WTA Baku Preview

Baku (International)

With the Olympics up next week, the Baku Cup is suffering from a depleted field with no seed inside the top 50 and two outside the top 100  and a last direct acceptance of the world ranked 200 player Olga Savchuk. It will be a blow for the newly formed tournament with last year’s winner Vera Zvonareva unable to compete although losing finalist Ksenia Pervak will compete as No.1 seed.

Favourite – With such a weak field it is hard to pick a stand out favourite, but Ksenia Pervak certainly makes a case having made the final here last year. She is probably the best player in the field as it is and her hard court form earlier in the year was fairly decent, with most of her defeats being in matches she had been expected to lose anyway, making the third round in Doha, Miami and Indian Wells. Along with the final here, she also made the final and won in the other Eurasian event in Tashkent without dropping a set.

Outsider – Talented but inconsistent, Bojana Jovanovski could go well here, the Serb is No.5 seed here and benefits from the being in the weaker side of the draw. She has shown glimpses of her talent on a regular occasion, most recently against Wimbledon quarter-finalist Sabine Lisicki who she took to three sets and could well have won. Panova and Bratchikova in her half are nothing special while perhaps the biggest threat in her draw Andrea Hlavackova has the Olympics on her mind and surely her thoughts will be elsewhere halfway through the week.

One To Watch – Twice a Junior grand slam finalist (W French Open 2010, F Wimbledon 2012), Elena Svitolina finally takes her first steps on to the main tour here in Azerbaijan. While clay appears to be her favoured surface, her form on the ITF Circuit last year was impressive on hard courts having took titles in Nigeria and Turkey and also making a final in a Russian 50k. She comes off a good run at Wimbledon where she was defeated in the Girls Final by Eugenie Bouchard.

Did You Know…?

Of the seeds, only Ksenia Pervak possesses a WTA Tour singles title. (Tashkent 2011)

Against the seeds she has faced (Minella, Panova, Jovanovski, Bratchikova), Akgul Amanmuradova does not have a losing record. 

There is a 20 year difference in age between the youngest and oldest competitors in Baku – Varvara Flink at 15 and Tamarine Tanasugarn at 35.

Finals Prediction – Pervak to beat Jovanovski in 3 sets

The new Centre Court in Baku

Bernard Tomic’s struggles..

Back in the summer of 2011, Bernard Tomic was setting alight the tennis world with an impressive Wimbledon run, making the quarter finals as a qualifier. His mature performances that tournament led to many believing they were seeing a  grand slam champion and/or World No.1 in the making.

Since then, things haven’t been so easy for the 19 year-old. Tomic is currently on a six match losing streak, doing very little to impress after a promising start to the year where he made the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing in straight sets to Roger Federer.

The Aussie’s temperament has always been questioned and he is never far from controversy – Tomic and his team famously rejected the requests of Lleyton Hewitt for a practice hit. Hewitt’s manager claimed that the reason given for this was that Hewitt was considered “not good enough” but this was a claim denied by Tomic himself. More recently, Tomic was involved in a police stand-off over a dispute about traffic tickets he had accrued in his Orange BMW M3.

Much like another Australian with Croatian heritage in Jelena Dokic, Tomic’s controversies are not just on himself but also due to an overbearing father. At 16, Tomic was banned from the ITF Tour for a month after his father, John, had forced him to default the match by walking off due to the bad decisions he felt he had been on the wrong side of.

He is also alleged to have threatened Tennis Australia officials with the possibility of his son switching countries and representing Croatia on a national level after feeling Bernard was treated badly by the organisers of the Australian Open in 2010. During the Miami Masters, Bernard even asked the umpire if he could remove his dad from the stands as he felt he was an annoyance.

While Tomic has made his dislike of the clay clear in the past, he at least looks like is trying to do something to improve it by playing as many tournaments as he can on it, rather than shying away like some players do.

In an interview for the ATP website before the Monte Carlo Masters, Tomic felt he had new-found confidence and it was there to be seen as he defeated Denis Istomin in the first round to earn his first main tour win on clay. He felt that is issues on the dirt were mental and physical as opposed to a skill-set not suited to the surface.

“That’s the key for me playing on clay, is for me to feel physically fit. You know, today I felt good.  I’m starting to learn how to play on clay……… It’s a little bit more endurance.  I’ve got to put in my head to compete and to stay in there.  If I do that, then I can play with anyone on this surface.  Not like the last few years where if I’m down on clay, I stopped believing in myself and it’s tough to come back.  I keep complaining that clay’s not good.  You know, you just got to stay positive, play your game.”

Unfortunately since then, the results have been slow to follow but he did pick up his first French Open win with a straight sets victory over Andreas Haider-Maurer, but was dispatched of with ease in the next round by Santiago Giraldo. Most recently, Tomic was defeated (and bagelled) by Benoit Paire and lost to Thomasz Bellucci after having a 4-1 lead and a great chance to at least take a set against a good clay courter.

While it is definitely far too early in Tomic’s young career to write off his chances of ever succeeding on clay, major improvement will be needed in 2013 if he is to reach the ranking heights that many are expecting of him.

With the clay season now over for himself, Tomic has the chance to redeem himself on grass in the Olympics after a poor Wimbledon outing where he was sent packing in the first round by David Goffin. The loss of 350 points is a big issue for him and may see his ranking slip a fair bit if he does not have a good US hard court season.

