Tennis Acumen

Bencic, Giorgi, Konjuh & Istomin All Win First Career Titles Leading Into Wimbledon

PETE ZIEBRON

2015 Eastbourne Champion Belinda Bencic.                      Pete Ziebron Images

Yesterday 18 year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and ATP veteran, 18 year-old Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan each won their first titles of their respective careers.  Two weeks ago, 23 year-old Italian Camila Giorgi and 17 year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia also won their maiden titles.

The third time in a final was a charm for Bencic as it appeared in her as she fell to Alison Riske in Tianjin last October and more recently to Giorgi in Den Bosch just two weeks ago.  Bencic prevailed in Eastbourne on Saturday over former Wimbledon Finalist Aga Radwanska 6-4 4-6 6-0.  The victory wrapped up an impressive 11-2 run for Bencic on grass in 2015 as she also defeated Genie Bouchard, lat year's Wimbledon Finalist en route to the title in Eastbourne.

Concurrent to Bencic's win, Denis Istomin tasted victory for the first time ever on the lawns of Nottingham.  Istomin, who came into Nottingham with just a 6-14 mark in 2015 found his form, defeating Nicolas Almagro, Juan Monaco, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Leonardo Mayer and Marcos Baghdatis before facing American Sam Querrey in the final.  Querrey was attempting to win his 8th title in 14 attempts while Istomin dropped both of his previous finals.  Despite failing twice to serve out the match in the 2nd set, Istomin steadied his game late in the 2nd set tiebreaker to ultimately prevail 76(1) 76(6).  With the win, Istomin rose 30 places to world #62 in the ATP rankings.

The final in Den Bosch was Camila Giorgi's 4th attempt in the last 14 months and she made good this time, denying Belinda Bencic her first title, winning 75 63.  Despite 23 double faults and having to fend off multiple match points in the quarterfinals against Yaroslava Shvedova, Giorgi got through and could exhale a bit prior to reaching the semis.  The aggressive hitting Italian did not drop a set in the semis nor in the final and is now ranked #32 in the world.

Much was expected of young Ana Konjuh following her impressive march through the Wimbledon qualifying draw and run to the 3rd round last year.  Konjuh immediately followed up her result at Wimbledon with five more consecutive wins in qualifying and main draw to reach the semis in Istanbul.  However, Konjuh would only go 19-17 since last July before running the table in Nottingham.  Due to weather, Konjuh won both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches in one day.  In the final, she would drop her only set of the tournament to Monica Niculescu before steadying her game to win her first title 16 64 62.  

First round matches at Wimbledon for the recent Champions include:

Belinda Bencic (SUI) v Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)

Camila Giorgi (ITA) v Teliana Pereira (BRA)

Ana Konjuh (CRO) v Alize Cornet (FRA)

Denis Istomin (UZB) v Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP)

Federer, Murray & Nadal Win Grass Tourneys While Djokovic Opts to Rest Prior to Wimbledon

PETE ZIEBRON

Earlier today, Roger Federer won his 8th title on the grass in Halle, Germany while a few hours later, Andy Murray won his 4th title at Queen's Club in London.  Last Sunday, Rafael Nadal won an ATP 250 grass court event in Stuttgart, Germany.

Although 2015 marks the first year that 3 weeks separate the conclusion of Roland Garros and the beginning of Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic elected not to play either of the ATP 500 events in Halle or London.  Djokovic, who went the distance in Paris, losing to Stan Wawrinka, decided instead to use the extra time between majors to rest.  Djokovic will seek to defend his title at Wimbledon with no match play on grass under his belt while the majority of the ATP field played at least one tournament.

Roger Federer ended up playing 6 tiebreak sets en route to his title in Halle.  Federer won all 6 of the breakers but his fans are concerned about the fact that it is taking a tiebreak to ultimately win a set on grass.  However, Federer produced a sparkling 20 aces with no double faults throughout the semis and final.  In today's final he defeated Italian Andreas Seppi 76(1) 64 and yesterday took out Croat Ivo Karlovic 76(3) 76(4).

Due to weather yesterday, Andy Murray was forced to complete his semifinal today against Viktor Troicki from 3 all in the 1st set.  Murray would prevail in the semi 63 76(4) and then continue his fine form, defeating Kevin Anderson 63 64 in the final.  The last time Murray won Queen's, he went on to win Wimbledon in 2013.

