TENNIS in DEPTH.

Rafael Nadal marked his return to the tennis court with victory over Ruben Bemelmans to help Spain take a healthy 2-0 lead over Belgium in the opening round of the Davis Cup World Group. The world number one has not played since his quarter-final defeat to compatriot David Ferrer in the Australian Open in January, but made light work of Bemelmans today in a 6-2 6-4 6-2 win. That earned 2009 champions Spain a 2-0 advantage after Fernando Verdasco had brushed aside Xavier Malisse 6-4 6-3 6-1 in the opening rubber. Verdasco will team up with Feliciano Lopez in Saturday’s doubles match, where victory over Malisse and Olivier Rochus would seal the tie.

Last year’s beaten finalists France also hold a 2-0 lead in their first round match against Austria after the opening day. Jeremy Chardy set the visitors on their way in Vienna with a 7-5 6-4 7-5 win over Jurgen Melzer before Gilles Simon saw off the challenge of Stefan Koubek, 6-0 6-2 6-3. France lost out to Serbia in last year’s final in Belgrade.

Bookmark It

Gilles Simon has become the fourth Frenchman in the Open era to win the men’s singles event at the Medibank International Sydney following a 7-5 7-6(4) win over No.4 seed Viktor Troicki at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre. Former world No.6 Simon, currently ranked No.41 and on the comeback trail after a debilitating knee injury last year, didn’t drop a set all week as he joined compatriots Henri Leconte (1985), Yannick Noah (1990) and Guy Forget (1991) as Sydney champions. In front of an enthusiastic crowd on Ken Rosewall Arena, the men traded breaks early in the first set but each held serve through to 6-5 for Simon, though Troicki had to save set point in the 10th game. The Frenchman managed to break through on Troicki’s next service game, breaking to win the opener 7-5 after 57 minutes, leading the Serbian to smash his racquet to the ground twice as he headed to his chair. The outburst may have helped Troicki as he broke Simon’s serve twice to lead 3-0, hitting some blazing forehand winners in the process. However Simon recovered both breaks as Troicki’s frustration began to surface, so when he broke for 6-5 it was somewhat of a surprise. Simon got himself to 0-40 on Troicki’s next service game but the No.4-seeded Serbian got back to deuce, firing a second-serve ace at 30-40. Nonetheless Simon broke back and sent the set to a tie-break. Simon rode the momentum through the breaker and despite a spirited challenge from Troicki, 26-year-old Simon held on to improve to 5-0 against his Serbian opponent, triumphing after one hour, 58 minutes.

The victory was Simon’s eighth ATP singles title and means he has now won at least one title in each of the past five seasons.

Bookmark It

Viktor Troicki continued to be a nemesis for French players when he knocked out last year’s finalist Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals of the Sydney International on Thursday. The Serbian fourth seed was too strong for Gasquet, winning 6-4, 6-4 in 77 minutes to set up a Friday semi-final with Germany’s Florian Mayer. Troicki became a national hero when he swept Serbia to an historic first Davis Cup title in easing past Michael Llodra in straight sets in the fifth and deciding rubber in Belgrade last month.

“In the past few months I’ve played pretty good against the French guys,” Troicki said. “Surprisingly I beat them in straight sets. “It’s going good and hopefully I can continue. It’s not easy to play against them, but for me, I guess it suits me.”

In Friday’s other semifinal Frenchman Gilles Simon will play Ernests Gulbis, the Latvian third seed. “I thought I had the match under control and I had a break in the second set,” Troicki said. “Richard started playing better and started playing some really great shots. “Luckily, at the end I broke him and served it out. So it was a tough one. I mean, he’s an ex-top 10 player.” Mayer cruised to a comfortable 6-4, 6-1 victory over Italian Potito Starace.

Simon, who was hindered by a persistent right knee injury for the first half of last year, wore down Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-3 to set up a last-four shot at Gulbis. Simon, who reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Australian Open, continued his fine tournament after ousting Taiwan’s eighth seed Lu Yen-Hsun and Portugal’s Frederico Gil to line up against Gulbis. The former world number six said he was now trussing his right knee after suffering chronic inflammation which forced him out of last year’s French Open. “I’m really happy to play without any pain, because a lot of time I had something,” Simon said. “It’s now two months that I can work on it normally without thinking about it. I’m not thinking any more about where I’m going to put my feet or anything. Just run.”

Gulbis worked his way into the semi-finals after beating Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-4. Gulbis said he pulled up badly from his previous day’s win over Russian Igor Andreev. “Yesterday’s match killed me physically,” he said. “It was really humid and I lost a lot of fluids, so I went straight to the hotel and I went to sleep. I didn’t feel good. “This morning I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play, but at the start of the match I felt really good.