Tomic, along with Ryan Harrison and Milos Raonic, is only one of three players born in the 90’s to be in the current top 50 so even if he hasn’t lived up to expectations from last year he is still progressing well for age and has plenty of time before he can be written off as overhyped.

With very few ranking points gained pre-US Open last year, a good performance in the Olympics, Cincinnati or Canada could set him up nicely for a seeding at the grand slam and a good chance to make the second week with a favourable draw. Tomic is already a winner there as a junior in 2009, having beaten Chase Buchanan in the final.

Even if Tomic has not gained the results on the clay swing this season, I think the experience will be good for him and he can only improve. For now, he needs to concentrate on putting some good results together in North America and defending the points he gained in Asia. If he maximises his potential as many think, in three or four years we could be seeing Tomic following the footsteps Lleyton Hewitt in picking up a grand slam or even world no.1 after the current dominant crop retire or fall out of contention.

Weekly Roundup: This Week’s ATP/WTA Winners

ATP Tour

Bastad

David Ferrer extended his winning record over Nicolas Almagro to 11-0 with an easy straight sets victory 6-2 6-2. Ferrer only faced one break point through out the whole match and was always in control breaking Almagro twice in each set including the final game of the match. In the doubles Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau eased a little bit of the heartbreak of losing another Wimbledon final by taking the title, defeating second seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares 6-3 7-6(5).

AFP/Getty Images

Stuttgart

Janko Tipsarevic picked up his first title of the year with a far from straight forward victory over Juan Monaco in Stuttgart. The Serbian failed to take a break point for a 6-4 5-0 and was consequently pegged back to 4-4. Serving to stay in the set at 5-6, Tipsarevic made silly errors gifting the set away. With all the momentum seemingly in the Argentinian’s favour, Tipsarevic broke three times in the third set to take the match 6-4 5-7 6-3. The Doubles title was taken by Jeremy Chardy and Lukasz Kubot who convincingly beat Michael Mertinak and Andre Sa 6-1 6-3.

AFP/Getty Images

Umag

Marin Cilic defeated Marcel Granollers in straight sets to make up for his 2011 final defeat. Cilic came back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set, reeling off four games in a row to take the set. A break early in the second saw Cilic take control and despite a minor blip in failing to serve the match out at 5-1, he broke back straight away winning in 92 minutes 6-4 6-2. Granollers didn’t fare much better as an all Spanish final in the doubles saw David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco defeat Granollers and Marc Lopez 6-3 7-6(4).

AFP/Getty Images

Newport

Another dominant serving display saw John Isner defend his Newport title beating Lleyton Hewitt 7-6(1) 6-4. The first set saw no breaks of serve, and after that Isner took control in the tiebreak dropping just one point. An early break at 1-1 in the second was enough for Isner to hold on to for the remainder of the match, with his 16 aces certainly a big help. Santiago Gonzalez  and Scott Lipsky  took the doubles title with a 7-6(3) 6-3 victory over Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchings, breaking in the vital eighth game of the second set to earn the opportunity to serve it out which they did to 30.

via @TennisHalloFame twitter

WTA Tour

Palermo

Sara Errani took yet another WTA International title with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Barbara Zahlavova Strycova. An excellent performance from Errani in the 25 minute first set saw Errani drop just 1 game and break her opponent twice while managing a  96% first serve percentage (24/25) facing zero break points. The second set was slightly tougher as Errani dropped two service games but was never in danger of losing the set, sealing the victory by passing a helpless Strycova at the net. Strycova fared much better in the Doubles taking the title alongside partner Renata Voracova with a 7-6(5) 6-4 victory over Darija Jurak and Katalin Marosi.

Stanford

Serena Williams fought off a spirited Coco Vandeweghe to win the Stanford final 7-5 6-3 for the second time in a row. Williams was *3-5 0-30 down before taking the first set and fought off a set point to win the first despite an unconvincing performance in the set. Williams took full control in the fourth game of the second set breaking to love. At 4-1 30-0 on Vandeweghe’s serve, the potential for a breadstick was looming but she held on and forced Serena to serve for the match at 5-3 which she did to 15, finishing off  with a forehand down the line. In the Doubles Jarmila Gajdosova and Vania King suffered defeat to Marina Erakovic and Heather Watson 5-7  (7) 6-7. The pair came from a break down in the first set and saved set points in the second to win in straights.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

July 16th-22nd WTA Previews

Unlike the ATP Tour, the WTA has a slightly less packed schedule with again only the two tournaments this week. The clay courters move on from Palermo to Bastad while the North American hard court swing carries on with the players taking their talents to Carlsbad, San Diego.

Carlsbad (Premier)

Much like Stanford last week, Carlsbad has suffered in terms of the lineup due to the inconvenience placing the tournament between Wimbledon and the Olympics. Last year the tournament featured 16 seeds, of which the lowest was ranked 39 but this year the eighth seed ranks at 42! Marion Bartoli and Dominika Cibulkova head a field which has been weakened by the withdrawals of Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sabine Lisicki and Angelique Kerber. Bojana Jovanovski will not be competing this year but famously arrived at the wrong Carlsbad last year in the buildup to her first round match.

