Men's Fourth Round French Open Preview

By Mike Mcintyre

Half-way to the finish line and all of the main threats in the men's draw at Roland Garros appear poised to live up to their billing in Paris.

Top ranked Rafa Nadal survived his first five-set French Open match against John Isner and a third set hiccup against Pablo Andular in round two to advance with ease to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3. 6-0 route of Antonio Veic. Next up is unseeded veteran Ivan Ljubicic who upset Fernando Verdasco in straight sets on Saturday. While Ljubicic is a wily veteran, he stands no chance against the defending champion and will go down in three in their meeting I'm certain. While Ljubicic has defeated the Spaniard twice before, both of those meetings came on hard courts. Nadal will own him on clay to advance to the quarter-finals.

The Gilles Simon vs. Robin Soderling fourth round match should be a good baseline battle between one of three remaining French hopes and the two-time returning finalist from Sweden. Soderling leads their head-to-head 4-2 but the pair have never met on clay before. Expect a long match with Soderling likely prevailing to set-up a fantastic quarter-finals match against Nadal. Not a player Rafa is looking forward to facing.

After the finals in Australia, Andy Murray is still waiting for his "I'm Back" moment of 2011. Following the first Slam of the year he tanked in the first round of three consecutive tournaments. Back on track after a semi-final appearance in Rome where he had the chance to serve for the match against unbeaten Novak Djokovic, Murray can hold is own on clay and if his ankle holds up he should be able to dispatch Serb Viktor Troicki. Troicki is at an all-time high of 15th in the ATP World Tour rankings but I don't think he'll be able to pull-off the win against an experienced player like Murray. Murray leads 3-0 in their previous encounters although they have never met on clay and their last match was almost two years ago. Murray's health will dictate the outcome here.

 Moving along we have a surprise quarter of Alejandro Falla, ranked 127th in the world, against veteran dirt-baller Juan Ignacio Chela who has maintained a top-forty ranking even at the age of 31. At one apiece in their career against one another, this match could go either way. Ultimately unless you are from Colombia or Argentina you probably don't care one way or the other. The victor will no-doubt be taken care of by the winner of the Troicki-Murray match.

In the bottom half speedster David Ferrer will meet up with the acrobatic and unpredictable Gael Monfils of France. Should be a fantastic match that has five sets written all over it. Monfils has made the semi-finals here before while Ferrer is certainly capable himself and both have the potential to give their likely next opponent, Roger Federer, a tough go. With the year he's been having I give Ferrer the slight edge.

Federer meanwhile will feast upon his fellow countryman Stan Wawrinka in their fourth round encounter. Roger holds an intimidating 8-1 record against his former gold medal-winning doubles partner from the Beijing Olympics. Wawrinka came back from two-sets down to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win a tough third round match and even if he was well rested I doubt he'd be able to topple Federer here at a Slam.

In another surprising fourth round match, Fabio Fognini will face Albert Montanes. While Fognini is a bit of a journeyman, Montanes is a legitimate clay court threat. Montanes is unseeded but reached a career-high ranking of 22 in the world last summer. He hasn't been lighting it up this year but won two clay court tournaments in 2010. He has played Fognini four times in his career and won the three most recent matches, all on clay.

The winner above faces the unenviable task of facing the winner between Novak Djokovic and...well, does it really matter? With a 40-0 record in 2011, Djokovic should be able to deal with Richard Gasquet in their match. Fresh off a four set send-off of Juan Martin Del Potro, Djokovic fears no one. While Gasquet took out Federer recently in Rome and definitely has a talent level that could trouble any player on tour, Djokovic is almost untouchable at the moment. It would take a Herculean effort from a Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal to have a chance at ending the Djoker's impressive streak right now.

Enjoy the fourth round and stay tuned for more analysis and updates from us here at ProTennisFan. Feel free to follow us on Twitter as well throughout the event and beyond.

ATP World Tour Top Ten Predictions

By Mike McIntyre

The 2011 ATP World Tour season is soon to be upon us. Tournaments in Brisbane, Chennai and Doha get things started just after the New Year arrives and the first Grand Slam begins in Melbourne on January 17th.