Finally, Rafael Nadal found his way back to the trophy presentation as he defeated Viktor Troicki to win in Stuttgart last Sunday.  Nadal had been just 5-5 in his last 10 grass court matches prior to winning 4 consecutive times to lift the trophy.  Nadal's momentum would end two days later in London though, as Alexandr Dolgopolov rallied to win the last 4 games of the match to stun Nadal 63 67(6) 64.

We are now into the 3rd week of the grass court season as a lone ATP 250 is being contested in Nottingham.  The field of 48 does not feature any member of the Big Four.  Concurrent to Nottingham, the Wimbledon qualifying draw will get underway tomorrow.

Each of the Big Four has won Wimbledon: Federer 7 times, Nadal and Djokovic twice and Murray once.  The Big Four have won every Wimbledon since 2003.

 

Ricky Dimon & Pete Ziebron Preview Monday's Action From Roland Garros

PETE ZIEBRON

This content first appeared yesterday at www.tenngrand.com

Ricky Dimon of The Grandstand and Pete Ziebron of Tennis Acumen preview and pick two of the men’s singles matches on Monday at the French Open. Fourth-round action includes Rafael Nadal vs. Jack Sock and David Ferrer vs. Marin Cilic.

Jack Sock vs. (6) Rafael Nadal

Ricky: This is tennis’ Revolutions Per Minute on the Forehand Bowl. Sock is the only player on tour who hits with more RPMs on his forehand than Nadal. Unfortunately for the 22-year-old American, a place in a Grand Slam quarterfinal is not decided by RPMs. That being said, he should be able to make this one competitive. Sock is playing the best tennis of his life–by far–with a fourth-round showing in Indian Wells, a title on the red clay of Houston, and French Open victories over Grigor Dimitrov, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Borna Coric. The world No. 37 has never faced Nadal and he has played only one member of the “Big 4″ (lost to Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 earlier this year in Indian Wells). He has also never been to the fourth round of slam. Nadal, of course, is a nine-time champion of this event and he is playing like it after a slow start to the season. The Spaniard has not come close to dropping a set while taking out Quentin Halys, Nicolas Almagro, and Andrey Kuznetsov. Sock’s rise has already reached new heights this fortnight; asking him to go even higher against this particular opponent on this particular surface is too much. Nadal 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3.

Pete: Despite winning the U.S. Clay Court Championship earlier this spring, Sock stumbled into Roland Garros with a 1-3 mark on European clay. So how exactly is Sock in the fourth round of the French Open facing a nine-time champion in Nadal? Impressive wins over Dimitrov, Carreno Busta, and Coric have propelled Sock into the second week. Meanwhile, all sorts of questions have followed Nadal into Paris after sub-par clay Masters 1000 results. However, his play on Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen thus far has been impeccable. Expect the heavy conditions that are forecasted to give Sock an early advantage before Nadal finds his way into the match late in the second set. Nadal 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

(9) Marin Cilic vs. (7) David Ferrer

Ricky: Somehow Ferrer and Cilic have not gone head-to-head in more than five years. They both play a ton of tournaments and go deep in many of them, yet they have still not met since the 2010 Madrid Masters. Cilic has done especially well to set up what will be their fifth career encounter (Ferrer leads the series 3-1, including 1-0 on clay). The 2009 U.S. Open champion is finally rounding into form with dominant wins in Paris over Robin Haase, Andrea Arnaboldi, and Leonardo Mayer. He had been a mere 4-6 on the season prior to this event. Ferrer, on the other hand, has been a model of consistency. But the veteran Spaniard is looking just a little bit vulnerable having cooled off just a bit since January and February and he needed five sets to get past Simone Bolelli on Saturday. Still, a long match (and it wasn’t even that long) will have little impact on Ferrer and it will not hurt that he is battle-tested. This a steep step up in competition for Cilic, who has not defeated anyone better than 14th in the world since the U.S. Open. Ferrer 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Pete: Entering Roland Garros, Cilic had just an 11-11 record on the ATP Tour since his U.S. Open title. However, the Croat has now won 10 consecutive matches in Grand Slam play, including 19 straight sets. Unfortunately for Cilic, up next is Ferrer–the 2013 Roland Garros runner-up who can exhale for a moment after surviving a scare in the last round from Bolelli. Expect Ferrer to get into his business as usual mode against Cilic, as the 33 year-old Spaniard lives up to his “little beast” moniker to advance to the quarterfinals for the sixth time. Ferrer 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4).