2013/05/20

Nishikori Captures Memphis Tournament

Kei Nishikori

Kei Nishikori

(February 24, 2013) Japan’s Kei Nishikori needed only 67 minutes to dispose of Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-3 to win the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis.

Nishikori won his third career ATP tennis tournament without dropping a set all week.

“I’m very happy with the way I played today,” said Nishikori. “To win this title is an amazing feeling. I tried to concentrate on all the important points. I served really well this week. I was practicing a lot and it’s getting better. Hopefully I can win a couple more titles. It’s been a good start to the year.”

“I didn’t play a bad match,” Lopez explained. “He was very aggressive from the beginning. I think he probably played his best. I have no regrets. I tried everything I could and he was just the better player today. I hope to keep playing like I did this week.”

Bob and Mike Bryan won their 85th team title and third this season with the victory in Memphis.

“We played great tennis all week and were even better in the final, which is nice,” Bob Bryan said. “We got out of a couple sticky moments early in the match and the momentum shifted our way. We haven’t put up scores like this in a while. It was nice to get it done and not sweat through a match tie-break. It was fun playing against two of our friends, too.”

 

RESULTS – SUNDAY, 24 FEBRUARY, 2013

Singles – Final
[5] K Nishikori (JPN) d F Lopez (ESP) 62 63

Doubles – Final
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d [WC] J Blake (USA) / J Sock (USA) 61 62

 

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Erakovic Wins First WTA Title

Marina+Erakovic+2013+Australian+Open+Day+1+trtkHJWSEvpl

(February 23, 2013) Marina Erakovic of New Zealand won her first WTA title at the US National Indoor Tennis Championships on Saturday when the No.3 seed Sabine Lisicki had to retire due to gastrointestinal illness with Erakovic up 6-1.
“It’s very unfortunate I wasn’t able to finish the match,” Lisicki said. “I put all the energy I had left in my body into the match, but I just couldn’t keep going. I had been sick the last three days already. But Marina had a great tournament and I want to congratulate her for her first WTA title.”

 

Erakovic is the first New Zealander to win a WTA title since Belinda Cordwell at Kallang in 1989.

 

“I think it means quite a bit for New Zealand,” she said. “We’re a small place, we’ve got about four million people, and tennis isn’t the most popular sport – but whenever I’m somewhere else in the world and someone asks me where I’m from, and I say New Zealand, they always say they love New Zealand. And there are always a lot of Kiwis supporting me around the world. So this is great.

 

“I’ve just talked to home – everyone’s super excited. My dad was watching online – I had to tell him congratulations too, because he did so much when I was a kid. This really was teamwork.”

 

Erakovic was especially pleased with the guitar-shaped trophy, as she plays guitar and travels with one. “I really couldn’t have thought of a better moment in time than that,” she said.

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Memphis – Wednesday Results, Thursday Schedule

US NATIONAL INDOOR TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Memphis,
USA
February 17-23,
2013
Hard/Outdoors

Results – Wednesday, February
20, 2013
Singles – Second
Round
(1)
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 75 36 63
Marina Erakovic (NZL)
d. (2) Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 61 36 63
(3) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Melinda
Czink (HUN) 76(0) 46 62
(4) Heather Watson (GBR) d. Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) 26 60 63
(8) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) d. (WC) Victoria Duval (USA) 61 36
63
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. (Q) Claire Feuerstein (FRA) 36 76(2)
61

Doubles -
Quarterfinals
Lee-Waters/Pegula
(USA/USA) d. (3) Erakovic/Watson (NZL/GBR) 76(4) 62
(4)
Dekmeijere/Moulton-Levy (LAT/USA) d. Muguruza/Soler-Espinosa (ESP/ESP) 64 16 108
(Match TB)
Arvidsson/Larsson (SWE/SWE) d. Dabrowski/Kudryavtseva (CAN/RUS) 64
26 108 (Match TB)

Singles – First Round
[WC] J Sock (USA) d [2] M Raonic (CAN) 63 57 75
[6] T Haas (GER) d E Donskoy (RUS) 76(6) 64
[7] A Dolgopolov (UKR) d B Phau (GER) 63 64
[Q] D Young (USA) d X Malisse (BEL) 51 ret. (back)
M Matosevic (AUS) d G Soeda (JPN) 76(6) 64
L Hewitt (AUS) d Y Lu (TPE) 26 76(3) 64 – Saved 2 M.P.

