No. 2 Simon, No. 3 Almagro eliminated in France

Second-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon and third-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro were sent packing on Tuesday in the first round of the Open de Moselle in Metz, France. With their loss, both players hurt their chances tremendously in gaining one of the final remaining Tennis Masters Cup spots that are still up for grabs.

In a battle of two Frenchman, wild card entrant Nicolas Mahut stunned Simon, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, to advance. A quarterfinalist last week at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, Mahut fired eight aces without having a double fault, while Simon hit three aces compared to three double faults. In the match that lasted a little over one and a half hours, Mahut was able to break serve on all three opportunities he had. Currently ranked No. 75 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Mahut won the final five games of the match, to earn his 16th victory of the season. The singles champion earlier this year in Indianapolis, Casablanca and most recently in Bucharest, Romania, Simon falls to 40-21 on the season.

Argentine Eduardo Schwank (pictured), who started the 2008 season ranked No. 171 but currently owns a career best No. 54 ranking, shocked Almagro, 7-6(5), 6-2, in 91 minutes. Currently coached by David Nalbandian’s father Javier, Schwank smashed ten aces, while winning 73 percent of his first serve points. He was also able to break serve on three of eleven chances. The 22-year-old Argentine improved his season record to 13-12, which includes reaching the semifinals at Stuttgart and also winning three ATP Challenger Series tournaments. Almagro, the singles champion earlier this year in Acapulco and Costa do Sauipe, drops to 35-16 on the year. Schwank will next face Romania Victor Hanescu in the second round, who defeated Ivan Ljubicic, 6-1, 7-6(4). His win this afternoon was his first career victory over the Croatian after five failed attempts dating back to their first meeting at the 2004 Masters Series Hamburg.

No. 1 seed Ivo Karlovic survived an early round scare, as Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis withdrew with a back injury after the third game of the second set. Baghdatis was leading 6-4, 1-2 at the time of his match ending injury. The 6’10” beast out of Zagreb, Croatia, next meets former Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya in the second round.

Other notable winners on Day Two included No. 4 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France and California based Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who is seeded No. 5 this week. Mathieu out slugged fellow Frenchman Nicolas Devilder, 6-0, 6-2, while Tursunov held off a great fight from qualifier Thierry Ascione to win, 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4. Mathieu next meets World No. 440 Romain Jouan, who won his first career match in his ATP level debut over Argentine Agustin Calleri. Tursunov will try to advance to the quarterfinals for the 4th time this year, as he meets Jose Acasuso in the second round.

Japanese teenage tennis superstar Nishikori advances at AIG Japan Open

After rain washed out majority of Monday’s scheduled matches at the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, players were back on the courts and grinding away on Tuesday afternoon, as all matches were played as scheduled. Among the players to advance to the second round were Japanese teenage sensation Kei Nishikori (pictured), last week’s China Open runner-up Dudi Sela of Israel and rising young American Jesse Levine.

Since losing in the first round in Tokyo last year, Nishikori has jumped from No. 253 to No. 84 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, which was supported by a singles title earlier this year in Delray Beach. In a match that last roughly two hours, the young Japanese star held off spirited American Robert Kendrick, 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-2, to advance to a second round clash with No. 16 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain. Despite Kendrick smashing 18 aces compared to Nishikori’s 11, the 18-year-old was able to break serve twice throughout the match, while saving both break point chances the American had in the final set. Nishikori earned his 13th victory of the season with his win today.

Sela rebounded very nicely in his, 7-5, 6-1, victory over German Bjorn Phau, despite being fresh off a three-set loss to American Andy Roddick on Sunday in the finals of the China Open in Beijing. The Tel Aviv resident fired eight aces and was able to break serve on four of eleven opportunities en route to the victory. Becoming the first Israel citizen to reach an ATP level final since Harel Levy accomplished it in 2001, Sela improves to 16-21 on the year. The 23-year-old will meet No. 5 seed Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round.

Levine, a former University of Florida standout tennis star, earned himself a second round date with defending champion and No. 1 seed David Ferrer, after rebounding from a slow start to eventually knocking out Thailand qualifier Danai Udomchoke, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1. Levine earned his 8th victory of the season that is highlighted by a quarterfinal appearance in New Haven and main draw appearances at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

Tennis icon Mardy Fish gets hitched

On Sunday evening in front of 150 wedding guests, American tennis ace Mardy Fish tied the knot with fiancée Stacey Gardner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. James Blake was a groomsmen, while NBA star Kevin Garnett of the world champion Boston Celtics was among those in the crowd.

Gardner is a certified attorney in California, but is best known as a model on the popular TV show Deal or No Deal. Gardner had six bridesmaids that included Mardy’s sister Meredith, who is a former tennis star at Flagler University.

After the Jewish ceremony took place in the outside garden at the hotel, the couple walked down the aisle, as a live band played U2’s “Beautiful Day.” A reception occurred afterwards in the hotel’s ballroom.

Congratulations and Mazel Tov, Mardy and Stacey!

Gulbis stuns No. 8 Ancic to advance in France; Moya, Acasuso also win

All four winners on Monday at the Open de Moselle in Metz, France, earned hard fought vicitories that are wins they all hope can help jump start the final portion of their season after recent struggles.

World No. 50 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who has only advanced past the first round in one tournament since the Masters Series Cincinnati event where he reached the quarterfinals, shocked No. 8 seed Mario Ancic, 7-6(3), 6-4, to advance to a second round showdown with World No. 43 Janko Tipsarevic. On the way to victory this afternoon, Gulbis smashed 11 aces, while winning 84 percent of first serve points and breaking serve on three of seven opportunities. Ancic, who reached the finals at the Marseille event in February, falls to 29-14 on a year in which he missed a chunk of the summer tournaments due to a virus. Gulbis owns a 1-0 edge against Tipsarevic, with their only meeting coming in Barcelona earlier this year on clay. Tipsarevic held off hometown French wild card Jeremy Chardy, 7-6(5), 7-5, to advance. The Serbian fired 15 aces compared to one double fault, while also winning 37 of 44 first serve points. The win marked his 22nd win of the season, which includes a win over Andy Roddick in the second round of Wimbledon.

