General Tennis News from the Tennis Frontier
Maria Sharapova recovered from a first set loss to beat the fourth-seeded Romanian, Simona Halep, and take the Mutua Madrid Open championship, a WTA Premiere mandatory event.
Halep came out strong, but Sharapova found her timing and confidence early in the second set to win the match in the third, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. This was Sharapova’s 11th straight win on clay. For Halep, it was her first final at this level.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Yann Caradec
Roger and Mirka Federer are celebrating the birth of two new additions to the family.
Twins, Leo and Lenny were born on the evening of the 6th May.
“Mirka and I are so incredibly happy to share that Leo and Lenny were born this evening! Twins again.. miracle!” came the announcement from the former World No. 1.
Federer pulled out of the Madrid Masters to spend time with his family.
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Cover Photo: Kenneth Hong, (Creative Commons License)
Elena Baltacha (14 August 1983 – 4 May 1914)
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Elena Baltacha, the former British Women’s No. 1, has died of liver cancer, just months after announcing her diagnosis. Born in the Ukraine and raised in Scotland, Baltacha was the top women’s tennis player in Britain for nearly three years. She reached a career high of 49. Her cancer diagnosis came in January of this year. Baltacha had retired in November of last year. She is survived by her husband, Nino Severino, who was her long-term coach, and whom she married in December of last year.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Dave Rubenstein
Kei Nishikori of Japan has beaten Santiago Giraldo of Colombia to become the first non-Spaniard to win in Barcelona since Gaston Gaudio of Argentina won it in 2002. This was the first final at the Conde de Godó to have no Spaniard in the final since 1996.
After dropping his first service game of the match Nishikori dominated Giraldo, thereafter, winning 6-2, 6-2, to take his fifth career title, and first ever on clay for the 24-year-old Japanese superstar. Giraldo, 26, was in his second ATP final, though he has yet to take a trophy.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 7-6(2), 6-1 to win the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy. This is Dimitrov’s second title of the year, and third of his career. Rosol was defending the trophy. The men traded breaks in the first set, which was very competitive and decided in a tiebreak, that was less so. Rosol won only two points. Dimitrov took over the match from there, running away with the second set. When the rankings come out tomorrow, the Bulgarian will regain his previous career-high mark at No. 14.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis
Maria Sharapova retains her title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, besting Ana Ivanovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, in a match that featured a dramatic shift in momentum at the midway point. Ivanovic came out strong and played at a very high level, seeming to be about to take out the defending champion, leading by a set and up 3-1 in the second. The Russian, with her back nearly to the wall, at risk of not only losing this title which she’d won the last two years, but also of dropping out of the Top 10, raised her level of play dramatically, and left the Serbian suddenly more confounded than confident. Sharapova won four games in a row, and then the set.
In the third, Sharapova broke Ivanovic in the first game, from which she never recovered. Both women are former world No. 1 players, with Sharapova currently at No. 9 and Ivanovic at No. 12, but this win brings Sharapova’s record in their head-to-head match-up to 10-3.
And she gets to keep the car, too.
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Also in women’s tennis today, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, a 21-year-old Spaniard, overcame Romina Oprandi of Switzerland to take the title at the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Marrakesh, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Francisco Carbajal
After ten straight defeats at the hands of Rafael Nadal, Nicolas Almagro found his game and his nerve to beat the World No. 1 on the clay at the Conde de Godó in Barcelona, while Nadal continues to struggle with his form and confidence. Nadal broke Almagro in the first game of the first set, but was broken straight back. However, Rafa broke twice more to take the first comfortably, 6-2.
In the second set, Nadal seemed to be finding his form, but failed to convert several break chances. In the tiebreak, it was Almagro who prevailed to take only his third set off Nadal in the history of their head-to-head.
