TENNIS in DEPTH.

Serbia’s hopes of reaching the Davis Cup final have been dealt a major blow with the news that Novak Djokovic has pulled out of their opening rubber against the Czech Republic.

The US Open finalist, who was scheduled to face Radek Stepanek in Friday’s semi-final opener, has been struck down with gastro-enteritis and could miss the entire fixture.

“He does not play the first match. He is sick. He has gastro-enteritis,” ITF spokeswoman Barbara Travers confirmed.

The world number two has been replaced by Viktor Troicki to face Stepanek.

In Friday’s second match, Janko Tipsarevic will face Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych.

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Marion Bartoli made a shock second-round exit from the WTA Tour Bell Challenge when she was stunned by wild card Rebecca Marino in straight sets in Quebec.

The 2007 Wimbledon finalist is ranked 139 places above her Canadian opponent but that counted for nothing as Marino claimed a 6-3 6-1 victory.

Bartoli’s game deserted her as she produced eight double faults to Marino’s one with the teenager also firing down 10 aces.

The Frenchwoman failed to convert any of her three break points and victory was wrapped up in an hour and 15 minutes.

With second seed Aravane Rezai knocked out the previous day, it means Lucie Safarova is the highest-ranked seed remaining.

The world number 28, seeded third in Canada, was superior all round as she progressed with a 6-4 6-2 win over Johanna Larsson.

Larsson had eight opportunities to break her opponent but converted just one and Safarova enjoyed a straightforward victory in one hour 25 minutes.

Fifth seed Melanie Oudin eased through 6-3 6-0 against Anna Tatishvilli but sixth seed Julia Goerges crashed out in straight sets, beaten by American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Mattek-Sands produced four double faults but she was vastly more clinical with her service game and ran out a 6-1 6-4 winner.

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France hosts Argentina in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group semifinals on 17-19 September with a place in the final against either Serbia or Czech Republic at stake.

Gael Monfils leads the French team in the absence of the injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who misses out for the second straight tie with a recurring knee injury.

Monfils has jumped to No. 15 in the world rankings after reaching the US Open quarterfinals last week when he lost to eventual runner-up Novak Djokovic.

“For an emotional player like me to play in Davis Cup is just something unbelievable,” said Monfils, who made his debut in last year’s World Group play-offs against Netherlands.

“You’re not playing for yourself, you’re playing for your flag. You have your whole country behind you, an unbelievable crowd, your friends on the side, your captain on the chair. There’s a different spirit.”

The 24 year-old, who is unbeaten in Davis Cup play this year, is joined by Michael Llodra, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon, while Julien Benneteau is also absent through injury.

Llodra found himself playing singles and doubles in France’s quarterfinal whitewash over defending champions Spain, and he may be called upon to play a similar role in this tie.

Argentina is once again hoping for a match-winning performance from its talisman David Nalbandian. The experienced 28 year-old has won the deciding fifth rubber in both his team’s 3-2 victories this year, away in Sweden and Russia.

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Aravane Rezai was the most notable casualty at the WTA Bell Challeng on Tuesdaye as the second seed and world number 18 was knocked out in the first round by Jill Craybas in Quebec.

Craybas, of the United States, won the first set 6-3 before her French opponent levelled by the same scoreline.

The third set went to a tie-break which Craybas, world ranked 123, took 7-3 in a match lasting just under two hours 10 minutes.

Fourth seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycov also crashed out in three sets at the hands of Valerie Tetreault.

The Canadian prevailed 6-3 3-6 6-2 against an opponent ranked 128 places above her.

However, top seed Marion Bartoli cruised through in less than an hour against Stephanie Foretz Gacon.

Bartoli, the world number 14, dominated her opponent to win 6-1 6-1.

Third seed Lucie Safarova also progressed with a straight-sets victory over Varvara Lepchenko.

Safarova, the world 28, did not have it all her own way before going through 7-5 6-3 in one hour and 40 minutes.

There were also wins for fifth seed Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alexa Glatch, Mirjana Lucic and Tamira Paszek.

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Novak won’t have much time to rest after US Open final, he’ll be heading to Belgrade for next weekend’s Davis Cup World Group semi-final match against Czech Republic.

“I cannot hide the disappointment. It’s just I’m not gonna cry or complain about that, you know. It’s just the way it is. Of course, I am feeling bad about my loss. I wanted that trophy, and I know I gave my maximum to get it even tonight. But, you know, when I sleep over the night, tomorrow I will wake up as a new man. You know, I will continue on working hard and waiting for the next chance to come. Davis Cup semi-final tie is in a few days and it’s very important to me. This is one of the key matches and the interest of the Serbian public is huge. I’m ready to play in Belgrade, and I don’t think this loss to Nadal will affect my form,” said Novak after the US Open final.

Novak pointed out that in the past eight months, he has been playing his best tennis now.

