon, where he put up a great
fight against Rafael Nadal before losing 7-5 in the fifth.
(6) Marcos Baghdatis vs. Ivo Karlovic
While Baghdatis turned professional five years ago and Karlovic has been on the ATP Tour for eight seasons, surprisingly this is the first time the two players have met head-to-head.
Normally
it would be difficult to get a read on this match, as Baghdatis and Karlovic
have no history together and neither contestant is playing particularly good or
bad at the moment. Both lost in the first round of their first tournaments in
2008 (Baghdatis in Chennai and Karlovic in Doha) and then both of them made it
to the third round of the Australian Open (Baghdatis lost to Hewitt in a
five-set epic that ended after 4:30 in the morning; Karlovic got erased by
Mikhail Youzhny in three easy sets).
Nonetheless,
it’s never hard to predict the general outcome of a match involving Karlovic.
If it doesn’t go all the way to a third-set tiebreaker—as his first-round win
over Feliciano Lopez did—at the very least there will be very few breaks of
serve and almost certainly no less than one tiebreaker. Baghdatis completely
dominated Arnaud Clement from the baseline in his 6-3, 6-4 win on Tuesday.
Karlovic served at an impressive 72 percent rate in his victory over Lopez on
Wednesday and the 6’10’’ Croat won 90 percent of his first-serve points. Both
of those facts would suggest a tight battle with very few chances against the
server is in store for Thursday’s nightcap at the Open 13.
Comment on the Open 13 Coverage -------------------------
Youzhny Survives Tough
Test From Cilic
It only takes two sets, but promising youngster Marin Cilic makes Mikhail
Youzhny work hard to earn his place in the second round of the Open 13 in
Marseille, France.
Third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny got past the talented Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6(3) on
Wednesday afternoon at the Open 13, but it took one hour and 52 minutes to
finish off the 19-year-old Croat.
Earlier this year in the season-opening event in Chennai, the Russian breezed
by Cilic 6-2, 6-3 in just 83 minutes. While Youzhny prevailed in straight sets
yet again, it was much tougher this time around and that was apparent right
from the start. The first set was tight throughout and really came down to just
one or two points. Both players had two break point opportunities in the
opening frame of play; Youzhny saved both of the ones he faced and converted
one against Cilic's serve. That was all the Russian needed to finish off the
set 6-4.
In the second set, neither player could gain much of an advantage against the
other's serve. Cilic won just eight return points the entire set; in Youzhny's
six service games and the tiebreaker. Youzhny had one break point chance, but
the Croat saved it and was able to extend the set to a tiebreaker, which the
Russian took 7-3 without much difficulty.
As expected, Youzhny controlled the match from the baseline and Cilic's serve
alone kept the 6'5'' challenger from getting wiped off the court in the same
way he did five weeks ago. Cilic blasted 10 aces and won 80 percent of his first-serve
points. When Youzhny got a look at a second serve, allowing him to dictate play
with his return that is one of the best in tennis, Cilic won just 12 of 30
points.
Thumbs Up: Youzhny now boasts a whopping 10-1 record in 2008, 11-1 including Davis Cup
Thumbs Down: Cilic was able to take advantage of Youzhny's second serve just
eight times in 27 chances (30 percent)
Comment on the Open 13 Coverage ------------------------- Tuesday’s night session at the Open 13
in Marseille, France features two veteran Frenchmen who are still playing solid
tennis despite nearing the end of their respective careers. Both hometown
favorites will have their hands full, however, as Arnaud Clement takes on sixth-seeded
Marcos Baghdatis before Sebastien Grosjean meets Stanislas Wawrinka in the nightcap. (6) Marcos Baghdatis vs. Arnaud Clement Clement
has been struggling in singles recently—he’s lost in the first round of his
last four events, including to Rainer Schuettler at the Australian Open—but he
and Michael Llodra have been getting it done as a doubles duo. They were
runner-ups at the Australian Open last month, so perhaps that success can
translate over to singles for the 30-year-old. Baghdatis
is currently ranked 17th in the world, a good 50 spots ahead of
Clement. He has not done anything spectacular in 2008, however, losing in the
first round of Chennai and the third round in Australia. To his credit,
Baghdatis scored a nice win over Marat Safin in the second round Down Under
before losing an epic encounter with Hewitt that ended after 4:30 in the
morning. The
22-year-old is the clear favorite in this match and should prevail in straight
sets, but it could be tricky at times. Clement can get a lot of balls back and
he will make Baghdatis work for it, but ultimately the Cypriot will overwhelm
his opponent with too much power, especially off the backhand side. Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Sebastien
Grosjean Three
years removed from that initial encounter, both men are much different players
now. Grosjean will turn 30 in May and he no longer poses the same serious
threat that he did in his younger years. While the Frenchman can still fly
around the court and remains capable of beating the best players in the world
on any given day, he is nowhere near the player he was when he reached a
career-high ranking of fourth in the world in October of 2002. Grosjean’s match
against James Blake in the third round of this year’s Australian Open
epitomizes the veteran perfectly. He showed off his incredible talent in the in
the first two sets, proving he can still produce world-class tennis, but his
aging legs tired visibly throughout the rest of the afternoon and Blake came
back from two sets down to win in five. The good news for Grosjean is that he’ll
be playing no more than three sets in any contest this week. If he can come out
on fire like he did Down Under against Blake, Wawrinka might not have time to
recover. Wawrinka
has already endured an up-and-down 2008 campaign. The Swiss made it all the way
to the final of the season-opening event in Doha, Qatar, where he lost to Andy
Murray in the final in three sets. Wawrinka followed that up with a first-round
loss in Sydney to Dmitry Tursunov and then retired in the second round of the
Australian Open with a stomach problem while leading Marc Gicquel two sets to
one. Assuming
Wawrinka is 100 percent healthy heading into the Open 13, he will have a slight
edge against Grosjean. The Swiss should be able to dictate play from the
baseline with his powerful one-handed backhand and prevent Grosjean from
getting into any kind of rhythm with his strong forehand. Look for Wawrinka to
prevail, but count on it going three sets.
Open 13 Previews: Baghdatis vs. Clement
and Wawrinka vs. Grosjean
This
is the third meeting between Baghdatis and Clement and the head-to-head series
is split one match apiece. While the Open 13 is held on hard courts, both of
the previous contests came on carpet and both went the full three sets. The
Frenchman prevailed in Lyon, France back in 2006 and the Cypriot got revenge last
season in Zagreb, Croatia in a third-set tiebreaker.
Wawrinka
and Grosjean have faced off once in their careers, and while that match was
contested on the same surface as Tuesday’s match (hard courts), it came all the
way back in the spring of 2005. Wawrinka defeated Grosjean 7-6(5), 6-2 in the
first round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
Comment on the Open 13 Match Previews
-------------------------
First-Round Preview: Marin Cilic vs. Mikhail Youzhny
Two stars of the Australian Open,
youngster Marin Cilic and veteran Mikhail Youzhny, will do battle in a brutal
first-round match at the Open 13 in Marseille, France.
Eighth-ranked
Mikhail Youzhny in seeded third at this week’s Open 13 in Marseille, but the
draw did not do him any favors. The Russian has to face 19-year-old Croat Marin
Cilic in the opening round. Cilic has been busy so far in 2008 and he is all
the way up to number 39 in the world.
Youzhny
and Cilic have already squared off this season, with Youzhny getting the better
of Cilic in one of the season-opening events in Chennai, India. In a semifinal
match there, the Russian eased his way to a routine 6-2, 6-3 victory. It was
the first time the two had ever played each other.
Things
should be a lot tougher for Youzhny this time around. Both players are on top
of their games at the moment, but even though Youzhny’s blowout of Cilic in
Chennai is only four weeks in the past, the Croat is playing with much greater
confidence now thanks to his run at the Australian Open. Cilic upset 27th-seeded
Nicolas Almagro without any trouble in the first round, erased Jurgen Melzer in
straight sets in the second, and most impressively overpowered 2007 runner-up
Fernando Gonzalez in four sets in the third round.