Soon we will see who has come prepared to defend their ranking points from 2010 and who is ready to make some gains on their previous results. Let's take a look into the crystal ball and see who might be poised for a top-ten finish in the coming year. These are the top-ten season ending rankings for 2011 as predicted by ProTennisFan.

1 - Roger Federer

You'd have to be crazy to pick someone other than Rafael Nadal to finish number on in the world, no? Well hear me out first because I think there is a very real possibility for Roger to reclaim the number one ranking in 2011.

Rafa was by far the most dominant player last season as he won three Grand Slams and three Masters 1000 titles. Basically, Nadal will have to be just as consistent this coming year in order to defend all of those points. He will also have to stay healthy which is never a given for the Spaniard due to his rugged style of play.

Federer meanwhile started 2010 with a bang by capturing his only Slam of the year. After that he failed to win another tournament until the Masters event in Cincinnati in August. He ended the year as the toughest player on tour by winning three of the final four events he entered, including the ATP World Tour Finals in London where he knocked off Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Robin Soderling and Nadal while only losing a single set.

Federer is hungry to reclaim the number one spot and certainly finished 2010 by sending out a message to the other players on tour. While he will be turning 30 this coming year, he is by no means slowing down. After Australia he has the ability to make huge gains in the rankings due to his lackluster performance during that stretch a year ago. Look for Roger to be back on top of the rankings a year from now.

2 - Rafael Nadal

The Nadal and Federer show will undoubtedly maintain it's stronghold on the upper echelon of men's tennis for another season. Both are a world apart from everyone else and I expect their reign of Grand Slam supremacy to continue in 2011. While Nadal might slip slightly from his incredible run in 2010, he will still be fighting with Federer for the top spot in the rankings. A very close number-two finish is what I predict for the Spaniard this year. Beyond this year however, I see Nadal holding that number one ranking for a good stretch.

3 - Novak Djokovic

Almost three years since winning his first Grand Slam and we are still waiting for the talented Serb to win another. Last year was not an overwhelming success for Djokovic as he won only two titles and was 1-4 against Federer and 0-2 against Nadal. His one victory over Federer was an impressive one at the U.S. Open but he could not mount a serious attack against Nadal in the final. Djokovic's season highlight was in leading Serbia to the Davis Cup title over France, but he will have to win another Slam for people to take him more seriously. There seems to be a lack of forward progression for Djokovic and I see his ranking at a standstill in 2011. That being said it is difficult to move your ranking up when you've got mega-stars like Federer and Nadal in front of you.

4 - Robin Soderling

Two French Open finals in a row have shown that Soderling is a true threat on tour. The fact that he has shown such improvements on clay is quite impressive as his game is more suited for hard or grass courts. Soderling also won his very first Master 1000 event in Paris towards the end of 2010. He won't challenge the Federer's, Nadal's or Djokovic's just yet but he is going to be a top five fixture for some time.

5 - Andy Murray

When he wants to (see Shanghai and Toronto 2010), Andy Murray looks almost unbeatable. Unfortunately more often than not last season, the dour Scott looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on a tennis court. Poor showings in three of the four Grand Slams and eight months into the season before winning a title showed that Murray has a long way to go in terms of establishing his legacy. While he might have Federer's number in most of their encounters on tour, he still finds a way to tank every time the pair meet in a high-stakes match. 2011 needs to be a big year from Murray in order to take a step forward and I don't see that happening quite yet.

6 - Andy Roddick

It was an up and down season in 2010 for Andy Roddick. He started off on fire by winning in Adelaide, reaching the quarter-finals of the Aussie Open and then the finals of the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells followed by a win at the Masters 1000 in Miami. Then the American missed the entire clay-court season leading up to Roland Garros and lost early at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open while also suffering from a mild case of Mono. He dropped out of the top ten in August leaving the Tour without an American presence there for the first time since 1973. Roddick still managed to make the year end Tour Championships in London for a remarkable eighth year in a row.

After working hard in the off-season Roddick is hungry to prove he still belongs in the top ten. I expect another strong start to the season on the hard courts from Roddick, followed by perhaps a bigger push on clay to avoid losing his rythm in the middle of the season.