Rafa started strong in the third, going up 3-1, before Almagro won three consecutive games. Nadal broke back in the eighth game, evening things up at 4-4. It seemed he had regained control of the match, however Almagro immediately broke back at love, going up 5-4. Serving for the match, he quickly went down 15-40, but Nadal failed to convert both break points. The situation got tricky when Nadal saved the first match point, but a determined Almagro won it on his second, closing out the match 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
It was the World No. 1’s second clay-court loss in a week, following his defeat to Ferrer in Monte Carlo. It was the first time he has lost in Barcelona since 2003. After losing in the quarterfinals in two consecutive tournaments which he has won eight times each, many questions now surround his ability to defend Roland Garros.
Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis
Backing up his first Major title in Australia in January, Stanislas Wawrinka, of Switzerland, beat his countryman Roger Federer to win his first Masters 1000 title in Monaco today, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.
As the two men are friends, Davis Cup teammates, and co-winners of the 2008 Olympic gold medal in doubles, the match started a little tentatively, and rather lacking in kill shots. Federer took the first set on the strength of one early break. In the second, Wawrinka drew the first break, but Federer broke back immediately, and so it was decided in a tiebreak, which Stan took hold of with the first mini-break and never relinquished control from there. He carried that aggressive attitude into the third set, going up two breaks immediately, for a 4-0 lead before Federer held serve. Wawrinka served it out at 5-2.
With the win, Wawrinka retains the No. 3 slot in the world rankings, as well as his claim to the Swiss No. 1 spot.
David Ferrer did what is one of the tougher tasks in tennis today by handing Rafael Nadal a loss in Monte Carlo. Only yesterday, Nadal marked his 50th win in the principality, as well as his 300th win overall on clay. Nadal lost to Guillermo Coria in 2003 when he was 16 years old, then went on to win the title here a record eight times consecutively, before having his streak snapped last year in the final by Novak Djokovic.
Today the world No. 1 was uncharacteristically error-prone (27 in the first set, 44 total unforced errors), while his fellow Spaniard was focused and committed to attacking the Nadal backhand. The first set was long and hard-fought, with breaks of serve traded, but Nadal lost the tiebreak at 1, after an 85 minute first set. Ferrer was up by two service breaks in the second set before Rafa got one back, but couldn’t fight off Ferrer on his next attempt to serve out the match, which he did to win 7-6 (1), 6-4. Ferrer next faces Stan Wawrinka and will be looking to win his second Masters 1000 title.
On this day last year, 14 April, 2013, Tennis Frontier first hung out its shingle. We thought we’d wish ourselves a happy anniversary, and remind you how far we’ve come in just one year.
Founding partners Owen Gigg, Trent Curtis, and Susan DePalma started the site as a way to keep a wandering tennis community together. In our maiden year, while we have been steadily adding to our growing list of Discussion Forum members, we have also become a lot more.
Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+ social media channels have all been launched. Tennis Frontier now has two to three times as many Twitter followers as Forum members. We’re delighted that not only have we maintained such a loyal following amongst old friends, but have also added so many new voices to the conversation.
According to Google Analytics, Tennis Frontier currently gets between 15,000 – 25,000 unique visitors a month, and between 130,000 and 200,000 page views — noteworthy growth since last April.
“Down The T”, one of our trademark blogs, has featured exclusive interviews with Major winners Johan Kriek and Michael Chang, plus Wimbledon finalist Chris Lewis. Participants have also included Andy Murray’s former coach, Ben Saunders, and the recently-retired Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian.
Coming soon will be another exclusive interview: tennis legend Margaret Court, winner of a record 24 singles Majors.
In order to provide additional original content, we have also been adding to our blog roll.
Our thanks to bloggers (in alphabetical order): Brian Canever, Warren Casreo, Colin Chambers, Samer Kadi, Johan Kriek, Arienna Lee, Chris Lewis, Scoop Malinowski, John Masters, Jonathan Northrop, and Jesse Pentecost.
We are also grateful to those who have contributed through their efforts as moderators.
We’ve surprised even ourselves by how far we’ve come in just one year, but we’re even more excited about what the coming year will bring.
Thank you for helping to make Tennis Frontier such a success.