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Legg Mason Tennis Classic Quarterfinal Results
The semifinals are set in Washington and there was another big upset to report. First up is Roddick/ Karlovic
Andy Roddick vs Ivo Karlovic: Roddick wins 7-6(4), 7-6(5)
No surprise that this one went to a couple of tiebreaks and that Andy came out ahead. What's interesting about this match is that there were actually 4 breaks of serve. Andy is definitely capable of breaking Karlovic's serve if he gets the first ball back in play enough, but it's pretty surprising that Ivo managed to break Roddick's serve twice. And Roddick was serving a pretty good percentage all match. Nice work by Andy in keeping focused through this match and taking both tiebreaks. He will be the heavy favorite in the semis against Isner but shouldn't take him too lightly. Isner has managed two big upsets so far this tournament and has been holding his serve very well.
John Isner vs Tomas Berdych: Isner wins 6-3, 6-7(10), 6-2
I apologize to Isner for not giving him much of a chance in this match. I was expecting Berdych to take it in straight sets and not be very troubled on his own serve. Isner's shown that he can hold his own serve very well in the Tsonga match. He showed it again against Berdych and came through with some breaks of his own at the correct time. He was helped a little bit by Berdych not being able to get a first serve in to save his life (served at 30% in the first set and 44% for the match) but overall played a strong match and deserved the win. The match against Roddick will be interesting. Again I'm not giving Isner great odds to win, but he's come through two opponents I didn't expect him to so maybe he'll do it again. Should be a great atmosphere for that match.
Tommy Haas vs Fernando Gonzalez: Gonzalez wins 7-5, 6-4
Gonzalez came through in the most interesting matchup yesterday. These players are a pretty even match and the sets were pretty close with each player breaking serve in the second set. Gonzalez looks pretty good going into the semis where he will meet a well-rested Del Potro. Del Potro has dropped the first set in each of his matches so far and will need to start stronger against Gonzalez if he hopes to get through.
Juan Martin Del Potro vs Robin Soderling: Soderling withdraws with injury
Very unfortunate for Soderling to have sustained another injury. He's been somewhat plagued with injury problems through his career and hopefully this is nothing major. Robin is playing the best tennis of his career and it would be very unfortunate if his run was cut short. Also unfortunate that the fans didn't get to see this match. It had the potential to be a very close one with some great rallies and huge hitting from the baseline. Del Potro will now face Gonzalez in what should be a very good semifinal.
Check back for the semifinal results.
Legg Mason Tennis Classic 07-Aug-09 Update
This is the first day this tournament that all matches actually went as expected. Haas/Ferrero and Hewitt/Del Potro could have both gone either way but the results that happened matched the seeding and weren't surprising. Andy Roddick also got his 500th win and is looking very strong going into the quarters.
Roddick's Quarter:
Andy Roddick vs Sam Querrey: Roddick wins 7-6(4), 6-4
Sam put up a good effort in this match and did manage to put a lot more pressure on Roddick's serve than expected. He also out-aced Roddick 11-3 and only threw in one double to Andy's 6. Querrey won last week in LA and has been playing with a lot of confidence so we could expect a good effort from him. I wasn't expecting many breaks this match but there were two from each player in the first set. Considering Roddick's serve it's very impressive that Querrey managed to break it twice and had 6 opportunities in the 2nd set but couldn't convert on any of those. Sam wasn't doing himself any favors by serving at below 40% in the 2nd set. He managed to hold Roddick to only one break point but Andy was able to convert on his only opportunity and took the match. This was Roddick's 500th win and a good one against an opponent who has been playing quite well this summer. It should give him some confidence going into the quarters, but against his next opponent confidence will only take you so far. Next up for Andy is Ivo Karlovic, which is always more of a mental test than a physical one. Andy can expect to end up in at least one tiebreak in that match and will need to make very few mistakes at the wrong time or Ivo's serve could prevail. Andy should take it but you never know with Ivo.
