Hi all,

it was a very nice format to have this space in Rome so let's do as well in hamburg..And let's start with Marat B) B) ..

Marat is in a very good day..

7-6 in the first and now 4-1 Massu serve..

He can definitely win this one

Go Marat :bow: :bow: :clap: :clap:

5-2
He cannot lose this one..Please Marat :pray: :pray:

Safin serve is really good at the moment :D :D

5-3 serving for the match Safin :yikes: :yikes:

The Russian had a nearly disastrous lapse in the first set, actually. He let slip a 5-0 lead to 5-all, and again a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker. For all that he managed to take the tiebreaker 7-6(7), and didn't succumb to the temptation to throw away the set out of frustration.

He's done well in the second to build a new lead, however, and is up 5-2. He should be able to take care of this one and see it through. I'd like to see him with the win here as I saw all of the deeply unpleasant Massu I cared to in Rome.

Safin serving for the match now at 5-3.

Throws in a double at 30-all. Sigh.

Followed by a second-serve ace! Ha. Unpredictable doesn't cover it.

Watching Safin is like to watch a Dali painting..Who knows where it goes :shrug: :shrug: ..He is saving plenty of break points...but at the end he is was able to lost his serve at the moment he count most most.. :doh: :doh:

AHH Marat :cry: :cry:

At the worst moment Safin's forehand has started going awry.

At 30-all he might still be able to finish it on Massu's serve. I'd hope he'd be keen to not let it get to 5-all again like the first set.

Stylish points from both men and it's deuce.

Yes great points at the end..But marat did...YESSS very happy for him :yahoo: :yahoo: :clap: :clap:

Massu self-destructs, with a DF (second of the game!) and a forehand that lands in the tram lines from the forecourt for no reason. Safin takes it 7-6(7), 6-4.

Safin looks immensely relieved. However Ferrero is up next. I wonder if the Russian will be motivated to win it for the Federer meeting in the offing, or will be content to lose for the same reason. The Spaniard was quite solid against Wawrinka today.

agree with you Marat took advantage of the poor performance, in general, of Massu..Next match will be definitely more difficult...Let's hope..Marat's Tennis is so good even when it is there for some games only... :D :D

Meanwhile Hrbaty keeps his own spotless H2H againt Federer intact by going out against qualifier Monaco in 2 and 2. The Argentine has had good results this year and does well on clay, and will face the No 1 instead. Does he have any Volandri potential? (I don't think lightning will strike twice, myself.)

Manzikert if this is the case, i.e. a second early exit by FED, then, I do not know, clay season will be just close for him and better start training for the grass one..Come on he definitely cannot do that..But you know..He can eventually :yikes: :yikes:

Anyway we wil see..

Berdy-Verdasco..FH battle..very close..

Verdasco did not play the last game..He offered his serve to Berdy..This man is just such a huge talent wasted..Verdasco or a sort of Marat in Spain.. :( :(

And Berdy close very well the match: Congrat :clap: :clap: to him..we saw really the difference between a nice good player with an head and a nice good player without the head in the topic moments...Verdasco.. :blink: :wacko:

Youhzny lost the first set to Mayer :yikes:

And Soderling is a break up in the first set against Ferrer - which isn't going to do my predictions any good I don't think :(

Youhzny is back in the match after taking the second set :clap: :clap:

Ferrer as well :clap: :clap:

And now it started the double:

Blake/Fish against FED/Wawrinka...

2-1 for Blake/Fish FED/Wawri on serve ;)

Good recovery for Ferrer, though of course he's still got work to do, but he's up a break in the decider 3-1. I was beginning to think his form (good all year long and on his best surface as well) had collapsed ever since his encounter with Nadal in Barcelona.

Mayer has taken the break back from Youzhny in their third set to get back on serve 2-3, but really I don't sense an upset here even with home support. I'm curious about the slated match-up between Youzhny and Djokovic; the Russian has been something of a nemesis for the latter this year and I wonder if that would hold over on clay.

Doesn't look good for Rogislas from the scoreboard: 4-1 down (even if it's only one break).

Interestingly, the scoreboard has Wawrinka listed as "R. Wawrinka". Do you think he changed his name to Roger, hoping it will help his results?

I guess not dear mightyjeditribble they manage to lose the first set 6-1 :yikes: :yikes:

Oh my good :( :(

Blake/Fish take the first 6-2.

More like another poor error on what's inherently a rather poor website.

I thought it was 6-2. :blink:

Mayer pulls level for 3-all. The finish line is in sight for Ferrer as he breaks for 4-1. Seems Soderling has made a pattern of winning the first set but not closing it out in his past several losses; it must be tough being the Swede right now.

