Rotterdam Website

Singles Draw

Seeds are:

Nadal
Davydenko
Ferrer
Youzhny
Berdych
Murray
Ferrero
Baghdatis

2007 Final:

M Youzhny (RUS) d (3)I Ljubicic (CRO) 62 64

Order of Play - Monday

Matches today include:

Gabashvili vs. JCF
Karlovic vs. Rochus
Youzhny vs. Tipsarevic

Also, Nadal is playing doubles with Tommy Robredo :blink:

Wasn't Gasquet meant to be part of this draw? has he pulled out? it was meant to be a top 10 packed tournament but without Djoko, Roddick, Gasquet, Blake it's not quite the same!

this your post from a few days ago Tenez:

But I can't see Nalby, Blake, Djoko or Tsonga on the draw :unsure: dunno about Gasquet. But there's certainly less top 20 players now than there originally were (even allowing for Djoko....... :unsure: )

Thanks Dinky. Krajicek is a good salesman. We all bought the excitement of the tounment and even some of us bought tickets (GP ;) ) but I am not sure it is going to deliver.

:rolleyes:

Just looking back, I reckoned there were 6 out of the world top 10 and 11 out of the world's top 20 in Rotterdam.

There's now 5 out of the world's top 10 (Djoko being out and all) and 9 out of the top 20 :unsure:

However, there's been some ranking changes I think so that when I counted Murray wasn't in the world's top 10 (which he is now......) and Baggy was in the top 20 (he's 21 now I think).

so he must have lost 2 players from the top 10 (Djoko being one of them). Also, for some odd reason Hewitt is down on the players list twice (I do hope he hasn't cloned himself, certain people on the board would have a fit :yikes: ).......

there';s definitely been some withdrawals, but other than Djoko none have been mentioned on the Rotterdam website :unsure:

So Gasquet/Nalby were never meant to be part of it? My mistake then.

This is the news release on the website on 11th January:

I don't think Tsonga is playing, is he??? :unsure:

Ok - Nalby definitely not - he's playing in Buenos Aires this week, still not sure about Gasquet.....

Yes Tsonga was clearly announced as well and looking at the draw below, he is not part of it.

http://www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt...008/407/mds.pdf

The draw looks much better for the top seeds now.

Youzhny vs. Tipsarevic - hmm...the defending champ could be in trouble.

tough choice, but i'll have to support Tipsy in that match :wub: :wub: :wub:

Tipsy for sure :wub:

Robredo & Nadal in doubles?? that ought to be interesting. :D

Cmon Rafa, time to stamp your authority on 2008 :bow:

Monday, February 18, 2008

Singles - First Round
[Q] T Gabashvili (RUS) d [7] J Ferrero (ESP) 75 61
I Karlovic (CRO) d O Rochus (BEL) 61 62
M Berrer (GER) d [Q] M Bachinger (GER) 63 62
J Tipsarevic (SRB) d [4] M Youzhny (RUS) 76(3) 64
[Q] M Zverev (GER) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 75 75

Order of Play - Tuesday

matches include:

Mahut vs. Robredo
Soderling vs. Baghdatis
Lopez vs. Simon
Bolelli vs. Ferrer
Sluiter vs. Llodra
Hernych vs. Davydenko

well done Tipsy :clap:

With Misha out :( it looks like a reasonably straightforward road to the final for Nadal, although Hewitt in the second round could pose a test if the Aussie is in form. His most likely QF opponent, Baggy, hasn't usually been able to cause Nadal much trouble, and the second quarter is now free of seeds.

The lower half looks a lot more interesting. Berdych has a pretty tough draw, while Ferrer has it easier to the quarters.

The bottom quarter, with Murray and Davydenko, looks the most interesting. Both of them have played a lot of tennis last week, though, so upsets are always possible here.

thanks for the updates everyone. :girlkiss:

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Singles - Second Round
[2] N Davydenko (RUS) d [Q] J Hernych (CZE) 63 63
[3] D Ferrer (ESP) d S Bolelli (ITA) 64 75
N Mahut (FRA) d T Robredo (ESP) 75 64
G Simon (FRA) d F Lopez (ESP) 63 64
R Soderling (SWE) d [8] [WC] M Baghdatis (CYP) 63 36 64
M Llodra (FRA) d [WC] R Sluiter (NED) 61 76(6)

Order of Play Wednesday

Singles matchs start at 11am GMT and include:

Murray vs. Haase (at 11.30 GMT)
Hewitt vs. Seppi
Berdych vs. Ljubicic
Nadal vs. Tursunov
Tipsy vs. Simon

:doh:

Just a quick note, yesterday's match against Llodra was Sluiter's last match before retiring :(

I wondered what had happened to Sluiter. Him and another Dutch guy, Schalken, where on the scene a lot a few years back. Good luck to him then :)

Do you knwo what happened to Scheng Schalken? Great name isn't it :D

Murray suffers first-round defeat

Britain's Andy Murray suffered a shock 7-5 6-3 defeat by Robin Haase in the opening round of the World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

The world number 10 conceded the first set when Haase broke his serve in the 12th game to take the advantage.

And the Dutchman held on for the win after breaking Murray's serve in the eighth game of the second set.

Murray refused to blame the defeat on fatigue. "I wasn't tired physically or mentally, I felt decent," he said.