Ivo Karlovic vs Somdev Devvarman: Karlovic wins 7-5, 6-1
It's not often you see Karlovic go this long without playing a tiebreak and very rare that he takes a set 6-1. After taking out Cilic, Devaarman had a much different type of opponent to deal with in Karlovic. It's a lot of pressure playing against a guy like Karlovic because any mistakes on your own serve and you will probably lose the set. That was pretty much what happened in the first set in this match. Devvarman served a high percentage, won a lot of points off his second serve, but gave up a break and that was the set. Ivo didn't face a single break point the entire match. In the second set Devvarman wasn't really in it winning only two points on Karlovic's serve in the set, and getting broken twice. His serving percentage went down by over 20% in the second set and he only won 2 of 8 points on his second serve. Karlovic gave up a total of 8 points in his 10 service games. So after the 1st break to Devvarman's serve in the 2nd set, that was pretty much the match. But good job by Devvarman in making it past Cilic to get to this point. Ivo will be playing Roddick next match and I'm expecting some tiebreaks. Karlovic is tough to break when serving well and I don't think he'll be able to break Andy's serve very often. I don't think the tennis will be exciting to watch but it could be interesting to see how Andy responds to the mental pressure of playing Karlovic.
Tsonga's Quarter (now Berdych's quarter):
John Isner vs Sebastien De Chaunac: Isner wins 6-2, 6-4
I've been talking about De Chaunac's serving percentage for a couple of rounds now but so far he's managed to get through in spite of it. Today it caught up with him. Isner is a tough guy to break so you really need to hold your serve against him. Serving 44% when you're only winning around 35% of points on your second serve means you are going to get broken at least a couple of times. When your opponent is winning most points on both his first and second serve and doesn't face a break point all match, a couple of breaks against your serve is going to be too many. Isner was very good on his service games giving up only 11 points in 9 games, and he did a lot of damage on Sebastien's second serve. An all-around good match for John. He'll face Berdych next who is going to be a very different opponent than todays.
Philipp Petzchner vs Tomas Berdych: Berdych wins 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
With Tsonga out of the picture this quarter is now Berdych's to lose. He faced a tough opponent in Petzchner today who was pretty close to adding another upset to the list this week. Both men had breaks of serve in every set and saved a number of break points. After losing the first set Berdych started to find more success on Petzschner's service games when Philipp started missing more first serves. In the 1st set he was serving at 69% so although he was only winning 25% of the points on his second serve, he only faced one break point. But his percentage went down considerably in the 2nd and 3rd sets and he was broken twice in the second and three times in the 3rd. Tomas also ended up facing quite a few break points and was broken twice in the first and once in both the 2nd and 3rd sets. But he was able to win some important points and saved enough break chances to get by. Berdych will face Isner in the quarters.
Gonzalez' Quarter:
Tommy Haas vs Juan Carlos Ferrero: Haas wins 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
This was my pick for match of the day and I think they put on a pretty good show. Some tough competition from other matches for best of the day but this one at least ended up being good and entertaining. Most impressive stat for me in this match is Haas' 19 aces. Tommy has a good serve, but that's an impressive number against Ferrero. There weren't many break opportunities in this match and very few that weren't converted. Only one break point was saved by each player. Once the match got into a third set Tommy just took control and outplayed Ferrero by a significant margin. In this match he seemed to turn his game on and off at times (took 4 straight games to win the 1st set, went down a couple breaks in the second, then turned it on again for the 3rd). He'll need to keep going at all times against Gonzalez in the next round if he wants to get through.
Fernando Gonzalez vs Wayne Odesnik: Gonzalez wins 6-2, 6-4
I don't think Odesnik was given much of a shot going into this match. Beating Andreev in three tough sets yesterday showed that he can play. Today he just ran into a better player in Gonzalez. With his huge forehand it's very difficult to win many points when Gonzalez gets a first serve in. Odesnik did a good job of winning points where he could and managed a break in the 2nd set after going 0 for 8 in the 1st. Gonzalez was just a bit better, had a strong return game today and broke twice in each set. He will meet Haas next round in what should be a good matchup.