Carlos Moya, a 32-year-old ATP Tour veteran who could make some noise in this tournament with some solid performances, won the evening session match over Albert Montanes, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, to earn a 2-1 lifetime series edge against his fellow Spaniard. Moya hammered 10 aces compared to Montanes’ four aces, while the former World No. 1 and Roland Garros champion broke serve on three occasions and won 80 percent of his first serve points. Moya is playing in his first tournament since reaching the finals at the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest. In hopes of reaching his seventh quarterfinal of the season, Moya next meets either No. 1 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia or Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the second round.

In an all-Argentina showdown between two Davis Cup teammates, Jose Acasuso knocked out Guillermo Canas, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in roughly two and a half hours. Ranked No. 47 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Acasuso fired eight aces and saved seven of ten break points he faced. The win for Acasuso was his first ever in Metz, as he lost previously in his only other appearances in 2004 and 2005. He improved his season record to 26-22, while Canas falls to 20-20. In the second round, Acasuso meets the winner of No. 6 seed Dmitry Tursunov or local qualifier Thierry Ascione.

At a rainy AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, only four matches were completed, on what was to be a busy day full of first round matches. American Amer Delic, Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic and Tokyo wild card entrant Takao Suzuki were the four to beat the rain and advance to the second round of a very competitive field in Japan.

ATP Challenger Series Results* (Sept. 22-28)

Trnava, Slovakia (Clay)
No. 8 Alberto Martin (ESP) def. Q Julian Reister (GER), 6-2, 6-0

Bogota, Colombia (Clay)
No. 1 Marcos Daniel (BRA) def. Horacio Zeballos (ARG), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Lubbock, Texas, USA (Hard)
No. 3 John Isner (USA) def. No. 4 Frank Dancevic (CAN), 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2

Grenoble, France (Hard)
No. 2 Kristof Vliegen (BEL) def. Alexandre Sidorenko (FRA), 6-4, 6-3

Napoli, Italy (Clay)
SE Tomas Tenconi (ITA) def. Lamine Ouahab (ALG), 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1

Bucharest, Romania (Clay)
No. 1 Santiago Ventura (ESP) def. No. 4 Victor Crivoi (ROU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-2

*The ATP Challenger Series is a series of international men’s professional tennis tournaments throughout the world that allow players to win enough ranking points to earn an entry into an ATP-level main draw or qualifying draw. The ATP Challenger Series is fully administered by the ATP Tour.

Key Phrases
Q = Qualifier
SE = Special Exemption into Main Draw

This Week's Biggest Movers*

On the rise:

• #66 (+26) Dudi Sela (ISR) - Finalist at China Open including wins over Ferrer, Robredo
• #94 (+18) Alberto Martin (ESP) - 30-year-old won Trnava challenger event
• #77 (+17) Kristof Vliegen (BEL) -Winner at Grenoble challenger event
• #61 (+8) Marcos Daniel (BRA) - Winner at Bogota challenger event

Moving on down:

• #113 (-31) Olivier Rochus (BEL) - Finalist in Mumbai one year ago, didn't play any events the past week of this year
• #83 (-8) Jeremy Chardy (FRA) - Semfinalist at Trnava last year, fell in first round this past week at Szczecin challenger event
• #73 (-7) Nicolas Lapentti (ECU) - Winner in Grenoble last September, but hasn't played an ATP tournament since this year's US Open
• #74 (-7) Victor Hanescu (ROU) - Only 0-1 since losing in second round at US Open

* Each week, this will feature players in or just recently out of the Top 100 whose rankings have undergone the greatest change since the last set of rankings.

AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships preview

AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Dates: September 29-October 5, 2008
Draw Size: 48
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: $869,000; men’s singles champion: $135,000
2007 Singles Final: David Ferrer, ESP, def. Richard Gasquet, FRA, 6-1, 6-2
Official Web site: http://aigopen.jp/08

Top story lines:
1. Will Andy Roddick continue his remarkable hard court tennis by winning a singles title for the second straight week?
2. Can the recently crowned Thailand Open champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga win his second career title?
3. Can No. 1 seed David Ferrer rebound after an early exit at last week’s China Open?

Justin’s notable first round match-ups:
1. Dudi Sela vs. Bjorn Phau (First meeting; Sela reached finals at last week’s China Open losing to AIG Japan Open No. 2 seed Andy Roddick in three sets; Sela’s ranking jumped from No. 92 to No. 66 after reaching the finals in Beijing; Phau defeated Sam Querrey and Fernando Gonzalez en route to a semifinal appearance at the China Open; Phau is currently ranked No. 117)
2. Kei Nishikori vs. Robert Kendrick (First meeting; Nishikori defeated James Blake in the championship match in Delray Beach; Nishikori reached 4th round at US Open; Nishikori is currently ranked No. 85; Kendrick has reached three finals in Challenger events; Kendrick is currently ranked No. 100)

Potential notable late round match:
No. 2 Andy Roddick vs. No. 7 Jo Wilfried-Tsonga, Quarterfinals
· Roddick leads 2-0, with both matches being played in Grand Slam events
· Roddick won most recently at the 2007 Australian Open in four sets in the first round
· Roddick and Tsonga both won titles last week
No. 1 David Ferrer vs. No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro, Quarterfinals
· Ferrer leads 2-0, with a 1-0 edge on hard courts
· Ferrer won this past June in two sets at grass court tournament in s-Hertogenbosch
· After losing at Wimbledon, Del Potro won four straight singles titles
No. 3 Fernando Gonzalez vs. No. 6 Tommy Robredo, Quarterfinals
· Gonzalez leads 3-2, with a 2-0 edge on hard courts
· Gonzalez won most recently in three sets at 2007 China Open