Doubles – First Round
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d R Farah (COL) / T Haas (GER) 61 61
[3] L Kubot (POL) / D Nestor (CAN) d [Alt] J Levinsky (CZE) / Y Lu (TPE) 64 61
[4] A Peya (AUT) / B Soares (BRA) d [WC] C Harrison (USA) / R Harrison (USA) 62 64

 

SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, 21 FEBRUARY, 2013

STADIUM start 10:00 am
[3] S Lisicki (GER) vs [8] K Mladenovic (FRA) – WTA
J Hampton (USA) vs M Erakovic (NZL) – WTA

Not Before 3:00 PM
[1] M Cilic (CRO) vs I Sijsling (NED) – ATP
[4] S Querrey (USA) vs M Matosevic (AUS) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
[WC] J Blake (USA) vs [WC] J Sock (USA) – ATP
[6] T Haas (GER) vs F Lopez (ESP) – ATP

GRANDSTAND start 10:00 am
[1] K Flipkens (BEL) vs [7] M Rybarikova (SVK) – WTA
L Hewitt (AUS) vs D Istomin (UZB) – ATP
[Q] R Williams (USA) vs [7] A Dolgopolov (UKR) – ATP
[Q] D Young (USA) vs [5] K Nishikori (JPN) – ATP
[4] A Peya (AUT) / B Soares (BRA) vs E Butorac (USA) / P Hanley (AUS) – ATP

COURT 1 start 10:00 am
[LL] M Russell (USA) vs L Kubot (POL) – ATP
S Voegele (SUI) vs [4] H Watson (GBR) – WTA
S Arvidsson (SWE) / J Larsson (SWE) vs [4] L Dekmeijere (LAT) / M Moulton-Levy (USA) – WTA
V Dolonc (SRB) / E Hrdinova (CZE) vs [2] K Mladenovic (FRA) / G Voskoboeva (KAZ) – WTA
J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER) vs [3] L Kubot (POL) / D Nestor (CAN) – ATP

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Memphis Sunday Schedule

memphis header

US NATIONAL INDOOR TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Memphis, USA
February 17-23, 2013
$235,000/International
Hard/Outdoors

Order Of Play – Sunday, February 17, 2013
Stadium (from 10.00hrs)
1. Madison Keys vs. Alexa Glatch (Singles Q Final)
2. Galina Voskoboeva vs. Heather Watson (NB 11.00hrs)
3. ATP: Russell vs. Young
4. ATP: Williams vs. Muñoz-de la Nava
5. Chanelle Scheepers vs. Coco Vandeweghe

Grandstand (from 10.00hrs)
1. Irina Falconi vs. Maria Sanchez (Singles Q Final)
2. ATP: Karlovic vs. Bogomolov Jr. (NB 11.00hrs)
3. ATP: Ebden vs. Marchenko (NB 12.00hrs)
4. Stéphanie Foretz Gacon vs. Magdalena Rybarikova
5. Dekmeijere/Moulton-Levy vs. Mikesz/Wegner

Court 1 (from 10.00hrs)
1. Claire Feuerstein vs. Taylor Townsend (Singles Q Final)
2. Jana Cepelova vs. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Singles Q Final; NB 11.30hrs)
3. Melinda Czink vs. Olga Puchkova
4. Ksenia Pervak vs. Lauren Davis

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Memphis Odds and Ends

By Brad Hunter

Jurgen Melzer photo courtesy of Memphis Tennis Facebook page

The Regions Morgan Keegan Championships

WTA  Report

“Hi Honey” and “yes ma’am”… The ladies (and men) who work in the Racquet Club were all so sweet, and mostly southern thus making this visit extra enjoyable