Del Potro's Quarter:
Robin Soderling vs Marc Gicquel: Soderling wins 7-5, 5-7, 6-3
Gicquel pretty much had a walk-over last round with Troicki retiring after 3 games and maybe the extra rest helped him in this match. In the end he didn't win but I thought Soderling would take it in straight sets. Gicquel stuck with him and converted his break opportunities very effectively. Robin didn't give him a whole lot to work with on his serve so managing two breaks is pretty good. In the final set Soderling played very well on his service games and picked up his return game a little which pulled him through. Next up for Soderling will be Del Potro
Lleyton Hewitt vs Juan Martin Del Potro: Del Potro wins 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
This was an impressive win for Del Potro. There were definitely parts of the match that weren't great for him but it will be very good for his confidence that he came through in the end. After losing to Hewitt in Wimbledon, Del Potro sounded like he was just happy to have gone that far on grass and was almost overwhelmed by playing Hewitt on that stage. He's still improving his game so that's not necessarily a bad attitude to have however, late in that match it almost looked like he had conceded defeat. After dropping the first two sets, not surprising. This tournament is a different story. He won here last year and should be over the awe of playing against Hewitt. So when Lleyton took the first set there was a chance that Del Potro would just fold. Then, with a chance to serve out the match in the 3rd he was broken at love and the match was to be decided in a tiebreak. Again, he could have folded at that stage but instead played a strong tiebreak and took the match. So although there are some things he may not want to repeat in his next round against Soderling fighting through to beat Hewitt here could be a big confidence boost for him in this tournament and for his career in general. The quarterfinal between Del Potro and Soderling will I think be the best one with Haas/Gonzalez a close second.
That's it for today. Check back for more updates tomorrow.
Legg Mason Tennis Classic 06-Aug-09 Update
Yesterday saw Andy Roddick's first match back since Wimbledon, some late match rain delays, and even more upsets than the day before. Let's get it started with Roddick's return.
Roddick's Quarter:
Andy Roddick vs Benjamin Becker: Roddick wins 6-3, 6-2
There were a lot of questions about how Andy's first match back would go. Is he back mentally after such a tough loss? Is his hip still bothering him? Well, I think Andy answered all questions and showed that he's back in form, focused, and looks like he's the guy to beat this tournament. His serve was on, his return game was good, he didn't face a break point all match, and he made good on 3 out of 4 break chances on Becker's serve. On paper Roddick shouldn't really be challenged much by Becker, but this was still a good indication that he's shaken Wimbledon off and is ready to play. Andy should be confident going into his match against Querrey.
Igor Kunitsyn vs Sam Querrey: Querrey wins 6-3, 6-4
A good showing by Sam in this match. He served a very impressive 71% and won 85% of his first serve points. It's tough to break a guys when he's puttin that many first serves in play. Querrey put some serious pressure on Kunitsyn's serve, mainly in the second set. Kunitsyn managed to save 7 of 9 break points in the set but in the end couldn't hold off Querrey's return game enough to get to a third set. Querrey has a tough match against Roddick up next. After winning last week he's got a lot of confidence in his game. We'll see if that's enough to give Andy much trouble.
Ivo Karlovic vs Rainer Schuettler: Karlovic wins 6-4, 7-5
Yes, you read that correctly. No tiebreaks in a Karlovic match. He managed to break serve three times and was even broken once in the second set. It's not a surprise that Karlovic got through to the next round, what's amazing is that he did it with his return game. There isn't really too much to say about this match other than it's a bit of a shock to see that many breaks. Next up for Ivo will be Davvarman, who took out Cilic last round. Let's see if he can put together another upset.
Tsonga's Quarter:
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs John Isner: Isner wins 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4)
It's tough to say if this is as big as an upset as Devvarman beating Cilic. If not, it's definitely a close second. Isner's got a big serve and used it well last night. He was broken once in the first set and that was it. Tsonga wasn't broken at all. In this match Isner just played the tiebreaks better. That's all that it came down to. There was a bit of drama in the final set when the match was suspended due to rain at three points all in the tiebreak. I actually thought they might not finish so I went to bed and missed the ending. Congratulations to Isner on a good match against a great player and good luck in the next round.
