McIntyre Tennis

Seppi Defeats Pospisil in Gruelling Five Set Davis Cup Opener in Vancouver

By Mike McIntyre

While Milos Raonic rightly captures much of Canadian media and fan attention, other players on Team Canada are proving to be able to carry their own as well when it comes to Davis Cup competition. 

In February it was Frank Dancevic who came up with an unexpected win to help propel Canada into their first ever World Group quarter-final. Today in Vancouver it was Vasek Pospisil who was aiming to fill the role of the underdog who could deliver when counted on.

Taking on the 18th ranked player in the world, Andreas Seppi, was no easy task for Pospisil who is currently only ranked 140th on the ATP World Tour. The two had split their earlier career encounters with Seppi winning 7-5, 7-6 back in the fall of 2011 in St. Petersburg and Pospisil evening the score with a victory last summer in Toronto at the Rogers Cup where he prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.

Prior to the match the teams were introduced on court followed by the playing of both the Italian and Canadian national anthems. I found it interesting to note that Pospisil was the only player on Team Canada who was not singing along. Intensely focused or consumed with pre-match jitters...only time would tell.

Pospisil preparing mentally prior to the match

Initially it appeared that the magnitude of the moment might have gotten the better of the 22 year old Canadian, as he quickly found himself down a break at 0-2. Pospisil managed to recover however and ran off three games in a row to get the match back on serve.

Things progressed rather evenly from there until Seppi was serving at 5-6. Pospisil came running out of his chair after the tv break, pumping himself up as if he were Rafael Nadal. The fans at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre sensed Seppi was feeling the pressure and did as best they could to add to his self-doubt with thunderous chanting and applause after each and every point. Seppi was up 40-15 at this important juncture of the game but double-faulted and then a cross-court forehand into the net to quickly even things up at deuce. The Italian then sent a shot long to hand Pospisil the only set point he would need to gain the upper hand. What followed was the longest rally of the match that concluded when Pospisil made one of only a few forays into the net to close out the first set 7-5.

The pair stayed on serve again until the late stages of the second set with Pospisil showing no signs of letting his higher-ranked and more experienced opponent into the match. Seppi didn't seem to have the ability to hurt Pospisil with his game despite the Italian being in the midst of a career twelve month period that has seen him reach his all-time high ranking. Late in the set with Seppi serving at 4-5 nerves once again got the better of him as he found himself quickly down 15-40 in the game. Pospisil wouldn't let him get his footing back and the Canadian hung on to take the second set 6-4.

How do you say, "Time for Plan B" in Italian?

While Canada could afford to lose the opening match and still have decent odds of emerging victorious in this quarter-final tie, the Italians would have some serious trouble maintaining their hopes if they were to have their number one singles player lose to Pospisil. You have to figure that Raonic is going to be nearly impossible to beat on a hard court against the Italians. 

Seppi must have realized this too and picked it up a notch in the third set. He wasted little time in breaking Pospisil to go ahead 2-1 and did not let go from there. Pospisil let his foot off the gas peddle just enough to let his opponent get back into the match. Serving later at 5-4, Seppi momentarily looked as if he might let nerves get the better of him once again, but he was able to maintain his composure and hang out to take the set 6-4.

Did Pospisil let the first two sets go to his head?

Pospisil's confidence quickly seemed to be disappearing as Seppi broke right away to start the fourth set. Suddenly there was quite the different vibe in the building as it became clear the Italian was starting to find his groove. He took the fourth set 6-3 to even the match. 

Two hours and forty two minutes to get to a fifth and decisive set between Seppi and Pospisil. It was only the second match that the Canadian has ever played that has gone five sets with his last one being during his Davis Cup heroics against Israel in late 2011.

A repeat was not to be in order on this day unfortunately for the Canadian as Seppi broke early yet again in the set to go ahead 3-1. He would not let Pospisil get any looks on his service games the rest of the way and would finish with a 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory.

