Tennis Acumen

GUILLERMO GARCIA-LOPEZ Advances to 4th Round of a Major for First Time Ever in 39 Attempts Today at Roland Garros

PETE ZIEBRON

World #41 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is into the 4th round at Roland Garros.  Pete Ziebron Images

Thirty year-old Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated American Donald Young today in 5 sets on Court 1 at Roland Garros to advance to the 4th round.  Despite the fact that Garcia-Lopez was appearing in his 38th consecutive major tournament, he has not been able to reach the second week of this nor any major in his career to date prior to today.

Garcia-Lopez shocked the tennis world right out of the gate in Paris earlier this week in the first round as he thrashed Stan Wawrinka in the 3rd and 4th sets of his  4-6 7-5 6-2 6-0 first round win to open his 2014 Roland Garros campaign.  Next Garcia-Lopez defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in 4 sets to advance to his 3rd round match against Young.

Even though this year marked the 11th year in a row that Garcia-Lopez was playing Roland Garros, his best result to date has been a 3rd round appearance in 2011.  This prior inability to advance may have resulted in Garcia-Lopez' failure to close out the match in the 4th set when he served for a spot in the 4th round at 5-4 against Young.  Garcia-Lopez would drop the 4th set in a tiebreaker and eventually, the match would go the distance and Garcia-Lopez finally prevailed with a 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-7(4) 6-4 result.

After the Australian Open, Garcia-Lopez elected to play the South American clay court tournaments and left South America on a 4 match losing streak heading into Miami.  However, in Miami, he defeated Gael Monfils 6-2 7-5 in the 2nd round.  Garcia-Lopez will face Monfils in his next match in the 4th round opponent at Roland Garros.

Following Miami, Garcia-Lopez won the 250 level tournament in Casablanca and parlayed that result with a very impressive showing at the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo where he defeated Alexandr Dogopolov and Tomas Berdych in the 2nd and 3rd rounds respectively before falling to Novak Djokovic in 3 sets in the 4th round.  

After the loss to Djokovic, Garcia-Lopez lost 2 of his next 3 matches in Oerias, Portugal and Madrid.  Thus, although he had 8 clay court tournaments under his belt this year, it came as a bit of a surprise to most of the sporting world when he defeated Wawrinka in the 1st round.  Garcia-Lopez entered Roland Garros with a ranking of #41 in the world, while the world #3 Wawrinka came into the French Open with confidence as he backed up his Australian Open title with a victory over Roger Federer in the final at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 in April on clay.  

Next up at Roland Garros for Guillermo Garca-Lopez will be Frenchman Gael Monfils, who managed to defeat Fabio Fognini in 5 sets today.  Monfils, a former semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2008, may not come into the match at 100% physically, however he will have a roaring French crowd to support him in his efforts.  Garcia-Lopez will seek to continue to advance further than he has ever ventured in a major tournament in his career.

Genie Bouchard, Monica Puig Win 1st WTA Titles on the Eve of Roland Garros

PETE ZIEBRON

2014 Nurnberg Champion Genie Bouchard                       Pete Ziebron Images

 

2014 Strasbourg Champion Monica Puig                          Pete Ziebron Images

Canadian Genie Bouchard and Monica Puig of Puerto Rico each won their first career WTA titles today on the red clay in Europe.  Bouchard notched a 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in Nurnberg, Germany while Puig recorded a 6-4 6-3 win over Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa in Strasbourg, France.

Bouchard struggled coming into Nurnberg, having lost her last 3 matches on clay: 6-4 6-1 to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 3rd round in Oerias, Portgual, 7-6(3) 6-2 to Aga Radwanska in Madrid and 6-4 6-2 to Francesca Schiavone in Rome.  Meanwhile, Puig entered the Nurnberg draw with confidence, having beaten Daniela Hantuchova in the 3rd round last week in Rome before losing to Maria Sharapova 6-3 7-5 in a tight 4th round match.