Sebastien De Chaunac vs Dmitry Tursunov: De Chaunac wins 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5
Another surprised in a tournament that's been full of them so far. Tursunov really hasn't had great results so far this season. He lost to Dancevic the other week and now goes down against a qualifier in his first match here. I was faulting De Chaunac for a low serving percentage against Istomin the previous round. Well, he showed me by serving an even lower percentage against Tursunov and still coming out with the win. Another match filled with breaks of serve (7 for Tursunov and 6 for De Chaunac) and players getting beat up pretty badly on their second serves. De Chaunac won 65% of the points on Tursunov's second serve. When that's happening you need to take something off and make sure you get some first serves in play. Didn't happen in this match as Tursunov's percentage went from 78% in the first set to 54% in the 2nd set to 40% in the 3rd. He was broken 3 times in the final set. Next up for De Chaunac is John Isner.
Mardy Fish vs Phillip Petzchner: Petzchner wins 1-6, 6-4, 6-1
Looks like Mardy's injury is still bothering him a lot. He pulled out of LA with an abdominal strain and he's going to need some more time to recover. Fish came out strong in the first set and took it 6-1 but as the match wore on Petzchner started to take over and Mardy couldn't put much pressure on Phillip's serve or hold his own very well, dropping the final set 6-1. For Fish's health it may be more benefitial to have the week off that to have gone on to play against Berdych. The story of this match was really that Mardy wasn't all there physically. But Petzchner should get credit for hanging in this match after not playing a great first set, and making Fish keep hitting balls he wasn't comfortable hitting. Petzschner will have a difficult next round against Berdych but I think he'll be happy to have won a couple or rounds here.
Gonzalez' Quarter:
Juan Carlos Ferrero vs Tommy Robredo: Ferrero wins 6-3, 6-2
The seedings may say this is an upset but it isn't really. Juan Carlos has been playing some very good tennis this year and is a former world #1. When you're hitting the ball well and know how to win, it's not an upset unless you beat a top 5 player in my book. Robredo consistently wins a few rounds in almost every tournament and has two titles this season but it's never too much of a surprise if he loses to another quality player even if the ranking say he should win. In this match Ferrero just played better than Robredo. He held serve all match and made good on breaks when he needed to. Once in a rally Ferrero was just hitting good and won the majority of exchanges. An impressive stat is that Ferrero won every point on his second serve in the second set. Next up for Ferrero is Tommy Hass. That should be a great match.
Igor Andreev vs Wayne Odesnik: Odesnik wins 2-6, 7-5, 6-4
A bit of an upset and a ton of service breaks. 14 service breaks to be exact. That's an astonishing number in mens tennis. What saved this match for Odesnik was his ability in the second set to save break points. There was a very high percentage of returner points won here, even on first serves. Against Gonzalez in the next round it will be very interesting to see how Odesnik's serve holds up against Gonzo's return. Either way, this was a nice win for Wayne.
Fernando Gonzalez vs Alejandro Falla: Gonzalez wins 7-5, 7-5
Gonzalez is a very entertaining player to watch. When his range is on and he can line-up forhands it's one of the more impressive shots on the tour. Another match with some big returning and a lot of points won against the secnd serve by both players. The big difference was that Gonzalez took advantage of every break opportunity (5 breaks on 5 chances), and managed to save more in the 2nd set (saved 8 of 10). I'm expecting Gonzalez to be too much for Odesnik in the next round but you never know. This tournament has been really tough to call so far.
Del Potro's Quarter:
Robin Soderling vs Mikhail Youzhny: Soderling wins 6-3, 6-1
Youzhny had won their only previous meeting but the result here was no surprise. Soderling is having a breakout year and Youzhny has dropped off a lot in the rankings. The synopsis on this match is that Mikhail was just outmatched. Soderling served well, saved all his break chances against and made good on 4 for 6 of his opportunities, won a lot of points on Youzhny's first and second serves, and really just looks to be playing with a lot of confidence. He should get through the next round if he keeps it up.