Watch out for…
1. No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny (Winner in Chennai; quarterfinalist at Australian Open and events in Marseille and Gstaad; defeated Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko earlier this year; currently ranked No. 21)
2. No. 13 Sam Querrey (Winner in Las Vegas; semifinalist in Delray Beach and Indianapolis; defeated Richard Gasquet, Carlos Moya and Guillermo Canas earlier this season; currently ranked No. 38)

Champion prediction:
Justin: No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro

Open de Moselle preview

Open de Moselle
Location: Metz, France
Dates: September 29-October 5, 2008
Draw Size: 32
Surface: Indoor Hard
Prize Money: $370,000; men’s singles champion: $59,1002007
Singles Final: Tommy Robredo, ESP, def. Andy Murray (WC), GBR, 0-6, 6-2, 6-3
Official Web site: http://www.opendemoselle.com/

Top story lines:
1. Can Frenchman Gilles Simon win his 4th title of the year?
2. Does Mario Ancic have what it takes to go deep in France after being out for parts of the summer with a virus?
3. Can Radek Stepanek get back to winning ways after average results throughout the summer?

Justin’s notable first round match-ups:
1. No. 1 Ivo Karlovic vs. Marcos Baghdatis (Baghdatis leads 1-0; winning 6-4, 6-4, in Marseille, France on hard courts in February; Karlovic won grass title at Nottingham in June; Karlovic defeated Roger Federer at Masters Series Cincinnati in July; Karlovic currently ranked at a career best No. 14; Baghdatis has played sparingly this season due to injuries and is currently ranked No. 42)
2. No. 2 Gilles Simon vs. Nicolas Mahut (Simon leads 1-0, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on hard courts in Indianapolis in July; Simon won titles this year in Indianapolis, Casablanca and Bucharest; Simon reached a career best ranking of No. 13 in early August; Simon defeated Roger Federer at Masters Series Canada; Mahut reached the quarterfinals in Marseille, France)

Potential notable late round match:
No. 4 Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. No. 8 Mario Ancic, Quarterfinals
· Ancic leads 3-1, with all matches being played on hard courts in Masters Series events
· Ancic won most recently in three sets at the Masters Series Paris

Watch out for…
1. Feliciano Lopez (Finalist at Dubai and quarterfinalist at Wimbledon; defeated 2008 Open de Moselle participants Radek Stepanek, Jose Acasuso, Marcos Baghdatis and Janko Tipsarevic earlier this year; currently ranked No. 37)
2. Carlos Moya (Finalist in Bucharest and Costa de Sauipe; semifinalist in Chennai; semifinalist in Umag and at Masters Series events in Cincinnati and Hamburg; currently ranked No. 49)

Champion prediction:
Justin: No. 2 Gilles Simon

Roddick wins 26th career singles title at China Open

American Andy Roddick (pictured) ended Israeli Dudi Sela’s magical tournament run on Sunday at the China Open in Beijing, by winning a hard fought three set match, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3, to capture his 26th career ATP singles title. In a moment of true class and sportsmanship, the former World No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion kindly donated $25,000 of his winners check to the Chinese Tennis Association to support those who suffered in the catastrophic earthquake in Sichuan Province.

"I would really like to contribute a part of my prize money to those families affected, to those who lost everything they had, suffered painful injuries or lost loved ones in the earthquake," said Roddick. "It’s my great honor to be in Beijing to work with CTA to assist those kids who are in need. It is an athlete's privilege and responsibility to give back."

Roddick, a singles titlist earlier in the year in Dubai and San Jose, smashed 17 aces in the roughly two-hour battle. Roddick’s ace total this week ended at 73. Down a set and 6-4 in the second set tiebreak, the Tel Aviv resident stayed focused and steady from the baseline despite the deficit, as he would go on to win the next four points and send the match to a final set. Roddick quickly got back on track and was able to cruise to victory, as he brings his career title record to 26-14. Today’s title marks Roddick’s 11th career hard court title, while he improves to 9-0 lifetime in finals against first time finalist.

The 23-year-old Israeli fell to 15-21 on the season, despite a dream week in Beijing, where he defeated highly ranked Spanish stars David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo in the early rounds and then followed it up by easily upsetting former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler in the semifinals.

"Overall I feel very good," said the No. 92 ranked Sela. "I played a good match and I had some chances but I hope next time I’m going to do better. It gives me a lot of confidence. I showed myself that I can play with the big players and hopefully I’ll continue like that and improve my game a little bit and improve my ranking of course."

With Sela finishing as runner-up, he became the first Israel citizen to reach an ATP level final since Harel Levy did it in 2001 at the Nottingham event. Sela will surely crack into the Top 75 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings that will be released on Monday. Sela earned $46,400 as the finalist, which is his biggest paycheck he has earned so far in his young career.

Tsonga upsets Djokovic in Bangkok to win first career title

Second-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (pictured) captured his first career ATP singles title on Sunday at the Thailand Open in Bangkok by defeating No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic, 7-6(4), 6-4, in a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final.

Tsonga, who was missing in action on the ATP Tour for three months due to knee surgery, played remarkable tennis throughout his title run, as he defeated respected singles players including Jurgen Melzer and Roland Garros Semifinalist and countryman Gael Monfils.

"I feel great, it’s got to be one of the best moments of my life," said Tsonga. "I just played unbelievable tennis against Novak and it was just my dream so I’m really happy."