“I will do some treatment. I will go to have a bath, ice massage, whatever it takes. I’m going to be okay tomorrow. “I just can’t go really long matches (but) don’t tell Simon.” Gulbis is the top-ranked seed left in the Sydney draw, after Wednesday’s exit of US top seed Sam Querrey and the injury-enforced withdrawal of defending champion and second seed Marcos Baghdatis.

Bookmark It

Novak Djokovic brought Serbia level with France at 1-1 after day one of the Davis Cup final thanks to a straight-sets win over Gilles Simon in Belgrade. World number three Djokovic thrilled the majority of the 16,000 fans with a 6-3 6-1 7-5 win, after Gael Monfils had beaten Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-4) 6-0. Viktor Troicki will partner Nenad Zimonjic against Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement in Sunday’s doubles.

Serbia are attempting to win the Davis Cup for the first time. Should they defeat nine-time champions France, team captain Bogdan Obradovic has suggested it would be the biggest achievement in his nation’s sporting history. I was nervous and it’s not surprising the crowd never really got going because I gave them very little to cheer about. The pressure was now on world number three Djokovic to deliver for the home side and he did so in style. Simon has slipped from a high of sixth in the world last year to 42nd after a series of injuries and went into the match having lost his last five encounters with the former Australian Open champion. The early signs were that this would be a tighter match, but after Djokovic converted his fourth break point in a lengthy game seven there was only going to be one winner.

Serving superbly, he appeared to be strolling to the finish line until nerves finally took hold as he served for victory, with two match points going begging before Simon broke back to make it 5-5. There was tension on both sides of the net, however, and the Frenchman handed the advantage straight back to Djokovic with a loose game before the grateful Serb grabbed his second opportunity to close it out after two hours and 15 minutes.

Bookmark It

Forget named a squad of Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Michael Llodra, Arnaud Clement and Richard Gasquet for the tie on December 3 to 5, though that group will have to be cut down to four by December 2. Gasquet did not feature in the semi-final against Argentina. “I selected four players in Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement, but I put Richard Gasquet in the group because for a meeting of this importance it seems essential to prepare five players,” Forget told French sports daily L’Equipe.

In the semi-final, which France won 5-0, the opening singles rubbers were played by Monfils and Llodra, who teamed up with Clement for the doubles. The dead-rubber singles were played by Simon and Clement. In Serbia, France will be going for their 10th title and their first since 2001.

Bookmark It

Second seed Robin Soderling swept past Gael Monfils to book his place in the semi-finals of the Valencia Open. The Swede got the better of the Frenchman in straight sets, 6-3 6-2, to book a last-four meeting with home favourite David Ferrer. The fourth seed secured his spot with a 7-5 6-4 win over Italy’s Potito Starace, much to the delight of the crowd inside Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies.

Also into the semi-finals is lucky loser Marcel Granollers, who continued to make the most of his participation thanks to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s withdrawal. He beat Juan Monaco, the conqueror of holder Andy Murray, 1-6 6-3 6-4. He will face Gilles Simon in Saturday’s second semi-final, with the Frenchman needing all three sets to beat Nikolay Davydenko, eventually prevailing 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.

Bookmark It

Defending champion Novak Djokovic secured his place in the semi-finals of the China Open with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Frenchman Gilles Simon. The world number two broke three times and defended all seven break points against him to record his fifth successive win against Simon. He will now play qualifier John Isner after the giant American beat fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. It is the fourth time in his last five tournaments that Djokovic has reached the last four, and he was satisfied with his progress after concluding the win over Simon in an hour and 25 minutes.

“I’m very happy that my serve is getting better and better and hopefully, I’m going to use it more and more,” the 23-year-old said. He was rather less enamoured about the conditions in Beijing, however, and said: “The bad air obviously does irritate you a little bit, especially if you’re playing against somebody that you expect to play long rallies with. “We had so many long rallies and it’s hard to recover when you don’t have fresh air. “A box of oxygen or something on the bench would be great, but we don’t have it. I guess I will have to get used to it.”

The ATP said they would look into the air quality concerns. Djokovic beat Isner in their only previous encounter in March, but took more than four hours and six match points to defeat the 6ft 9in American in Davis Cup action.

Bookmark It

Tomas Berdych was a surprise first-round casualty at the China Open today. The fifth-seeded Czech, who reached the Wimbledon final in a breakout year on the ATP Tour, was beaten 4-6 7-5 6-4 by German qualifier Michael Berrer in two hours and 21 minutes. It proved to a good day for Germany with Philipp Kohlschreiber also accounting for sixth seed Fernando Verdasco 6-2 7-5.

There were mixed fortunes for the United States, with Mardy Fish and John Isner progressing but Sam Querrey going out. Fish was an impressive 6-2 7-6 (7/5) victor against Janko Tipsarevic while Isner was too strong for Tsung-Hua Yang, winning 7-6 (7/5) 6-3. Querrey battled hard but went down 6-3 3-6 6-2 to in-form Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Bookmark It