Marc Gicquel vs Viktor Troicki: Gicquel wins 3-0 (ret'd)
Another seed is out but this time due to injury. Viktor Troicki retired with a foot injury trailing 3-0 in the first set against Marc Gicquel. Before withdrawing Troicki had a very long service game in which he needed to serve 14 second serves. Good thing he stopped playing before doing any more damage. Up next for Gicquel is Soderling.
Lleyton Hewitt vs Dudi Sela: Hewitt wins 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
Sela was the seeded player in this one but I don't think the end result is a surprise to anyone. I'm impressed he managed to take Hewitt to three sets with how good Lleyton has been playing lately but their last meeting went to three sets as well. In the third Hewitt surprisingly won more points on Sela's first serve than against his second. He picked up his game in the final set and will go on to face Del Potro for a rematch of their Wimbledon match. I'm expecting Del Potro to play better this time around than he did in their last meeting.
Today's Matches:
There are some great matches on this afternoon and evening. Stadium court starts off with Ferrero vs Haas, followed by Hewitt vs Del Potro, with Roddick vs Querrey in the evening and finishes with Isner vs De Chaunac. My match of the day is Ferrero vs Haas in terms of pure tennis quality. Hewitt and Del Potro will be interesting because of their Wimbledon match but I think Ferrero and Haas is the best matchup. Roddick and Querrey will be interesting but I'm not expecting it to be as exciting. Check back tomorrow for more recaps.
Legg Mason Tennis Classic 05-Aug-09 Update
Well, there were some great matches at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic yesterday and one pretty big upset. I had picked Marin Cilic to be a tough test for Roddick in the quarters but it looks like I'll have to re-evaluate my predictions. Lets start the update off with the top quarter of the draw.
Robby Ginepri vs Benjamin Becker: Becker wins 7-6(3), 6-7(1), 7-6(4)
Andy Roddick won't be facing an American in his first match back after Wimbledon after all. Becker pulled through in a very tight match featuring one break of serve for each player in both the 2nd and 3rd sets. One thing you'll notice in today's recap is that serving percentage will be coming up a lot. Both players served at over 65% in the 1st set and gave up very few points on their own serve. But as the match wore on a poor 1st serve percentage creeped into each players game at different points of the match and in the end could have been the difference in this one. Becker's percentage dropped to 46% in the 2nd set but went back up to a passable 60% for the 3rd. Ginepri's on the other hand, dropped to 46% in the 3rd from 69% in the 2nd. In a tight match like this a few important 1st serves can make all the difference. Next up for Becker will of course be Andy Roddick tonight.
The winner of that match will play the winner of Sam Querrey and Igor Kunitsyn. Querrey had a bye in the first round and Kunitsyn won his first round match against Frederico Gill 7-6(1), 6-4 on Monday.
Rainer Schuettler vs Leonardo Mayer: Schuetller wins 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5)
Schuettler prevailed in another one of the three set matches from yesterday. It started out looking like Schuettler was going to run away with the match but Mayer came back strong and forced a third set tiebreak. Next up for Rainer is Ivo Karlovic. I don't think anyone enjoys playing Karlovic this early in a tournament (or anytime) but this will be Ivo's first match so maybe Schuettler can hope his serve isn't dialed in. Expect a couple tiebreaks in that one. Maybe even three tiebreaks.
(Q) Somdev Devvarman vs Marin Cilic: Devvarman wins 7-5, 6-4
This was a shocker to me. As I mentioned before I thought Cilic would be a really tough guy to beat in this tournament. Give Devvarman credit for some strong baseline play in this one but Cilic really never got going. The error count was around 35 for Cilic in these two sets. Serving percentage was 54% for the match, pretty much equally poor in each set, and he was broken 4 times in two sets. Devvarman played better on the big points in the match and saved 5 of 7 break points. As a result he's into the third round to meet the winner of Schuettler/Karlovic. Marin should hit the practice court for the next week and focus on serving.
On to Tsonga's quarter:
(Q) Sebastien De Chaunac vs Denis Istomin: De Chaunac wins 6-3, 7-6(7)
I don't know if there's something in the air in DC but this was another match where the serving just wasn't on. De Chaunac served 52% for the match, Istomin was at 50% in the first set but picked it up in the second and reached 66%. Both players were all over the 2nd serve with De Chaunac winning only 36% of his second serve points and Istomin only 32% of his. The plus side of De Chaunac's serving game is that he managed to fire in 15 aces. Could be that he was going for a lot and it dropped his percentage. There were 9 breaks of serve in these two sets. It makes for a very interesting match because you keep thinking if one player can just get some serves in they will be able to walk away with it. In the end it was De Chaunac who came out ahead and will be up against Dmitry Tursonov next round.
Tomas Berdych vs Ernests Gulbis: Berdych wins 6-2, 7-6 (6)
This was my match of the day prediction from yesterday. I don't think it lived up to the billing but the amount of break points saved by Berdych in the second set made it pretty entertaining. Gulbis is an interesting player. Such potential but something's been off in his game this season. It's no shame to lose to a player like Berdych but in general Gulbis needs some confidence or something. He can come out and play very good, or very flat and you never know what you're going to get. This match was definitely not a serving exhibition either. 35% for Berdych in the first set. What's just as surprising is that he was able to win 71% of his second serve points and all three break points faced in the set. He took advantage of both break chances he had and that was the difference. In the first break of the match Gulbis was up 40-0 in the game but couldn't close it out and Tomas came all the way back for the break. This really was a match that came down to the big points. Gulbis finally made good on a break chance in the 2nd set but it wasn't enough to extend the match to a third set. Berdych will play the winner of Fish and Petzschner.
Gonzalez' Quarter:
Juan Carlos Ferrero vs Nicolas Lapentti: Ferrero wins 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-0
Lapentti was the lucky loser to get into the draw after losing in the qualifying round. He put up a good fight against the former #1 but it wasn't enough in the end as Juan Carlos took complete control in the final set. Ferrero managed to fight off 8 break points this match and made good on 3 of 5 chances in the third set after only getting one chance in the first and second sets combined. Ferrero has been playing some strong tennis so far this season and his next match against Robredo is going to be my pick of today's match of the day.
Tommy Haas vs Frank Dancevic: Haas wins 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
It's good to see Haas playing well again. The guy has been a great player for a long time but has had so many injuries that he's never really had to chance to show people what he can do for any reasonable amount of time. Now, later in his career, hopefully he can stay healthy for some time. I don't know how many more times he can keep coming back from injuries and it would be a shame to see him off the tour. In this match against Dancevic, I wasn't giving Frank much of a shot. Dancevic has had some good results in the past and has beat Tursonov this year and Roddick last year, but I really didn't see his game matching up well against Haas'. After a 6-1 first set I thought it was pretty much over. But Frank kept fighting on to take the second set and had a few break chances to take the lead in the 3rd. In the end it was Haas who came through with the only break in the 3rd and won the match despite serving only 44% for the match. Again, maybe something in the air in DC. Up next for Tommy is the winner of Robredo/Ferrero and may be my pick for best match of the 3rd round.
Juan Martin Del Potro vs Yen-Hsun Lu: Del Potro wins 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
After the first set of this match it looked like there could be another big upset in the works. Del Potro has a great serve and ended up using it very effectively in the 2nd and 3rd sets serving at over 60% in each. Once Del Potro found his rhythm he started to take control as the match went on and didn't lose a single point on his first serve in the final set. Up next for him will be the winner of Hewitt and Sela. A rematch with Hewitt after losing to him at Wimbledon would be very exciting would be great to watch. Off of the Grand Slam court Del Potro should play a bit more comfortably and should have the edge in the rematch but Hewitt has shown this season that his game is seriously back and he could come through if he plays well.
That's the summary on yesterday's matches. Check back tomorrow for a review of Roddick's first match back after Wimbledon and summaries of the other matches going on later today.
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Legg Mason Tennis Classic
Rogers Cup Mens Tennis
Cincinnati Tennis Masters Series 
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US Open Tennis Day Session 26
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