Like Monica… Lucie Hradecka hits huge and double-handed from both sides off the ground, but her most impressive shot was her accurate and offensive return of service which she used to good effect in winning the doubles with partner Hlavackova, for their seconddoubles title of the year

Home away from home… Repeat singles winner Sofia Arvidsson has her own Parking spot, and looks completely relaxed and at home playing in Memphis

Doubles surprise… Melanie Oudin fell early in singles, but when she teamed with Jamie Hampton in the doubles, the Grandstand court was packed

Getting some Momentum in Memphis… Vera Dushevina put together her 1st back-to-back main draw wins of 2012 in singles by reaching the semi-finals, and she and doubles partner Govortsova reached the final

ATP

Crazy forehands… Jack Sock’s forehand is really interesting and wristy and twisty—a windshield wiper forward motion which rivals Ryan Harrison’s forehand in the wristy and twisty department.

Not bad but bounced anyway… Andy Roddick is a great competitor so he probably did not pencil in a “W” before he stepped on court with Xavier Malisse, even though he had won their only/previous 9 meetings… and Andy played some aggressive, solid tennis… but Malisse returned like a doubles specialist and came up with the magic shots when it mattered—thus bouncing the biggest crowd draw of the tournament in the 1st round

Doubles out, singles in… 2011 US Open doubles champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschener were glares, missed shots and self-criticizing yelps in their 1st round loss in Memphis to Benneteau/Rochus but Jurgen played like it was Roland Garros 2010 in winning his 1st title in Memphis

A sensible argyle… Radek Stepanek wore a not crazy shirt… and no one talked about his wardrobe… until now

Gulbis gives good interview… Amanda Le May caught  up with Ernie before his Raonic match

Brad and Sam, Sam and John… Sam Querrey and his backhand (Brad’s influence already?) looked pretty good winning his first back-to-back singles matches of 2012 and reaching the doubles semis with Isner.

 

Brad Hunter was in Memphis last week covering the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Memphis International as media for Tennis Panorama  Follow his personal twitter account @BradHunter.

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Melzer Fights off Broken Toe and Raonic for Memphis Title

 

Austria’s Jurgen Melzer, suffering with a broken big toe on his right foot capped a week in Memphis by winning the tournament over last year’s finalist Canadian Milos Raonic 7-5, 7-6(4).

Melzer broke his toe ten days ago when he caught his foot in a hotel bedspread. His broken toe did not stop him from taking out three of the tournament’s top four seeds, including John Isner, Radek Stepanek and Raonic.

“Of course it’s a relief to win a tournament, especially a [ATP World Tour] 500; I haven’t won one before. After a tough season last year, it’s obviously something nice. I played a really good match today, I kept my head in the game. I knew it was tough. He’s probably the best server on tour at the moment. Sometimes you just walk left to right without doing anything, but I felt like when the ball was in play and when I had my chances, I played really solid.”

“After the match against John [Isner], I felt this could be my tournament because I’ve been really playing well and things have been going together. I’ve been going for lines when it was important and especially the big points I’ve been playing well the whole tournament. This is confidence, this is what you need. In the end, it’s one or two points and I’ve played those better than the other guys this week.”

“He neutralized my serve better than anybody else the last two weeks, so a big part of it is getting a lot of free points to not getting that many,” Raonic said. You have one mentality set on why the free points aren’t coming, like the last few times, and that was pretty much all due to credit to him. I just didn’t catch on early enough, I felt.”

“There wasn’t really much I could do a lot of times in the matches. He was pretty much taking it to me. I felt like he was the one dictating more than I was, so he was taking that away from me. He was playing very close and inside the line, while I felt I was quite far behind, so I was the one doing most of the running.”
World No. 38 Melzer became the first 30-year-old to take the Memphis title since Ivan Lendl did it in 1991. Memphis marks Melzer’s fourth career ATP World Tour title.