Even
though Youzhny’s run in Australia was not terribly surprising and therefore not
as newsworthy as Cilic’s, the Russian made it a round further than did the
Croat. After a routine opening-round win and a bit of a struggle in his second
match Down Under, Youzhny really caught fire. He destroyed Ivo Karlovic in straight
sets in the third round and then crushed compatriot Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(2),
6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals.
This
week’s first-round match will pit Cilic’s huge forehand against Youzhny’s
flawless one-handed backhand. Cilic used his powerful serve and forehand to
overwhelm Gonzalez in Australia and Youzhny’s backhand has frustrated opponents
for years. The Russian should have the edge here mainly because Cilic’s serve
is arguably his biggest weapon and Youzhny owns one of the best returns of
serve in tennis. The 6’5’’ Croat needs to win plenty of free points with his
first ball if he wants to pull off the upset in Marseille, but that’s a tall
order against Youzhny. Look for the 25-year-old to come through in two sets,
but it should be much, much tougher than it was earlier in the year in Chennai.
Comment on Cilic-Youzhny Preview
-------------------------
First-Round Open 13 Preview: Bottom Half
of the Draw
In addition to the premier matchup
between Marin Cilic and third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, the bottom half of the
Open 13 in Marseille features several blockbuster opening-round pairings.
(6)
Marcos Baghdatis vs. Arnaud Clement
This
is the third head-to-head meeting for Baghdatis and Clement and the series is
split one to one. Both matches were contested on carpet and both went the full
three sets. The Frenchman prevailed in Lyon, France back in 2006 and the
Cypriot got revenge last season in Zagreb, Croatia in a third-set tiebreaker. Clement
has been struggling in singles recently—he’s lost in the first round of his
last four events, including to Rainer Schuettler at the Australian Open—but he
and Michael Llodra have been getting it done as a doubles duo. They were
runner-ups in Australia, so perhaps that success can translate over to singles for
the 30-year-old Clement. Baghdatis scored a nice win over Marat Safin in the
second round Down Under before losing an epic encounter with Hewitt that ended
after 4:30 in the morning. The 22-year-old is the clear favorite in this match
and should prevail in straight sets, but it could be tricky at times.
Feliciano
Lopez vs. Ivo Karlovic
These
two veterans have played each other six times already, with the score an even
3-3. They have only battled once since 2005 and that came last season on hard
courts in Bangkok, Thailand. Karlovic prevailed in straight sets to end Lopez’s
three-match winning streak in the head-to-head series. Five of their six
meetings have come on hard courts, with Lopez holding a 3-2 edge in those
matches. Not surprisingly, the 6’10’’ Karlovic took the one matchup on grass at
Wimbledon in 2004. Both of these guys posses huge serves, although the Croat’s—arguably
the best in tennis—is bigger and better. Lopez, however, obviously moves much
better than Karlovic and his lethal serve-forehand combination makes the lefty
Spaniard difficult to break. Expect very few breaks of serve, if any, in this
contest and at least one tiebreaker is almost guaranteed. Karlovic has been
playing a little bit better than his opponent recently, so look for him to win
most of the big points and emerge victorious in a tight match.
(7)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Mario Ancic
Under
normal circumstances this would be match better suited for the second week of a
Grand Slam rather than the first round of an International Series event. The
reality, however, is that Ancic has been dealing with myriad injuries that have
prevented him from living up to his great potential. The 6’5’’ Croat has not
played since last season’s Paris Masters Series event in October. Not only has
Tsonga been playing a ton of since then, he’s been taking the tennis world by
storm. The Frenchman stormed through the bottom half of the Australian Open
draw before succumbing to Novak Djokovic in a hard-fought title match. Ancic
and Tsonga have faced each other once and Tsonga came back from one set down to
win in three. That took place more than three years ago, however, so it will
have no bearing on this week’s match in Marseille. Ancic might be able to stay
in this contest for a while thanks to his big serve, but his rust and Tsonga’s
current form should eventually pave the way to a straight-set victory for the
Frenchman.
