Tennis Acumen

Michael Chang Tops Mark Philippoussis to Win Surprise PowerShare Series Title

PETE ZIEBRON in SURPRISE, AZ

2014 Surprise Champion Michael Chang                      Charles Gabrean Photography

Michael Chang coasted to a 6-2 victory over Mark Philippoussis on Friday night in the Championship match of the final stop of the PowerShare Series at the Surprise Tennis Center.  Immediately after the victory, Chang referenced the fact that it was a special win for him in the on-court interview with Jimmy Arias and dedicated his efforts to his grandmother who died earlier in the week.  Chang also shared that he was happy that his family and parents were able be on hand.

Chang and Jim Courier opened play on Friday with a tightly contested semifinal.  Each player held serve for the first 10 games of the match although both players playfully questioned several line calls in the first 3 games of the match.  In the first point of the 10th game of the match with Chang serving at 4-5, Courier hit a beautiful backhand down the line for a winner.  As Chang looked at Courier in amazement, Courier stated "I watched Djokovic play a lot in Palm Springs last week - I do not have that shot for the record."

Michael Chang would win that game at 30 and broke at 30 in Courier's next service game.  Chang jumped to a 40-15 lead as he served for the match, however Courier would claw back to deuce, save yet another match point and eventually break to send the first semifinal to a tiebreaker.

In the breaker, Chang raced to a 5-2 lead and then held 3 more match points at 6-3.  Courier erased 2 more match points to get it to 5-6 however Michael Chang would finally win the match on his 7th match point 7-6 (5).

Mark "The Scud" Philippoussis in action in Surprise                Charles Gabrean Photography

Next up was Todd Martin and Mark Philippoussis, who was a late substitute for an injured Pete Sampras.  Each player held serve for the initial 7 games of the match before Philippoussis was able to solve Martin as he served at 3-4 and broke him at 30.  

Now, as Philippoussis served for the match, the drama got underway in the 2nd semifinal.  Philippoussis got to 40-30 but was unable to convert on match point.  This would be the first of 6 deuces in the 9th game of the match.  After double faulting on his 3rd match point, Martin grinned and told Philippoussis to "Keep bringing that aggressive second serve."  He did and finally on his 4th match point, Philippoussis won the match to advance to the Final against Michael Chang.

 

 

 

"The Wawrinka Effect" is Impacting the ATP Draw at Indian Wells

PETE ZIEBRON

2014 Australian Open Champion Stan Wawrinka has given hope to nearly everyone on the ATP Tour.                   Charles Gabrean Photography

Last month in Rotterdam, Tomas Berdych made a statement to the rest of the field of the ATP with respect to Stan Wawrinka's Australian Open Championship:  

• “Stan showed us that it is possible to win a Grand Slam.  It was important to realize that if you work hard, then everything can click together and you can make it in the end. It isn’t only the right of two or three guys." 

Despite the fact that the next Grand Slam will not be contested until May, the ATP field has decided to take matters into its own hands and immediately challenge the best players in the game.  Even though only half of the 3rd round has been completed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the results have been staggering:

• #1 Rafael Nadal loses to #31 Alexandr Dogopolov in the 3rd round
• #1 Rafael Nadal drops 1st set to 35 year old #50 Radek Stepanek 2-6, wins 7-5 in 3rd set
• #2 Novak Djokovic saves 2 set points in first match v. #87 Victor Hanescu
• #5 Tomas Berdych loses first match to #53 Roberto Bautista Agut
• #6 Andy Murray loses 1st set in 1st match to #47 Lukas Rosol
• #6 Andy Murray loses 1st set in 2nd match to #77 Jiri Vesely
• #7 Roger Federer is broken when serving for the match v. #123 Paul-Henri Mathieu
• #7 Roger Federer is taken to 2 tiebreakers v. #30 Dmitry Tursunov
• #10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga loses first match to #65 Julien Benneteau

Ironically, Rafael Nadal has only won 4 of the last 10 sets he has played on hard courts and in losing the 3rd set tiebreaker to Dogopolov tonight, falls to 3-8 in final set tiebreakers in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments played on hard courts.