7 - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

A healthy Tsonga belongs in the top-ten without a doubt. After reaching his first and only Grand Slam final in Australia three years ago it has been a constant struggle for the 25 year old. He started strongly in 2010 by making the semis at the Aussie Open, had a decent spring and then made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon before missing three months due to a knee injury. His results since then were about as much as you could expect from someone coming back late in the season. If he can stay healthy in 2011, lookout.

8 - Gael Monfils

Another talented Frenchman who when healthy is a serious contender to win a Grand Slam at some point during his career. Staying healthy is going to be a perpetual challenge for the acrobatic Monfils, who often choses the most crowd-enticing display of athleticism when a simple shot would likely suffice.

Monfils was able to creep close to the top-ten in 2010 by turning in some wonderful late-season performances. He finished with a great run at the Masters 1000 event in Paris, where he defeated Andy Murray and Roger Federer before falling to Robin Soderling in the final. This marked the first time he had ever defeated Federer on the ATP World Tour. The first seven months of last year were quite unspectacular, which means that Monfils has many ranking points he could gain in the early part of 2011.

9 - Tomas Berdych

After years of talking about how much potential and raw talent Berdych possessed, he finally delivered in 2010 by making the semi-finals of the French Open and then followed that up with the first Grand Slam final of his career at Wimbledon. While he went down quietly to Nadal in that match, it proved that Berdych can put a good string of matches together when it counts.

Earlier in the year Berdych reached the finals of the Miami Masters 1000 tournament (L. Roddick) but otherwise was fairly transparent in most other events. Berdych will have a huge amount of points to defend in back-to-back Slams this year, but can also add to his totals with modest improvements in his consistency throughout the year. Another top-ten finish is certainly attainable.

10 - Sam Querrey

Querrey has proven he can win on any surface on the ATP World Tour as long as it is at the 250 level. It is now time for the young American to prove that he can compete at a higher level and I think he is getting close to doing just that. He defeated Andy Roddick and Andy Murray in 2010 which should give him a good boost of confidence in those bigger matches. While Querrey is my long-shot pick to make the top-ten, I think he has the goods to deliver in the coming year.

 

Around The Corner: ATP Tour Puts Down in Europe

By Mike McIntyre

Back over to Europe for three indoor hard court tournaments this week on the ATP World Tour. The big news on the circuit last week was that Roger Federer tied Pete Sampras' all-time tournament tally with his 64th career win in Stockholm. Only another 45 before he equals Jimmy Connors mark of 109!

This week we have stops in Austria, France and Russia as the season begins to draw to a close.

Bank Austria Tennis Trophy

It's gimmick time in Vienna as the event has chosen to dust off 43 year-old Thomas Muster with a wild-card into the main draw. The former world number one and French Open champion has been playing a few challenger and futures level events this fall and has a 1-6 record so far in his "comeback."

Muster opens against enigmatic Ernests Gulbis in the first round. I'm not really too sure what to make of this stunt. Muster is over ten years past being able to play at a high level - why make a return to the tour now?

Local Jurgen Melzer gets the number one seed and deservingly so. Not only is he the defending champion at this event, but he has had a terrific 2010 that has seen him reach his first career Grand Slam semi-final and also defeat Rafael Nadal for the first time. Melzer gets a first round bye and could face wild-card James Blake in the second round.

Melzer will likely have to face Philipp Kohlschreiber in his section of the draw, and could also see clay-court guru Nicolas Almagro or veteran Xavier Malisse as well.

In the bottom half, Marcos Baghdatis and second seeded Marin Cilic are lurking. Cilic could really use a strong result to close out his season as it has been one great disappointment for him since a semi-final appearance at the Australian Open back in January.

Open Sud de France

Doesn't it seem like there is an ATP event in France every couple of weeks? The French must really love their tennis and who can blame them? They have an abundance of players in the top one hundred in the world. Their players also have a variety in their game that makes them among the most enjoyable to watch in the sport.

Look over the qualifying draw and you might be surprised to see an A. Agazzi entered. That would be Andrea Agazzi from Italy...no joke.

The main draw boasts number one seed Nikolay Davydenko who appears to be on his last legs of competitiveness since returning from a wrist injury back in the spring. His long-term hold on a top-ten position has reached its end as he has been unable to put together any type of consistent tennis all season. Davydenko gets a first round bye, which will probably actually hurt his chances.

Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic is in the top-half of the draw along with Frenchman Richard Gasquet who is my pick to win the tournament.

In the bottom half we find many other talented locals such as number two seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils. Again, what a great time to be a tennis fan in France. David Nalbandian is also present with a wild-card.

St. Petersburg Open

Russia welcomes Mikhail Youzhny as the top seed and a slew of other lesser known players into the field. It is arguably the weakest draw of the three tournaments and does not offer any first round exemptions.

Youzhny won the event way back in 2004 which speaks to his longevity on the tour. In 2009, Sergiy Stakhovsky emerged as the champion and he is back as the second seed this time around.

Viktor Troicki who just won his first ever tour event in Moscow is in the top-half of the draw, while Jeremy Chardy, Janko Tipsarevic and P.H. Mathieu are in the bottom section.

Enjoy the tennis this week everyone.

 

 

 

 

Men's U.S. Open Fourth Round Preview

By Mike McIntyre

The final week of Grand Slam play for 2010 is about to begin and there are sixteen players left in the men's draw. Noticeable absentees include the Andy's (Murray and Roddick) and Tomas Berdych. Other than that I suppose David Nalbandian and Marcos Baghdatis bowed out slightly earlier than we had thought, but there are still several big names left in the draw.

Rafa Nadal has been rolling along just fine on the hard courts so far in this tournament. He'll get compatriot Feliciano Lopez next. Lopez took him out of the grass court tune-up event at Queen's Club in June so we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss him. Nadal will raise his game when required however and we all know how hungry he is to complete the career slam with a win in New York. I'm going with Nadal in straights.

Another all-Spanish battle features Fernando Verdasco the 8th seed against number 10 seed David Ferrer. Verdasco impressively knocked off Nalbandian in the third round while Ferrer advanced against a lesser-known hard court player in Daniel Gimeno-Traver. I'm looking at a tough five set Verdasco victory which would give us a nice re-match of the Nadal/Verdasco tilt from the Australian Open that went the distance in 2009.

American hopeful Sam Querrey and Swiss understudy Stan Wawrinka both have the opportunity to make their first career Grand Slam quarter-final. Querrey has had a great year at the lower-level tournaments winning three ATP Tour 250 events, and one 500 event. Let's see if he now has the game to make a splash on a bigger stage. Wawrinka just beat one of the U.S. Open favorites in Andy Murray. Can he keep that level up? I'm picking Wawrinka in four sets due to experience.

Mikhail Youzhny took out American John Isner in the last round and will now face veteran Tommy Robredo. Normally I'd go with Youzhny hands-down but I've learned to never count Tommy out. Just when you think his career is on the downward swing, he tosses in an excellent result. Still, talent wise, you gotta think Youzhny will pull this one out in four.

Monday gives us the four bottom-half matches, starting out with Richard Gasquet against Gael Monfils. This match should be one of the most entertaining between Gasquet's beautiful backhand and Monfils' colorful court antics. The all-French match holds a 2-2 career head-to-head with all meetings on hard court. Could go either way really as neither has enjoyed much success on this surface this summer, but Le Monf has my vote in a five setter. 

Mardy Fish is likely wishing that the heat would return to Flushing Meadows in time for his match against Novak Djokovic. Unfortunately cool temperatures are in the forecast giving Djokovic the ideal conditions he needs to succeed against the American. While Fish has had a great summer and has made the quarter-finals in New York once before, the Djoker has been picking up his game this week and looks ready to advance. Djokovic in four. 

Robin Soderling gets the easiest match on paper as he takes on clay-court specialist Albert Montanes. A straight set wins for the Swede should be in the cards, making him a very dangerous and well-rested player to face Roger Federer in the next round.

Federer gets resurgent Jurgen Melzer who has had the best season of his career for sure. The 29 year old had never before advanced past the third round of a Slam before 2010 and has now made the semi's at Roland Garros, the fourth round at Wimbledon and now again the fourth round at the U.S. Open. His run is about to end at the hands of Federer who will have one last routine victory before having to face a serious test in Soderling. Federer in straights.

Saturday Provides Great Action at U.S. Open

By Mike McIntyre

The half-way point of the 2010 U.S. Open approaches and with it we should get some great matches this weekend in New York.