Other
intriguing opening-round matches in the bottom half of the draw include Robin
Soderling against Jarkko Nieminen and Julien Benneteau versus Andrei Pavel.
Soderling has been absent so far in 2008 due to injury and his first match of the year will not be an easy one against Nieminen. The Finn will keep too many balls in play, get everything back, and will stay out on the court all day long with the Swede if necessary. Because of Soderling’s recent physical problems, however, it could be a short afternoon on the court.
Pavel
just turned 34 and is clearly in the twilight of his career, but he put up a
strong effort against Tsonga last week in the first-day singles portion of the
Davis Cup match between Romania and France. This is the first head-to-head
meeting between Pavel and Benneteau.
Comment on the Open 13 First-Round Preview
----------------------------
Open 13 Preview: Bottom Half of the Draw
After a week without any top-level
tournaments due to the opening round of the 2008 Davis Cup, the ATP Tour is
back with a bang this week and the marquee event takes place in Marseille,
France. The bottom half of the Open 13 draw is especially enticing, headlined
by Richard Gasquet, Marcos Baghdatis, Mikhail Youzhny, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
This
week’s Open 13 in Marseille is by no means a Grand Slam tournament. In fact it’s
only an International Series event with a draw of 32 players. But just take a
quick look at the participants and it’s easy to see this is a can’t-miss
tournament for tennis fans.
While
the whole draw is jam-packed with big names, the bottom half is loaded with
players who are at their very best level right now. The tournament’s second
seed, Richard Gasquet, is the highest-seeded man in the bottom section, but he
has plenty of company—in fact a lot more than he would want—close by.
Third-seeded
Mikhail Youzhny is a potential semi-final opponent for Gasquet, although both
men have tons of work to do before reaching that point. Youzhny will have a
hard time just getting out of the first round, as he has to face up-and-coming
Croat Marin Cilic, who took out Fernando Gonzalez at the Australian Open en
route to a fourth-round appearance. If the Russian is lucky enough to make it to
the quarterfinals, he will have to face either sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis,
Arnaud Clement, Feliciano Lopez, or huge-serving Ivo Karlovic. That’s a brutal
eighth of the draw right there and whoever comes through it to the
quarterfinals will be a threat to keep going into the semis or even the final.
If
Youzhny’s section of the draw is difficult, Gasquet’s is nothing short of
taxing. The Frenchman should be able to get past Italian Simone Bolelli in the
first round, but then he will most likely take on Jarkko Nieminen in the
second. Nieminen recently made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the
Australian Open. While that eighth of the draw is at the very least
interesting, tennis fans already have to be looking ahead to Gasquet’s potential
third-round matchup. Why? Because that’s where Gasquet and compatriot
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would meet. Tsonga, of course, was the surprise runner-up in
Australian, and Gasquet was one of his upset victims. Tsonga took him out in
the fourth round in a fourth-set tiebreaker.
A
few question marks lurk in the bottom half of the draw, as well. Tsonga has to
deal with the always-dangerous Mario Ancic in the first round. Ancic has been
out this season with an injury so Tsonga should be able to take advantage of
the Croat’s rust and advance, but Ancic has a huge serve and could give the
Frenchman problems even if he is not 100 percent. Robin Soderling has also been
absent so far in 2008 and his first match of the year will not be an easy one
against Nieminen. The Finn is not an ideal matchup for Soderling in his first
match back, because Nieminen keeps balls in play, gets everything back, and is
willing to stay out on the court all day long.
While
Tsonga has to be considered the favorite—albeit a small favorite—to reach the
final simply due to his current form, this section looks like a free-for-all.
It would not be much of a surprise to see Gasquet, Youzhny, Baghdatis, or even
Karlovic emerge unscathed from the fracas that is the bottom half of the Open
13 draw.