Djokovic, the defending Australian Open champion, was up 4-3 and a break in the first set, before the young Frenchman broke back and went up 5-4, before the set eventually went to a tiebreak. Tsonga took command early in the tiebreak and was able to hold on and win the tiebreak 7-4. After breaking serve in the ninth game of the second set, Tsonga took a 5-4 lead and was able to hold off two break points chances to close out the match and claim the title. Both players double faulted once during the match, but Tsonga had the edge on aces, as he fired eight compared to Djokovic’s three.

"[It came down to] maybe a couple of points," assessed Tsonga. "The last game was very hard and I was just saying in my head “Go On! Do It!” so it was incredible. I was not nervous (about the match), I was just a little bit nervous about Novak because he has played just unbelievably and, for me, it’s difficult to play against him because I have a really good serve and I think one of the best parts of his game is the return."

Looking to win his fourth title of the season and 11th overall in his young career, Djokovic falls to 10-6 in championship matches. The Serbian currently owns a 58-14 record this season, which includes his first grand slam title and a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

"I lost the final against a great player," admitted Djokovic. "Jo wisely used his opportunities and deserved to win his first title. I played a bit too defensively today in the final. You have to use your opportunities and I didn’t. It’s unfortunate to lose in the final but I lost to a great player so I have no regrets. Congratulations to Jo and his team on his first ATP title. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of him in the future."

Along with the winner’s trophy, Tsonga earned a check for $94,000, while Djokovic’s check is good for $51,000. Tsonga joined a group of eight other rising tennis stars that won their first career title in 2008, with Croatian Marin Cilic being the most recent, a winner in New Haven in August.

Djokovic vs. Tsonga in Bangkok; Roddick vs. Sela in Beijing

No. 2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (pictured) crushed fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils, 6-0, 6-3, to advance to the finals of the Thailand Open in Bangkok and set up an Australian Open rematch final against No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic. Tsonga, who is currently ranked No. 20 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, smashed seven aces, while breaking serve on four of six opportunities. The exciting young Frenchman was also able to win a remarkable 85 percent of his first serve points to advance to his second career ATP final. Despite a slow start in the first set, Djokovic was able to hold off hard serving Czech Tomas Berdych, 7-5, 6-1, by firing six aces and breaking serve on all three opportunities he had. In the Sunday afternoon final, Djokovic will be looking to win his 4th title of the year and 11th in his young career, while Tsonga looks to raise his first singles trophy, having already been a doubles champion twice since 2007.

Close by in Beijing at the China Open, No. 2 seed Andy Roddick held off feisty German journeyman Bjorn Phau, 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-1, to advance to a championship showdown with surprise finalist, Dudi Sela of Israel. Roddick smashed 16 aces on Saturday against Phau, bringing his weeklong total to an impressive 56. The American won an incredible 89 percent of first serve points, while breaking serve on five of seven chances and not surrendering his serve throughout the match. Sela spiced up his singles wins resume after upsetting No. 7 seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany, 6-3, 6-3. Already this week, the Tel Aviv native defeated Spanish stars David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo. The 26-year-old American who has already won titles this year in Dubai and San Jose, will look to win his 26th career singles title and also improve his record to 8-0 against ATP players who are looking to win their first career title. Sela improves to 15-20 on the season and will look to join eight other players who earned their first career title this year. Sunday’s meeting will be the first between Roddick and Sela.

Roddick advances on a day of upsets in Beijing

Second-seeded American Andy Roddick (pictured) advanced to the semifinals at the China Open in Beijing, while other highly seeded players were upset on Friday. Defending champion Fernando Gonzalez, as well as No. 4 Richard Gasquet and No. 6 Tommy Roberdo were among the quarterfinal casualties.

Roddick smashed 23 aces in a come from behind, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, victory over former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. The American was able to break the Spaniards serve on two of four occasions, while winning 74 percent of first serve points. The win improved Roddick to 5-0 all time against Ferrero. He also improved his record to 39-13 this season, which includes titles earlier in the year at San Jose and Dubai. In the semifinals, Roddick will take on German Bjorn Phau, who is currently ranked No. 137 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. The only time the pair has met was in 2006 in the quarterfinals in San Jose, with Roddick winning easily in straight sets.

Phau grinded out a, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, victory over No. 3 seed Gonzalez in just less than two hours. The win puts the German journeyman in his first ATP level semifinal since the Casablanca event in 2006, where he lost to 2004 Athens Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu of Chile. Despite serving only 50 percent on his first serve, Phau was able to win 28 out of 38 first serve points, while cracking five aces compared to one double fault. Phau broke serve on five occasions, but had an incredible fifteen chances. The 28-year old Chilean drops to 35-12 on the season and certainly hurt himself points wise in the hopes of landing a spot in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Wimbledon semifinalist Rainer Schuettler was a, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, winner over Frenchman Gasquet. Schuettler broke serve on four occasions, while winning 70 percent of first serve points in the roughly two and a half hour battle. The victory marked the German’s 15th win of the season and his first win over Gasquet, who had won their previous meeting last year in Tokyo. Gasquet dropped to 27-19 and probably knocked himself out of Tennis Masters Cup contention with the early exit.

Schuettler will next do battle with young Israeli Dudi Sela, who shocked Spanish No. 6 seed Robredo, 6-4, 6-1. Sela broke serve on five occasions and only surrendered his serve once in the victory. Currently ranked No. 92 in the world, Sela is looking to advance to his first career ATP level final. The last Israeli citizen to appear in an ATP level final was Harel Levy at the 2000 ATP Masters Series Canada. The Tel Aviv resident is having the tournament of a lifetime, already have beaten World No. 5 David Ferrer in the second round earlier in the week. The semifinal clash between Schuettler and Sela will be the first meeting for the pair.

With all the highly ranked players exiting the tournament left and right, Roddick should have a relatively easy walk to the winner’s circle. No match in the very deep ATP Tour is ever a cake walk, but if the hard hitting American can continue his fine play that he has shown us since making the quarterfinals at the US Open, he should walk away with his 3rd title of the 2008 season and 26th career title.