Today Janko Tipsarevic will attempt to continue his high-risk, high-reward play against acrobatic Frenchman Gael Monfils. The two are heading towards a first set tie-break as I write and this one has five set potential for sure. A great chance for one of these players to make the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows.

In women's action Jelena Jankovic is down a set to Kaia Kanepi, but she seems to have a knack for dramatic victories. Don't count her out just yet. With Serena Williams out, this tournament offers JJ an excellent chance to finally get a Grand Slam title - but the consistency and mental resilience just doesn't seem to be there.

Later, American Beatrice Capra will attempt to do what Melanie Oudin did a year ago - upset Russian Maria Sharapova. All the tennis experts are picking Sharapova to emerge victorious at the end of the U.S. Open, but she'll likely have to get through top seeded Caroline Wozniacki if she defeats Capra today.

Men's favorite Roger Federer takes to the court later this afternoon against Paul-Henri Mathieu. Federer owns their career head-to-head 4-0, with victories on every surface. Expect him to continue to sail towards the finish line.

In the opening match of the evening session, look forward to watching veteran James Blake try to out-gun third seeded Novak Djokovic. It's been nice to see Blake playing some decent tennis so far in the tournament, but he is seriously out-matched against Djokovic. If this one had been played during the hot day time conditions we saw earlier in the week then I'd give Blake a fighting chance - but not with the ideally cool evening temperatures.

Enjoy the tennis everyone!

 

Berdych, Nalbandian and Federer Prevail At Rogers Cup

By Mike McIntyre

The day session has wrapped-up here at the Rogers Cup on Thursday and the tournament has been fortunate thus far to avoid any major upsets. While there have been some tense moments and momentum swings that could have progressed to that level, things are still on course for the anticipated Nadal/Murray and Djokovic/Federer semi-finals this weekend. In the meantime here are a few quick hits from the action today.

Comebacks:

David Nalbandian is certainly making some waves since returning from yet another injury layoff. Today he beat Robin Soderling  4-6, 6-4, 6-1 for his 11th consecutive win. A brief lapse in concentration where he double-faulted twice in a row while trying to serve for the first set at 4-5 would ultimately cause Nalbandian to lose the opening frame. After that he seemed to regain control of the match and breezed in the third set past the 5th ranked player in the world.

It would be hard to categorize the result as an upset, despite the fact that Soderling has been quite consistent over the past year. Nalbandian lead their head-to-head 5-1 coming into the match today and has the game that can hang with the Swede shot for shot.

Future-Stars:

Lookout for Alex Dolgopolov folks, this kid has got some serious game. Appearing small in stature today against the 6'5'' Tomas Berdych, Dolgopolov nearly toppled the giant by using a wide variety of shot selection and never appearing to be in awe of the 2010 Wimbledon finalist.

The youngest member of the top one hundred players in the world at age 21, Dolgopolov is a player on the rise. You wouldn't have guessed that he was playing in his first hard court tournament since early February and I'm somewhat confused as to why he has seemingly avoided playing on the surface for so long. 

This week in Toronto he managed to lose the first set in all three of his matches. Against both Philipp Petzschner and Mikhail Youzhny he failed to show up in the opening frame and fell 1-6 each time. In the second set he suddenly sprung to life against all of his opponents and especially today against Berdych where his first serve appeared to be unable to miss.

Dolgopolov's serve is one of his real strengths as it is almost impossible to read. His toss is non-existent and he makes contact with the ball while it is still on the rise.

Also on the rise is the young Ukrainian's ranking which since January 2009 has lept from 309th in the world to its current position at No. 49. 

The variety in Dolgopolov's game is what has impressed me the most this week. This is not your typical baseline basher and I would imagine all of his time playing on clay courts has helped develop this aspect of his play. Well timed drop-shots and lobs are a regular part of his repertoire, and his backhand slice is also quite lethal.

Against Berdych it appeared as though a final set tie-break would be required to settle the score, but Dolgopolov made a couple of tactical errors when serving at 4-5. He chose a poor time to approach the net and watched a Berdych shot whiz by him for 0-30. Berdych then charged the net during the following point which appeared to throw Dolgopolov off and force an error for 0-40. Then, in the ultimate disappointment, Dolgopolov had two first-serve lets, before double faulting to hand the match to Berdych, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.