RESULTS – SUNDAY, 26 FEBRUARY, 2012

Singles – Final
J Melzer (AUT) d [4] M Raonic (CAN) 75 76(4)

Doubles – Final
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) d I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) 46 75 10-7

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Arvidsson Nets Second Memphis Title

Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden returns the ball to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 23, 2011. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau (FRANCE – Tags: SPORT TENNIS)

 

 

Sofia Arvidsson defeated Marina Erakovic 6-3, 6-4 to capture the Memphis International on Saturday night. It’s her second tournament victory on the WTA tour, the first also came in Memphis in 2006.

“It wasn’t easy. She beat me really easily last time and she’s a tough player, Arvidsson said. “I had to play my best. After the first two games, I really came into it. My serve was really working today and so was my down the line backhand.”

“I just love this place. It’s my second home. I never would have expected this when I came here. I’m just so happy.”

 

MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL
Memphis, TN, USA
February 19-25, 2012
$220,000/International
Hard/Indoors

Results – Saturday, February 25, 2012
Singles – Final
Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) d. (4) Marina Erakovic (NZL) 63 64

Doubles – Final
(1) Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. (2) Dushevina/Govortsova (RUS/BLR) 63 64

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Melzer Despite Broken Toe to meet Raonic in Memphis Final

Playing with a broken right big toe, Austrian Jurgen Melzer has made it into the Memphis final by beating Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday.
“Well, it’s obviously very satisfying,” Melzer said.

“I’ve played a great tournament so far, and reaching that final is something special. I haven’t played a final since 2010. It was a tough match today. I mean he’s obviously a tricky player. He knows what to do on the court, very offensive at times, just takes back a little bit the speed of his stroke. I had to stay focused. I had to play my game.”

“But the good thing is most of my sliding I do on hard court I do with my left foot so it doesn’t … affect my game,” Melzer said.

“When you lose a match like that you know you have your chances,” said Stepanek.  “I gave him a Christmas gift in the first set. You know it was a very poor service game of mine, and yeah, we don’t play if something would be different. But the match went that way.”

“Being love-40 down would be tough to come down from that,” Melzer said. “Played a great service game to hold him, and I think the way I served out was impressive.”

Melzer will face Milos Raonic of Canada for the Memphis title on Sunday. Raonic took out German Benjamin Becker 6-4, 6-4. Raonic will be seeking back-to-back tournament wins as he won the San Jose tournament last weekend. He’ll also be trying to win his third title in just four tournaments this year.

RESULTS – SATURDAY, 25 FEBRUARY, 2012

Singles – Semi-finals
J Melzer (AUT) d [3] R Stepanek (CZE) 64 36 63
[4] M Raonic (CAN) d B Becker (GER) 64 64

Doubles – Semi-finals
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) d J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) 76(3) 62
I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) d C Fleming (GBR) / R Hutchins (GBR) 63 76(4)

ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, 26 FEBRUARY, 2012

STADIUM start 1:00 pm
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) vs I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA)

Not Before 3:00 PM
J Melzer (AUT) vs [4] M Raonic (CAN)

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Melzer Takes Out Top Seed Isner in Memphis

Jurgen Melzer, playing with a broken toe, took out top seed John Isner 6-3, 7-6(6).at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis on Friday. Melzer now has a 2-0 record against Isner, the Austrian also defeated the American four years ago in Memphis.

“It’s very nice to beat the top seed, but for me it’s more important that my game is getting better,” said  Melzer.

“My body holds up. … I had a lot of troubles with my back last year. It’s nice to be able to play pain-free on the court, putting the toe aside. OK, that’s going to heal, and going out there especially when there’s an important point. I have been playing well this week. That’s what made me top 10 in the world and (I’m) trying to do that again.”

“He won it. He was better than me, and he deserved it, really. I thought he played really well. That’s all there is to it. I just ran up against a guy who’s clicking on all cylinders,” Isner said.

MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL
Memphis, TN, USA
February 19-25, 2012
Hard/Indoors

Results – Friday, February 24, 2012
Women’s Singles – Semifinals
(4) Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. Vera Dushevina (RUS) 61 46 64
Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 63 75

Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals
J Melzer (AUT) d [1] J Isner (USA) 63 76(6)
[3] R Stepanek (CZE) d [WC] S Querrey (USA) 76(5) 60
[4] M Raonic (CAN) d O Rochus (BEL) 63 76(3)
B Becker (GER) d L Kubot (POL) 75 76(5)

ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, 25 FEBRUARY, 2012

STADIUM start 11:00 am
J Melzer (AUT) vs [3] R Stepanek (CZE) – ATP
C Fleming (GBR) / R Hutchins (GBR) vs I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) – ATP

Not Before 3.00 pm
[4] M Raonic (CAN) vs B Becker (GER) – ATP
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) vs J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) – ATP

Not Before 7.00 pm
[4] M Erakovic (NZL) vs S Arvidsson (SWE) – WTA Singles Final
[1] A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Hradecka (CZE) vs [2] V Dushevina (RUS) / O Govortsova (BLR) – WTA Doubles Final

Doubles – Semifinals
(1) Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. (4) Krajicek/Tatishvili (NED/GEO) 63 63

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Isner, Stepanek, Raonic and Querrey Gain Quarters in Memphis

 

Top seed John Isner won a tough match against fellow American Donald Young on Thursday in Memphis. Isner crushed 22 aces passed Young for a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory. “Yeah, it was a tricky match,” said Isner. “I wasn’t playing my best at the beginning but I competed well and that helped me out a lot. From that I was able to win a very close first set and play better in the second set. So I was very happy.”

Results – Thursday, February 23, 2012
Women’s Singles – Quarterfinals
(4) Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. Michaella Krajicek (NED) 64 67(2) 64
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 75 63
Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 62 76(9)
Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. Stéphanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) 36 63 61

Doubles – Semifinals
(2) Dushevina/Govortsova (RUS/BLR) d. (3) Dekmeijere/Petrova (LAT/RUS) 26 41 ret. (Petrova: left thigh injury)

Doubles – Quarterfinals
(1) Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. Lee-Waters/Moulton-Levy (USA/USA) 62 63
(4) Krajicek/Tatishvili (NED/GEO) d. Erakovic/Pervak (NZL/KAZ) 63 ret. (Pervak: viral illness)

Men’s Singles – Second Round
[1] J Isner (USA) d D Young (USA) 76(3) 64
[3] R Stepanek (CZE) d R Sweeting (USA) 46 63 76(4)
[4] M Raonic (CAN) d S Stakhovsky (UKR) 64 64
[WC] S Querrey (USA) d [7] K Anderson (RSA) 76(4) 64
J Melzer (AUT) d I Dodig (CRO) 26 63 76(5)
O Rochus (BEL) d [WC] R Harrison (USA) 64 75
L Kubot (POL) d P Petzschner (GER) 76(5) 62
B Becker (GER) d X Malisse (BEL) 76(4) 64

Doubles – Quarterfinals
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) d [WC] R Harrison (USA) / D Kudla (USA) 76(9) 36 10-8
C Fleming (GBR) / R Hutchins (GBR) d [3] F Cermak (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) 63 36 10-3
I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) d J Benneteau (FRA) / O Rochus (BEL) 63 64

SCHEDULE – FRIDAY, 24 FEBRUARY, 2012

STADIUM start 10:00 am
S Arvidsson (SWE) vs A Brianti (ITA) – WTA
V Dushevina (RUS) vs [4] M Erakovic (NZL) – WTA
Not Before 2:00 PM
[3] R Stepanek (CZE) vs [WC] S Querrey (USA) – ATP
[1] J Isner (USA) vs J Melzer (AUT) – ATP
Not Before 7:00 PM
O Rochus (BEL) vs [4] M Raonic (CAN) – ATP
L Kubot (POL) vs B Becker (GER) – ATP

GRANDSTAND start 1:00 pm
[1] A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Hradecka (CZE) vs [4] M Krajicek (NED) / A Tatishvili (GEO) – WTA

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