Barcelona Open 2017, Barcelona, Spain, ATP 500

[mightyjeditribble]

Pablo Cuevas is saving himself for RG by exiting early here. Nice strategy. :snicker

Good win for Khachanov!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[britbox]

Results from the Barcelona Open Men's Singles Round 2 matches on Wednesday

10-Albert Ramos (Spain) beat Casper Ruud (Norway) 7-6(6) 6-4
6-Roberto Bautista (Spain) beat Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) 6-1 6-3
Karen Khachanov (Russia) beat 11-Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) 7-6(5) 7-6(5)
Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) beat 15-Joao Sousa (Portugal) 7-6(3) 7-5
3-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat Rogerio Dutra Silva (Brazil) 6-1 6-2
5-David Goffin (Belgium) beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) 7-5 6-0
Chung Hyeon (South Korea) beat 12-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-3 6-4
16-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-2 6-2
1-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Bernard Tomic (Australia) walkover

 

[britbox]

 

[britbox]

And now he has retired and Muzz pass to the quarters B-)

Tomic's season goes from bad to worse.

 

[isabelle]

Tomic retired and Muzz pass to the quarters

not the quarters yet ???

 

[Moxie]

quarterfinals. I haven't seen a second of him playing yet. Anyone else?

 

[Moxie]

Nadal looked pretty sharp today v. Anderson. I'd say he's still improving on the dirt this season. Serve was good.

 

[Puppet Master]

Nadal is hitting screamers from both wings, especially the forehand side. Phenomenal. I am.thoroughly impressed.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Nadal is hitting screamers from both wings, especially the forehand side. Phenomenal. I am.thoroughly impressed.

PM.. That's the highest form of a compliment because there isn't a biggest critic of Rafa's game then you..:clap(me sometimes but Kieran gets after me before I decide to throw dirt at Rafa).

BTW.. isn't it refreshing to listen to TC's tennis analyst like James Blake, Leif Shi, Paul Annacone, Tracy Austin, Lindsey Davenport . I am way too sick of the. ESPN big mouths like Pat McEnroe love of Federer. Never Mary Carrillo for me:nono

 

[mrzz]

Pablo Cuevas is saving himself for RG by exiting early here. Nice strategy. :snicker

Laugh while you can. There is a good chance that you will laugh forever, though. (damn it!)

 

[DarthFed]

Zverev got destroyed by a qualifier today. Clay is obviously not going to be his best surface but I was hoping to see a little bit better showing so far. Hoping he breaks through a bit on grass and fast hards this summer.

 

[El Dude]

I'm starting to get the sense that Alex Zverev sucks on clay.

 

[mrzz]

Impressed by the results of Khachanov so far. Started by beating Bellucci, which knows how to play on clay, then beat Cuevas, who is a very good clay courter, and now Goffin. Few people on tour would string that together. No matter what, he gets an easier match next round (even if Zeballos, if it is him, is a good clay courter). Then the ultimate test...

 

[Puppet Master]

I'm starting to get the sense that Alex Zverev sucks on clay.

Ding ding! Correct.
I truly don't understand why people thought he was good on clay in the first place. Only somoeone who doesn't really follow tennis, or just can't use logic at all, is capable of such a conclusion.
I kid you not, there were people on other forums who thought he would demolish Rafa in MC, or get revenge against him on Pista Rafa Nadal, for crying out loud.

Edit: I started typing out a long explanation as to why Sascha won't be successful on clay, and players like him, but this has been done to death already. The same reason why you barely see those clay specialists like Pablo Cuevas in draws after RG. They don't/can't adapt their games to win on different surfaces. Even multi slam champs have a clear favourite surface and conditions of play, regardless of their wins on other ones, no matter how flexible with their games, or how talented they are.
Will a thread be born from this talk? You got any ideas?

 

[El Dude]

I'd love to hear your explanation, PM, and that would be a great thread - I encourage you to start it.

 

[Puppet Master]

Nadal is hitting screamers from both wings, especially the forehand side. Phenomenal. I am.thoroughly impressed.

PM.. That's the highest form of a compliment because there isn't a biggest critic of Rafa's game then you..:clap(me sometimes but Kieran gets after me before I decide to throw dirt at Rafa).

