History And Stuff

So, as suspected, That Wimbledon Final The Sequel turned out to be no big deal. Despite getting broken (and, indeed, facing his first break points) of the tournament, Federer cruised to an easy win in this one. I suppose you could say that it's proof that he really did break Roddick in That Wimbledon Final, but when the record stands at 19-2 I think you have a little more history than one match to back it up.

Anyway. Djokovic beat Troicki (who, once again, proved his complete inability to win anything after failing to close out a set after being 40-0 and three set points up) and so he will face Federer in the final. Now this could be an interesting match. Djokovic will want to retain his title, Federer will want some revenge - and the shades of the US Open are still hanging over them. I don't know how significant it will be in the greater scheme of things, but in the world leading up to the World Tour Finals, I think it will be very interesting indeed.

Speaking of the WTF, apparently David Ferrer is in qualifying contention. Um, really? He's having a gun of a tournament in Valencia at the moment, but I seriously cannot point to one major result he has had all year. This may not necessarily be his fault - I guess it's proof that the Big Four (plus maybe Soderling) tend to skew proceedings - but I seriously would not have picked Ferru as a contender. Hope he does well in Valencia, though. That would be an awesome result for him, and I do have a bit of a soft spot for him in my heart.

And oh yeah, Bali - aka the tournament I completely forgot was happening. Apparently Ana Ivanovic is in the final. What's up with that? Since when has Ana been in the final of anything? I mean, good on her and stuff, but I read that someone is now putting her on their list of major contenders for the Australian Open. I think I speak for a whole lot of people when I say HELL NO.

Day of the Disappointing Dudes

Wow. Tomas Berdych. I know you've been disappointing ever since your run to the final of Wimbledon, but I couldn't have realised this level of disappointment.

I've sort of vaguely maybe heard of Tobias Kamke, but I couldn't tell you one thing about him. And yet he put an absolute beatdown on Berdych. I didn't see the match, so I don't know if it was closer than the scoreline or whatever, but dude, DUDE. 6-4 6-1? That is craziness.

Berdych is in the running to claim one of the last three spots for the world tour finals, and this must have hurt his chances big time. Well, at least medium time. Time is running out and he's not the only one after a spot.

...though considering one of the other people after a spot is Fernando Verdasco, who also took an utterly miserable loss, maybe Berdych doesn't need to try so hard. I know Gilles Simon is having some of Awesomeness Renaissance, but 6-1 6-3, Nando? Yowza.

Speaking of miserable losses in Valencia - oh hiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Andy Murray. I know you've already made the WTF so you don't need to try so hard, but dude, come on, Juan Monaco? Really?

But you know who's not disappointing? Roger Federer. That was a nice win over Tipsarevic. It maketh me smile. And also Robin Haase! He beat John Isner. You keep on with your bad self, Robin.

Basel O'Clock

You know who hasn't been around for a while? Robin Haase, that Dutch dude. I think of this, of course, because he suddenly is around again, beating Stephane Bohli in Basel, and he's popped his head up a couple of times this year, but mostly... not so much with the being around.

He was one of those young guns a few years ago who was supposed to be heading big places - I remember him taking Lleyton Hewitt to five in the first round of Wimbledon in an awesome match. He reminds me a bit of Gulbis, but I think he just looks like him more than actually being like him.

Anyway. That's all I have to say about that. I hope we see a bit more of Haase playing. I remember really liking his game.

And we cannot talk about Basel without talking about the Basel guy himself, one R Federer. He spent less than an hour on court dismissing Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr and he was smoking. And then Dolgopolov retired one game away from the finish line, which I thought was pretty poor form - how hard is it to play one extra game and give your opponent the win proper? - but it was still all sunshine for Roger. Keep it coming.

...oh, and why is Stan Wawrinka playing in Valencia and not Basel? Are he and some Swiss tennis figure or organisation or something having a fight?

Basel Dystopia

Yet another reason I Severely Dislike Novak Djokovic - he went and beat my beloved Roger Federer in the final of Basel, the Roginator's home tournament. I am appalled and disgusted and this is a universe gone topsy turvy and if Federer doesn't keep the year end #1 I am going to punch a wall. Or something.