The players shake hands after 3 hours and 15 minutes of battle

While Pospisil gave a valiant effort, perhaps better than most expected, he was not able to close the match out when he had the chance up two sets to none. It will now be up to Raonic to even things up this evening in his singles match against Fabio Fognini.

Regardless of the opening result, Canadian fans will continue to propel their players towards their best tennis

Canada vs Italy Davis Cup Preview

By Mike McIntyre

Canada finds itself in unfamiliar territory as they play in their first ever Davis Cup quarter-final on Friday against Italy. Even more surprising is perhaps the fact that they will be considered by many to be the favourite in this match-up.

Led by rising star and current world number 16 Milos Raonic, the Canadian team will be hoping to use their home crowd and home surface to advance to the semi-finals in September.

The Thunderbird Arena on the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver might have a tennis court instead of an ice surface on the floor but it will definitely feel more like a hockey game thanks to the increased level of support a home crowd is expected to provide during Davis Cup play. Warning: this is not your typical tennis environment.

The hard court surface has been chosen yet again and this should come as no surprise given the extra pop it will give Raonic on his ATP World Tour leading serve. While I do not have any statistical evidence to support the ferociousness of his serve, ask anyone on the tour right now whose serve they would most like to avoid and I guaranteed Milos gets the bulk of the votes.

The hard court being used will also put Team Italy at their most vulnerable given that most of their players prefer to play on the red clay that is more commonly associated with tennis back in Europe. The Italians used such clay to defeat the Croatians in their opening round victory back in February.

The team rosters and schedule of play was just released today and revealed one change from each team from what was previously expected. For the Canadians it will be Vasek Pospisil and not Frank Dancevic who will join Raonic as our second singles player. Dancevic was a late scratch due to pain he was experiencing in his left knee. Pospisil is currently ranked 140th in the world and while it was Dancevic who gave the Canucks the extra win they needed to dispatch Spain two months ago, the younger Pospisil is also quite capable of coming through in Davis Cup play. It was his heroics in Israel late in 2011 that allowed Canada to jump back into the world group of the Davis Cup.

For Italy, doubles specialist Simone Bolelli has been forced to bow out due to a wrist injury he sustained recently. Instead of playing doubles with his regular partner Fabio Fognini, the Italians have opted to go with the duo of Paolo Lorenzi and Daniele Bracciali. They will face-off against Canadian legend Daniel Nestor and Pospisil.

Pospisil will in fact kick-off the tie against Italy on Friday against world number 18 Andreas Seppi. The two have played each other before with Pospisil scoring the upset last summer in Toronto at the Rogers Cup and Seppi winning their first encounter in 2011 in St. Petersburg by a close scoreline of 7-5, 7-6. Despite the large gap in their rankings, expect Pospisil to give Seppi a good challenge with either player capable of scoring the initial victory.

Raonic will play second against the flamboyant but often enigmatic Fabio Fognini. More known for his clay court prowess, this match on paper should be a routine win for Canada's top gun. Raonic says he is 100% ready to go after having to withdraw from the Masters 1000 event in Miami two week's ago due to strep throat. The 25 year old Fognini is currently ranked 31st in the world rankings but will have to play the match of his life in order to score the upset in this one. I remember Fognini arriving to play the Rogers Cup a couple of summers ago and he only had his clay court shoes with him. While I don't think he'll make that mistake this time around, I wouldn't expect it would make much of a difference against Raonic anyway.

With Raonic the overwhelming favourite in both of his singles matches and Pospisil in theory the underdog, the result in Vancouver may likely be determined by the doubles match on the second day of competition. For all of his past doubles glory, including victories at the Olympics and all four of the Grand Slams, Daniel Nestor needs to step up and overcome some recent Davis Cup struggles to get the win on Saturday. Nestor has looked ordinary of late and has never really established a huge rapport with Pospisil as his partner.

I'm still going to go with Canada in this one due to their home crowd, choice of surface and the fact that they seem to have such an emerging team camaraderie as they begin to truly believe that they belong amongst some of the top tennis countries in the world right now.

Check back with us here at Pro Tennis Fan for updates throughout the event and feel free to follow us on Twitter as well for timely observations on each day of competition.