The loss came just three days after the Scot's second title of the year at the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, a victory which propelled him back into the world's top 10.

"I had trouble with my return game," said Murray. "The court here is much slower than in Marseille."

Murray had made a positive start at the Ahoy Indoor Arena, but failed to make the most of his two early break points as his 20-year-old opponent fought back to take the first game of the match.

The turning point came in the 12th game as Haase - ranked 84 places below Murray in the world - upped his return game to earn three set points against serve.

Although Murray managed to hold on, he could do nothing about the fourth as Haase smashed a winning forehand to take the first set.

The second set went with serve until the eighth game when Murray's inconsistent second serve was punished by Haase, who took a 5-3 lead and served out to set up a clash with Germany's Michael Berrer.

"This is just one of those matches you can afford in tournaments like this," Murray added. "It will not affect your ranking like Master Series or Grand Slams.

"Now I will have some days off before I start preparing for Dubai and the Indian Wells and Miami stretch. It still has been a good start of the year."

Oh Marcos! :nope:

Yes reading some of Murray's comment he looks like he is not bothered much.....as if it was on the cards.

Nadal's draw's opened up bigtime here. He can't lose to Seppi, the only obstacle between him and the final is the Sod in the QF. Ferrer looks the best bet to take care of him in the final, with an out of sorts Donkey, a headcase Berdych and an inexperienced Haase the only other real contenders in the bottom half.

Yes, if Nadal doesn't win this one, he ought to kick himself. I mean, he was always going to be the favorite, particularly when Djokovic pulled out, but now he's got to be overwhelmingly so.

A Soderling-Nadal match could be interesting though after their epic in Wimbledon. (Now watch Robin lose in the second round ...)

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Singles - First Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d D Tursunov (RUS) 64 64
[5] T Berdych (CZE) d I Ljubicic (CRO) 63 63
[WC] R Haase (NED) d [6] A Murray (GBR) 75 63
A Seppi (ITA) d L Hewitt (AUS) 36 76(4) 76(4) - Saved 1 M.P.
F Verdasco (ESP) d J Nieminen (FIN) 62 62

Singles - Second Round
[Q] T Gabashvili (RUS) d N Mahut (FRA) 62 76(7)
G Simon (FRA) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 76(4) 76(4)

Order of Play Thursday

Matches start at 10am GMT and include:

Zverev vs. Ferrer
Llodra vs. Davydenko
Berdych vs Karlovic
Nadal vs. Seppi


Rafa is also playing in the doubles today.

:doh:

or not as the case may be :P

The real tennis season will start in Dubai. Kraji gave some good money for the big names to show up. They showed up, took the money and left!

Dubai is also big bucks but there the players will have a few things at stakes.

hell, yes! the entry list is somewhere close to an AMS one:

2008 Men's Line Up

Roger Federer SUI 1
Rafael Nadal ESP 2
Novak Djokovic SRB 3
Nikolay Davydenko RUS 4
David Ferrer ESP 5
Andy Roddick USA 6
Richard Gasquet FRA 8
Andy Murray GBR 9
Tommy Haas GER 11
Tommy Robredo ESP 12
Tomas Berdych CZE 13
Mikhail Youzhny RUS 14
Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP 21
Ivo Karlovic CRO 24
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA 25
Jarkko Nieminen FIN 26
Philipp Kohlschreiber GER 27
Fernando Verdasco ESP 28
Stanislas Wawrinka SUI 29
Nicolas Almagro ESP 31
Dmitry Tursunov RUS 32
Gilles Simon FRA 33
Igor Andreev RUS 35
Fabrice Santoro FRA 36

:clap:

ouah! Excellent!

:unsure: Wheres Henman then :(

:giggle:

... and the award for the worst ever piece of tennis analysis goes to...

Wise_Analyst :clap:

:coat:

Surprised as well to see Rafi lose.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Singles - Second Round
[Q] M Zverev (GER) d [3] D Ferrer (ESP) 62 75
M Llodra (FRA) d [2] N Davydenko (RUS) 63 75
I Karlovic (CRO) d [5] T Berdych (CZE) 64 64
A Seppi (ITA) d [1] R Nadal (ESP) 36 63 64
[WC] R Haase (NED) d M Berrer (GER) 57 63 63
R Soderling (SWE) d F Verdasco (ESP) 64 61

Slaughter of Seeds day today - with every single one of them going. Which leaves the draw looking something like:

Seppi vs. Soderling
Simon vs. Gabashavilli

Karlovic vs. Zverev
Llodra vs. Haase

not quite the QF line-up we were expecting.

Friday Order of Play

Friday, February 22, 2008

Singles - Quarterfinals
I Karlovic (CRO) d [Q] M Zverev (GER) 63 61
M Llodra (FRA) d [WC] R Haase (NED) 76(5) 76(5)
R Soderling (SWE) d A Seppi (ITA) 63 62
G Simon (FRA) d [Q] T Gabashvili (RUS) 63 62

Semis are:

Karlovic vs Llodra
Simon vs. Soderling

Saturday Order of Play

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Singles - Semifinals
M Llodra (FRA) d I Karlovic (CRO) 75 76(4)
R Soderling (SWE) d G Simon (FRA) 62 61

The final Llodra vs. Soderling starts at 1pm GMT