Tennis Frontier

Author: Susan DePalma

Nadal Wins Inaugural Rio Open 500

Everything old is new again. As Rio de Janeiro brings ATP 500 tennis back to the Carioca city, Rafael Nadal defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine, 6-3, 7-6(3) in the inaugural Rio Open. The old was Nadal winning on clay. The new was the tournament, and the renewed play by Dolgopolov of the Ukraine, who has been a rising star, though with troubles along the way.

The Ukrainian upset David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro to get to the final. His quirky style of play may have been recently served by joining forces with another “eccentric” player, Fabrice Santoro, the Frenchman who is also known as “The Magician.” It seems a coaching choice made in heaven. A Kiev native, Dolgopolov wore a black ribbon on his chest, and spoke in his final remarks of the struggles of the people in his country, to sustained applause. Brazil has also suffered unrest in recent months.

For Nadal, it was his 62nd title, his 43rd on clay. After a huge battle with Pablo Andujar in the semifinals yesterday, it was not completely clear that Nadal would win today. But some things never change. Nadal wins again on clay, but Dolgopolov comes out of it with renewed encouragement.

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In the women’s final, Kurumi Nara defeated the No. 1 seed, Klara Zakopalova, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. It was the first WTA title for the 22-year-old Japanese player.

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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis

February 24, 2014
Venus Still Formidable in Dubai

Venus Williams won her 45th title today, defeating France’s Alize Cornet, 6-3, 6-0, in the Dubai Open. Williams, 33 years old, hadn’t won a title in 16 months. Her recent battles with illness, and her age, have put her career in question. However, the seven-time Grand Slam Champion and former world No. 1 put all of her skills on display today. The French woman, Cornet, who was the vanquisher of Venus’s sister yesterday, had little answer to the big serving American, who was having a very strong day.

Cornet scored the upset and was the surprise finalist over world No. 1 Serena Williams. As Venus said, “I was expecting to be playing Serena, but Alize played an amazing game in the semis, so congratulations on that.”

Venus staved off retirement questions for another tournament, and proved she still has more than a little game.

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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis

February 23, 2014
Halep Takes Doha

Simona Halep, the 22-year-old Romanian who made a splash last year by winning six titles on the WTA Tour, has won her biggest one yet at the Qatar Open, beating Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final, 6-2, 6-3.

For the first time, Halep beat 3 Top 10 players on her way to the trophy, including Kerber (No. 9), having already dispatched Sara Errani (No. 7), and Agnieszka Radwanska (No. 4.)

Despite four break point opportunities, Kerber was unable to break Halep in the match.

“It’s tough to play against a player like Simona,” Kerber said. “I was trying to play my game plan, but it was not easy … she hit the balls very well and on the line.”

“I just want to be focused for every point, to fight for every point,” Halep said. She will rise to a career-high No. 9 when the rankings come out on Monday.

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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): robbiesaurus

February 17, 2014
Nishikori Repeats in Memphis

Japan’s Kei Nishikori defeated the big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic, 6-4, 7-6(0) today in Memphis to successfully defend his U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships.

“It’s amazing to defend a title for the first time, especially here,” Nishikori said. “I had a great memory from last year and I’m playing great.”

The win gave Nishikori his fourth ATP World Tour title. He has taken Michael Chang as his new coach and improves to 11-2 this season.

Nishikori secured an early break in the third game of the match and despite 20 aces from Karlovic, he took the second-set tiebreak at love, and the final in 90 minutes.

“He’s really fast,” Karlovic said. “He hits winners from any position on the court. That’s his game. He returned really well.”

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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis

February 17, 2014
Berdych Ends Drought; Wins Rotterdam

Tomas Berdych made short work of Marin Cilic today, beating him 6-4, 6-2 to win the ABN AMRO tournament in the Netherlands. This is his first trophy in 16 months, having gone all of last season without a title. He was the only player in the Top 10 last year without one.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Berdych said. “It’s been a while, actually 16 months since I won a title. To win a title in Rotterdam it’s a nice bonus. I’m extremely happy with the way I handled it throughout the week. I’ve been serving pretty well, which has been the strong part of my game.”

It was indeed serving that gave the Czech the advantage. He recorded nine aces and had an 82% first serve stat. The downfall for Cilic was 22 unforced-errors. The match was over in 75 minutes.

Cilic, who is newly coached by Goran Ivanisevic, is now 14-4 on the season, a strong start, despite the loss today.

“It was a tough one today,” said Cilic. “What made the difference in the end was that Tomas served really well …. Overall I think the tournament was great. I played great tennis and enjoyed it here. I had a great run of nine [straight] wins and I hope to make that run soon again.”

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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis

February 17, 2014
Ferrer Makes History in Buenos Aires

David Ferrer became the first player to win three consecutive titles at the Copa Claro in Argentina today, defeating Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-3. The win gives him a 7-0 head-to-head over the Italian. It also snapped a run of losses in finals by the Spaniard (his previous seven), while ending what has been a very good run of fortune for the Italian.

Ferrer led 3-0 to start the final, before Fognini evened things to 3-3. The Spaniard broke to win the first set, and broke again at the start of the second.