The Swiss duo drop the first set 1-6. It has been a difficult comeback for Wawrinka, although he showed flashes of his old form in the second set against Ferrero, forcing the tiebreaker.

says 6-1 on my scoreboard as well MJT! :yikes:

I actually thought that the Hamburg website is rather better than most of the other Master's events' websites. Not that that's saying a lot - Miamia and IW were particularly poor.

Now that's interesting. It still says 6-2 on mine. :wacko:

It was a high quality tiebreaker from both men, but Youzhny blinked on the first matchpoint faced (on his serve), with a needless backhand wide on a return the German barely got back, and Mayer delivers the goods for his home crowd 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5). Well done to him. The tourney is already looking up. :P

Ferrer through as well. The Americans are serving for the doubles match at 6-5 in the second.

scores and updates much appreciated, as I can't get any kind of scoreboard to work. :angry:

FED /Wawri lost in straight sets: The second was 7-5 against them..Let's hope tomorrow the maestro will move straight ...Against Monaco could be quite difficult...The pressure will be very high..A part from that I do not follow anymore time to say Bye for today.. :P

Fingers crossed! He HAS to put in a good performance in this tourno :pray:

Thanks for updates.

Only two matches on at moment. Melzer outclassed Waske 6-3 in the first set, but it's the German up an early break in the second set 2-1. He has yet to consolidate it however and is locked at deuce on his serve.

Serra is serving for the first set against Ljubicic at 5-4.

As for results not mentioned elsewhere in the thread, Benneteau, Acasuso, Nieminen, Moya and Hernandez have won. Murray retired to the angst of many of us as expressed in various other threads.

Agreed, i had a lot of trouble getting the order of plays from Miami, and Rome wasnt much better last week

Did anyone actually watch the doubles match? It would be interesting to know e.g. how Roger's serve was in that match.

Anyway, Monaco tomorrow morning. Will have to put it on in the background while marking, if I can get the live stream to work.

It seemed like a tough opening match-up by any means, and so it proved to be. Robredo edged the first set but was helpless to stop his countryman over the next two sets, as Almagro knocked out the defending champion 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-4. Obviously the No 2 Spaniard was vastly unlikely to repeat his title but just reaching the QFs would have kept him a good space within the Top 10; instead he'll drop to its fringes to tie with Haas for 10 (though Berdych can move past them both with a QF or better in Hamburg).

It's a better fate than that of last year's other finalist Stepanek, whose own first-round exit means his ranking finally catches up with his slump, leaving him outside of the Top 60.

A couple of interesting matches slated for tomorrow, including the latest instalment of the Hewitt v Chela rivalry, the tough-to-call Kohlschreiber v Andreev match with its implications for the No 2, and the first matches of Federer and Nadal in which we gauge the former's return to form and the latter's recovery from Rome. Safin v JCF might be a good one, and we'll see if Rome finalist Gonzalez has truly returned to his former winning ways as he faces the man who has beaten him not just once but twice recently (including just a fortnight ago on clay) in PHM.

Some interesting results out there:

Volandri is up a set and in the second is leading 5-2 :yikes: :yikes: against Acasuso..

Well not bad...

Hewitt is up a set as well and in the second is running ahead thanks to a break against Chela 3-2 on serve now Hewitt..

Not bad also..

And Berdy seems to take care of Moya up a set and 3-3 in the second (coming back from an early break)

Quite a commanding performance from Hewitt, dispatching Chela (who failed to convert the two set points he held at 15-40, 6-5) 6-2, 7-6(3) with the help of 37 winners. I expected little from him here but after taking care of first Calleri and now Chela in straight sets on the clay, it makes me wonder why he couldn't turn in those results in last year's Davis Cup tie in BA.

Davydenko was in real trouble against Simon, the wily Frenchman leading 7-6(5), 4-1 at one point, but the Russian has fought back to recoup both breaks against the odds, so that it stands at 4-all in the second. If the workhorse is still showing effects of fatigue from the Rome SF it may not bode well for how Nadal will fare.

Meanwhile Berdych and Moya remain locked in a tight battle 3-6, 7-5, 4-all. Volandri let Acasuso off the hook in the second set tiebreaker and the Argentine leads on serve in the decider 3-6, 7-6(3), 2-1. Ideally the Italian will come through if only not to squander the opportunity that came courtesy of Murray's retirement. :rolleyes:

Davydenko gives himself a new lease on life with five games won from trailing 1-4 to level things a set apiece 6-7(5), 6-4.

Berdych has his own narrow escape, saving a match point in two successive service games to force a deciding tiebreaker in what has become a marathon against Moya.

Volandri v Acasuso on rain delay, apparently.

Moya has just managed to beat Berdych - before the rain by the looks of it!

Indeed. Berdych actually saved two more MPs at 4-6 in the tiebreaker (for a total of four overall) but gives up the ghost on his own serve, disappointingly. Moya prevails just under the wire 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6), as all play is suspended outside of centre court owing to rain.