”I’ve played the best tennis now in certainly last seven, eight months, maybe the whole year. Wimbledon I played great, as well. So from Wimbledon up to this point, I feel much more comfortable on the court, more confident and getting this aggressive game back and the game that I need to have in order to stay at the top, and a game that has been a part of me always. It’s a good sign. I will continue on working, as I said, and hope that I can keep that performance,”

Djokovic, the Australian Open champion in 2008, is unbeaten in this year’s Davis Cup campaign, having claimed two singles wins in each of the team’s victories en route to the semifinals.

Serbia defeated USA 3-2 in Belgrade and then cruised past Croatia 4-1 with surprising ease in Split.

Serbian captain Bogdan Obradovic has the luxury of naming an unchanged team for the third consecutive tie so Djokovic lines-up with Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic.

Zimonjic is Serbia’s doubles specialist and has successfully partnered all three of his teammates in the past. He believes this flexibility puts the team in a strong position.

“We can make different combinations so whoever is playing singles doesn’t have to play all three days,” said the world No. 3 doubles player. “So far it’s worked well. We hope we’re going to be 100 per cent fit, all four of us, and we’ll be ready.”

Czech Republic has recalled the nation’s top two players, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, after both missed the 4-1 away victory over Chile in the quarterfinals through injury.

Berdych and Stepanek have formed the foundation of the Czech team over the last few years and led the nation to its first final since 1980 when finishing runner-up to Spain last year.

Berdych has enjoyed a breakthrough summer, having reached the last four at Roland Garros and final at Wimbledon. These performances have helped him attain a career world ranking of No. 7.

Stepanek, on the other hand, has struggled for form this year and is currently ranked No. 35, his lowest position since February 2008. The experienced 31 year-old often saves his best tennis for Davis Cup, though.

“We have a great team and we believe in ourselves,” said Stepanek. “We’ve been underdogs so many times, the same as we will be in Serbia, and we will try to use it to our advantage and do what we’ve done for the last two years.”

Ivo Minar and Jan Hajek make up the four-man team, following their impressive performances against Chile in July. Minar won both his singles rubbers, while Hajek recorded a singles victory and also triumphed with Lukas Dlouhy on the doubles court.

Serbia and Czech Republic are meeting for the first time. However, the nations faced each other nine times when playing under the flags of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. This series was led 5-4 by the Czechs.

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Nadal joins Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Fred Perry in having swept the board, and also becomes the first man since Laver in 1969 to win the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same year.

“That’s more than I dreamt,” Nadal said at the trophy presentation. “It’s just amazing to be here in this final, just to arrive in this final. To have this trophy here in a few seconds, with my hands, is going to be unbelievable.”

Neither the New York rain, which had seen the final postponed on Sunday and then interrupted for nearly two hours on Monday, nor Djokovic could halt the Spaniard’s relentless march to the one title that still eluded him.

There was a case to be made for Djokovic going into the final, not least because he had defeated five-time champion Roger Federer in a dramatic semi-final and had a 7-3 record against Nadal on hard courts, but the world number one is a different animal in major finals.

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Rafael Nadal joined the ranks of the all-time greats of tennis as he beat Novak Djokovic to win the US Open and complete his sets of Grand Slam titles.

The Spaniard, 24, won a rain-interrupted final 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 at Flushing Meadows in New York.

Nadal’s first US Open victory takes him to nine Grand Slam titles.

And he becomes only the seventh man in hsitory to complete the set of major titles – Wimbledon, the French, Australian and US Opens.

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Rafael Nadal headlines a bumper field of players coming to Bangkok to compete in the PTT Thailand Open from 25 September – 3 October at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.

2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro will make his return after missing almost the whole season. Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez and Latvian rising star Ernests Gulbis had already confirmed their participation in the USD608,500 event but are now joined by more of tennis’ top names including world #15 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, Spain’s Feliciano Lopez ranked #24, Thailand Open 2007 runner up German Benjamin Becker, and last year’s finalist Viktor Troicki of Serbia.

Joining the world’s top players and former finalists are other Bangkok favourites: #59 ranked Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain ranked #44, #48 Philipp Petzschner of Germany and Kazakhstan’s Evgeny Korolev of Argentina.

A number of top players will be joining the PTT Thailand Open for the first time: #52 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, Jeremy Chardy and Florent Serra of France and fast-rising Dutch star Thiemo de Bakker who has risen from outside the top 200 to #50 in a little over a year, have all confirmed they will participate in the tournament for the first time.

“We are again delighted to have such a strong field of players competing for the King’s Cup at the PTT Thailand Open,” said tournament Executive Committee Chairman Suwat Lipatapanlop. “Thai tennis fans are in for a fantastic nine days of tennis action.”

The main singles draw of the PTT Thailand Open will feature 28 players including three wildcards that have yet to be announced and four players who successfully come through the qualifying rounds. The Draw Ceremony for the tournament will be held at Impact Arena at 2pm on Saturday 25 September and this year will be open to the public for the first time in the tournament’s history.

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