Favourite – Top seed Marion Bartoli will be hoping to make up for her disappointing performance at Stanford last week with a title in Carlsbad. Bartoli has always performed reasonably well on North American hard courts, having made two finals last year at Stanford and Indian Wells, but losing to Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki respectively. The Frenchwoman has the chance to gain revenge over her conqueror Yanina Wickmayer in a potential quarter final match.

Outsider – Nadia Petrova appears to be having somewhat of a career revival over the past few months. She earned the title in S’hertogenbosch defeating Urszula Radwanska to jump back into the top 20 for the first time in over a year. Hard courts should suit the former US Open quarter-finalist’s big serve and with a lack of outstanding candidates in the field the winner could be someone that can remain more consistent.

One To Watch – Coco Vandeweghe is hot off a Final appearance in Stanford having given Serena Williams an almighty scare before collapsing after having had a set point. She can cause big trouble with her serve as shown by her ace count throughout the week though the quality can be inconsistent. She will face Chanelle Scheepers in the first round who was also beaten by Serena last week.

Did You Know…?

Christina Mchale (5th seed, WTA Rank 28) is the highest ranked player without a WTA title to their name.

The draw contains three of the four youngest players in the top 100. If Camila Giorgi had qualified (lost 1st round qualifier), it would have made it four of five.

Bastad (International)

Favourite – As usual when it comes to lesser WTA tournaments on the dirt, Sara Errani is the obvious pick. The French Open runner-up added the Palermo title to her collection this year after defeating Barbara Zahlavova Strycova in the final and will be confident 0f doing the same again this week as No. 1 seed to make it 5 clay titles on the year.

Outsider – Handed a wildcard by the organisers here, Laura Robson will be hoping to build on her surprising semi-final appearance in Palermo last week. The left-handed put in some impressive displays last week on what many expect is her worst surface. If it wasn’t for a complete serving meltdown in the semi-final, where she served 18 double faults, we would be talking about Britain’s first finalist for a long time. If she can cut out the service errors, she has potential to go far again. The serve when it lands in, and her lefty forehand are two huge weapons that can do damage to a lot of players here.

One To Watch – Kiki Bertens has shot up the rankings this year, to a current high of No. 72.  As a qualifier, she won Fes defeating Laura Pous-Tio in the final. Her good form continued afterwards, qualifying for the French Open and taking Christina Mchale to 3 sets. Her most impressive win to date this year would be against Lucie Safarova at Wimbledon where she won surprisingly easy in straight sets 6-3 6-0. She has drawn the slumping Mona Barthel in the first round.

Did You Know…?

Sara Errani has dropped just two sets in her four WTA International tournament wins (Pennetta, Acapulco final and Czink, Budapest 2nd Round)

Eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro is the only seeded player not to have won a title having gone 0-3 in clay finals.

July 16th-22nd ATP Previews

It’s another packed schedule this week, with three mens tournaments to look at. The North American hard court swing carries on with ATP Atlanta while the European clay courters move on to Gstaad and Hamburg complete the clay trio.

(Click tournament name for draw links)

ATP Tour

Hamburg 500

Former multiple winners of this tournament include Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal but since it’s demotion from a Masters 1000 to an ATP 500, the German tournament has struggled to attract the very best names. In 2010, the tournament was won by the unseeded Kazakh Andrey Golubev but a fairly strong set of seeded players make it seem unlikely that such an event could happen again.

Favourite – Nicolas Almagro is one of the best clay courters around, but unfortunately suffers from being from a country where he is considered probably 3rd best on the surface! Thankfully, neither of his compatriots David Ferrer (who defeated him once more to earn the Bastad title and make it 11-0 head to head) or Rafael Nadal will be taking part in the tournament this week. Almagro repeated wins last year in Nice and at the Brasil Open for his two titles this year and also made the final in Buenos Aires where he was defeated by Ferrer once more. A finalist last year, I think Almagro has improved enough to have a great chance of winning it all.

Outsider – Fresh from a successful trip in Umag, where he picked up the title in his home country, Marin Cilic can go deep again here. The Croatian will feel he has been placed in the kinder side of the draw with Viktor Troicki a potential quarter final opponent. Cilic appears to be feeling no ill-effects from his Wimbledon run which included the epic 5hr30 third round encounter with Sam Querrey. Although often inconsistent, Cilic is hard to write off when he gets into a run of a form as he has done the past month.

One To Watch – A former French Open Boys winner, Martin Klizan has finally made the breakthrough to the main tour after a successful year winning three challenger events and making the final of another. Klizan qualified for the French Open directly through his ranking – the first time he has done so for a slam in this way. He suffered a defeat to Nicolas Mahut in the second round but put up a decent enough fight to show he could be a threat at this level.

Did You Know…?

Only Rafael Nadal (36) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (13) possess more clay court titles than Nicolas Almagro (12) of active ATP players.

All 4 top seeds possess at least one clay title this year.

Atlanta 250

Atlanta is a fairly new tournament on the tour, having been moved from Indianapolis only two years ago. Mardy Fish and John Isner have competed in the final both times with Fish coming out on top both times. These two lead a strong field which also includes two-times Indianapolis winner Andy Roddick.

Favourite – Having suffered from major health problems Mardy Fish appears to be back to near his best after a fairly impressive Wimbledon display where he made the fourth round and gave eventual semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a big scare. Having won this tournament twice before, he has to be the pre-tournament favourite, especially with the 3-0 hard court record he holds over second seed John Isner.

