By the Letters**
T...ommy Robredo's win at Metz - the first hard court title of his career - came after he was shut out 6-0 in the first set by Andy Murray.
E...rnests Gulbis, playing in his first tournament since his run to the fourth round of the U.S. Open, won a Challenger in Mons, Belgium. The minor league tournament featured an impressive field that included Belgians Olivier Rochus, Kristof Vliegen, and Xavier Malisse.
N...evada native Andre Agassi raised $9 million for his charity during his annual benefit in Las Vegas.
N...ew numeric nomenclature from the ATP this week, which announced that Rotterdam, Dubai, Acapulco, Memphis, Barcelona, Washington, Beijing, Tokyo, Basel, and Valencia will receive "500" status in 2009. Hamburg, currently in dispute with the ATP over its relegation from the set of Masters Series events (soon to be called "1000" events), has also been reserved "500" level designation.
I...ndoor season will be restructured in two years, as the ATP announced a post-US Open Asian "swing" of events and an expanded European indoor "swing" to conclude the year.
S...urface change to Plexicushion at the Australian Open will also be accompanied by a color change from green courts to blue.
W...agering hysteria has now crept into the WTA Tour, as a match between Mariya Koryttseva and Tatiana Poutchek in Stuttgart raised eyebrows due to irregular betting patterns.
O...n the heels of doling out suspensions to some of its top junior players, the Lawn Tennis Association is now hearing pressure from Nick Bollettieri, who believes that the LTA is at a critical juncture based on these recent events.
R...elated as brothers, Jan and Ivo Minar renewed their sibling rivalry during Vienna qualification, which the sixth-seeded Ivo won 6-4, 7-5.
L...ayoff from tennis for Marat Safin is over, as the enigmatic Russian will play in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow this week.
D...isqualified from his second-round match in Metz due to abusive language, Stefan Koubek has now lost three matches during his career - in France - in this infamous manner.
McGrogan's Heroes
!2007_10_08_ferrer_blogATP - The U.S. Open featured so many interesting storylines on the men's side - Roger Federer's quest for four straight titles, Novak Djokovic's play (and th eatrics) on the court, encouraging performances from young Americans Donald Young and John Isner - David Ferrer's run to the semifinals got largely overlooked. On his way to the final four, the Spaniard defeated perrenial Slam threat David Nalbandian in five sets and countryman Rafael Nadal in a match that lasted until 1:51 am. This week, Ferrer kept his fine play going by winning the Tokyo Open without dropping a set. In the final, he dispatched the in-form but tired Richard Gasquet in only 52 minutes, winning 6-1, 6-2.
Ferrer's solid play on hard courts is no aberration, as he has consistently posted impressive results at big events in recent years. In 2005 and 2006, he reached the semifinals of the Miami Masters, losing to Rafael Nadal in '05 and to Roger Federer in '06. Before his US Open run this year, he had already won in Auckland, made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open, and reached the quarterfinals of Masters Series events at Indian Wells and Cincinnati.
The consensus on Ferrer is that he brings a clay-court mentality to quicker surfaces - getting to every ball, making few errors and opting to keep rallies going instead attempting outright winners. The strategy worked to perfection this week against Feliciano Lopez, Ivo Karlovic, and Gasquet - all players who tend to go for broke with regularity.
Ferrer's play indoors has shown promise as well - in 2005, he made it to the quarterfinals of both Masters events in Madrid and Paris. It will be interesting to see if he can match or improve on those results when he plays them this year. As the No. 6 player in the world, he has a very good chance to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.
!2007_10_08_parmentier_blogWTA - I'm asking for it this week. Virginie Razzano, who won the first title of her career last week in Guangzhou, bettered herself with a stunning encore performance in Tokyo. After winning her first three matches handily, the fifth-seeded Razzano needed three sets against the No. 8 seed Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals, but avoided the upset and reached her second consecutive final. She needed three sets in the final too - but you could forgive her as she was facing Venus Williams. Amazingly, Razzano emerged victorious, even after dropping the first set and facing triple match-point in the second-set tiebreak.
