Tennis Clay Court Season 2008 |
Wednesday at Queen's
Only few dasy after the Roland Garros Final, the Grass season begins at the Queen's Club in London as well as in Halle in Germany where Federer won 4 times there. But I decided to go to the legendary Queen's Club to see the best grass court event in the World.And I was right, 5 players of the Top 10 where in London this week to prepare for Wimbledon.Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt both kept their hopes of a record fifth title at The Artois Championships alive after contrasting wins in the second round at The Queen?s Club on Wednesday. Defending champion Roddick survived an early scare agains
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Rafa Nadalissime !
ATP World No. 2 Rafael Nadal (pictured) captured his fourth straight Roland Garros crown on Sunday with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 1 Roger Federer in Paris. The score line reflected the second most one-sided Roland Garros final in the Open Era after the 1977 final, where Guillermo Vilas defeated Brian Gottfried for the loss of just three games.Nadal becomes just the second player after Swede Bjorn Borg (1978-81) to win four consecutive Roland Garros titles since the event went international in 1925. The achievement also sees him join Federer, Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras as the only playe
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Monfils !!!
For this second week of Roland Garros I saw the unbelievable match between Gael Monfils the last Frenchaman remaining and the n°5 seed the Spaniard David Ferrer. They both already spent a lot of time on court with a couple of 5-setters.The 21-year-old Monfils, whose previous best Grand Slam result was a fourth round finish at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic) in 2006, now faces No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals. Federer has won all three of their previous encounters, two of which have been played this year, most recently at ATP Masters Monte Carlo, where Federer prevailed in straight sets.Mo
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First Week in Roland Garros
Ahh, a first week in a Grand Slam is very long as a lot of match are going on and a lot of surprised comes with it. This week was kind of rainy with Tuesday where less than 3 hours of play, and matches finishing late to get back on schedule. Nadal played his first 3 rounds in back-to-back days, while some player like Federer had two resting days between his first and second round match.In the first round, the most expected match was Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten against Paul-Henri Mathieu. It was an exiting match and very emotional in the end for the 3 times Champion here in Roland Garros.Argentine q
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Nadal Right in Time
In a fabulous and epic final, Rafael Nadal completed his clay court trophy collections as he won the Masters Series of Hamburg for the first time in his career and maybe for the last one, because last year this event shouldn't be a Masters Series any more and could replaced by an event in Madrid. But the German federation is still fighting for his best tournament.Federer started the match very strongly and took an early 4-0 lead and then 5-1. At this point he had won 14 games in a row against Nadal in this special stadium after last year final 2-6 6-2 6-0. But when he served for the opening se
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When the 2nd spot is at stakes
Once again the Big Three are in the Semi-final of a tournament, it already happenned 3 times this year, in Australia, Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo. The 4th men is the Italian Andreas Seppi who reach his first Semi-final of a Masters Series event in his career.ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer (pictured) shone through the rain at Masters Series Hamburg presented by EON Hanse on Saturday as he fired into his fifth final with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi. Federer broke for a second time to lead 4-1 and, with Seppi later serving at 1-5, Federer was quick to put the Italian under press
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Who's the fastest competition !
It was a battle of who will win his match the fastest today in the Quarter final day in the Masters Series of Hamburg presented by Eon-Hanse. Exept for local hero Nicolas Kiefer when he faced Seppi in a Marathon match.Four-time champion Roger Federer recorded his 28th victory in his last 29 matches at Masters Series Hamburg presented by Eon Hanse Friday, when he overcame unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3 in 81 minutes. It was the pair?s first meeting since the 2005 tournament.Italian Andreas Seppi advanced to his maiden ATP Masters Series semifinal after a marathon and hard-fought
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L8 in Hamburg
After straights win for the "Big three" they were underway for their 3rd Round. Also in action today n°4 and 5 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings Davydenko and Ferrer and formers n°1 Safin and Moya. David Ferrer the n°5 in the world in the ATP rankings will try to reach the QF like in Monte-Carlo. He was playing against his compatriot Fernando Verdasco. The match was very intense especially in the first set. Verdasco was playing some exiting tennis to break his opponents serve 3 times. But with a lot of games going into Deuce, they had to decide the first in a tie-break. Verdasco got
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2nd Round action in Hamburg
Today was the first match for the "Big Three". Also Kiefer was facing Swiss n°2 Wawrinka, and former world n°1 Marat Safin was against Tomas Berdych, the 9th seed who took the place of Andy Roddick after his retirement. It was Berdych first match in the tournament.In the first match of the day Marat Safin who qualified for the main draw was playing his 4th match in Hamburg this week against Tomas Berdych who was playing his first match on clay of the season. It was a tight match but with 3 break of serves for the Russian he was able to secure a straight set win in 1h30 7-5 6-4.Federer was pl
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Tuesday in Hamburg
In Hamburg the days are a lot busier than in the other tournaments as there is 5 singles match each day on central court.Tuesday 3 of them was counting for the first round, first up was Janko Tipsarevic against one the 6 German in the final draw, Andreas Beck. Beck played well and took his chances and clinched the first set, before the Serb tight up his game and closed out the match with a 3-6 6-3 6-1 victory.In the same time Llodra who beat Guillermo Canas in the first round got only 2 games in his 6-2 6-0 loss against Fernando Verdasco of Spain. And his doubles team-mate was playing against