Day One Delivers at Rogers Cup

By Mike McIntyre

The Rogers Cup had the odds stacked against them as play began today in Toronto. A somewhat subdued vibe lingered in the air due to the uncertainty of Andy Murray’s status and the already known absence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Murray, fresh off his gold medal in London, stated today that he would appear in Toronto but would have to see how he felt once on-site before committing to playing. It was not a scenario that tournament sponsors and organizers were happy about and yet one that was to be expected due to the abnormally hectic summer scheduling caused by the Olympics.

Indeed there were sparse crowds for the daytime session despite some beautiful weather and the fact it was a holiday for most here in Ontario’s capital city. The tournament cannot really be faulted for this sluggish start however, as the top sixteen seeds all enjoy a first round bye and other big players like Tommy Haas and Alexandr Dolgopolov still had to make their way here from Washington D.C. where they just wrapped up the Citi Open.

Despite these hurdles, there were some interesting story lines to follow here at the Rexall Centre including some Canadian talent for the home crowds to get behind. Here’s how day one unfolded:

Action started on Centre Court at 11am ET with Frenchman Jeremy Chardy extending American Donald Young's epic losing streak to sixteen matches with a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-0 victory to open play. Young collapsed after losing the second set in a tiebreak and revealed the fragile nature of his mental game which can be easily understood for a player who has not won a match on the Tour since February. He now stands just five losses away from tying retired countryman Vince Spadea for the all-time losing streak on the ATP World Tour at 21 consecutive matches.

After the match Chardy was asked if he was aware of the magnitude of his opponent’s stretch of bad luck. “Oh, sixteen is a lot. I didn’t know that. I know he lost many matches on first round, but not sixteen.” When asked about the longest drought he had ever experienced he half-joked by saying, “I don’t know. I prefer to forget it.” No doubt Young will also be hoping to forget his most recent setback and try to cling to the hope that better days are ahead. At only 23 years old, it sure seems the American has endured and created more than his fair share of hardships as a professional tennis player.

In the afternoon big-serving Michael Berrer of Germany provided some mid-match trouble to promising nineteen year-old Aussie Bernard Tomic before falling 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Berrer impressively carries his 220lb frame around the court and at the age of 32 used his experience to push the match to a third set. As for Tomic, he certainly does not play the way you would imagine someone of his own generous stature of 6'5'' and 201lbs. He tries to take the pace off the ball rather than playing the power game you might expect. It worked for him today against the 131^st ranked Berrer, but might not be as effective against his next opponent – Novak Djokovic.

Next-up on the main court was some Canadian content with Peter Polansky, ranked 157^th in the world, taking on Matthew Ebden from Australia. Both players are 24 years of age, but it is Ebden who has made more of a mark thus far on the circuit. Both players received some help to get into the main draw of the event, with Polansky receiving one of four wildcards from Tennis Canada and Ebden receiving a lucky-loser designation after losing his final qualifying match but replacing Feliciano Lopez in the draw after the Spaniard withdrew.

Ebden was certainly playing the part of the loser well at the start of the match as Polansky cruised through the first set by a score of 6-0. It was not as much due to the Canadian’s play, but instead Ebden’s own inability to hit a tennis ball inside the lines of the court. As Polansky said after the match, Ebden, “was missing almost every single ball.”

Despite having a chance to break Ebden in the first game of the second set at 15-40 on the Australian’s serve, Polansky would lose the game and spiral downwards from there. The Canadian seemed to suddenly get tight and did not resemble the player who enjoyed so much success here two years ago in an opening round defeat of then 13^th seeded Jurgen Melzer. Ebden picked up his game sensing the fragility in his opponent and would carry that momentum forward for a 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

Polansky did not hold back after the match in assessing his disappointing performance. “…it’s very frustrating, especially having a big tournament like this, such a great opportunity. Just wasn’t able to perform today.” When asked what part of his game needed he work he conceded, “…I’ll probably say everything.”

