2013/06/19

Tomic Keeps Australia in Hunt for Hopman Cup

tomic

(January 3, 2012) Bernard Tomic and Ashleigh Barty secured a 2-1 victory over Hopman Cup No.3 seeds Italy on Thursday night, keeping themselves in contention for a finals berth at the ITF’s official mixed teams competition.

Tomic began with a 6-3 7-5 win over Andreas Seppi.  He’s now a perfect 3-0 in singles play also upsetting Novak Djokovic and Tommy Haas.

“It was very difficult to bounce back and focus on tonight’s match but I think I did it extremely well and woke up and did everything on time,” said Tomic after the match. “I feel like I played a very good match today. I’m improving and I couldn’t be more satisfied from the last three matches I’ve won here.

“The confidence I’ve got from this week is going to allow myself a big chance in Sydney and if I keep everything up, I can do well there as well as the summer in Melbourne.”

Australian teenager Barty claimed the biggest win of her career with a 6-0 6-3 demolition of 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in Thursday night’s second rubber.

“It’s amazing coming to Perth and I’ve been given this opportunity to play for Australia and it’s been unbelievable,” said Barty post-match. “I’ve had a great week with Bernie (Tomic), I’m happy I can contribute and get a win.

“Coming out here and paying in front of this many people is unbelievable. Last night was so much fun and to play as well as I did is just amazing.”

Barty’s win gave Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead over Italy heading into the mixed doubles rubber which was won by the Italians 2-6 6-4 [10-3].

Earlier in the day Spain was handed a walkover by the USA after John Isner withdrew from the tie with a right knee injury.

In the singles Fernando Verdasco defeated Isner’s replacement, 16-year-old Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 7-6(4) 6-3 before Venus Williams beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-4.

In the mixed, the Spanish duo were clearly too good for Kokkinakis and Williams who met for the first time just minutes before playing. The experienced Spaniards, who had won both of their previous mixed doubles matches this week, completed a hat trick of mixed wins, 6-1 6-3, over the scratch USA pairing.

The victory secured Spain’s place in Saturday’s final with Serbia and Australia both in contention for the second finals berth depending on the outcome of Serbia’s match against Germany on Friday night.

Should Germany upset top seed Serbia, Australia would reach the final.

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Wozniacki and Seppi Claim Moscow Titles

(October 20, 2012) Caroline Wozniacki won her 20th career title Sunday, while Andreas Seppi won his third in Moscow on Sunday.

No. 11 Wozniacki defeated Samantha Stosur 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 while Seppi  rallied past Thomaz Bellucci 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3  for the Kremlin Cup.

“I think both of us played very good tennis out there,” Wozniacki said after coming back from a break down in the final set.

“At the right times I managed to win the right points. I tried to stay aggressive and stay close to the line and just dictate. But she played well and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

“Sam has been playing well and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and it could have gone either way at the end, but I think at the right times I played the right shots. There were a lot of key moments, but they just went my way.”

“Even though I lost, making a final is still a good achievement, “Stosur said.” It’s disappointing not to walk away with a title this year, having done so the last couple of years, but I made it to two finals and had a lot of other good opportunities, so it’s still a good year, and I’ll use it to motivate myself in 2013.”

Seppi came back to win down a set and a break against the hard-serving Bellucci, despite the Brazilian hitting 13 aces against the Italian.

“It was tough today to come back from a set and a break down, said Seppi. “He was serving very well at the beginning. I kept trying and that put some pressure on him. He could not close it out when he served for the match twice and that gave me confidence. I started to play more relaxed and more aggressive.”

Bellucci served for the match twice in the second set at 5-4 and 6-5 but failed to close the match.

“I just did not play at the same level as I was before when I served for the match,” Bellucci. “Maybe I got too nervous. It was still a good effort from me this week, my first indoor final. It was a good match and he played well.”

“It is very special to win this title as I remember Yevgeny (Kafelnikov) winning so many times here and he was my idol growing up, Said Seppi.”I saw him a few times this week but I was too shy to ask him anything. It has been a great season for me. Winning titles is so special. Now I have won on all surfaces and that means a lot.”

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Tsonga Defends Metz Crown

Top seed and seventh ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France demolished Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2 in 50 minutes on Sunday to defend his Moselle Open title at Metz, France.

“I had a complete match with no gaps, as opposed to yesterday, “Tsonga said. “Of course, it’s a lot easier when I can make a difference in two or three shots. If I had to define this week, I would simply say it was a perfect one.

“This is the first time I have been able to defend a title. So it’s even more special that it’s here at the Moselle Open, where I am the ambassador.”

“I want to congratulate Jo because he played too well today,” Seppi said..” His serve was impressive and there’s very little I could do. Unfortunately, this is the way it goes sometime indoors, matches go by really fast without being able to do anything. It was a great week for me and overall I am happy to have reached the final here.”

It was Tsonga’s second tournament victory in 2012, ninth career ATP title. He also won the Qatar Open in January.

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Gasquet Stuns Murray in Rome

Andy Murray

By Enrico Maria Riva

ROME – Matches usually tell two different stories: Andy Murray versus Richard Gasquet was no exception on Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. While the Frenchman managed a great victory 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-2, helping him to gear up for the French Open, the Scot showed that he is still struggling on clay. Without coach Ivan Lendl anywhere in sight, Murray played a very confusing match, failing to hold his serve easily most of the time, and spending huge amount of energy battling Gasquet from the baseline.