Still, winning two rounds at a Masters level tournament will give Dolgopolov a few ranking points that should help him progress towards the top-thirty. While I doubt a seeding at the U.S. Open is in the works, Dolgopolov will likely be on the list of players most would rather avoid at Flushing Meadows.

I'll be keeping an eye on his progression the rest of the year and would encourage anyone attending any ATP tournaments to make the effort to check this guy out. Watching an up and coming player like Dolgopolov on the outside courts is a treat you can talk about one day if he makes it big. 

Having Some Fun:

Finally, for fans looking for some good ol' fashioned serve and volleying with a side of the absurd, look no further than the Centre Court match that took place between Roger Federer and Michael Llodra.

These two apparently have quite a friendly history from their junior days when they were both very familiar with each others games. Since that time they have only played one professional match prior to today, and that came back in 1999 at a Challenger tournament in France where Federer prevailed in straight sets. The result was the same today with Roger winning 7-6, 6-3. 

Llodra didn't manage to take a set from the world No. 3 player, but he did walk off with his shirt. The Frenchman asked Federer for it at the end of the match and revealed that he did it because, "You know, for me, you know, Rogers is (a) legend, so it's a good present for my kids."

After fighting back in the first set and recovering from being down a break, Federer cruised in the tie-break while Llodra seemed to implode with a variety of double-faults, poorly executed drop shots and volleys that missed the mark as well.

In the second set when it appeared inevitable that Federer would take the match, Llodra even tried to surprise him with a rarely seen underhanded serve.

Asked if he had ever done that before, Llodra replied, "Yeah. But not in the match!"

Federer was all smiles in the post-match press conference where he revealed that, "It's the first time I got an underarm serve; third time somebody asked me for the shirt."

The light-hearted questions continued for Federer as he was later asked about the pink shirt he's sporting this week here in competition.

"I don't know where my head was when I chose pink, but I like it, you know. Honestly I've gotten a lot of praise for it. People apparently like it...so that's a good thing. It's only for, unfortunately or luckily, only for two tournaments because I'm going to be changing again for the Open, and I thought it was going to be something fun for the summer. That's kind of how it goes."

Roger will be hoping that his fun summer includes another U.S. Open title in September. His first true test since returning from a six week layoff will be tomorrow night at 7pm ET as he faces Berdych in a re-match of their Wimbledon quarter-final tilt that was won by the Czech.

Stay tuned to ProTennisFan for full coverage of that match and the other quarter-finals as well.

Around The Corner: Hamburg and Atlanta

By Mike McIntyre

The International German Open - Hamburg, Germany

The German Open offers European clay-court specialists another opportunity to pad their ranking point totals for the year.

Russian Nikolay Davydenko is seeded first but given his play as of late I wouldn't expect much in terms of results here. Struggling to find his game after returning from injury, Davydenko was bounced in the first round in Stuttgart last week and is 3-4 since returning from a three month layoff. While Davydenko is the returning champion, he will have considerable difficulty in defending this time around.

Nicolas Almagro is seeded fifth and is always dangerous on red clay. The Spaniard just captured the title in Bastad, his first of 2010, and has a favorable draw here in Hamburg. One knock against Almagro however is that he usually disappoints after a big result. Consistency is lacking and it will be a challenge for him to put together back-to-back titles.

Veterans Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Robredo are both in the draw and have the ability to raise the trophy as does Albert Montanes who won in Stuttgart last week.

Third seeded Jurgen Melzer has performed well at the last two Grand Slams, where he made the semis at Roland Garros and the fourth round at Wimbledon, but then bowed-out 4-6, 1-6 to Montanes a week ago on clay.

Second seeded David Ferrer is my favorite here and performed well in Bastad where he lost just a few days ago in the semi-finals to Robin Soderling in three sets.

The Atlanta Tennis Championships - Atlanta, Georgia

The city of Atlanta gets to host an ATP event for the first time since 2001 when Andy Roddick won his first ATP tournament. Previously this tournament was held on green clay, but returns as a hard-court event leading up to the U.S. Open. The city is no stranger to big tennis events as it hosted the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Roddick gets a first-round bye and could face Xavier Malisse in the third round. Roddick holds an 8-0 career advantage against the 58th ranked Belgian, who is climbing his way back up the rankings as of late.

If you're a fan of American tennis you'll want to keep a close eye on the second quarter of the draw. There you'll find a quartet of aging American players who will fight for the chance of facing Roddick in the semi-finals.

Twenty-nine year old Taylor Dent gets an opening round match against thirty year old James Blake that should be a crowd pleaser. Blake has dropped out of the top-hundred while Dent is working on moving back towards the top-fifty. Blake is taking his departure from the upper-echelon of the game with much difficulty and has talked recently about how this could be his last year on tour if things do not improve. 

Also lurking in this section are twenty-seven year old Robby Ginepri and twenty-eight year old Mardy Fish. I would look to Fish to have the best chance of breaking out of this section of the draw as he won the title in Newport, Rhode Island just over a week ago.

Third seeded Lleyton Hewitt should be able to have a solid run in Atlanta and his presence here indicates to me that he is serious about taking a good run in Flushing Meadows. The veteran from Australia can still hit a good ball and is always a threat when healthy.

In the bottom quarter look for second seeded John Isner to advance quite deep in the draw. I'd imagine that Isner has more than recovered from his epic first-round victory at Wimbledon over Nicolas Mahut. Let's hope that Isner has found some time to practice around his recent media blitz that included reading the top-ten list on Late Night with David Letterman and winning an ESPY award for greatest record-breaking performance.

Spanish Success: Almagro and Montanes Capture Clay Court Titles

By Mike McIntyre

Spain continues to reap athletic rewards as the Spanish duo of Nicolas Almagro and Albert Montanes won the two clay-court titles on the ATP Tour this past week.

Montanes defeated Gael Monfils 6-2, 1-2 in Stuttgart before the Frenchman had to retire with a right ankle injury. It was the second title of the year for Montanes.

"I twisted my ankle on the court and it was impossible to finish the match," said Monfils. "The week was good. I played pretty good tennis, a lot of confidence came back. To reach a final again was pretty exciting. I had a bad experience (today) but hopefully it will be better soon and I can get back to my best level and try to reach some other finals."

Meanwhile in Bastad, Sweden, Nicolas Almagro defeated defending champion Robin Soderling in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to capture the SkiStar Swedish Open. Almagro improves to an impressive 6-2 in ATP finals, although one wonders why we don't see this more often from him on the red clay. 

“I didn’t play very well in the 2007 final here, but today I fought very hard and I’m really happy with the physical and mental sides to my game,” said Almagro. “It was a big match, a big fight and we were both battling like gladiators. Robin is a great player and I’m sure he will have many more chances to win this tournament in the future.”

The victories are important for the ranking points that both Spaniards will add to their 2010 totals. With the North American hard-court swing about to start I wouldn't expect we see any results like this from either player for some time. All of the 11 career titles between them have come on clay.

Around the Corner: Clay Court Tennis in Stuttgart and Bastad

By Mike McIntyre

With the short grass court season already over, the ATP Tour turns to a couple of clay court tournaments in Europe this week.

Stuttgart:

The chance at redemption to a multitude of players who have missed significant portions of the tennis season due to injury is offered at Stuttgart this year.

Russian Nikolay Davydenko is the top seed in Stuttgart and will try to improve on his semi-final appearances here in 2004 and 2005. Ranked sixth in the world, Davydenko is still struggling with his game since returning from a wrist injury in June. After missing three months he returned in time for Halle and Wimbledon and lost both times in the second round on his least favorite surface of grass. Davydenko gets a first round bye and will then play the winner of the Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Jeremy Chardy match. Chardy won his first career title here a year ago but will be hard-pressed to repeat.

Frenchman Gael Monfils is seeded third and has a fairly easy looking quarter of the draw that is littered with qualifiers. Monfils also missed some time earlier in the year with injury issues and has yet to post any significant results in 2010. This tournament offers the perfect opportunity for Monfils to reach his first final of the season.

Fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon could meet up with veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third quarter-final. Simon will be have trouble living up to this seventh-seed status as he too was out of action for three months between March and June with injuries and is not yet where his game is capable of being.