Canadian tennis fans hoped that Vasek Pospisil would be able to reverse their country’s fortunes in the opening match of the night session. Up against consistent veteran Andreas Seppi, Pospisil had a match that was certainly within his promising capabilities despite his opponent being currently ranked 28^th in the world.  

Instead the hardships for the Canucks seemed to continue with Seppi taking the first set 6-4. Even with the bigger serve as a weapon, Pospisil’s control of his groundstrokes could not match the Italian’s in that opening frame.

Pospisil would not give-up despite the early setback, and he would take the second set by the same score to settle the match at one apiece. In the final set Pospisil would break his opponent early and then consolidate his serve to go up by a comfortable 3-0 margin.

Later Seppi would break his way back into the set but while serving at 4-5 he would allow Pospisil two chances to take the match at 15-40. Unfortunately the home crowd would groan twice as their young hopeful could not close it out.

Both players would hang-on to their last service opportunity with ease to force the deciding tie-break. This is where we would find out what Pospisil was made of. Could he block out the missed match points and maintain his composure in front of such a nervous crowd?

Pospisil dictated most of the points in the breaker and was up 6-3 after a timely ace. Seppi would then hold his serve in consecutive points giving Pospisil his third match point of the tiebreak and on his serve. A missed forehand by the Canuck would prolong the tension but he wouldn’t miss his next chance with Seppi serving at 6-7. Pospisil would complete the upset to the delight of the frenzied crowd by a final score of 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) to advance to the second round.

After the match ended the satisfaction within Pospisil was obvious as he gushed to the crowd before leaving the court. “It’s incredible to come here and play in front of my home crowd…I’ve been looking forward to this all year.”

There will be more to look forward to tomorrow as he will face seventh seed Juan Monaco in the late afternoon/early evening on the Grandstand Court.

Other Canadians up tomorrow include Frank Dancevic and Milos Raonic. Dancevic opens play against Mikhail Kukushkin at 11am on Centre Court, while Raonic will entertain the night crowd at 7pm against Viktor Troicki in the first second round match to be played on Centre Court. Troicki advanced today with a 6-4, 7-6(5) win over Russia’s Alex Bogomolov Jr.

Check back with us at ProTennisFan for full coverage of the Rogers Cup here in Toronto. You can also follow us on Twitter for regular updates of the daily action.

Davis Cup Begins in Vancouver

 

Asking Pospisil to defeat Tsonga was a bit of a stretch

By Mike McIntyre

It's time to bring an ATP World Tour main event to Vancouver! 

Canada's Davis Cup tie against France got underway on Friday in a city that is known for feverishly supporting its hockey team. Apparently none of the 4,000 in attendance got the memo that the Canucks (Vancouver's NHL team) are out of town, as the Thunderbird Sports Centre certainly had the atmosphere of a hockey game.

Things got underway with Vasek Pospisil, ranked 115th in the world, against France's most formidable foe in Jo Wilfried Tsonga. This was clearly going to be the match of the series (or "tie" as they call it in tennis) that would be the most difficult for the Canadian team to be competitive in. Tsonga is 6th in the ATP rankings and was a finalist at the 2008 Australian Open, so to say that he's in a different class of tennis player than Pospisil is an understatement.

Sure Pospisil was Canada's hero stepping-up in September against Israel, but Dudi Sela and company are not in the same realm of player like Tsonga is. Few are for that matter.

Serving at 1-2 in the opening set, Pospisil would face his first break point at 30-40 and show his early game jitters. After Tsonga returned a second serve, Pospisil's backhand slice had too much spin to get itself over the net and the French contingent of about 100 fans suddenly became much more involved as their nation went up 3-1.

After the match, Pospisil would admit that he was a little tense at the start with Vancouver being his home-town. It showed as the twenty-one year old seemed anxious and was hitting many of his balls outside of the lines.

A net cord favourable to Tsonga during Pospisil's next service game put the more experienced Frenchman up 5-1. Tsonga would then hold at love to take the opening set 6-1. Good thing these matches are best of five, right?