Top four seeds advance to semifinals in Bangkok

For the first time since 2004 when Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Paradorn Srichaphan did it, the top four seeds at the Thailand Open in Bangkok have advanced to the semifinals. This year the top four seeds advancing to the final four are, No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (pictured), No. 3 Tomas Berdych and No. 4 Gael Monfils.

In roughly an hour and a half, Djokovic held off feisty Swedish star Robin Soderling, 6-4, 7-5. Both Monte Carlo based players had a great day serving on Friday, as Djokovic smashed nine aces and no double faults, while Soderling fired twelve aces compared to only two double faults. A three-time singles champion this year on tour including winning at the Australian Open, Djokovic was able to break serve on three of nine opportunities.

"I knew it would be a difficult match and I was prepared for that," said Djokovic. "He's a good powerful player. I knew they key was my first serve percentage and getting a lot of returns back."

Djokovic, the bronze medal winner at the Beijing Olympics in August, won his 57th match of the season by defeating the World No. 34. Soderling dropped to a horrific 9-27 lifetime against Top 10 players.

Next up for Djokovic is the Czech Republic’s Berdych, who took care of Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, 7-6(6), 6-3. The young Czech smashed 11 aces and only lost 11 points on his first serve, while breaking serve on two occasions. Berdych improves to 27-18 this season and now holds a 2-0 career edge against Mahut with the victory on Friday.

"I'm very happy with my game today," said Berdych. "I knew that he was playing very good tennis having some good wins this week. I'm looking forward to the semifinals; it's always nice to be able to play a match at that stage of a tournament."

The semifinal meeting between Djokovic and Berdych will be the first time the duo has met. Berdych hasn’t reached a final since the Bastad (Sweden) event that was played on clay right after Wimbledon ended in July.

In a battle between young French tennis stars, World No. 20 Tsonga will battle 30th ranked Monfils for a berth in the finals. The last time they met was in a 2003 ITF Futures event in France, with Tsonga winning easily in straight sets.

This afternoon, Tsonga smashed 13 aces against Austrian Jurgen Melzer en route to a trouble-free, 6-3, 6-2, victory in just over an hour. The win earned Tsonga his 21st victory of an injury filed season in which he had to sit out roughly three months with knee problems. Despite sitting out three months in 2008, Tsonga has smashed a remarkable 297 aces in 30 matches. Monfils grinded out a, 7-6(6), 6-4, win over German Philipp Petzschner to advance to his third semifinal of the year. A semifinalist at the French Open in May, Monfils improved to 22-13 on the year.

Djokovic advances; No. 5 Nieminen falls in Bangkok

It was a busy day for the seed players at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, as four out of the five seeds playing in the six singles matches advanced to the quarterfinals. No. 5 seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland was the only seeded player to crash out of the draw on Thursday.

World No. 3 and defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (pictured) easily dispatched German qualifier Simon Stadler, 6-1, 6-3. Djokovic, who has already qualified for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, smashed five aces compared to one double fault in the victory. A three-time singles champion this season, Djokovic earned his 56th win of the year and next meets No. 6 Robin Soderling, who defeated Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-1, 6-3. The Serbian tennis sensation owns a 2-0 series edge against Soderling, with his most recent victory coming in the third round of the Masters Series Canada this past July.

Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, who is currently ranked No. 74, shocked Nieminen, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to advance to his first quarterfinal since February. The young Frenchman smashed four aces, while winning 80 percent of his first serve points and breaking serve on three of nine occasions. The win marked the first time he has won back-to-back matches since Queen’s Club in June. Two weeks ago in an Orleans, France, Challenger tournament, Mahut defeated Belgian Christophe Rochus to claim the title. Two-time former Bangkok semifinalist, Nieminen now falls to 20-23 on the year. Mahut will next face No. 3 seed Tomas Berdych, who smashed 10 aces en route to a convincing, 7-5, 6-1, victory over Simone Bolelli of Italy. Berdych reached the semifinals in Bangkok last year in his first appearance in the tournament. On Friday against Mahut, Berdych will be looking for his 27th win of the season and a third appearance in a 2008 ATP level semifinal.

No. 8 Jurgen Melzer was also a winner on Thursday afternoon, as he defeated rising Serbian star Viktor Troicki, 6-4, 7-5. He now sets up a quarterfinal showdown against No. 2 seed and Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Top-seeded Ferrer stunned in Beijing; Roddick, Gonzalez advance

For the most part on Thursday at the China Open, the seeds came up victorious, but top-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer was not so lucky, as he easily crashed out in his debut match in Beijing.

The Tennis Masters Cup hopeful Ferrer lost to Israeli Dudi Sela, 6-3, 6-3, in a match that last just over an hour. The 23-year-old Tel Aviv resident was a perfect four for four in break point chances in the victory, which earned him his 13th win of the season and a spot in the quarterfinals, where he will meet No. 6 seed Tommy Robredo. Sela, who is currently ranked No. 95 in the world, earned his second career victory over a Top 10 player. With the loss, Ferrer drops to 42-19 on the year.

No. 2 seed Andy Roddick (pictured), who lost a five-set thriller last weekend to Ferrer in Davis Cup action in Madrid, was very sharp in defeating American qualifier Brendan Evans, 6-4, 6-3. Roddick crushed 17 aces, which now puts him at a total of 618 aces on the year through 46 matches. Roddick was able to break Evans serve on two occasions, while winning 77 percent of first serve points in the 57-minute contest. Roddick will do battle in the quarterfinals on Friday against former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who defeated No. 5 Fernando Verdasco, 7-5, 6-4. The singles champion in San Jose and Dubai in the spring this year, Roddick owns a 4-0 series edge against Ferrero with all matches being played on hard courts. Roddick most recently beat Ferrero in straight sets in the first round in Dubai in February.