Outsider – With many writing him off after a poor season to date, there have been some calls for Andy Roddick to perhaps retire. Roddick silenced some of the doubters for at least a while with a strong performance at Eastbourne where he picked up the title as a wildcard. He continued this impressive showing with almost two sets of great grass court tennis against David Ferrer before the Spaniard eventually battled through in four sets. While clearly the former world No. 1 is way below that level, the serve and forehand can still be a big threat on these hard courts and it is silly to write him off.

One To Watch – The story of Brain Baker has been an inspiring one. The former Junior star fought back from terrible injuries and after coming out of retirement last year has been on an excellent run to make the Top 100. A fourth round appearance as a qualifier at Wimbledon showed just what this American is capable of. He has been handed a wildcard here and it will be interesting to see how he shapes up against some of the more established Americans if he can make it that far. He faces Igor Kunitsyn in the first round here.

Did You Know…?

John Isner is one of only two players to have reached the 300 aces barrier this season on hard courts, the other being Milos Raonic.

The draw contains four college champions, 2x winner in Singles Steve Johnson (2011,2012) and doubles champions Rajeev Ram (2003), John Isner (2005) and Kevin Anderson (2006)

Gstaad 250

While the Swiss tournament does not get an appearance from now No. 1 and former winner Roger Federer, his fellow countryman Stanislas Wawrinka and Janko Tipsarevic lead a fairly weak field. The draw suffers from the withdrawal of David Ferrer so it will be up to Marcel Granollers to lead the charge of the Spaniards here as No.2 seed.

Favourite – Both the top seeds Marcel Granollers and Janko Tipsarevic have a fair case for being seen as the favourite. Granollers is coming off a final appearance in Umag and won Gstaad last year defeating fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the final. Meanwhile top seed Tipsarevic is also following up a final appearance last week, having taken the Stuttgart title in three sets. Tipsarevic managed to shrug off the loss off a second set when 4-0 and break point up to defeat Juan Monaco in three sets.

Outsider – While yet to pick up his first ATP Tour title, Santiago Giraldo was a regular victor on the challenger circuit before he made the step up. Giraldo has reached the Bogota Challenger final and faces Alejandro Falla tomorrow so will be high on confidence coming into the tournament.

One To Watch – Swiss-Finnish Wildcard Henri Laaksonen is a former French Open Boys semi finalist, in 2009 as a 17-year old. Laaksonen was close to qualifying last week for Bastad but was defeated in the final qualifying round by Ivo Minar – who went on to push Nicolas Almagro extremely close.

Did You Know…?

Mikhail Youzhny possesses winning records over 5 of the other 7 seeds, having never played Bernard Tomic and a 2-4 record against Feliciano Lopez.

Only twice in the last 20 years has a European not won the Gstaad title (Thomasz Bellucci 2009, Gaston Gaudio 2005)

Weekly Roundup: This Week’s Challenger/ITF Winners

ATP Challenger Tour

Bogota

In an all-Colombian final Alejandro Falla took the title from Santiago Giraldo in straight sets 7-5 6-3 while Victor Estrella and Marcelo Demoliner took the Doubles Final with similar ease, taking down Thomas Fabbiano and Riccardo Ghedin 6-4 6-2.

Scheveningen

No.1 seed Jerzy Janowicz justified his position with a convincing 6-2 6-2 victory over the local wildcard Matwe Middlekoop. An incredibly dominant serving display saw the Pole drop just 2 points on serve while knocking down 12 aces. Janowicz broke his opponent twice in both sets to seal the victory and his place in the top 100. The Dutch representatives fared much in the doubles as Antel Van der Duim and Boy Westerhof defeated the second seeds Simon Stadler and Rameez Junaid 6-4 5-7 10-7.

San Benedetto

Gianluca Naso earned a straight sets victory over Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4 7-5.  Naso broke the Austrian’s serve five times altogether and his attacking of the second serve was key to this, picking up 21 of 28 (75%) points on return when facing Haider-Maurer’s second serve. Aussie pair Brydan Klein and Dane Propoggia picked up the Doubles title with  a 6-3 4-6 12-10 title over the Italian pairing of Stefano Ianni and Gianluca Naso.

Timisoara

Victor Hanescu improved on his showing from last week’s final in Arad by picking up the title this week in his home country. He fought off a late second set come back from Guillaume Rufin to win 6-0 6-3. Rufin came back from 4-0 to make it 4-3 in the second set but was unable to get any further, ending up being broken serving to stay in the match. The Romanian pairing didn’t fare so well in the Doubles as Andrei Daescu and Florin Margea lost in straight sets 2-6 5-7 to Goran Tosic and Denis Zivkovic.