 

Murray has an excuse, as his back seemed to bother him throughout the match an issue which he admits he has been dealing with since December, but most of all he has to blame himself for the attitude towards the whole match. He reportedly shouted “I hate this game, I hate it!” on one of the too many occasions where he had to deal with repeatedly having to save break points. Murray never found his inner peace during the match, failed to close the first set while up a break at 5-3. Somehow he won the tiebreak but didn’t manage to bring the momentum to his side and let Gasquet dictate the game.

 

Gasquet has been playing very well lately, reaching the final in Estoril and now this Murray victory confirms his progress. The fact that coach Riccardo Piatti is now traveling with him 100%, after Ivan Ljubicic’s retirement, it has given Gasquet more confidence and more stability. Friday he will have to play at his best considering that David Ferrer is in great shape. The early start at Noon doesn’t help either as Gasquet didn’t fail to mention his anger about the scheduling during his news conference”.

 

Big emotions in Rome with Italy’s Andreas Seppi who managed to win another epic match, this time against Stanislas Wawrinka, saving six match points and closing  the match 6-7(1), 7-6(6), 7-6(6) after three hours and 20 minutes. The Italian will now face Roger Federer who took out Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

 

Another surprise was avoided on Thursday when Novak Djokovic managed to come back from a set down against Juan Monaco 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. The Argentinian showed that he has fully recovered from the Monte Carlo injury and he will be a serious threat in the Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal had no problem whatsoever in dismissing Marcel Granollers with a double 6-1 and David Ferrer prevented Gilles Simon from winning his first set ever on clay against him when he secured the second set tiebreak (6-0, 7-6). Tomas Berdych beat Nicolas Almagro 7-6, 6-3. There was an incident during a match at the Australian Open where the Spaniard involuntarily hit the Czech while volleying at the net. Yet the funniest episode involved the man who watered the court at the end of the set and an unlucky linesman who was soaked during the process.

In the night session Juan Martin Del Potro didn’t put much effort in the match he lost 6-4, 6-1 to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after having been up a break in the first set. Del Potro appeared to be dealing with knee pain.  The Argentinian didn’t appreciate the humidity and the match went quickly. Roger Federer struggled a bit to get rid of Juan Carlos Ferrrero but eventually won 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

 

In the women’s draw Petra Kvitova needed three sets to beat Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 although she looked relaxed during the vastly deserted news conference. Venus Williams made a giant leap towards the Olympics with her win against Stosur 6-4, 6-3 and Serena Williams secured a big match against Flavia Pennetta disposing of Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-1. The Italian is the last local woman remaining thanks to her stunning performance against Petra Cetkovska 6-0, 6-1. Roland Garros champion Na Li won against Chanelle Scheepers 7-6, 6-2 and will face Dominika Cibulkova who received a walkover on Wednesday  when Victoria Azarenka withdrew from the tournament with a  shoulder injury. A solid win for Maria Sharapova who trailed early during the match against Ana Ivanovic, saving set points yet still managed to prevail 7-6, 6-3.

 

Enrico Maria Riva is in Rome covering the Internazionali BNL D’Italia for Tennis Panorama News. Follow his twitter updates on @TennisNewsTPN and his personal twitter @EnricoMariaRiva.

Enrico Maria Riva is the tennis columnist for the Italian online newspaper Il Post and also writes for the Matchpoint magazine and for the websites Spaziotennis.com and Thetennisspace.com.

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Seppi Wins Serbia Open

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Mohammed Dabbous/Reuters/Fotoglif

Italy’s Andreas Seppi won the second title of his career eliminating France’s Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-2 for the Serbia Open.

“I think my play was really solid this week,” noted Seppi. “Maybe yesterday, the first set was under my expectations, but the rest was very good, so I can be very happy about this victory.

“My goal is to be back into the Top 30. My highest ranking is 27. At the beginning of the year, I said I wanted to try and get back there. I’m a little closer now. I’ll just try to do it match by match and see if I can manage it by the end of the year.”

 

As for the losing finalist, Paire had a career week. The Frenchman reached his first ATP World Tour final, defeating seeds Fabio Fognini and Jarkko Nieminen along the way.

“I was stressed and tired today,” said Paire. “It’s disappointing that I couldn’t win any easy games with my serve after leading 3-1 in the first set. My first serve percentage was very low and that’s why he was able to attack all the time. I only had hard matches against tough players this week. I’m not used to playing so many hard matches against great players in a row. It was a great week for me but of course I’m disappointed that I couldn’t do better in my first final. I have my birthday in two days and this would have been the perfect gift.”

Paire will move into the 60’s when the rankings come out on Monday.  ”I’m looking forward to the coming weeks,” Said the Frenchman. I have no points to defend in the next three months and that makes it very interesting. I saw this week that I can beat great players and I hope that I can continue like this.”

The Serbia Open is run by the Djokovic family. Noak Djokovic pulled out of the tournament due to the death of his grandfather.

RESULTS – SUNDAY, 6 MAY, 2012

Singles – Final
[2] A Seppi (ITA) d B Paire (FRA) 63 62

Doubles – Final
[3] J Erlich (ISR) / A Ram (ISR) d M Emmrich (GER) / A Siljestrom (SWE) 46 62 10-6

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