This week, Puig recorded impressive wins over Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-3 6-2 in the quarters as well as a 7-5 6-3 win over hard hitting American Madison Keys in the semifinal.  Bouchard was tested mightily in the quarterfinals this week by Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, before she ultimately prevailed 7-6(3) 7-6(6).

Both Genie Bouchard and Monica Puig competed in the now defunct $75K Goldwater Women's Tennis Classic that was held in Phoenix in November from 2009-2012.  In fact, 4 ladies that played in the Goldwater Classic reached the quarterfinals this week in Strasbourg: Camila Giorgi, Christina McHale, Madison Keys and Monica Puig.  All but Giorgi advanced to the semifinals.

Goldwater Classic Alumnae in the WTA Top 100

• #16 Sloane Stephens (USA)
• #19 Genie Bouchard (CAN)
• #36 Jamie Hampton (USA)
• #43 Alison Riske (USA)
• #44 Madison Keys (USA)
• #46 Caroline Garcia (FRA)
• #50 Varvara Lepchenko (USA)
• #51 Camila Giorgi (ITA)
• #56 Monica Puig (PUR)
• #59 Christina McHale (USA)
• #71 Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO)
• #77 Sharon Fichman (CAN)
• #84 Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)
• #87 Coco Vandeweghe (USA)
• #90 Chanelle Scheepers (RSA)
• #92 Heather Watson (GBR)
• #98 Julia Glusko (ISR)

Genie Bouchard, a semifinalist at this year's Australian Open, opens her Roland Garros campaign against Shahar Peer of Israel.  Monica Puig will face Australian Samantha Stosur, who was a finalist at Roland Garros in 2010 as well as a semifinalist in 2009 and 2012.

Just last August in Cincinnati, Both Genie Bouchard and Monica Puig needed to win 2 qualifying matches to reach the main draw.  Ironically, they played each other with Bouchard winning 6-3 6-4.   They would meet once again in October in the 1st round in Tokyo and once again Genie Bouchard won 6-0 6-4.

 

 

 

MADRID: Intriguing 1st & 2nd Round Groupings in the ATP & WTA Brackets

PETE ZIEBRON

Madrid, along with Indian Wells and Miami, enjoys an elite status on the tennis calendar.  All three locales host an ATP Masters 1000 tournament and a concurrent WTA Premier Mandatory tournament.  As a result, all of the top, healthy ATP and WTA players are entered into the main draw.

On the ATP side, the top eight seeds are given byes into the second round.  However, this fact did not prevent a very intriguing grouping of four players in the draw that will provide spectators and fans alike with acrobatic tennis, potential for plenty of drama and perhaps even a couple of raquet smashes, warnings for verbal abuse and quite possibly a disqualification.

Near the bottom half of the men's draw we have the following matchups:

(13) Fabio Fognini vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov

Ernests Gulbis vs. Jerzy Janowicz 

Fognini has already appeared in 3 tournament finals in 2014 (all on clay), winning in Vina del Mar against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina and losing in Buenos Aires to David Ferrer and today in Munich to Martin Klizan of the Slovak Republic.  The current world #15, Fognini also routed Andy Murray on clay in the Davis Cup quarterfinals last month in Naples.

Meanwhile, Alexandr Dolgopolov's career has enjoyed a resurgence this year.  The Ukranian was a finalist  in Rio de Janeiro, losing to Rafael Nadal in the final, however he would get his revenge against Nadal, defeating hin in the 3rd round in Indian Wells.  In addition, the world #22 Dolgopolov also defeated 2014 Australian Open Champion Stan Wawrinka in the 4th round in Miami.  

Dologpolov and Fognini have met twice this year, with Dolgopolov winning both times: 6-1 6-1 in the Rio de Janeiro quarterfinals and 6-2 6-4 in the round of 16 in Indian Wells.  Should Dolgopolov make it three straight over Fognini, he has also recorded wins over both of his potential 2nd round opponents: 6-2 6-2 over Jerzy Janowicz in the 2nd round in Sydney and 6-2 6-4 over Ernests Gulbis in the 1st round in Monte-Carlo.

