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US glides into Davis Cup second round

February 5, 2017 by Leave a Comment

No, thanks, Mike & Bob. We’re good.

US Davis Cup captain Jim Courier must have been pretty confident to send out Olympic bronze medalists Jack Sock https://www.viagrasansordonnancefr.com/ou-acheter-du-viagra/ and Steve Johnson to earn the third and deciding point as Team USA faced off against Switzerland. The Americans had to snake their way through a determined Swiss duo of  Adrien Bossel/Henri Laaksonen 7-6(3) 6-3 7-6(5).

The doubles rubber victory sealed the first-round for the US. They will travel to Australian for a second-round matchup.

Playing in  the shadow of Bob and Mike Bryan didn’t seem to affect the American team and a packed, partisan crowd in Birmingham, Ala. Earlier this year the twins, who own just about every men’s doubles record any team could ever want, announced their retirement from Davis Cup competition. The Bryans won and played in more US Davis Cup matches than any other team. Since 2003, the brothers have been such a mainstay that the team U.S. had only sent out four different combinations for the doubles rubber in 34 ties. Compare that to most countries who often send out a hodgepodge of non-stars to represent them.

Like the Swiss, who are here without two of the world’s best: Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.

Courier choose to go with the Sock/Johnson combo instead of playing Sam Querrey, who was relegated to the fourth spot on the team as Sock and John Isner where picked as singles players. It’s fair to predict that Querrey will be pegged to play one of the two dead rubbers on Sunday. These matches will be the best of three sets.

In doubles, the Americans pulled out the first set by overcoming a mini-break early in the tiebreak. Throughout that set the Swiss couldn’t smack a backhand winner while Sock/Johnson totaled eight.

The second set was another story as the Americans took a strong lead, winning 13 of 14 points in the early games. The Swiss rebounded with one break but still couldn’t counter the Americans, who converted two of five break points.

The third set provided some real drama, igniting a crowd who inserted chants and songs into pauses in the action. Both teams capitalized on a break each to set up a tiebreak.

Sock and Johnson hits a number of stunning points, with low-angled volleys and crushing overheads. The Swiss had a chance to blast away an overhead late in the tiebreak. But the overhead didn’t have much pace and Americans were able to track it down and smash a down-the-middle groundstroke winner. The point of the match.

Other ties

Australia, led by legend and captain Lleyton Hewitt, surprising took down the Czech Republic in straight matches. The Czechs played without top player Tomas Berdych.

While playing on the road in Tokyo, France took all three matches to advance. Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon made the trip while Kei Nishikori did not play.

Led by Novak Djokovic, Serbia dispatched Russia in three. Italy, Croatia and Belgium stand 2-1 after two days.

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Isner overcomes slow start to nail 2-0 lead

February 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment

 

BIRMINGHAM, AL – Maybe what John Inser needed was a match within native South to find his big serve and groundstrokes.

Isner overcame a first-set loss and months of underachieving to defeat Henri Laaksonen in the second rubber of the US vs. Switzerland tie.

Isner returned is personal nirvana – the tiebreak – to dispatch Laaksonen in the fourth set. Isner found his stride with a 46 62 62 76 (1) victory.

The 6’10” American backed up an earlier victory by Jack Sook to give the US and expected early lead in the first-round World Group Davis Cup tie.

Even though he had no aces in the tiebreak, Isner cracked two service winners and watched as Laaksonen double faulted match point.

As usual, Isner’s biggest weapon is his serve and he put away 28 access, surpassing 500 in his Davis Cup career. As he turned around the match after a mediocre first set, the American had four aces in the last game of the second set.

As the first set fell away, the possibility of Isner less than stellar recent play must have crossed his and coach Jim Courier’s mind. Isner has only won two matches this year, exiting from the Australian Open in the second round. Except for an appearance in the Paris final in the fall, Isner has had less than spectacular results in the last half of 2016. During that time, he lost his standing as America’s top male player, which he had held for numerous years.

“I felt energized by this crowd,” he said during a post-match interview, citing the pro-American spectators who used a large drum and chanting to back their team.

Sock downs Ciudinelli in first rubber

The most trouble Jack Sock had in taking down Marco Chiudinelli in the first rubber of the US vs. Switzerland Davis Cup tie was grabbing a first-set break. It took the American six tries to seal the set.

The rest was smooth sailing.

Sock cruised with a 6-4 6-3 6-1 victory in the World Group first round. Dominating with his usual brand of punishing forehands and big serves, Sock battered the Swiss in the last two sets, repeating the pattern he has used to move into the Top 20.

In a turn of events, Sock has moved past long-time top-dog American John Isner. Now Sock played the No. 1 position in this tie, as his last six months has shown improvement while Isner seems to be slowly losing the edge in his vaunted power-serving game.

Of course, Chiudinelli’s place in the world of Swiss tennis has long been No. 3, slipping now down to No. 146. That makes  Henri Laaksonen, at No. 127, the top Swiss player here. But, hey, this is the Swiss B team with the last two men’s Grand Slam winners – countrymen Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka – being no-shows.

Sock clamped down on Chiudinelli beginning in the last game of the first set. At 0-30 Chiudinelli’s second serve bounced off the tape and barely missed the line, giving Sock three set points. Then the Swiss rattled off three straight service winners. Chiudinelli throws in another double but he bangs a punishing overhead to get back to deuce. It wasn’t until Sock placed a dying drop shot on the sixth break point that he grabbed the first set.

The American was off and flying, taking the first three games of the second set, breaking on his only break chance of the set. In the second game, Chiudinelli had to face a Sock service winner. He followed it up with a sloppy ground stroke. Sock easily took control of the game. Bolstered by the early break, Sock started feeling his game.

“I think I was a little hesitant at the beginning; maybe too conservative playing when obviously my game is to kind of play big and hit big forehands and be aggressive. … Then, when I was able to get the break it kind of made me able to play my game.,” Sock said. He agreed that he built some real momentum in the second set.

Asked about his success with drop shots, he added, “I think I hit them at the right time except for the 3-all game. I tried to hit it at deuce, which was idiotic.”

The Swiss complimented Sock, saying, “(I) struggle a bit with his heavy serve. Yeah, he had good serves at a lot of those moments. When I managed to get the ball back, he followed up with some good second shots.”

Sock sets the stage for what is predicted to be relatively easy first round. If the US wins here, it would face the winner of the Czech Republic/Australia tie. The Aussies took a 2-0 lead today as Jordan Thompson shocked Jiri Vesely and Nick Kyrgios was also a straight-set winner over Jari Satral.

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Notes on a Draw Sheet: Nadal falls to Dolgopolov; Nishikori vs Fed at Halle final?

June 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Malt photo

Rafael Nadal looked pretty good at Stuttgart, winning the tournament, but on Tuesday he lost to Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 6-7(6) 6-4 at Queens. A few years back, it appeared that Dolgopolov was ready to charge into the top 10 because he has so much variety, but he is rarely consistent which is why he hasn’t been unable to push it deep into the Grand Slams. However, he was thoughtful over Nadal, so maybe he can win another match or two.

The Spaniard is still not back to form. Yes, he is trying very hard to get back to No. 1, but he is ranked No. 10 now and he is up and down, which is why he was mediocre at best against Novak Djokovic in the quarters at Roland Garros. However, the former two-time champ at Wimby can do it again, but he has to become more aggressive and stop pushing the ball. It is very difficult to know how he will turn up, and whether he will unleash his fury.

At home in Queens, Andy Murray beat Lu Yen-Hsun 6-4 7-5 and he is the favorite here, but at this point he won’t be called an automatic until he can stop the Big 3. He should be able to yank Fernando Verdasco in the next round; he certainly will have a huge advantage against Grigor Dimitrov in the quarters as the Bulgarian hasn’t played well at all this year. But, if he manages to go up against the US Open champion Marin Cilic, that should be a very tight match. Cilic beat Adrian Mannarino 7-6(3) 3-6 6-2, which is a good win as the Frenchman can be a complicated. Eventually, the tall Croatian will be rising again and soon…

There is a lot of talk about the young Aussie Nick Kyrgios, and that is understand after he reached the Australia Open quarterfinal, but pay attention to another youngster — Thanasi Kokkinakis — who beat Jeremy Chardy 6-7(3) 6-2 6-4. He can crack the ball both ways. How about Kyrgios, who lost to Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4? The Swiss is on fire and the RG champion will make a big impression on grass…

John Isner was satisfied in beating the fellow US male Jared Donaldson 7-6(11) 6-4. There is a lot of attention to the 22-year-old Jack Sock, but the 18-year-old Donaldson is tall and powerful. Just by qualifying at Queens gives Donaldson a heads up.

In Halle, the 37-year-old Tommy Haas went down to Andreas Seppi 7-5 6-2. I would assume Haas will play next week, but at his age on singles, it is very difficult to win a ton. Way back when, the great Jimmy Connors won matches until he was 40 so maybe the former No. 2 Haas will hang in there. But, he has been hurt so many times that it will be almost impossible to go far. But if he can receive the right draws, maybe he can grab a few matches…

Well what do you know, Ernests Gulbis beat beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4 7-6(3). He is now ranked No. 86, way down from last year when he was ranked No. 10 after the US Open. He has lost pretty much everything, but he is much better than that. Maybe he is turning it around already…Kei Nishikori has a decent chance to win the tournament, if he can serve gigantic. He might face Roger Federer in the final. Nishikori beat Dominic Thiem 7-6(4) 7-5…Here is a good win by the American Steve Johnson, who beat Bernard Tomic 6-3 7-6(4). Johnson is a real scraper. I have been thinking that Tomic would go far on grass, given that he has reached the quarters at Wimby, but now I am not so sure. Last week he lost against Nadal, which is always difficult, but the 22-year-old should be ready to take down the very best. We shall see, very soon.

THE WOMEN

WTA: Petko is strong and beatiful

WTA: Petko is stymied again.

At Aegon Classic Birmingham, the young Czech Katerina Siniakova bested Andrea Petkovic 4-6 6-1 7-6(4). The 19-year-old Siniakova was frustrated at times during the third set as she wasn’t able to dictate, but she kept banging hard and grabbed it over the veteran. There are so many good Czechs that soon, another will rise and reach the top 20. There are already nine Czechs in the top 100. That is impressive…

Simona Halep is the top seed, which is good news for Birmingham, as there are a slew of very good players. Halep did not step up on the red clay, especially at RG, and she said that she wasn’t too strong enough. Well, at the very least, she has begun just fine, beating the Britain Naomi Broady 6-4 6-2…

Another Britain Heather Watson lost, going to down against Aleksandra Krunic 7-6(5) 6-4. That nation really needs Laura Robson to come back. She has yet to decide she will play in Eastbourne or Wimbledon. She has been out for 16 months, a very long time…

Is Victoria Azarenka is really ready now? This is a perfect opportunity to win the title. Yes, she doesn’t love grass, but she knows it much better now because she understands the surface. The former No. 1 edged Varvara Lepchenko 7-6(7) 6-4 and now will face Zarina Diyas. Azarenka should be able to over power her, but she must be able to bend low because that is what grass is all about.

PIC OF THE DAY, JULY 17

Here is the pic of the day, when Genie Bouchard goes against Kristina Mladenovic. The Frenchman beat the Canadian in the first round at RG on clay, and now Mladenovic is ready to swing away and she will believe that Bouchard will become nervous again. Clearly, the Canadian is lost out there. She can play extremely well, just like when she reached the 2014 Wimbledon final, but after that she was no longer just thinking about the ball.

This year, she managed to win two matches at Indian Wells in early March, but then she lost a marathon match against Lesia Tsurenko. After that, she has gone two wins and seven losses, including last week against Yaroslava Shvedova in the Netherlands, when she fell 6-4 1-6 6-4. She had a real chance in the third set, but she froze.

Without a doubt, her coach, Sam Sumyk, is encouraging her to focus on the ball and nothing more. It has to come now, and given that thousands of fans will unlikely be suspicious of her on Ann Jones Centre Court, she should be ready to hang in there. She is very fast, she can play inside the baseline and she can return with authority. Of course, Bouchard has to keep the balls in the court. She will chatter her teeth at the end, but she will make it through in three tight sets.

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