BTW.. isn't it refreshing to listen to TC's tennis analyst like James Blake, Leif Shi, Paul Annacone, Tracy Austin, Lindsey Davenport . I am way too sick of the. ESPN big mouths like Pat McEnroe love of Federer. Never Mary Carrillo for me:nono

I watched Nadal's match on TC today, and I did not realise it was Blake talking. I never watched TC before, and I have never heard blake in the commentary box, didn't recognise his voice at all. He said that he was a former pro, so I kept on listening for hints, and turned on my analytical skills up to 500%
I got it after two hints:
1) "I played Rafa 7 times, winning the first 3."
I suspected a few guys right away but I carried on listening.
2) "I would sometimes average 6 or 7 seconds between points."
I knew it was James Blake, it had to be him.
Had a good laugh. :laydownlaughing

 

[the AntiPusher]

Nadal is hitting screamers from both wings, especially the forehand side. Phenomenal. I am.thoroughly impressed.

PM.. That's the highest form of a compliment because there isn't a biggest critic of Rafa's game then you..:clap(me sometimes but Kieran gets after me before I decide to throw dirt at Rafa).

BTW.. isn't it refreshing to listen to TC's tennis analyst like James Blake, Leif Shi, Paul Annacone, Tracy Austin, Lindsey Davenport . I am way too sick of the. ESPN big mouths like Pat McEnroe love of Federer. Never Mary Carrillo for me:nono

I watched Nadal's match on TC today, and I did not realise it was Blake talking. I never watched TC before, and I have never heard blake in the commentary box, didn't recognise his voice at all. He said that he was a former pro, so I kept on listening for hints, and turned on my analytical skills up to 500%
I got it after two hints:
1) "I played Rafa 7 times, winning the first 3."
I suspected a few guys right away but I carried on listening.
2) "I would sometimes average 6 or 7 seconds between points."
I knew it was James Blake, it had to be him.
Had a good laugh. :laydownlaughing

James is so smooth..never bias easy to listen to and you can tell he isn't one of those guys who just like to listen to the sound of his voice.

 

[mrzz]

Two strokes in the Zverev Nadal match in Monte Carlo and I knew he was in for some suffering. Not that I expected him to win, but he showed that, as for now, he is bellow average on clay. But I surely would like to see PM's thread also.

This guy Khachanov seems to be getting somewhere. Just beat three guys who know their way on clay. He might get to the semis and face Nadal, then we'll see what the guys is made of...

 

[Puppet Master]

I'd love to hear your explanation, PM, and that would be a great thread - I encourage you to start it.

Regarding the thread, I will think about it, maybe in a few days so that it isn't just me rambling, maybe I could add a few pics and spreadsheets.
Regarding the explanation:
Sascha is six foot eight. He is too hindered by his movement to even box with those Spanish clay specialists, let alone the super talents like big 4.
Next up, the nature of his game. His biggest weapon is neutralised the most on clay. He usually hits his first serves in the 200-210 km/h range for flat serves, and 170-185 km/h for the changeup serves (slice and kick serves).
Second serves are a tad slower than his changeup serves, but great regardless. And he hits a pretty big ball from the baseline, on both wings. You can imagine the how many 9+ rallies he wins, which are a must on clay. Judging by the numbers only, he is a textbook big server or rather, a serve oriented player. When was the last time someone like him was in a clay masters semi, or RG semi (at least)?
Not a lot of those, right?
Soderling springs to mind, but clay wasn't his best surface I would say, he is just a ballbasher rather than a big server, who played like possessed to beat Fed and Nadal at RG in 2010 and 2009 respectively. Even with that in mind, his baseline consistency was much better than Zverev's. And he is literally the only one that I can think of, almost an anomaly.

 

[Puppet Master]

PM.. That's the highest form of a compliment because there isn't a biggest critic of Rafa's game then you..:clap(me sometimes but Kieran gets after me before I decide to throw dirt at Rafa).

BTW.. isn't it refreshing to listen to TC's tennis analyst like James Blake, Leif Shi, Paul Annacone, Tracy Austin, Lindsey Davenport . I am way too sick of the. ESPN big mouths like Pat McEnroe love of Federer. Never Mary Carrillo for me:nono

I watched Nadal's match on TC today, and I did not realise it was Blake talking. I never watched TC before, and I have never heard blake in the commentary box, didn't recognise his voice at all. He said that he was a former pro, so I kept on listening for hints, and turned on my analytical skills up to 500%
I got it after two hints:
1) "I played Rafa 7 times, winning the first 3."
I suspected a few guys right away but I carried on listening.
2) "I would sometimes average 6 or 7 seconds between points."
I knew it was James Blake, it had to be him.
Had a good laugh. :laydownlaughing

James is so smooth..never bias easy to listen to and you can tell he isn't one of those guys who just like to listen to the sound of his voice.

Yeah, no matter how good the guy is, it's always a bit annoying when commentators or reporters do this. It's so obvious as well hahaha. Whatever floats their boat I guess.