ITF Mens Pro Circuit

Belgium F3 Futures Germain GIGOUNON (BEL) [1]     6-4 7-6(1)     Juan Carlos SAEZ (CHI) [5]

Armenia F2 Futures Oleksandr NEDOVYESOV (UKR) [2]     4-6 6-4 7-5     Stanislav VOVK (RUS) [3]

Austria F1 Futures Marc RATH (AUT) [1]     2-6 6-3 6-2     Blaz ROLA (SLO)

Argentina F17 Futures Leandro MIGANI (ARG) [2]     6-1 6-3     Andres MOLTENI (ARG) [1]

Serbia F5 Futures Marko DJOKOVIC (SRB)     4-1 Retired    Carlos GOMEZ-HERRERA (ESP) [3]

Great Britain F10 Futures Josh GOODALL (GBR) [1]     6-4 6-1     Edward CORRIE (GBR) [8]

Italy F7 Futures Jose CHECA-CALVO (ESP) [3]     6-2 6-4     Guillermo OLASO (ESP) [1]

Germany F9 Futures Sebastian FANSELOW (GER)     6-2 6-4     Maximilian DINSLAKEN (GER)

Romania F6 Futures  Petru-Alexandru LUNCANU (ROU) [3]   6-1 1-6 7-6 Roberto MARCORA (ITA) [6]

France F13 Futures Nicolas RENAVAND (FRA) [7]     6-4 7-6(5)     Jonathan EYSSERIC (FRA) [8]

Czech Republic F4 Futures Jiri VESELY (CZE) [8]     6-4 6-4     Dominic THIEM (AUT) [6]

Turkey F27 Futures Miljan ZEKIC (SRB) [1]     7-5 6-1     Romain ARNEODO (FRA)

Canada F4 Futures Daniel KING-TURNER (NZL) [6]    6-3 6-3 Matt REID (AUS) [3]

USA F19 Futures Alex BOGDANOVIC (GBR) [1]     6-3 6-4     Chase BUCHANAN (USA) [7]

Kazakhstan F6 Futures Illya MARCHENKO (UKR) [2]     6-4 6-2     Egor GERASIMOV (BLR) [8]

ITF Womens Pro Circuit

100k Biarritz Romina OPRANDI (SUI) [5]     7-5 7-5     Mandy MINELLA (LUX) [4]

50k Yakima Shelby ROGERS (USA)     6-4 6-7(3) 6-3     Samantha CRAWFORD (USA)

50k Waterloo Sharon FICHMAN (CAN) [1]     6-3 6-2     Julia GLUSHKO (ISR) [2]

25k Aschaffenburg Anna-Lena FRIEDSAM (GER)     6-4 2-6 6-4     Kathrin WOERLE (GER)

25k Zwevegem Anastasija SEVASTOVA (LAT)     6-0 6-3     Cagla BUYUKAKCAY (TUR) [6]

15k Huzhu Xin WEN (CHN)     3-6 6-2 6-1     Hongrui SUN (CHN)

10k Istanbul Estelle GUISARD (FRA) [1]     6-4 6-4     Angelica MORATELLI (ITA)

10k Torino Basak ERAYDIN (TUR) [3]     5-7 6-4 6-1     Tatiana BUA (ARG) [7]

10k Iasi Patricia Maria TIG (ROU) [3]     6-2 3-6 6-4     Raluca Elena PLATON (ROU) [2]

10k Pattaya Nungnadda WANNASUK (THA) [2]     6-4 4-6 6-4     Su Jeong JANG (KOR) [5]

Coco Vandeweghe reaches first WTA Tour final

Coco Vandeweghe became the first lucky loser to make a WTA Tour final in seven years with a three set victory over Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer in the Bank of The West Classic, 6-2 3-6 6-2. The American was thankful for a number of opportune double faults from her opponent, namely to give her the first break in the third set and also on match point.

Coco has only dropped one set on her way to the final, defeating Melinda Czink (coincidentally, the last lucky loser to make a WTA Tour final), Jelena Jankovic and Urszula Radwanska all impressively in straight sets. This level of performance is far beyond what would have been expected from Vandeweghe at the start of the week, having suffered a disappointing defeat to Junior Wimbledon champ Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the final round of qualifiers.

While Vandeweghe’s serving stats are erratic, with a first serve percentage of under 50% a regular occurrence throughout the week, there is no doubt that her first serve is one of her biggest weapons and it showed today with a huge 12 aces, including 6 in the final set. Wickmayer also failed to win a point on any of the 9 first serves were made in the set.

Vandeweghe will be a huge underdog in the final, be it against Sorana Cirstea or Serena Williams, but there is no doubt this has been a huge week for her. This week’s showing moves her up to No.69 in the rankings and earned her a wildcard into next week’s Mercury Insurance Open.

Tennis Power Couples

Ace of Baseline takes a look at high profile tennis relationships..

The relationship between former World No. 1’s Caroline Wozniacki and Rory Mcilroy is one of the most famous in the sporting world between two athletes that are at the top level of their sport. However, criticism has been fired at the pair with many feeling that the relationship is having a negative influence on their sporting performance.  With this in mind I thought I’d take a look at other high profile tennis relationships to compare.

Since becoming a couple, both have performed fairly poorly in their major events with Mcilroy failing to make the cut at his most recent Major while Caroline Wozniacki exiting Wimbledon in the first round after being overpowered by Tamira Paszek in an entertaining three set encounter. This defeat knocked her to No. 8 in the rankings.

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Wozniacki’s game has always concentrated on staying consistent and drawing errors as opposed to a more aggressive game that many believe she should play. Although often disappointing on the big stage, there is no doubt her style was key to her twelve titles and 67 weeks as World No. 1 from 2010 to early 2012.