And yet... she does not win the McGrogan's Hero two weeks running. Instead, this week's honor goes to Pauline Parmentier of France. Who, you may ask?
The 21-year old Parmentier has been competing in ITF Circuit events for most of 2007, achieving some very positive results. She's won three tournaments - in Fort Walton Beach, Biarritz, and Petange - which ended a lengthy drought since her last victory in Cairo, back in 2004. This week, she finally won a WTA Tour event, as she comfortably rolled through the Tashkent Open draw.
Remember in Montreal when Novak Djokovic made headlines by defeating the top three players in the world (Federer, Nadal and Roddick) in the same tournament? Parmentier pulled off the infant version of that on the women's side. No, she didn't beat Henin, Kuznetsova, and Jankovic in succession, but she did beat the top three seeds in the tournament; an astounding accomplishment for an unseeded player.
Beginning with an upset of second seed Dominika Cibulkova, Parmentier did not drop a set during her run and defeated third seed Olga Govortsova and top seed Victoria Azarenka in her last two matches. Parmentier's opponents were not the top three in the world by any means - 51st, 47th, and 32nd in the world, to be precise - but her surprising win this week is nonetheless notable, as she moves up the rankings to No. 61 on the WTA Tour.
Last Week's Tournaments
AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships (ATP - Hard - Tokyo, Japan)
- Singles Final: David Ferrer def. Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: David Ferrer def. Ivo Karlovic 7-6, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Richard Gasquet def. Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-3.
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Final: Jordan Kerr/Robert Lindstedt def. Frank Dancevic/Stephen Huss 6-4, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Frank Dancevic/Stephen Huss def. Robert Kendrick/Michael Russell 7-5, 7-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Jordan Kerr/Robert Lindstedt def. Ashley Fisher/Jim Thomas 6-4, 6-4.
- Doubles Bracket
Open de Moselle (ATP - Indoor Hard - Metz, France)
- Singles Final: Tommy Robredo def. Andy Murray 0-6, 6-2, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Tommy Robredo def. Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Andy Murray def. Guillermo Canas 7-6, 6-4.
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Final: Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra def. Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski 6-1, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski def. Simon Aspelin/Julian Knowle 6-7, 6-4, 10-8.
- Doubles Semifinal: Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra def. Julien Benneteau/Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-3.
- Doubles Bracket
AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships (WTA - Hard - Tokyo, Japan)
- Singles Final: Virginie Razzano def. Venus Williams 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Venus Williams def. Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Virginie Razzano def. Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
- Doubles Final: Tiantian Sun/Zi Yan def. Chia-Jung Chuang/Vania King 1-6, 6-2, 10-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Chia-Jung Chuang/Vania King def. Aiko Nakamura/Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-3.
- Doubles Semifinal: Tiantian Sun/Zi Yan def. Sophie Ferguson/Akiko Yonemura 6-3, 6-4.
- Singles & Doubles Bracket
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (WTA - Indoor Hard - Stuttgart, Germany)
- Singles Final: Justine Henin def. Tatiana Golovin 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
- Singles Semifinal: Justine Henin def. Jelena Jankovic 7-6, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Tatiana Golovin def. Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-4.
- Doubles Final: Kveta Peschke/Rennae Stubbs def. Yung-Jan Chan/Dinara Safina 6-7, 7-6, 10-2.
- Doubles Semifinal: Kveta Peschke/Rennae Stubbs def. Martina Muller/Gabriela Navratilova 6-2, 6-1.
- Doubles Semifinal: Yung-Jan Chan/Dinara Safina def. Maria Elena Camerin/Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-4.
- Singles & Doubles Bracket
Tashkent Open (WTA - Hard - Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
- Singles Final: Pauline Parmentier def. Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Victoria Azarenka def. Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Pauline Parmentier def. Olga Govortsova 6-2, 7-5.