I don't think there's an epic chance of him losing it, but I understand that it is within the realms of possibility, and I don't like that very much. It makes me sad that a tournament that's been so great as Basel ended with what is obviously the wrong result. Hmph. Screw you, Novak.

Yes, I am a paragon of maturity.

Everything came up Muzz in Valencia, which is really hardly surprising. Much as it would have been nice for Youzhny the Make-Himself-Bleed man to pull an upset, it was never really going to happen. Still, great run for Youzhny, and nice title from Muzz, so maybe he can climb back over Djokovic to that #3 spot. Stranger things have happened.

And then, in Bali, Aravane Rezai won the tournament... whatever the hell it was. I still don't understand the point of Bali, but I guess it's nice that she won. It was such a classic WTA match, though... Bartoli has been playing great all this week, and then bam! final! ...

...retire!

An ignominious end to what really has been a pretty ignominious year for the WTA. Kim Clijsters' US Open win aside, I don't think we've seen much amazing stuff there... and I really, really hope next year is better.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 6-2


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Novak Djokovic def. Roger Federer, 6-4 4-6 6-2


Commonwealth Bank Trophy of Champions (Bali)

Aravane Rezai def. Marion Bartoli, 7-5 retired

Battle of the Basel Boys

Well, we got our battle of the Basel boys - what a lovely match it must have been, seeing these two hometown boys having a good match. It's the furthest Marco Chiudinelli has ever been in a tournament, and it's great that it could happen in Basel - and it's lovely that he got the chance to play his bestie Rog.

I really hope Chiudinelli gets the comeback of the year award, because he has just been made of awesome so far. After finishing last year somewhere around #800, to be in the top hundred now and making tour level semis is pretty rad. I'd love to see him put up a good showing in Australia next year, maybe make it to the fourth round or so - he really deserves a great Slam run, after his awesomeness this year.

And speaking of awesome Swiss people, there is nothing that I can say about the awesomeness of Roger Federer that I have not already said. I really wish I had seen this match - because I love me some of the nice Swiss guys. A win for Basel.

Roger will play Djokovic in the final, who came through a good match against Radek Stepanek. That's a quality marquee final - I bet the organisers of Basel are very happy. I don't know how this tournament could have gone better for them.

In Valencia, we're going to see Muzz vs Youzhny - Youzhny's really on a kick these days. I remember writing a 'where are they now?' piece about him a while back, and now suddenly he's in finals all over the place. I don't know how you can not be a fan of a man who, you know, totally accidentally made himself bleed that one time, so I'm looking forward to a good match there.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-3 2-6 6-3
Mikhail Youzhny def. Nikolay Davydenko, 3-6 6-4 6-3


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Marco Chiudinelli, 7-6 (9-7) 6-3
Novak Djokovic def. Radek Stepanek, 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-2


Commonwealth Bank Trophy of Champions (Bali)

Marion Bartoli def. Kimiko Date Krumm, 6-1 6-3
Aravane Rezi def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 6-2 6-3

Computer Problems =/= Crystal Meth

Let's get the actual tennis out of the way for starters. Just about everything came up Swiss in Basel overnight - Novak Djokovic took out Stan Wawrinka, but it's smooth sailing for one Mr R Federer, who made short work of Evgeny Korolev, and for his bestie Marco Chiudinelli the Resurgent, who also made short work of Richard Gasquet. Eminently satisfactory. It looks on track to be a Federer/Djokovic final and that would be pretty fun to watch... though not as fun as watching two childhood mates battle it out! I'm sure a lot of Swiss folks would love to see Roger vs Marco.

Everything fell the way it was supposed to in Valencia, pretty much - Gilles Simon was the only one who fell that, seedtastically speaking, probably shouldn't have, but he was playing Mikhail Youzhny, who has been made of awesome of late, so that's hardly surprising. Murray, Kolya and Nando all live to fight another day. Fun times, fun times.

And Bali is still as WTF? as ever - except for one thing. Vera Dushevina has been brought in as an alternate to replace Yanina Wickmayer. Why? Because the Flemish Doping Authority has banned her for one year, effective immediately. Same with her countryman Malisse.