However, Wozniacki isn’t the only player to date/marry a similarly high profile athlete.  Ana Ivanovic 18-month relationship in with golfer Adam Scott coincided with a trophyless period in 2009-2010 as Ivanovic dropped out of the top ten. Failure to defend big points at the Australian Open and French Open cost her, following up a final appearance and a win with fourth and third round performances respectively.  Defeat to Vera Zvonareva at Indian Wells was as close as the Serb got to a title in this period. Ivanovic’s most recent successes lie in the Tournament of Champions and her form over the past three years seems to indicate that her 2007/2008 form was of a career year than representative of what was to come. She has floated around the top 20 in the year end rankings, with her serving issues still working strongly against her. New coach Nigel Sears appears to have made improvements in 2012 with more consistency in the slams, making the third round at all three so far. Previous to this, Ana also dated Fernando Verdasco for a short period in late 2008, mostly during the tennis off-season.

Fresh from her split with fellow Russian tennis star Igor Andreev is Maria Kirilenko, the 25 year old is dating Alexander Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals in the NHL. Ovechkin is one of the most famous male athletes in Russia, having represented them regularly at international level and at one stage there could be a case made that he was one of the top stars in the NHL alongside Sidney Crosby. While the beginning of many other relationships coincided with a drop in form for players, things have never been better for Kirilenko, reaching a career high ranking of No. 14 after making it to the quarter finals of Wimbledon, pushing Agnieszka Radwanska extremely close in an epic three set encounter.

It is interesting to note the lack of high profile relationships involving the top level men, with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal all in long term relationships while Roger Federer married former tennis player Miraslava “Mirka” Vavrinec in 2009 with the couple now proud parents of twin girls.

While there are many inter-sport relationships involving tennis stars, there are two couples of tennis players that were some of the very best in their time. Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi must be the most decorate couple in tennis; the pair possess over 150 titles between them, including 30 grand slams singles titles – Steffi with 22 and Andre with 8. While retirement was looming for Graf by the time the couple got together, Agassi added an additional four titles to add to his previously completed Career Slam before retiring in 2006. In 2005, Agassi even managed to break his own wife’s record at the Miami Masters, overtaking her record of five titles by earning his sixth with victory over Carlos Moya. The pair first met at the 1992 Wimbledon Champions’ Ball, where the now famous photograph of the pair was taken, with Agassi sporting his now infamous mullet.

Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi at Wimbledon ’92 Champions Ball

Kim Clijsters and Lleyton Hewitt had a four year relationship even getting engaged, before the pair split up in 2004. Affectionately dubbed by Australians “Aussie Kim”, the young Clijsters was slamless in this time while Hewitt became US Open and Wimbledon champion in ’01 and ’02 respectively with convincing finals victories. The pair also made the Mixed Doubles final in 2000 but were defeated in straight sets. After the split Kim went on to become a quadruple slam winner, however the majority of these were after her comeback from a 2007 retirement. Hewitt definitely suffered from the emergence of Roger Federer on the ATP Tour, losing to him seven times in a row at Grand Slams with the Swiss making the final every single time he had beat the Aussie. While Kim was slamless during this period, she did reach the No. 1 spot in the rankings as a 20 year-old in 2003 and there is no doubt that she matured as a player in this time picking up plenty of titles and the No. 1 spot in doubles.

Other notable tennis relationships include Iveta Benesova and Jurgen Melzer. The pair teamed up both off and on the court, even earning themselves the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title, with Benesova’s singles form improving for a short period of time. It seems Melzer is no stranger to the leading ladies on the tour having previously dating 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina and also Nicole Vaidisova, the latter of which is now married to fellow Czech Radek Stepanek.

Personally, I am sceptical of the idea that relationships are to blame for a loss of form. In the case of Wozniacki, I just feel that a lack of a plan B has hit her hard and relying on opponents errors can only get you so far. As seen even before Rory was on the scene, when a big hitter has been on their “A” game she has struggled and she cannot generate enough offense to fight back. She is young enough to come back and learn from it, so I think she can definitely re-enter the top 5 but to go any further much more progress is needed at the slams. Along with New Haven, where she is a four-times winner her most consistent performances come in the US Open with a semi final place or better each of the last three years so this could be just the thing to reignite her struggling year.

Do you think that having a famous sporting partner can distract your performance? Feel free to post comments below!

July 9th-16th Previews

With Wimbledon over, the ATP and WTA tours have a hefty schedule this week with six tournaments over three surfaces and two continents. From the hard courts in Stanford to the clay courts of Umag and Palermo and even the continuation of the Grass season in Newport, there is plenty to look forward to this week.

(Click titles for draw)

ATP Tour

Newport – 250

Often seen as an afterthought in the short grass season, Newport was always likely to generate more interest this year with the chance to provide extra practice for the Olympic Games. Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and John Isner top a fairly strong field.

Favourite – With John Isner’s decidedly dicey form over the last few months, it is fair to say that Milos Raonic is the favourite to win the tournament. Raonic is topping many of the service stats on the tour this year and the surface will suit the young Canadian’s game.

Outsider – Showing signs of the form before his injury is Sam Querrey, the former finalist is unseeded here but can go far – he is in what many would perceive to be the favourable side of the draw away from John Isner, Milos Raonic and Gilles Muller.

One to Watch – Another returning from injury is US Open Mixed Doubles Champion Jack Sock, the 19 year-old has been handed a wildcard and will face Igor Kunitsyn in the first round.

Bastad – 250

With two other European clay tournaments to compete with, Bastad looks to have suffered the most competition wise with 8^th seed Ungur being ranked only 81^st, however David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro ensure there is some top level quality at the Swedish tournament. The currently inactive Robin Soderling is unable to defend his crown here.

Favourite – Arguably one of the best clay courters outside of his fellow countryman Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer looks certain to take this, he possesses a 10-0 head to head record over Nicolas Almagro.

Outsider – Grigor Dimitrov is another who has promised so much in his early years but as of yet has failed to deliver. A generous draw could see him making the Semi-Finals here where he would expect to face No.1 seed David Ferrer.

One to Watch – Tommy Robredo is back after a long spell out with injury, and full of confidence after taking Milan challenger a few weeks ago. However, he did withdraw from Braunschweig last week but hopefully it was just for precautionary measures than anything serious.

Stuttgart – 250

Stuttgart possesses a slightly stronger field led by the likes of Janko Tipsarevic and Juan Monaco as well as two former top 5 players in Tommy Haas and Nikolay Davydenko.

Favourite – Juan Monaco is another who looks at his best on clay with 2 titles to his name this year and despite not being No.1 seed is in my view the best player in the tournament with a great chance to make it three tournament victories for the year.

Outsider – Tommy Haas has found a new lease of life recently taking the Halle title and beating Roger Federer to go with it. The former World No.2 can definitely still be a threat in a three set format but has not won a clay title since 2004.

One to Watch – It will be interesting to see how Lukas Rosol fares the week after his giant-killing of Rafael Nadal. Many expect to see him revert to the form that sees him around No. 100 in the world but perhaps the victory will give him newly found confidence.

Umag – 250

Perhaps one of the most picturesque stops on the tour, the Croatian town is a favourite for tourists and fans alike. The field is led by Spaniards Fernando Verdasco, Marcel Granollers and former World No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero while home hopes will be held by No.2 seed Marin Cilic

Favourite – No.1 seed Fernando Verdasco has gone two years without a title now but has a good chance to end that here. He was unfortunate enough to bump into David Ferrer in his last clay-court final but will not be so unlucky here. The Spaniard has obvious talent as shown by his recent victory over Rafael Nadal but mental issues often hold him back.

Outsider – Carlos Berlocq has shown great improvement over the past year, including reaching a personal high of No.37 in the rankings, only one spot above his current position. A regular winner on the Challenger Tour last year, Berlocq has made the step up and was unfortunate to suffer defeat in his only tour final to date in Vina del Mar.

One to Watch – Aljaz Bedene of Slovakia has been slowly making a name for himself on the Challenger Tour picking up three titles on clay this year but as of yet, has been unable to make the step up to the main tour.

WTA Tour

Stanford (Premier) 

Hosted at the University of Stanford’s tennis complex, the Bank of the West Classic is the oldest women-only event on the tour. The outdoor hard court tournament is also the first tournament in the US Open Series and the field is led by Serena Williams with Jelena Jankovic and Marion Bartoli amongst the big names.

Favourite – If her exploits at Wimbledon do not lead to a withdrawal, then it is incredibly difficult to see past Serena Williams defending her title. She is serving incredibly well and in this form will be hard to break, never mind defeat over a three set match.

Outsider – Marion Bartoli made the final here last year and looks the superior player in the bottom half of the draw. Any slip up from Serena and she will be sure to take advantage.

One to Watch – Nicole Gibbs is a decorated athlete at college level with numerous NCAA awards as well as being the 2012 Womens’ Champion while representing Stanford. She can earn a second round tie with Serena Williams if she defeats Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the first round here.

 Palermo (International)

New no.2 Agnieszka Radwanska withdrew from Palermo after making the Wimbledon final making Sara Errani the top seed above compatriot Roberta Vinci. Defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues also appears in the draw and is seeded No. 4.

Favourite – Sara Errani is an excellent clay court player and against all but the elite achieves very good results as shown by picking up tournaments in Barcelona, Budapest and Acapulco before her shock final appearance at Roland Garros.

Outsider – A five time winner of the tournament, it is hard to rule out Anabel Medina Garrigues, results indicate that she enjoys it a lot here and will likely go far again with an expected semi final between herself and Errani where I would think the winner would go on to become champion.

One to Watch – Yulia Putintseva is a promising Kazakh prospect, but will be disappointed at her recent result in nearby Biella where she was disposed of easily by Barbara Zahlavova-Strycova in straight sets. In less recent form, she did pick up an ITF 100k title in May which led her to her highest ranking of 122. If not for the tennis, she will be one to watch here for her famous tantrums!

Weekly Roundup: The Week’s Winners

A quick look at the week’s winners…

ATP Challenger Tour

Thomas Bellucci picked up the Braunschweig singles title with a 7-6(4) 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke while Polish pairing Tomasz Bednarek and Mateusz Kowalczyk picked up the Doubles trophy winning 7-5 6-7 10-8 for their second victory as a pairing this year.

Unseeded Guido Andreozzi notched another shock in the Lima final over Facundo Arguello, making it three seeds he has defeated on his way to becoming the champion, this time with a 6-3 6-7(6-8) 6-2 victory for his first Challenger title. Arguello wasn’t so unlucky in the doubles though, as he and partner Agustin Velotti defeated Italian pair Luca Vanni and Claudio Grassi in two tiebreak sets 7-6(4) 7-6(5).

John Patrick-Smith  is another first time winner on the Challenger tour, defeating Richard Berankis 3-6 6-3 7-6(3) to take the Winnetka title. He wasn’t so fortunate in the doubles though, being on the losing side of a three set encounter with Devin Britton and Jeff Dadamo who took the title 1-6 6-2 10-6.

Unlike his young compatriots at Wimbledon Peter Polansky had a weekend to forget in Panama City. He was beaten convincingly by Rogerio Dutra da Silva 3 and 0 in the Singles final and didn’t fare much better with his parter Daniel Kosakowski in the Doubles against Júlio César Campozano and Alejandro González who took the final 6-4 7-5.

In Arad, Victor Hanescu was unable to hold on to a 1st set lead, losing 5 games in a row from 4-1 up to Facundo Bagnis who gained his 2nd Challenger title with a 6-4 6-4 victory. It was an all Croatian affair in the final as Nikola Mektic and Antonio Veic took the Doubles title with a 7-6(5) 4-6 10-3 win over Marin Draganja and Dino Marcan.

ITF Men’s Pro Circuit Results

Romania F5 Futures Jordi SAMPER-MONTANA (ESP) [1]     6-3 3-6(6) 7-6(5)     Theodoros ANGELINOS (GRE)

Netherlands F4 Futures Matwe MIDDELKOOP (NED) [5]     4-6 6-2 6-3     Niels DESEIN (BEL) [8]

Italy F16 Futures Nicolas PASTOR (ARG) [1]     6-4 6-3     Sandro EHRAT (SUI) [8]

Great Britain F9 Futures Albano OLIVETTI (FRA) [2]    7-5 6-1    Josh GOODALL (GBR) [1]

Serbia F4 Futures Ivan BJELICA (SRB) [1]     7-6(3) 6-4     Vladimir OBRADOVIC (SRB) [4]

Argentina F16 Futures Leandro MIGANI (ARG) [1]    6-1 6-1 Hernan CASANOVA (ARG)

Indonesia F2 Futures Yuichi SUGITA (JPN) [1]     6-2 7-5     Ti CHEN (TPE) [2]

Brazil F16 Futures Nicolas Gustavo KAUER (CHI)     6-2 6-1     Daniel DUTRA DA SILVA (BRA) [8]

Armenia F1 Futures Arthur DE GREEF (BEL) [5]     6-0 6-1     Nikoloz BASILASHVILI (RUS) [6]

Belgium F2 Futures Yannik REUTER (BEL) [5]     5-7 7-6(8) 7-6(1)     Juan Carlos SAEZ (CHI) [7]

USA F18 Futures Alex BOGDANOVIC (GBR) [1]     6-2 6-4     Matheson KLEIN (AUS)

Canada F3 Futures Nikita KRYVONOS (USA)     6-3 4-6 6-4 Nicolas MEISTER (USA) [4]  

Turkey F26 Futures Sergio GUTIERREZ-FERROL (ESP) [1] 6-1 6-4 Miljan ZEKIC (SRB) [2]

Spain F19 Futures Brydan KLEIN (AUS) [2]     6-2 6-2     Jules MARIE (FRA) [3]

France F12 Futures Pierre-Hugues HERBERT (FRA) [3]     7-6(8) 7-5     David GUEZ (FRA) [5]

Germany F8 Futures Uladzimir IGNATIK (BLR) [2]     6-4 7-6(3)     Jan MINAR (CZE) [6]

ITF Women’s Pro Circuit Results

100k Biella Johanna LARSSON (SWE) [7]     6-3 6-4     Anna TATISHVILI (GEO) [3]

50k Denver Nicole GIBBS (USA)        6-2 3-6 6-4      Julie COIN (FRA)

50k Versmold Annika BECK (GER)     6-3 6-1     Anastasija SEVASTOVA (LAT)

25k Denain Kristina KUCOVA (SVK) [5]     6-2 1-6 6-2     Michaela HONCOVA (SVK)

25k Torun Danka KOVINIC (MNE)     6-3 4-6 6-3     Paula KANIA (POL)

25k Middleburg Kirsten FLIPKENS (BEL) [2]     6-1 6-0     Aravane REZAI (FRA) [1]

15k Huzhu Chang LIU (CHN) [8]     6-3 6-4     Kai-Lin ZHANG (CHN) [5]

15k Rovereto Timea BACSINSZKY (SUI) [7]     6-0 6-2     Anne SCHAEFER (GER) [2]

10k Brussels Natalia RYZHONKOVA (RUS)     6-2 Retired    Karolina WLODARCZAK (AUS) [2]

10k Istanbul Melis SEZER (TUR) [1]     7-6(5) 6-4     Sandra ROMA (SWE)

10k New Delhi Miyabi INOUE (JPN) [3]     6-2 6-2     Ankita RAINA (IND) [8]

10k Pattaya Luksika KUMKHUM (THA) [1]     6-2 6-2     Nungnadda WANNASUK (THA) [4]

10k Prokuplje Victoria KAN (RUS) [5]     6-1 6-2     Maria MOKH (RUS)

10k Sharm-el Sheikh Anna MORGINA (RUS) [8]     6-3 6-1     Kamila KERIMBAYEVA (KAZ) [3]

 

Not to forget these two…

(Photo: Getty Images)