- Doubles Final: Ekaterina Dzehalevich/Anastasiya Yakimova def. Tatiana Poutchek/Anastasia Rodionova 2-6, 6-4, 10-7.
- Doubles Semifinal: Tatiana Poutchek/Anastasia Rodionova def. Marta Domachowska/Renata Voracova 6-3, 7-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Ekaterina Dzehalevich/Anastasiya Yakimova def. Akgul Amanmuradova/Katie O'Brien 7-6, 6-3.
- Singles & Doubles Bracket
Tennis Theatre
The Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland made the cut as one of the new "500" events on the ATP Tour's revamped schedule in 2009, to the delight of Switzerland's Roger Federer. The tennis titan called the announcement "fantastic" (if Basel was chosen as a "250" event, you surely would have heard Roger call it "a pity"). Before Roger developed his own unique speaking habits thanks to countless appearances at press conferences, he was a young hopeful just trying to make it on tour. In this video from 1998, Federer, just 17 years of age, is playing in only his fourth tournament - and was faced with a tough draw in the first round against Andre Agassi, ranked eighth in the world at the time. Watch >>
Next Week's Tournaments
BA-CA Tennis Trophy (ATP - Indoor Hard - Vienna, Austria)
- Website
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
Television Coverage: None
If Stockholm Open (ATP - Indoor Hard - Stockholm, Sweden)
- Website
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
Television Coverage: None
Kremlin Cup (ATP - Indoor Carpet - Moscow, Russia)
- Website
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
Television Coverage: None
Kremlin Cup (WTA - Indoor Carpet - Moscow, Russia)
- Website
- Singles & Doubles Bracket
Television Coverage:
- Saturday: 5:00 am - 9:00 am (Tennis Channel - Semifinals; Live)
10:00 am - 2:00 pm (Tennis Channel - Semifinals; Tape)
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm (Tennis Channel - Semifinals; Tape)
8:00 pm - 12:00 am (Tennis Channel - Semifinals; Tape)
- Sunday: 12:00 am - 2:00 am (Tennis Channel - Semifinal #1; Tape)
5:30 am - 7:30 am (Tennis Channel - Final; Live)
10:00 am - 12:00 pm (Tennis Channel - Final; Tape)
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm (Tennis Channel - Final; Tape)
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm (Tennis Channel - Final; Tape)
PTT Bangkok Open (WTA - Hard - Bangkok, Thailand)
- Website
- Singles & Doubles Bracket
Television Coverage: None
Beyond the Bracket
This week's ATP tournament in Stockholm is sponsored by If, an insurance company that has roots throughout Scandinavia. You may have seen If's interesting marketing slogan before, which reads "if..." I've heard of the tournament referred to as the If Stockholm Open, but I've also seen it written as the if... Stockholm Open. In the spirit of this obscure name (we love these at Beyond the Bracket), I have some questions for you, which I encourage you to comment on below. I'll share my answers in next week's MNP.
if...you could see any non-Grand Slam, non-Masters Series/Tier 1 tennis tournament, what would it be?
if...you were to bet your life savings on who would finish highest in the rankings in 2008, who would it be: David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, Richard Gasquet, or Andy Murray?
if...you could play doubles with any three tennis players, dead or alive, who would they be?
if...you could only listen to one commentator for televised tennis matches, who would it be? And, who would you least pick? (Steve, this one's for you.)
if...Justine Henin, Venus Williams and Serena Williams played a full ATP schedule for a year, how many wins combined would they have at season's end?
if...Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took 2008 off, who would you most like to see win Roland Garros and Wimbledon?
if...EA Sports created a tennis video game, would you buy it?
if...you couldn't watch tennis for a year, what sport would you focus on the most instead?
if...you had to select one match to show an audience of sports fans, but not tennis fans, what match would it be?
if...you had the option, would you prefer to see the tennis year end after the U.S. Open?
- Ed McGrogan