Fognini was contesting the final for a fifth straight clay-court tournament and looking to win his fourth title. He triumphed last week at the Royal Guard Open Chile, the opening tournament of the Golden Swing, and entered Buenos Aires at a career-high No. 14 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Sunday’s loss snapped Fognini’s 10-match winning streak and marked just his second loss in his last 25 clay-court matches. For Ferrer, who goes back up to No. 4 on Monday, this is his 21st career title, 11 of those coming on clay.

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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis

February 17, 2014
Stunner Down Under – Wawrinka Wins Australian Open

Stan Wawrinka, erstwhile Swiss No. 2, shocked Rafael Nadal and the tennis world by taking the trophy in Melbourne over the world No. 1: 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. In doing so, he became the rare player to win a Major outside of the Top 4 in what has otherwise been nearly decade of dominance by (mostly) Federer and Nadal, an ardent Djokovic, and a sprinkling of Murray. (Oh, yes, and one by Juan Martin del Potro.)

Wawrinka was ranked No. 8 going into the tournament, and will be No. 3 when the rankings come out on Monday. He’s spent a good deal of his career under the shadow of Roger Federer, but he has emerged into the sunshine today. He toppled the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, in the quarterfinals, and bested the top seed today, becoming the only man to beat Djokovic and Nadal in the same Slam.

He started the match with a great calm and focus, and took the first set handily, despite not having a great first serve percentage. Then he broke Nadal at love in the first game of the second. He held for a 2-0 lead, when, on his own service game, Nadal seemed to tweak his back. He held serve, but went off the court for a medical timeout. When he came back, his movement and serve were clearly compromised. Speculation rose as to whether the Spaniard might retire. Wawrinka won the set 6-2.

However, in the third set, Nadal loosened, while Wawrinka tightened. The Swiss had 19 unforced errors when the set was done, and had basically handed it to Nadal: 6-3.

The fourth set was on serve until Wawrinka broke in the sixth game, but Nadal broke straight back, raising the stakes, and the hopes that it might actually go the distance. But Wawrinka found his nerve, and broke again for 5-3, then served out the match.

Nadal had been gunning for a lot of history in this final, but it was not to be. Stan the Man, as he’s known, or the “Stanimal,” made his own bit of history today.

Photo credit: Marianne Bevis (Creative Commons License)

January 26, 2014
Li Na Third-Time Lucky in Australia

The Chinese superstar and world No. 4 Li Na won her first Australian Open title on her third try, defeating Dominika Cibulkova, 7-6(3), 6-0. This is the second Major title for Li, 31, who won the French Open in 2011. Li is the first player from China to win the Australian Open, and Cibulkova is the first Slovakian to reach the final of any Major.

Cibulkova, 24, ranked 21, and standing just 5’3″, was a surprise finalist. After the tournament saw off the top-seeded Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka, Li’s draw opened up. But Cibulkova had to personally dispense with Maria Sharapova, rising star Simona Halep, and the tricky Agnieszka Radwanska to reach the final.

Li broke the Slovakian in the first game of the match, but a low first serve percentage and too many unforced errors kept Cibulkova in the hunt. She proved a worthy opponent in a competitive and entertaining first set, which eventually went to a tiebreak. The veteran proved too much for the first-timer, however, whose serve let her down in the crunch. With the first set in hand, Li found her form and never looked back, closing the second set at love.

Photo credit: globalite (Creative Commons License)

January 25, 2014
Nadal Bests Federer – Into the Australian Open Final

In a much anticipated semifinal, and in the 33rd meeting of their storied rivalry, Rafael Nadal once again took down Roger Federer. The final score was 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3.

This was the most anticipated of their recent matches. While Nadal is the world No. 1, and has the prohibitive edge in their head-to-head, Roger Federer was looking resurgent, with a new racquet and a new coach, Stefan Edberg. He had dropped only one set, against Andy Murray, going into the semifinal. Nadal, for his part, was sporting a grotesque blister on his racquet hand, and had had a couple of unimpressive rounds against Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov. And while a semifinal is unusual for their rivalry, it suddenly became again one of those rubber-meets-the-road matches between them. Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, was out. The bottom-half of the draw has produced a new finalist in Stanislas Wawrinka. With Federer the all-time leader in Major titles, at 17, and Nadal pressing, with 13, the match took on heavyweight significance in their rivalry, for the first time in a few years.

In the first set, Federer pressed, and capitalized on net play. They stayed on serve, and got to a tiebreak, which was where Nadal started to break away. Federer never had a break point in the first set.

Nadal broke in the fifth game of each of the subsequent sets, and that was all he needed. While it did provide flashes of past brilliance, it fell short of the desired additional volume to their series of classics.

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Photo credit: Marianne Bevis (Creative Commons License)

January 24, 2014
Wawrinka Dominates at Chennai Open

Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won the Chennai Open today, beating Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 7-5, 6-2, not having dropped a set in the tournament. It was Wawrinka’s fifth career title, taking the world No. 8 into the Australian Open with a strong tailwind. In that Major last year, the Swiss played one of last year’s best matches, losing to eventual winner Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller. It’s a fair wager that none of the top seeds will be happy to see Stan in their quarter when the draw comes out at the end of the week.

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Photo credit: Marianne Bevis (Creative Commons License)

January 6, 2014