Ernests Gulbis has also enjoyed solid results in the first third of 2014.  He defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win the title in Marseille and has also appeared in the semifinals of two ATP 500 tournaments, in Rotterdam and in Barcelona.  Currently, Gulbis is ranked 20th and reached a career high of world #18 this February.

Jerzy Janowicz, the Wimbledon semifinalist from one year ago has struggled repeatedly in 2014. The world #21 from Poland is on a current 7 match losing streak and has not won since beating Tommy Haas in Rotterdam in February.  Two of his last three losses were to world #295 Borna Coric of Croatia in a Davis Cup match in Warsaw and to #147 Michael Llodra in the 1st round in Monte-Carlo.

Regardless of whomever survives this group, the winner will be relieved to know that the likely opponent in the 3rd round, world #2 Novak Djokovic, has withdrawn due to lingering issues with his wrist that he injured in Monte-Carlo.

Looking at the WTA bracket, yet another grouping of four players provides intrigue, more for the quality of play rather than the potential for drama that was discussed in the ATP analysis:

Svetlana Kuznetsova  vs.  Alize Cornet 

Eugenie Bouchard vs.  (3) Agnieszka Radwanska 

Svetland Kuznetsova, two-time major Champion, including in 2009 at Roland Garros, appeared in the final today in Oeiras, where she lost to #1 seed Carla Suarez Navarro.  The world #29 from Russia defeated #18 Genie Bouchard in the 3rd round.   Last week in Stuttgart, Kuznetsova defeated world #5 Simona Halep before falling to eventual finalist Ana Ivanovic in 3 sets.  

Alize Cornet of France is currently ranked 21st in the world and has recorded some big wins so far in 2014.  In addition to winning the title last month in Katowice, she defeated world #3 Aga Radwanska along the way in the semifinals in Aga's home country of Poland.  Meanwhile, Cornet also defeated world #1 Serena Williams in the Dubai semifinals before falling to Venus Williams in the final.

Genie Bouchard started 2014 in fine fashion, reaching the Australian Open semifinals.  Bouchard defeated Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual Champion Li Na in the semis.  Bouchard has also recorded wins over #10 Sara Errani in Indian Wells and over #8 Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams in Charleston.

Aga Radwanska also reached the Australian Open semifinals, defeating world #2 Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals.  The world #3 from Poland has also reached the semis in Doha and Katowice and was also a finalist in Indian Wells.  

Whomever survives this challenging group: #29 Kuznetsova, #21 Cornet, #18 Bouchard or #3 Radwanska is expected to play world #9 Maria Sharapova, winner last week in Stuttgart and Roland Garros Champion in 2012.  Sharapova has also won 41 consecutive matches on clay against opponents other than Serena Williams.

 

 

 

 

Special Olympics Arizona 2014 Summer Games Tennis Competition

PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX

Special Olympics Arizona conducted its Summer Games tennis competition at a new venue in 2014, at the Phoenix Tennis Center.  While the rest of the events were held at nearby Grand Canyon University, tennis needed to be played at an alternate location since GCU no longer has tennis courts on its campus.

The athletes enjoyed the new venue as the majority of the courts were recently resurfaced earlier this year.  Despite the fact that the City of Phoenix reached 100F for the first time this year, 23 athletes competed in the Skills competition, 9 athletes played Quickstart Singles and 13 athletes played Singles.

A big Thank You to the Paradise Valley Community College men's and women's tennis teams for their annual volunteer assistance on the courts, to the USTA Southwest Section for donating several cases of tennis balls for the competition, to the City of Phoenix for the use of the Phoenix Tennis Center and to the many individual volunteers who helped with the event on a very hot day.

Enjoy the following photographs from today's action: