McIntyre Tennis

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.

Australian Open Day Three Preview

By Mike McIntyre

Featured Match: Elena Dementieva vs Justine Henin

Without the luxury of a seeding here in Australia, Justine Henin knew full-well that she may get a difficult draw in her first Grand Slam since emerging from retirement. She probably didn't expect it would be this difficult however, as she must now face the 5th seeded Dementieva.

Dementieva is one of the most talented players to never have won a Grand Slam tournament and is fresh off a victory in her first tournament of the year in Sydney a week ago where she defeated Serena Williams in the final.

Henin has also looked sharp since returning this year and fell to Kim Clijsters in her first tournament back in Brisbane two weeks ago. Along the way she defeated top players like Nadia Petrova and Ana Ivanovic, although neither of them have the consistency of Dementieva.

Henin has a 9-2 career head-to-head record again Dementieva which might help her mentally in approaching this match. Both players know they are in for a struggle that will likely last three sets.

Result: Henin is a special type of player and despite her year-and-a-half layoff I'm picking her to prevail in this one in three sets.

Upset of the Day: Andrey Golubev vs Ivan Ljubicic

I don't think we can call Henin over Dementieva an upset, so instead look to Andrey Golubev to defeat veteran and 24th seed, Ivan Ljubicic.

Golubev knocked off American Mardy Fish in the first round, while Ljubicic was fortunate to draw an Australian wildcard named Jason Kubler. Golubev has therefore already faced a tough opponent while Ljubicic has not.

Ljubicic is eight years older and has never performed well in the Slams. He started 2010 by appearing in the Kooyong Classic exhibition where he lost two of his three matches, only defeating Robin Soderling who had to retire from that match with injury. 

Result: Golubev in four.

Canadian Content: Aleksandra Wozniak vs Caroline Wozniacki

Aleksandraw Wozniak is the only real Canadian threat in singles play on either the ATP or WTA tour's at the moment and at the age of 22 she has still yet to reach her potential. She has a losing record (1-5) against Wozniacki but has played well against her in their recent encounters.

Wozniacki has been mediocre since her run to the finals of the U.S. Open, so Wozniak has a shot here. 

Result: Wozniacki in three.

One ticket to Ireland please: Louk Sorensen

Sorensen is the first tennis player from Ireland to win a main-draw match in the Open era on the ATP tour. The 25 year-old came through the qualifying draw before defeating Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round. It's a nice story, but Sorensen is going to get hammered by the power of John Isner tomorrow.

"I don't know what's going on right now," said Sorensen after his match against Lu, "I've suddenly got so many friend requests on Facebook." 

Result: Isner in three.

Other Matches of Interest:

Unseeded James Blake takes on 4th seed Juan Martin Del Potro in a great second round match. Blake has won their only previous encounter but that was over two years ago and he'll find Del Potro a much better player than he was back then. Should be a fun one to watch.

Result: Del Potro in four.