Category Archives: ATP Tour
Important Points
Rome Masters 1000, Third Round Two more contenders for Match of the Year emerged today, happy news for a season that has hitherto produced few classics. Initially, however, the prospects for even mild diversion looked grim. Nadal d. Lopez, 6/4 … Continue reading
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Roman Horror-day
Rome Masters 1000, Second Round Soderling d. Verdasco, 2/6 7/5 6/4 Madrid and Rome won’t be the only Masters 1000 events to run back-to-back this year, but as far I can tell they are the only ones that will actually … Continue reading
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‘Red Hardcourt!’
Madrid Masters 1000, Final Djokovic d. Nadal, 7/5 6/4 Novak Djokovic has beaten Rafael Nadal in the final of a Masters 1000 event for the third time in as many months, which doesn’t make the task of writing about it … Continue reading
Atmospherics
Madrid Masters 1000, Semifinals Nadal d Federer, 5/7 6/1 6/3 Djokovic d Bellucci, 4/6 6/4 6/1 The word of the week has been ‘altitude’. Apparently Madrid has lots of it, and no opportunity has been missed to point out the … Continue reading
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Just Because It All Looks Smooth
Madrid Masters 1000, Third Round Federer d. Malisse, 6/4 6/3 Returning to the court less than a day after scraping through a life-shorteningly tense encounter with Feliciano Lopez, Roger Federer today saw off another talented near-contemporary in Xavier Malisse. Federer’s … Continue reading
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Fiasco
Madrid Masters 1000, First and Second Rounds It is a testament to the rankings trout-farm between 10 and, say, 30, that so few of today’s ostensible upsets were surprising. The betting market was a shambles, which should have been a … Continue reading
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A Confluence of Cock-Ups
BMW Open Munich, Final Davydenko d. Mayer, 6/3 3/6 6/1 Estoril Open Portugal, Final Del Potro d. Verdasco, 6/2 6/2 There isn’t a single good reason why Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Martin del Potro are closely linked in my mind, … Continue reading
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Weeks Like This
The biggest problem with weeks like this, in which three concurrent 250 tournaments have snuck in just as the clay season hits its stride in Madrid, is that for the most part the events are disposable. Understandably, players are unwilling … Continue reading
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No Quarters Given
BMW Open Munich, Quarterfinals Mayer d. Dimitrov, 7/6 3/6 6/4 Stepanek d. Kohlschreiber, 6/4 6/0 If Marcos Baghdatis’ effort a few days ago was the kind that loses fans, then Grigor Dimitrov’s today was the kind that wins them. Behind … Continue reading
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Fated To Be
BMW Open Munich, Second Round Dimitrov d. Baghdatis, 3/6 7/6 6/2 It is now over twelve months since Marcos Baghdatis defeated Roger Federer after the latter held match points, thereby introducing a jagged Shostakovich-tinged tune that was fated to become … Continue reading
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