In the final quarter, clay-court specialist Albert Montanes the fifth seed will likely meet up with second seeded Jurgen Melzer if they can get through the opening two rounds. Melzer is experiencing the season of his career thus far at the age of 29 by making it to the semi-finals at the French Open and the fourth round at Wimbledon. The Austrian had never before advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam.

Bastad:

In Bastad, Sweden, local hope Robin Soderling will look to defend his title from a year ago. Soderling was the first Swede to win the singles title in Bastad since his current coach, Magnus Norman, did it in 2000. 

Third seeded David Ferrer won the title in 2007 and is still capable of strong results on clay. This year he has won the title in Acapulco, made the finals of Buenos Aires and the Masters-Series tournament in Rome as well as the semi-finals of four other tournaments.

Nicolas Almagro is seeded fourth and is an able clay-court player. His section seems quite routine and he should be able to find his way deep into the draw.

The bottom quarter features two tough players from Spain in veteran Tommy Robredo, who has won the Bastad title twice before (2006, 2008), and second seeded Fernando Verdasco. Robredo holds a 23-7 career record at this tournament and has a 4-4 head-to-head against Verdasco.

One interesting note when looking at the list of former doubles champions is that Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman won here on seven separate occasions and with six different partners.

Around the Corner: Davis Cup and the Monterrey Open

By Mike McIntyre

A mixed bag of events are around the corner this week. To kick off the month of March, the men are involved in the first round of Davis Cup competition. The women meanwhile are in Mexico for the Monterrey Open. Both tour's are inching closer to the combined event in Indian Wells that begins in two weeks.

Davis Cup:

Here are the match-ups for the first round of the World Group starting March 5th.

Spain vs. Switzerland - Logrono, Spain;

No Nadal or Federer in this match-up unfortunately. Spain is the huge favorite as this will be played on clay and can rely on David Ferrer, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Robredo.

France vs. Germany - Toulon, France;

Without veterans Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer, Germany will be in tough on hard courts against a French team that includes Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.

Russia vs. India - Moscow, Russia;

Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny should own India in singles competition, but look for the Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati to win the doubles match.

Sweden vs. Argentina - Stockholm, Sweden;

The indoor hard-court conditions should be ideal for Sweden's Robin Soderling who should win both of his singles matches. This will be a tough match-up for Argentina as David Nalbandian is once again on the injury list.

Croatia vs. Ecuador - Varazdin, Croatia;

Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic are going to make life very difficult for the Lapentti brothers on the hardcourts in Varazdin.

Serbia vs. United States - Belgrade, Serbia;

This should be a very interesting match-up, with Novak Djokovic leading the way for Serbia and the Bryan brothers countering for the United States. In the end it will come down to how Sam Querrey and John Isner can respond as the lead singles players for the U.S. on the red clay in Belgrade. Serbia has the definite edge considering the chosen surface.

Chile vs. Israel - Coquimbo, Chile;

On paper, the Chilean squad led by Fernando Gonzalez should be favored on clay against Israel, but in 2009 the Israeli's put on quite a show in Davis Cup play and made it all the way to the semi-finals. They cannot be counted out in this tie in Coquimbo. The doubles duo of Andy Ram and Jonathan Elrich are quite the force.

Belgium vs. Czech Republic - Bree, Belgium

Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek lead the way for the Czechs against veterans Olivier Rochus and Xavier Malisse. The Belgians will really have to rely on using the energy from the home-court advantage to have a hope against the higher-ranked Czech's.

Monterrey Open:

A year ago, Marion Bartoli won the innaugaural Monterrey Open against Li Na 6-4, 6-3.

This year, Jelena Jankovic leads the tournament as the top seed and perhaps this event offers her the opportunity to get her game back on track. Struggling mightily for the past year, the Serbian has great talent but a mental game that is as fragile as they come.

Other names to keep an eye on in Monterrey include Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, Aleks Wozniak from Canada and Melanie Oudin of the United States. All of these players could benefit from a strong run and without many of the tour's top players in attendance should be able to get some momentum ahead of Indian Wells.

Jelena Dokic leads the qualifying tournament as the top seed and will be looking to post her first substantial result of 2010. While Dokic had a fantastic start to 2009 by making the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, she has failed to repeat that success this year and is 1-3 in tournament play.