Hamburg 500

[TennisFanatic7]

The bet-at-home Open in Hamburg this week, on clay, the first 500 level event since Barcelona.

Seeds:
1. Ferrer
2. Fognini (Defending champion)
3. Robredo
4. Dolgopolov
5. Youzhny
6. Bautista Agut
7. Kohlschreiber
8. Granollers
9. Verdasco
10. Garcia-Lopez
11. Giraldo
12. Simon
13. Delbonis
14. Sousa
15. Berlocq
16. Seppi

It will be particularly interesting to see how Ferrer gets on this week. He's kind of hung in there this year after splitting with Javier Piles, but he has had some very bad results lately, crushed by Nadal at Roland Garros, and losses to Kuznetsov and Berlocq in his latest tournaments.

I don't fancy Fognini to retain his title. But nobody else is standing out from the list that much as someone who has a "great" chance of winning this one. Perhaps Bautista Agut can build on the wave of momentum he has going for him lately and take his biggest title yet?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

If Verdasco is the 9th seed in a 500 clay tourney, the field is certainly strong.

 

[Moxie]

I haven't looked at the draw yet, but it's a very compelling field. Most interesting thing going on is this quiet time.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Personally I have never understood going back to clay after grass, right before the hard court swing, but the field here is intriguing.

These days, when I do not see Roger in any draw, I automatically side with young up and coming players, so I hope they do well here as well...

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Personally I have never understood going back to clay after grass, right before the hard court swing, but the field here is intriguing.

These days, when I do not see Roger in any draw, I automatically side with young up and coming players, so I hope they do well here as well...

It's never made sense to me either, it's not like they put in a series of grass court tournaments between Australia and Indian Wells, but it is what it is.

Speaking of the young guns, Thiem beat Vesely 7-5 6-0. I was expecting Thiem to win as the more natural clay courter but I thought it would be closer than that.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Brown take out PCB. This guy is slowly making progress since the pt he defeated
Hewitt in WImby. But, I don't think he is young. He is probably a late bloomer.

 

[herios]

Brown take out PCB. This guy is slowly making progress since the pt he defeated
Hewitt in WImby. But, I don't think he is young. He is probably a late bloomer.

Brown is 29, late bloomer is an understatement

 

[El Dude]

I can't tell if I dislike Fognini (or rather, find him irritating) because he's so damn good looking, or because he's a whiny prima donna. Probably both, or rather he's annoying because of the prima donna antics, and his looks just accentuate the point.

 

[El Dude]

Whoops...I turned on the Tennis Channel and it was Fognini vs. Delbonis at Hamburg; I assumed it was live, but it is a replay of last year's championship.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Fognini is still playing Hamburg this year too so we probably would have let you off with that one

Ferrer through against Kukushkin after losing the first set 6-2. Good win for Thiem over Granollers to reach the last 16, 7-5 in the deciding set. Robredo and Giraldo taking fairly straightforward wins too in the second round.

Zverev the only one of the wildcarders through the first round with a 6-0 6-2 win over Robin Haase. Bad loss for Haase! Monaco, Janowicz, Klizan, Rosol and Leo Mayer all through as well.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

I didn't notice it was Alex and not Mischa Zverev who crushed Haase earlier.

Alex Zverev is 17, a former junior no. 1 and currently ranked at 285. Another one to stick on the radar if you, like me, haven't already.

He plays Youzhny in the next round, which is potentially winnable given that Mikhail is having a pretty poor season with a W/L record of 10-13, including some pretty underwhelming performances:

Zagreb R2: Bjorn Phau (rank 358) def. Mikhail Youzhny (14) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Rotterdam R1: Igor Sijsling (64) def. Mikhail Youzhny (15) 6-2, 6-2
Bucharest R2: Robin Haase (50) def. Mikhail Youzhny (15) 6-3, 6-3
Munich R2: Martin Klizan (111) def. Mikhail Youzhny (17) 6-7, 6-2, 7-6
Wimbledon R2: Jimmy Wang (147) def. Mikhail Youzhny (16) 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3

Not been a great year for the Russian fellas!

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Fabio Foolnini strikes again. A racket smash (stomp) and a 6-4 6-0 defeat to an ill qualifier where he lost 19 of the last 20 points. Fed up of this guy now.

 

[isabelle]

The Fog lost miserabilly, sad for him

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVXWeMLG_fM[/video]

 

[Front242]

Really great win for Brown.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxZwadJ_oYg[/video]

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

yes that german kid seems to have burst out of nowhere..

 

[I.Haychew]

I'm phast losing interest in tennis...Because all of my phaves suck! Youzhny will retire (singles) by the end of the year. I can no longer deal with Phabio and his antics. And Soderling ain't ever comin' back (not that he'd even be a phactor iph he did).

 

[Moxie]

I'm phast losing interest in tennis...Because all of my phaves suck! Youzhny will retire (singles) by the end of the year. I can no longer deal with Phabio and his antics. And Soderling ain't ever comin' back (not that he'd even be a phactor iph he did).

No, say it ain't so, Chewy! You've been a champion of the Otherwise Interesting Players. That comes with risk of disappointment. And Soderling is coming back. :s

Is Youzhny really retiring this year?

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Zverev beats Youzhny as well. Watching some highlights, the kid reminds me of Kuerten a lot. It might be just the hair and the lankiness...

Just 17. It is great.