TENNIS in DEPTH.

Wild card Daniel Brands came from a set down to knock out top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon on a day of major shocks at the International German Open in Hamburg.

The world number 120 delighted the home fans by clawing out a 3-6 6-4 6-3 win, securing the vital second-set break in the 10th game before breaking Simon early in the third and then saving break point as he served out for the match.

World number 103 Ivan Navarro also scored a big upset with powerful serving securing him a 7-5 7-6 (7/2) win over fourth seed and former champion Tommy Robredo.

Swiss fifth seed Stanislas Wawrinka was another casualty as he fell 6-2 6-4 to Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while ninth seed Jurgen Melzer slumped to a 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 loss to Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas.

Next up for Cuevas will be eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Potito Starace 6-2 4-6 6-4. There was also a first-round win for wild card Florian Mayer who beat fellow German Rainer Schuettler.

Bookmark It

The ATP World Tour is two months into the 2009 season and there’s already been several breakthrough achievements, including five two-time winners – two more at this stage from one year ago.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal is off to a 13-2 start by winning his sixth Grand Slam tournament in a five-set thriller over rival Roger Federer at the Australian Open. The Spaniard also reached the Rotterdam final, losing to World No. 4 Andy Murray.

The 21-year-old Murray is 15-1 on the season, 3-0 against Top 10 opponents, with ATP World Tour titles in Doha and Rotterdam. His only loss came in five sets in the the fourth round at the Australian Open to a new member of the Top 10 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, Fernando Verdasco. The Spaniard advanced to his first Grand Slam semi-final in Melbourne where he lost to Nadal in a 5:14 marathon. Verdasco opened the season with a runner-up in Brisbane.

World No. 3 Novak Djokovic picked up his first ATP World Tour title of the year last weekend in Dubai, an ATP World Tour 500 tournament, by defeating Spaniard David Ferrer.

Top American and World No. 6 Andy Roddick has compiled a 17-3 record by winning an ATP World Tour title for the ninth straight year, best among active players, and reaching the Doha final. He also advanced to the semi-finals at the Australian Open for the fourth time.

Juan Martin del Potro, the top South American at No. 7, won his fifth ATP World Tour title since last July in Auckland. The 20-year-old Argentine, the youngest player in the Top 10, also reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga leads the ATP World Tour with the most match wins (19) and has already captured titles in Johannesburg and Marseille. Last year Tsonga didn’t win his 19th match until the US Open. Despite Tsonga’s success, he is the third-ranked Frenchman at No. 11 behind No. 8 Gilles Simon and the newest Top 10 entry, No. 9 Gael Monfils, who is coming off a runner-up in Acapulco.

No. 15-ranked Tommy Robredo has won the second-most matches (18) this season and he’s coming off back-to-back clay court titles in Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires. He compiled a 12-match winning streak and won 14 of 16 matches on clay after the four week Latin American circuit.

Top Czech Republic native Radek Stepanek, at 30, is the oldest player in the Top 20 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings. Stepanek has improved eight positions to No. 18 from the ’08 year-end rankings by winning two ATP World Tour titles and reaching another final. Stepanek, who is off to a career-best 16-3 start, opened the year with a title in Brisbane and last month won in San Jose. He also reached the final in Memphis. Stepanek won his first two career ATP World Tour titles in a span of 152 tournaments and this year won twice in his first four outings.

Top Croat Marin Cilic, who is ranked No. 19, has won 15 of 17 matches to begin the year with ATP World Tour titles in Chennai and Zagreb. He also advanced to the fourth round at the Australian Open for the second straight year.

The biggest ranking climber in the Top 50 from last season’s year-end rankings is 29-year-old Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello, who has improved 35 spots from No. 85 to No. 50. The Buenos Aires resident finished last season by winning the Lima Challenger and last week reached his second career ATP World Tour semi-final, losing to eventual champion Nicolas Almagro.

The second-biggest ranking jumper in the Top 50 from last year is 22-year-old Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who has climbed 24 spots to a career-high No. 49. Chardy reachd his first ATP World Tour final in Johannesburg where he lost to countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and advanced to the semi-finals in Delray Beach. His 10 match wins already equals his total from last season.

2009 ATP World Tour Match Wins Leaders
Player Win-Loss
1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 19-3
2 Tommy Robredo 18-4
3 Andy Roddick 17-3
4 Radek Stepanek 16-3
5 Andy Murray 15-1
6 Marin Cilic 15-2
7 Novak Djokovic 14-4
8 Rafael Nadal 13-2
9 Gael Monfils 13-5

Bookmark It

Tommy Robredo won titles in consecutive weeks for the first time in his career Sunday by toughing out a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(5) win over 2007 champion Juan Monaco in the final of the Copa Telmex, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Buenos Aires.

Robredo extended his winning streak to 10 matches following his title run last week at the Brasil Open. Robredo now has won nine ATP World Tour titles, with eight of those victories coming on clay.

Collecting $93,000 and 250 South African Airways ATP Rankings points, Robredo boosts his chances of qualifying for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Robredo, 26, who also needed three sets to win the Costa do Sauipe final over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci last week, lost momentum when rain interrupted the final in the second game of the second set. And in the third set he was down 0-3 and later 2-4 before fighting back.

Having worked his way into a winning position late in the match, Robredo was unable to convert three break point opportunities at 0/40, 5-5 on Monaco’s serve in the third set. And in the deciding tie-break he let slip a 6/2 lead before closing out the match on his fourth match point.

“Coming back from the rain break I felt a bit tired,” Robredo said. “All of a sudden I wasn’t moving as well. But in the third set I picked back up and played great tennis.

“Juan played very well and the truth is the match was decided by a few points. Anyone of us could have won the match.

“I am very happy for having won back-to-back titles for the first time in my career. It feels great.

“I trained hard to be able to play well in consecutive weeks. I have to thank my team for helping me to get ready for this week.”

The Spaniard boasts an ATP World Tour-best 12-1 record on clay this season and a 16-3 overall match record. Last week in Costa do Sauipe he won the singles and doubles titles (w/Granollers) at the same tournament for the first time in his career

Robredo was playing in Buenos Aires for the first time since suffering a second round exit (l. to Vicente) on debut in 2001. He finished in the Top 30 for eighth straight year in 2008.

Monaco said: “I had my chances in the third set when I was up 3-0 and 4-2 with opportunities to go up 5-2. I have to give the credit to him for fighting hard and playing the important points very well. At 5-4 in the third set, he played two very good points from 30-all to win his service game. In the end of the day I had my chances but it was fair for him to win the match.

Bookmark It