• AUS Open Final  Wawrinka d. Nadal 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3
• Indian Wells 2nd  Nadal d. Stepanek  2-6 6-4 7-5
• Indian Wells 3rd  Dogopolov d. Nadal 6-3 3-6 7-6(5)

Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka is undefeated in 2014, winning his 13th consecutive match this year today, defeating Andreas Seppi 6-0 6-2.  Next up for Wawrinka will be South African Kevin Anderson.

The players on the ATP Tour are playing fearlessly against the very best in the game.  They are knocking on the door, just as Wawrinka did in Australia.  Stepanek, Hanescu, Tursunov, Rosol and Vesely have come close to doing damage, while Dogopolov, Bautista Agut and Benneteau have already recorded impressive results thus far at Indian Wells.

Let's see just how far and how long The Wawrinka Effect will last in 2014.

 

All ATP #1 Seeds Retire From Matches This Week: Juan Martin del Potro, David Ferrer & Tommy Haas

PETE ZIEBRON

"My wrist is hurting a lot.  It's hurting all the time."  - Juan Martin del Potro this week in Dubai.  Pete Ziebron Images

The injury bug continues to haunt professional tennis this week as all 3 ATP tournaments lost their #1 seeds due to retirement during match play.  The 500 level tournament in Dubai saw Juan Martin del Potro exit in his very first match after dropping the first set 6-7 (3) to Somdev Devvarman.  Acapulco's 500 event lost their top seed David Ferrer in his quarterfinal against Kevin Anderson while he was leading the match 6-2 2-4.  Finally, Tommy Haas retired during his semifinal match in the 250 level tournament in Sao Paulo against Paolo Lorenzi when he was trailing 3-6 2-3.

The news about del Potro is especially concerning given the fact that he has already visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in January for concerns about his right wrist.  Following his retirement against Devvarman, a match where del Potro actually held 3 set points, he elaborated on his decision not to continue playing, this time due to his left wrist:

"My wrist is hurting a lot, and, you know, everybody knows what's happen to me four years ago with my other wrist.  I mean, it was really tough to play today and I tried everything, but it's very difficult play like in these conditions, you know, playing slices or I cannot be the player what I would like to be."

 

• Ironically, del Potro was also entered in the doubles competition with Radek Stepanek and they won their first match.  One must question that particular decision, especially given the fact that del Potro admitted that his wrist is constantly ailing him:

 

"It's hurting all the time, and it's sometimes less and sometimes little more.  But it's hurting, and I have been in contact with my doctor all the time.  He's trying to keep me motivated to keep playing, but I know what it's my limit playing on court.  Today was enough."

 World #4 David Ferrer was playing in his 6th tournament in 2014 this week in Acapulco (Novak Djokovic played only his 2nd of the year this week) and retired in his 25th match of the year in the quarterfinals against Kevin Anderson.  Ferrer was forced to stop play due to a left leg strain.

Today, 35 year old Tommy Haas was forced to retire from his semifinal match due to a a right shoulder injury he encountered in the first set of his match with Paolo Lorenzi.  Haas hurt his shoulder midway through the first set and decided to stop play in the middle of the second set.

In addition to the unfortunate circumstances on the ATP Tour, the 2 WTA tournaments this week have also encountered dramatic conclusions to matches.  

• 2 WTA quarterfinals and 1 WTA semifinal this week have ended in retirement.  

In Florianopolis, Brazil, both quarterfinals did not go the distance.  Romanian Monica Niculescu, the tournament's #5 seed retired at 6-4 0-6 1-4 to #1 seed Carla Suarez Navvaro and another Romanian, qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru could not finish her quarterfinal with #3 seed Karla Zakapalova when she trailed 3-6 2-5.

Meanwhile, in Acapulco, #8 seed Shuai Zhang of China retired in her semifinal match against #1 seed Dominika Cibulkova at 2-4.  Ironically, Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open Finalist, retired in her first round match in Doha 2 weeks ago.

The tennis season started with several injuries in New Zealand and Australia in January.  Unfortunately the trend has continued in February as the ATP 250 level tournament in Delray Beach was rocked with 5 retirements.  This week, in addition to del Potro having to stop play in Dubai, Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko were both unable to take the court for their respective matches.

Heading into March following play this week, the ATP and WTA Tours travel to the United States for the two largest tournaments outside of the majors, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California followed by Sony Open Tennis in Key Bisacyne, Florida.  Hopefully the tournaments will be able to avoid the rash of injuries that have plagued professional tennis thus far in 2014.