The second set started with a hold for the young Canuck, but then there was a tense service game at 1-1 in which Pospisil had to save several break points to avoid going down another early deficit. He came through with some strong serving and really got the home crowd going to go up 2-1.

The atmosphere at a Davis Cup match is truly electric compared with your typical tennis match. Having that many partisan fans certainly helps but even at the Rogers Cup in Toronto and Montreal I've never witnessed something nearly as circus-like as the few thousand fans at the arena on this day. Having the Sardis Secondary school band playing in the stands along with a throng of rowdy Canadian fans really amped the atmosphere up a notch.

The momentum from the previous hold served to get Pospisil going and briefly it appeared as though the Canadian might be able to swing the set in his favour. He had his first break point on Tsonga's serve at 30-40. A thrilling rally ensued at 30-40 with both players ending up near the net, but Tsonga had the answer on a stretch forehand cross court. Tsonga's was eventually able to maintain the hold for a 2-2  score.

Then as quickly as it seemed he might at one point get the upper hand, a double fault at 3-3 would hand Tsonga a crucial second set break.

Throughout the match Tsonga was never bothered by Pospisil's several approaches to the net and usually seemed to come up with a shot that revealed his experience to gain the point.

A Pospisil forehand into the net would give Tsonga the second set 6-3 and a seemingly insurmountable lead. While Tsonga had blown a two-set-to-love lead against Stan Wawrinka at least year's French Open, such a feat would not be accomplished on this day by Pospisil.

The third set would start out close, but Tsonga took a break to go up 4-2 and by then Pospisil's fate was all but decided. It was probably for the best in order for Canada to rest him-up for his doubles match with Daniel Nestor against the French duo of Llodra and Benneteau on Saturday.

Tsonga sealed the match with an ace for France to take the 1-0 lead in the best of five match tie a short while later to win by a score of 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour 52 minutes. His experience and skill-level proved too much for his younger opponent in the end.

In the second match of the day the result was quite different. Canada's number one singles player and future Grand Slam threat, Milos Raonic took to the court to thunderous applause to face Julien Benneteau.

Despite being ranked quite close to one-another, with Raonic at 29th in the world and Benneteau at 35th, I had a pretty good feeling that Raonic was primed to take this one. Even though the thirty year old Benneteau defeated him back in November in the Paris Masters, Raonic had the home crowd behind him here in Vancouver and has looked solid this year with a win in Chennai and a third round showing at the Aussie Open. 

Raonic did not disappoint and was in control of the match right from the beginning. The match went as smoothly as could be expected with Raonic winning 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 to even-up the tie at one apiece.

With one of the greatest doubles players to ever play the game in Daniel Nestor taking to the court Saturday, Canada has a solid shot at gaining the edge on France prior to Sunday's two singles matches.

Around The Corner: Life Continues on the ATP World Tour

By Mike McIntyre

After a hectic two weeks of Grand-Slam action from Melbourne, life returns to normal on the ATP World Tour. There are three 250-level tournaments this week and while the pace will be perhaps less enthralling than what we've just witnessed in Australia, here are some of the big names we can look forward to watching.

Open Sud de France

Formerly held in Lyon in October of each year, the Open Sud de France has now relocated to Montpelier at an earlier date within the tennis season.

Tomas Berdych is the number one seed and will try to win his first ATP title since his victory in Beijing this past October. That was the only title the Czech won in 2011, but he had an incredibly solid year reaching the semi-finals of eight tournaments and the quarter-finals of seven others. That type of consistency has made Berdych a main-stay in the top-ten in recent years but success at the Masters 1000 and Grand Slam level have still mostly eluded him with the exception of his win at the Paris Masters in 2005 and his Wimbledon final in 2010.

Berdych has a very manageable quarter of the tournament with no major obstacles in his way and a first-round bye to ease him into the draw.

Richard Gasquet is the fourth seed and is also in the top-half of the draw and he will likely face Nikolay Davydenko in the second round. Despite Davydenko's rapid drop in play these past two years, the Russian will still give Gasquet a good challenge and provide fans with an entertaining early round match.