I confess that the Malisse ban doesn't bother me as much - not because his circumstances were any more or less dodgy or anything, but because he's getting on and the better part of his career is definitely behind him. But Yanina Wickmayer? Title-winning, US Open semifinalist teenager Yanina Wickmayer? This could derail her whole career.

And the reason for the ban? She failed to report her whereabouts for testing three times over eighteen months. She claims this is due to a dodgy password, and technology being what it is, I see no reason why she shouldn't be believed. There's not a whiff of drugs about the girl. And three times over eighteen months? I could understand her getting a warning, or a slap on the wrist, or even a fine - but a one year ban is much, much too harsh. A one month ban, maybe, if you were being really mean - it'd rule her out of Bali but she'd be back by the Aussie Open. But this is frankly ridiculous.

The case of Malisse is also ridiculous - I can't remember what his offence was, but it was something else stupidly minor - but it doesn't tug at my heartstrings the way Yanina's does. She seriously has her whole career ahead of her, and this is not going to help. One can't help but think that is the backlash to the Agassi thing (about which I still have not been able to bring myself to write) and if it is, then that is stupid, reactive and unfair. Just because Yanina Wickmayer had computer problems doesn't mean she was off doing crystal meth somewhere.

Both Wickmayer and Malisse are planning to appeal, and I seriously hope these rubbish bans get overturned. Sure, drugs in sport is a big issue. However, tennis - whatever Andre Agassi might write - is pretty clean now. The biggest scandal we've had of late has been Richard Gasquet, and his poison of choice was cocaine, which isn't exactly performance enhancing. And he got off with, in the end, a slap on the wrist. If Wickmayer and Malisse's bans get upheld when they weren't guilty of anything more than being a bit cavalier with reporting, with no evidence they were actually doing drugs at the this time, then that is absolutely stupid. Slap on the wrist, tell them they were naughty and not to do it again - but you can't destroy someone's career over a password that didn't work.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Albert Montanes, 6-4 6-2
Nikolay Davydenko def. Guillermo Garcia Lopez, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)
Fernando Verdasco def. Tommy Robredo, 6-3 6-2
Mikhail Youzhny def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-4


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-3 6-2
Novak Djokovic def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2
Marco Chiudinelli def. Richard Gasquet, 6-1 6-3
Radek Stepanek def. Marin Cilic, 4-6 6-3 6-3


Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (Bali)

Marion Bartoli def. Shahar Peer, 6-3 6-2
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Samantha Stosur, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5
Vera Dushevina def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 2-6 6-1 7-5
Sabine Lisicki def. Melinda Czink, 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 6-4

Hey, Leonardo

Not much to report today, other than a) I still don't understand what the hell this Bali tournament is supposed to be and b) everything is continuing apace nicely in Valencia and Basel. The big guys are winning, no one's getting scared, and all things are quiet and peaceful.

Well, I suppose that's not strictly true. Leonardo Mayer gave Andy Murray a bit of a run for his money, extending Mr Newly-beAdidased to three sets. Mayer is another one of this players who seemed to pop out from nowhere and then suddenly you'd see them in every tournament. I can't quite put my finger on when it happened - about six months ago, maybe - but I swear I'd never heard of him before and then he was playing every week. Just like Horacio Zeballos, as discussed yesterday.

They are both Argentinian. Perhaps the Argentines have some super secret tennis program wherein they can just suddenly launch people into the bigtime with no prior warning? If Mayer and Zeballos worked their way up from satellite tournaments, their transition between tours was certainly not gradual. Just bam! ATP! every week. Bizarre. Probably explicable, but then what would I have to talk about?

The other Big Dude who was out on the court today was Djokovic, and he didn't get anything like the scare Murray had... ain't nothing scary about a double bagel drumming (unless, of course, you are the one being bagelled). I don't know whether Jan Hernych, the bagelee, was injured or just played sucktastically, but that's a two-hoof beatdown if ever I saw one... which was certainly not the trend in Basel today, where a couple of guys saved match points before progressing to the next round. Mighty Marin Cilic very nearly succumbed to the Serbian wiles of Viktor Troicki, while Richard Gasquet just managed to edge out John Isner. I think the Swiss public have got their money's worth on this tournament - must be an exciting tournament to watch! And they've still got Stan Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli, and, oh yeah, that Roger bloke left in the tournament, so hopp Suisse!

Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-4 3-6 6-3
Nikolay Davydenko def. Juan Monaco, 6-3 7-5
Fernando Verdasco def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3 6-3
Tommy Robredo def. Feliciano Lopez, 4-6 6-3 6-4
Albert Montanes def. David Ferrer, walkover
Mikhail Youzhny def. Pablo Cuevas, 6-2 2-6 6-1


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Novak Djokovic def. Jan Hernych, 6-0 6-0
Marin Cilic def. Viktor Troicki, 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (8-6)
Stanislas Wawrinka def. Jarkko Nieminen, 7-5 2-6 601
Richard Gasquet def. John Isner, 4-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-2
Evgeny Korolev def. Jeremy Chardy, 6-4 7-6 (7-1)
Marco Chiudinelli def. Michael Lammer, 2-6 6-3 6-3


Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (Bali)

Shahar Peer def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1 7-6 (7-4)
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Agnes Szavay, 4-6 6-4 6-0
Kimiko Date Krumm def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-4 6-3
Aravane Rezai def. Melinda Czink, 6-3 7-5

The Zeballos Mystery

Feddy McFeddenpants won his match in Basel overnight! Hurrah! In fine form! Hurrah! I do so love it when the R-Fed is cruising. It makes me feel like something is right with the world.

Other Basel winners include Mighty Marin Cilic and Swiss Mister Stan Wawrinka, so congratulations to both of them. I also am glad when they are winning - especially Stan, for whom times have been a little lean 0f late. Star of the Future Jeremy Chardy also won, knocking out seventh seed James Blake - and, may I ask, why is James Blake seeded? Because really, he has not done one single thing this year. One. Single. Thing. Chardy beating him was technically an upset, but I would have thought Chardy was higher in the rankings any day. Oh well. Evidentally not.

One question about Basel, though - who is this Horacio Zeballos fellow? He seems to have suddenly emerged from nowhere over the last few weeks and bam! finals in St Petersburg and assorted other results of goodness. He went out here in Basel (Richard Gasquet did the deed) but I just don't understand where he came from. Anyone got any answers for him?

Meanwhile, in Valencia, Tsonga is out injured. I'm pretty sure he was one of the contenders for the last spot in the Masters Cup, and so an injury at this stage = so not good. Other contender Fernando Verdasco has stayed alive, though, so maybe he will clinch that eighth spot. (Has Kolya officially scored that seventh spot yet? I'm not sure.)

And in the land of the women, I still don't know what exactly this Bali tournament is or what it hopes to achieve, but it seems to have a very arbitrary group of players playing there. Interesting ones, however, so I'm not complaining. Sabine Lisicki, my special favourite, took a loss (boo) but Sam Stosur had a solid win over Agnes Szavay, and that made me quite happy.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Gilles Simon def. Tomas Berdych. 6-4 4-6 6-3
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Gael Monfils, 6-2 7-5
Mikhail Youzhny def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-7 (3-7) 6-0 3-0 retired
Fernando Verdasco def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-1 0-1 retired
Janko Tipsarevic def. Victor Hanescu, 6-4 6-3
Feliciano Lopez def. Alberto Martin, 7-5 6-3


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 6-3
Radek Stepanek def. Florent Serra, 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-1)
Marin Cilic def. Philipp Petzschner, 6-4 6-4
Stanislas Wawrinka def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4
Jeremy Chardy def. James Blake, 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (6-8) 6-4
Richard Gasquet def. Horacio Zeballos, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4


Commonwealth Bank Trophy of Champions (Bali)

Marion Bartoli def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-4 6-4
Samantha Stosur def. Agnes Szavay, 6-2 3-6 6-1
Yanina Wickmayer def. Kimiko Date Krumm, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Aravane Rezai def. Sabine Lisicki, 1-6 6-3 6-4

The Trials and Tribulations of B Becker (no relation)

It's not very often you see the top players split across two tournaments like we're witnessing this week with Valencia and Basel - Davydenko and Murray are playing in Valencia, while Federer and Djokovic take on Basel. Highly unusual. Though, I have to say, I think Valencia would be the major port of call were not Basel Federer's home tournament and thus assigned more symbolic value...

No major seeded upsets in either of the tournaments today, with the exception of eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who went out to resurgent Swiss mister and Federer bestie Marco Chiudinelli. (Roger and Marco also played doubles together... yeah, they lost. Whatevs.) This can probably partly be ascribed to hometown advantage and crowd support, but Chiudinelli has put in some very consistently good performances lately, going reasonably deep (considering his ranking) in some tournaments. Here's hoping we can see a little more of him, because any friend of Roger is a friend of mine. Hopp Marco!

But one player I really do want to talk about is someone who lost in Basel today, and someone I'm coming dangerously close to admitting to the Club of Lost Souls, over which James Blake and Alize Cornet currently preside. That player is Benjamin Becker.

Okay, sure, this B Becker (aka Becker-no-relation) is never going to be a tennis legend in the manner of the other B Becker. Becker-no-relation doesn't have that sort of talent. But I've seen him play a bit and he's quite talented. He'll probably go down in history for being the player that defeated Andre Agassi in his last professional tennis match and not for anything much of his own merit, but still - I've seen him win matches. I've seen his win big matches. (I mean, Andre Agassi? End of his career? New York crowd? Tall order!)

...but this year? Becker-no-relation has been nowhere to be found.

Basel has been no exception, with Becker-no-relation going out in the first round to Viktor Troicki. Now, I've seen Troicki play before as well (in person) and he's also got some game, but I'd be picking Ben over him anytime. So where has Becker-no-relation gone this year? He was one of those players who was never going to be top ten himself, but always gave them a run for their money, occasionally pulling an upset... you know the type. He was a danger man. This year... more of a mouse. Sigh. Here's hoping it's an end-of-year thing, and that Ben-not-Boris is back bigger and better and upsettier next year.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3 6-1
Gilles Simon def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-3 6-2
Gael Monfils def. Marcel Granollers, 6-4 6-2
David Ferrer def. Nicolas Almagro, 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-2
Pablo Cuevas def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3
Juan Monaco def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-3 6-2
Leonardo Mayer def. Igor Andreev, 6-3 6-3


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Novak Djokovic def. Andreas Beck, 6-3 7-5
Marco Chiudinelli def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-5
Viktor Troicki def. Benjamin Becker, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)
Jan Hernych def. Peter Luczak, 6-3 6-4
Evgeny Korolev def. Simone Bolelli, 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

The Bali Enigma

So, um, Bali. What is it?

I mean, obviously I know what and where the island of Bali is and stuff, but what is this women's tournament that's going on there, all round robin and stuff? I thought the year ending championships were, you know, year ending. But apparently not, it seems. Does it count towards the rankings? What is it? What is the point of Bali?

Oh well. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

Over to the boys, and R-Fed is back on court! This makes me very, very happy. He had a solid win over little Olivier Rochus... yeah, I don't have much more to say than that. I really hope he defends his title here. I know there's still a possibility that Nadal could overtake him in the rankings before the end of the year, and much as I love Rafa, I'd rather that didn't happen. After the French and Wimbledon, this year belongs to Roger. So I want him to defend all those points, please.

So Roger's off to a flier in Basel, and the other boys' tournament going on is in Valencia. Kolya is one of the high seeds there and I confess I'd like to see him win it, cardboard personality and all.

...yeah, I thought I was going somewhere with that and I wasn't. Talk amongst yourselves.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Nikolay Davydenko def. Alejandro Falla, 6-2 6-1
Tomas Berdych def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-3 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Simon Greul, 7-5 6-2
Albert Montanes def. Roberto Bautista-Agut, 6-1 3-6 6-4


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Olivier Rochus, 6-3 6-4
Radek Stepanek def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-2 6-0
Andreas Seppi def. Stephane Bohli, 4-6 6-1 7-5
Florent Serra def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4