Defending champion and No. 3 seed Fernando Gonzalez survived an early round scare and a slow start to come from behind to defeat World No. 130 Go Soeda of Japan, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, to advance to his fifth quarterfinal of the year. A singles titlist early in the year in Vina del Mar (Chile) and Munich, Gonzalez hammered seven aces past Soeda, while breaking serve on five of eight chances. Currently ranked No. 11 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, the Chilean improved to 35-11 on the year and next meets German Bjorn Phau in the quarterfinals. Phau stunned rising young American Sam Querrey, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, to earn his first quarterfinal appearance since 2006 and his first win over a Top 40 ranked player since the Dubai event in 2006,where he defeated then No. 9 Andre Agassi.

Other notable names that advanced on Thursday were No. 4 Richard Gasquet of France and No. 7 Rainer Schuettler of Germany. Gasquet overpowered Yen-Hsun Lu, 7-5, 6-1, while Schuettler easily dispatched qualifier Jean-Claude Scherrer, 6-1, 6-4.

Verdasco, Querrey soar into second round at China Open

Fresh off a plane from Madrid, Spain, where they were competing for their country in the Davis Cup semifinals, No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco (pictured) and No. 8 Sam Querrey, were both able to fight off jet lag to advance to the second round at the China Open in Beijing.

Receiving a last minute wild card entry after not originally signing up for the event, Verdasco had little trouble in defeating American journeyman Bobby Reynolds, 6-3, 6-3, to set a second round clash with former World No. 1 and fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. In the 66 minute match, Verdasco broke serve on four occasions and won 77 percent of his first serve points, which helped him improve to 3-0 lifetime against the former Vanderbilt University tennis star. Verdasco now owns a 40-22 record on the season and is looking to win his second title of the year, after winning the Umag, Croatia tournament in the summer.

Querrey, who played his heart out in two Davis Cup singles losses in his debut last weekend, overcame an extremely slow start to defeat rising young American Jesse Levine, 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(4). Querrey won 69 percent of first serve points, while smashing six aces and breaking Levine’s serve on three occasions. Querrey, who won his first ATP title early this year in Las Vegas, won his 27th match of the year. He faces German Bjorn Phau in the second round on Thursday.

In other significant news, American Brendan Evans earned the “1st Annual Justin Cohen Gutsy Performance Award”, which is given to a player who plays his heart out and is rewarded with a pass into the next round due to his amazing efforts. The only problem with Evans earning this award is that he now has a second round date tomorrow afternoon against No. 2 seed Andy Roddick, who isn’t likely to let the young qualifier enjoy his recent award.

Back in the ITF junior days, Evans was one of the most promising juniors, having won three of the four junior grand slam doubles titles with Scott Oudsema in 2004 and signing a big time Nike endorsement deal. Nowadays, little is said about the Key Biscayne, Florida, based tennis player. This season, he won his first ever ATP level match against Chilean Paul Capdeville in Newport on the grass and played in his first grand slam main draw at the US Open in August. Today in a match that lasted roughly two hours, Evans fought off three match points in a courageous effort to defeat Roko Karanusic, 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(10), in what will surely be a match for the Evans tennis history books. Keep in mind, the prestigious award he earned won’t be given out often, so hopefully the young American continues to work hard. The hard work all starts Thursday afternoon for the youngster on Center Court against Roddick, the former World No. 1 and US Open champion.

Tsonga survives second round thriller in Thailand

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (pictured) and Gael Monfils, both incredibly exciting young French players to watch, earned second round victories to advance to the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open in Bangkok.

No. 2 seed Tsonga, the Australian Open runner-up in January, held off well respected doubles player Lukas Dlouhy, 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-6(1), in roughly two hours to advance. Tsonga smashed an astonishing 21 aces to only two double faults, while breaking the Czech’s serve twice on four occasions. Currently ranked No. 18 in the world, Tsonga earned his 20th win of the year. The young Frenchman missed three months of the season due to knee surgery.

Monfils, a Roland Garros semifinalist this spring despite starting the year 5-7, beat American Robert Kendrick, 6-4, 7-6(4), in 75 minutes to advance to his fourth quarterfinal of the year. Despite only four aces, a low return percentage, which included winning only 26 percent of first serve return points, Monfils was able to break the hard hitting Americans serve on three occasions. Monfils improves his 2008 record to 21-13, while Kendrick leaves Bangkok with a dreadful 3-8 record. In the quarterfinals, Monfils will face either Russian Mischa Zverev or German Philipp Petzschner, who are set to do battle on Thursday.

No. 5 seed Jarkko Nieminen and No. 8 Jurgen Melzer were the last seeds to play their first round matches, but both were victorious.

Nieminen defeated Novak Djokovic’s little brother Marko and ruined his ATP Tour main draw debut with an easy, 6-2, 6-0, victory. Nieminen will face Frenchman Nicolas Mahut for a spot in the semifinals. The Finland native owns a 2-1 series lead over Mahut, with both of his wins coming on hard courts, most recently in 2007 at the Marseille, France event.

Melzer, who was fresh off a plane from London, where he was playing Davis Cup for his native Austria against host Great Britain, stayed strong throughout his contest against American Donald Young, winning easily, 6-3, 6-3. In the 70-minute match, Melzer lost only five first serve points. Melzer will take on steady Serbian player Viktor Troicki for a spot in the quarterfinals.

BREAKING NEWS: Canas robbed while leaving parents home after Davis Cup match in Argentina

Argentina tennis player Guillermo Canas (pictured), currently ranked No. 56 in the world, was robbed outside his parents Buenos Aires home in the early morning hours this past weekend after his team was fresh off a 3-2 Davis Cup semifinal victory over Russia to earn them a spot in the finals.