In the bottom half of the draw, look for two Frenchman to navigate their way through to the semi-finals. Both Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon are the highest two seeds and also the most likely to ride the support of the French fans to a solid showing.

Canadian number-two singles player Vasek Pospisil will undoubtedly be keeping his eye on the French, as Canada is scheduled to host the French in the first round of the Davis Cup on February 10th in Vancouver. Pospisil opens against French wildcard Guillaume Rufin.

PBZ Zagreb Indoors - Croatia

It was a moment for Croatian tennis fans to relish a year ago in Zagreb when Ivan Dodig captured his first ATP title against Michael Berrer. While the chances of Dodig repeating are not necessarily favored, he is one of three Croats who could lift the trophy on the final Sunday.

Veteran Ivan Ljubicic holds the top seed and opens against Karol Beck. Ljubicic has won the event before and has the best chance of emerging from his quarter of the draw.

Beneath him can be found monster-server Ivo Karlovic who will also receive plenty of home-country support. Mikhail Youzhny will try to bounce back from a disappointing first round loss in Melbourne as he holds the third seed and is my pick to emerge from the top-half of the draw.

In the bottom half, we have Marcos Baghdatis and the previously mentioned Dodig in one quarter. In the final section of the draw, Alex Bogomolov Jr. is the surprised second seed and leads the weakest section of the tournament. In other words, look for Baghdatis or possibly Dodig to have a good route to the finals.

VTR Open - Chile

Providing some contrast to the two hard-court tournament's this week, we have the VTR Open which is played on red clay. Last year's champion in Vina del Mar is Tommy Robredo but he is not entered in this year's edition. Meanwhile Fernando Gonzalez holds the most career titles at the event with four. Gonzalez has taken a wildcard into the main draw as he has struggled since returning to the tour last year from hip and knee injuries he sustained in 2010.

Clay court expert Juan Monaco takes the pole position this year and opens with a first round bye. Albert Montanes who is seeded fifth will likely be Monaco's main source of opposition in the top-half of the draw.

In the bottom section look for Thomaz Bellucci, who won the event in 2010, to challenge once again for the title and for second seeded Juan Ignacio Chela to advance into the draw as well.

Don't feel bad if you are feeling the effects of a tennis-hangover as these smaller events begin. Nothing can really compare to two weeks of elite level tennis like we have just experienced. There is lots to look forward to however, with the first round of Davis Cup action just two weeks away and then a month after that we will enjoy back-to-back Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.

Canadian Pospisil Beaten by Idol Federer

By Mike McIntyre

Young Canadian Vasek Pospisil saw his good start at the Rogers Cup end on Wednesday by none other than the man he grew up idolizing, Roger Federer.

The two played the opening match on Centre Court in Montreal to almost a full-house and the Canuck did not disappoint his fans as he came out ready to play.

The pair remained even up until 5-5 in the first set with Pospisil appearing devoid of any nerves one might expect a player of his age (21) and ranking (155) to bring with him. Federer meanwhile was just trying to find his game after having not played since a Davis Cup match for Switzerland that was just over a month ago. 

Federer starting picking it up in the late stages of the first set and Pospisil finally displayed some tightness while serving to stay in the frame at 5-6. A double-fault, a back-hand sent well long, a poor approach shot that left him stranded mid-court as a Federer forehand sailed by and another back-hand error into the net sealed his fate and gave Roger the crucial break and first set 7-5.

In the second set the pace seemed to pick-up and Federer's game began really clicking. Pospisil was unable to slow down his opponent's momentum nor stick with him as he had earlier in the match. Federer would pull-off the victory by a score of 7-5, 6-3. With the win Federer improves to 783-183 in his career win-loss ratio for a healthy +600 differential.

Pospisil can hold his head up high though as he has established himself as a top-150 player for the first time in his career and held his own against arguably the greatest player of all-time. Many expected the youngster might be routed today but instead he showed he is not out of place against a top-three player like Federer. 

Next up for Roger is a re-match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the man who defeated him in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in June. Tsonga defeated young Australian prospect Bernard Tomic to advance in straight sets 6-3, 7-6.