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Hamburg Preview
Hamburg is the last big tournament of the clay court season before Roland Garros, Federer his the defending champion here and won 4 of the last 6 edition of this Masters Series. Djokovic will try to take the n°2 spot to Rafael Nadal if he goes to the final. And Rafael Nadal will try to regain his form after his early first round exit in Rome last week.In the first round there was some revenge in the air as Ivan Ljubicic was playing against Steve Darcis, the Belgian beat Ljubicic in 2 tight sets in Rome first round last week. The match was very long and eventually Ljubicic after 3 hours of pla
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Djokovic mastered a Swiss for a Rome win
Novak Djokovic overcame his Swiss opponent in Sunday's final, but it wasn't the expected Swiss world n°1 but his friend Stanislas Wawrinka. Indeed in a disappointed day for the Semi-Finals where we saw Roddick and then Stepanek retired due to a back injury and some fatigue for the Czech. Where only 12 games was played overall in both matches. So with his first Masters Series Final, Stanislas Wawrinka was sure to make his first appearance in the Top 10, grabbing the 10th spot. Djokovic would get very close to the 2nd spot of the rankings (310pts behind Nadal), and could be a reachable spot ne
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Quarter Final day at the Internazioli di Italia
This morning, for my last day, and my last visits I went to the antique part of Rome were there is the Coliseo and all the old ruins, and then the Circo Massimo where it used to have the races. Then I needed to take the metro but unfortunately the station was closed as they were on strike. So I had to walk for about 1 hour to get to the Bus stop for the Foro Italico.The first match on stage was the expected match between Swiss n°2 Wawrinka and James Blake. The match was very exiting as in the first two set they had to go to the tie-break. They exchanged once their serve in the first serve and
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Thursday in Rome
After a good resting night, I went Piazza di Spagna at the Trinita dei Monti, and then at the Piazza del Popolo. Then I headed to the Vatican and the Piazza san Pierto, but I didn't go inside as the queue was too big. And the last Monument I saw was the Castello san Angelo just in front of the Vatican. I didn't go straight at the tennis as I had to go meet my godmother to lunch with her. Then we together went at the Tennis. I missed the first match between Novak Djokovic and Igor Andreev, where the young Serb needed 3 sets and 2h42 min to won 6-3 3-6 6-3. This long match was good for me, as we
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Juan Carlos King of Spain !!!
I just arrived in Rome and as the matches don't start before 1 pm at Foro Italico, I had the opportunity to do some sightseeing and visit one of the most beautiful cities of the world. So I went to all this famous places and piazzas and the much known Trevi fountain. In Rome there are a lot of piazzas like that with some oblique. After that I went a bit early at the Foro Italico to get some tickets and to enjoy all the fun stand of the tournaments.I was a bit disappointed because Federer played his match on Tuesday against Canas which he securely won 6-3 6-3. But the order of play of the day w
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Preview at Foro Italico
This Week takes place the second ATP Masters Series on clay and the fourth of the year. Rafael Nadal comes here as the 3-time defending champion and recently won his 4th crown in Monte-Carlo and Barcelone. He will play JC Ferrero in his first match. Roger Federer who lost last year in the 3rd Round to Volandri will try to regain some precious points for the rankings. He will meet Canas in his debut.Novak Djokovic, who in his last match retired against Federer in Monte-Carlo has recover from it and will face Steve Darcis who beat Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets.Richard Gasquet, the n°9 seed had
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Once again the King has spoken !
Rafael Nadal still is unbeatable on clay as this Sunday he clinched his fourth consecutive Barcelona Open title.Indeed in the semi-final, Rafael Nadal were playing against Denis Gremelmayr, but he let the German only 15 points as he cruised to victory in 51min. 6-1 6-0. So he was sure to rest a bit before his Sunday's final against another Spanish player David Ferrer who was seeded n°2. Ferrer faced Stanislas Wawrinka in the other Semi final. With about 70% of points won on his serve and a first set win in a thrilling tie-break 10 points to 8, the match was over in less than 2 hours.Sunday, a
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Quarter-Final day at the Open Sabadell Atlantico Barcelona 2008.
There are no less than 5 Spanish players in the Last 8 of this week tournament here in Barcelona, including the top 2 seeds Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer. First on stage was local resident Albert Montanes against Stanislas Wawrinka. It was a marathon match in a very hot day, especially at this time of the day, between noon and 3. Wawrinka played very strong in the first set, saving the only break point he faced. Then in the second set he was down a break before levelling up the match at 5-5. In the tie-break he was trailing by 3-0 before he reached match point, but it was on Montanes serve. Mo
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Thursday in Barcelona
This Thursday was the 3rd round of the Open Sabadell Atlantico Barcelona 2008. 6 Spanish players were still in the competition and at least one will be in the QF as Nadal is facing Feliciano Lopez.Singles matches on Central Court didn't start before noon, so I first went to the Pista 1 to see the confrontation between Albert Montanes and Russian Mikhail Kukushkin. It took three sets to the Spaniard to seal the victory 6-3 3-6 6-3. Then I had the time to have a snack and headed to the central court to see David Ferrer and Nicolas Lapentti. David Ferrer who recently wins the title in Valencia is
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Barcelona Preview
This week the world of tennis was on break as in the next 2 weeks there is the last two ATP Masters Series on clay for preparation of Roland Garros. But few players will be on the court in Barcelona and Munich. All of the Spanish players will be in Barcelona for the Open Sabadell Atlantico Barcelona 2008. There are 16 players from Spain in the main draw with Nadal and Ferrer as the top 2 seeds, in Munich Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and Fernando Gonzalez are the top seeds.In his first round match Rafael Nadal who recently captured his fourth Monte-Carlo title will try to win his 99th match on
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