Reports maintain that the armed attackers did not know who they were attacking, despite Canas carrying a racquet on the way to his car. Canas, who defeated Roger Federer in back-to-back weeks in early 2007, was stripped of credit cards, cash, documents and a chain. The attackers fled the scene in Canas’ car.

Canas is scheduled to play singles in next week’s Open de Moselle in Metz, France.

United States to host Switzerland in 2009 first round Davis Cup match

The Davis Cup World Group first round matches for the 2009 competition have been set. The United States will host Switzerland, in what might be one of the most intriguing first round matches in next year’s competition.

Although it’s obvious the United States will play the country that is home to one of the greatest players of all time, it is not clear if 13-time grand slam champion Roger Federer (pictured) will play in the March 6-8 matches.

Federer has not played in a first round tie since 2004, but did play this past weekend, as he helped lead the Swiss to a 4-1 victory over Belgium. The five-time Wimbledon and US Open champion said next year’s Davis Cup schedule fits better in with the ATP tournament schedule.

“This year it was particularly brutal actually for all of us,” he said. “It has been really difficult. Next year it is going to be easier.”

The Swiss Tennis spokesman Sandra Perez said the team hopes he will play in the first round match against the United States, especially since he will be playing the very next week at the Indian Wells tournament that is being held from March 9-22.

“Roger has said he wants to put the Davis Cup into his calendar, but he wants to see all the details first,” Perez said. “He will do anything possible to be there.”

In other first round matches, Argentina will face the Netherlands, while Spain will host Serbia, as well as the Czech Republic hosting France and Israel taking on Sweden. Germany will welcome Austria, Russia will play at Romania and Chile will travel to Croatia.

Argentina will host Spain in the 2008 Davis Cup finals during the weekend of November 21-23.

ATP Challenger Series Results* (Sept. 15-21)

Szczecin, Poland (Clay)
No. 2 Florent Serra (FRA) def. No. 1 Albert Montanes (ESP), 6-4, 6-3

Cali, Colombia (Clay)
No. 1 Marcos Daniel (BRA) def. No. 4 Leonardo Mayer (ARG), 6-2, ret.

Waco, Texas, USA (Hard)
No. 2 Vincent Spadea (USA) def. No. 6 Joseph Sirianni (AUS), 6-0, 6-1

Todi, Italy (Clay)
Tomas Tenconi (ITA) def. No. 2 Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP), 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina (Clay)
No. 2 Ilia Bozoljac (SRB) def. No. 1 Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP), 6-4, 6-4

*The ATP Challenger Series is a series of international men’s professional tennis tournaments throughout the world that allow players to win enough ranking points to earn an entry into an ATP-level main draw or qualifying draw. The ATP Challenger Series is fully administered by the ATP Tour.

Safin denied 400th victory in Thailand; Robredo, Ferrero advance in Beijing

For the typical tennis fan, you probably haven’t heard of majority of the players who played their first round matches at the Thailand Open in Bangkok this afternoon. One of the players you should know even if you are not a tennis fan is Marat Safin (pictured), who bowed out in the first round to unheard of German player Philipp Petzschner.

In his 20th tournament of the season, the former Australian and US Open champion has now lost in the first round in eight events. In late April, former World No. 1 found himself ranked No. 93 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. These days he is ranked No. 38 and has recently been playing the type of tennis that once earned him the top ranking in the world. This is all thanks to a semifinal run at Wimbledon, where he lost to grass court master Roger Federer. This afternoon was not the case, as one of Russia’s most famous players had a chance to win his 400th career match, but was denied that milestone, as Petzschner took care of business in a 6-4, 7-6(4) route. Earning just his fourth win of the season, Petzschner smashed 13 aces, while breaking Safin’s serve on four occasions. Safin, who had twice finished as a Bangkok semifinalist, now drops to 20-21 on the season. The German now meets the winner of wild card entrant Robert Smeets and Mischa Zverev, who will do battle on Wednesday.

Another name worth mentioning from Tuesday’s first round action is Benjamin Becker. Becker, a Baylor University graduate, was the finalist in Bangkok last year, but that’s probably not why you know his name. A few years ago, Becker qualified into the US Open main draw and advanced to the fourth round, but in the third round he defeated Andre Agassi, which would be the Las Vegas superstar’s last professional tennis match. Since then Becker hasn’t had the results he was hoping for after his magical run in New York. He currently plays majority of his tournaments in Challenger events in small cities throughout the world. Today he was ousted in the first round to qualifier and solid doubles player Lukas Dlouhy, 6-4, 7-6(4). Dlouhy, a finalist in doubles at the US Open in 2007 and 2008, hit 10 aces in the victory that last roughly 78 minutes. Dlouhy next meets France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who finished as runner-up at this year’s Australian Open.

Other winners in Bangkok included, No. 6 Robin Soderling, Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and American Robert Kendrick.

At the China Open in Beijing only two singles matches were played, with No. 6 seed Tommy Robredo defeating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero beating Russian Alexandre Kudryavtsev to advance to the second round. The win for Robredo was his 32nd of the season, while Ferrero won his 17th match of the year.

China Open preview

China Open

Location: Beijing, China

Dates: September 22-28, 2008

Draw Size: 28

Surface: Hard

Prize Money: $524,000; men’s singles champion: $85,000

2007 Singles Final: Fernando Gonzalez, CHI, def. Tommy Robredo, ESP, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
Official Web site: http://www.chinaopen.com.cn/

Top story lines:

1. Can Fernando Gonzalez win his second straight China Open title?

2. Can Andy Roddick back up his solid US Open results with a title in Beijing?

3. Will Sam Querrey advance deep in Beijing after a career best season so far?

Justin’s notable first round match-ups:

1. Sam Querrey vs. Jesse Levine (First ATP level meeting; Levine defeated Querrey in three sets at a 2006 ATP Futures level event; Querrey won first ATP title in Las Vegas in March; Querrey is currently ranked No. 39; Levine is currently ranked at a career best No. 96; Levine was a quarterfinalist at Pilot Pen in New Haven)

2. Fernando Verdasco vs. Bobby Reynolds (Verdasco leads 2-0, winning at Wimbledon in 2007 and Nottingham in 2008; Verdasco reached a career high ranking of No. 11 in July; Reynolds was a quarterfinalist at Indianapolis and Delray Beach)

Potential notable late round match:

No. 1 David Ferrer vs. No. 6 Tommy Robredo, Quarterfinals

· Ferrer leads 3-2, with Ferrer winning only hard court meeting in 2007 at Auckland, New Zealand event

· Both players have won 7 career titles; Ferrer winning titles this year at Valencia (Spain) and s-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands); Robredo winning his lone 2008 title at Bastad (Sweden)

Watch out for…

1. No. 4 Richard Gasquet (Finalist in Stuttgart, semifinalist in Bucharest and quarterfinalist at Masters Series Canada and Queen’s Club in London; currently ranked No. 12)

2. No. 7 Rainer Schuettler (Semifinalist at Wimbledon; currently ranked No. 35)

Champion prediction:

Justin: No. 2 Andy Roddick

Thailand Open preview

Thailand Open

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Dates: September 23-28, 2008

Draw Size: 28

Surface: Hard

Prize Money: $576,000; men’s singles champion: $94,000

2007 Singles Final: Dmitry Tursunov, RUS, def. Benjamin Becker, GER, 6-2, 6-1
Official Web site: http://www.thailandopen.org/

Top story lines:

1. Will an Australian Open final repeat itself in Bangkok between Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga?

2. Will Marat Safin rebound after struggling majority of the summer?

3. Is there any chance 2007 finalist Benjamin Becker gets back to the final after dropping out of the Top 100?

Justin’s notable first round match-ups:

1. Jurgen Melzer vs. Donald Young (Melzer leads 1-0; winning 7-5 6-2 on clay in Poertschach, Austria in 2008; Melzer reached the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics; Young reached the quarterfinals in Memphis)

Potential notable late round match:

No. 3 Tomas Berdych vs. No. 5 Jarkko Nieminen, Quarterfinals

· Berdych leads 3-0, with 1-0 edge on hard courts

· Both players have reached one final this season; Berdych in Bastad (Sweden) and Nieminen in Adelaide (Australia)

No. 4 Gael Monfils vs. No. 7 Marat Safin, Quarterfinals

· Monfils leads 2-0, with both wins occurring on hard courts

· Monfils won both matches in straight sets

Watch out for…

1. No. 2 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Finalist at Australian Open, losing to Thailand Open No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic; has defeated ATP stars Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, Richard Gasquet and Carlos Moya this season despite missing most of the summer with an injury; currently ranked No. 20)

2. No. 6 Robin Soderling (Finalist in Memphis and Rotterdam; has defeated Andy Roddick and James Blake this season; currently ranked No. 34)

Champion prediction:

Justin: No. 1 Novak Djokovic

Argentina and Spain to face off in Davis Cup final in November

Near perfect tennis by World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in Sunday’s Davis Cup World Group semifinal match against Andy Roddick, destroyed the United States hopes of winning a second straight Davis Cup title.

After Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco were unable to clinch the semifinal victory for Spain after losing to Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish in their doubles match on Saturday, all pressure came down to Nadal, the ATP Tour’s most dependable clay court player. Nadal smashed 60 winners en route to an easy, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, win over Roddick, a player who isn’t very comfortable on the red clay.

"Today I play an almost perfect match and it is very, very exciting," said Nadal, who has now won ten straight Davis Cup singles matches. "Today I played very well. I shocked myself with some of the winners I played...was near perfect tennis."

Roddick, a former World No. 1 and US Open champion, entered this weekend’s Davis Cup tie on a nine match winning, but will leave Madrid, Spain, on a two match losing streak, having already lost to David Ferrer in five sets on Friday.

In a match that had no breaks of serve, Feliciano Lopez held off rookie Davis Cup team member Sam Querrey, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), to cap off a 4-1 victory for Spain over Patrick McEnroe’s United States squad.

As the Spaniards breezed to victory today, the Argentina squad had a small hiccup during its first match, when usually dependable World No. 7 David Nalbandian couldn’t rise to the occasion against Nikolay Davydenko, losing in four sets to the veteran Russian. Davydenko downed the hometown crowd favorite, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-0, to keep the hopes alive for the visiting Russian squad. With his first career Davis Cup loss happening on clay today, Nalbandian’s record drops to 9-1.

It would all come down to Russia’s Igor Andreev matching up against 19-year-old rising star Juan Martin Del Potro (pictured), a winner of four singles titles this summer and a quarterfinal appearance at the recent US Open in New York. To push the Argentine’s past the Russians and earn a berth in the Davis Cup final for the first time since 2006, Argentina’s youngster would have to take care of business, which he has been doing in fine fashion.

Despite a strong fight from the Russian in the first set, Del Potro easily dispatched Andreev, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1, earning a 3-2 victory for Argentina. After Andreev’s backhand flew out on match point, the soon to be 20-year-old Argentine jumped into the arms of captain Alberto Mancini, as the stadium was showered with champagne and colored confetti. Del Potro is now a winner of 25 of his last 26 matches, dating back to Wimbledon. It was a fitting end to a remarkable last few months of tennis for Del Potro.

Spain enters the Davis Cup final for the first time since 2004, where they defeated the United States. They also won the title in 2000 by defeating Australia. Argentina has never won the title, but was the runner-up in 1981 and 2006. Argentina will host Spain during the weekend of November 21-23, with Buenos Aires being the most likely city in Argentina to host the final.

United States and Russia stay alive in Davis Cup after doubles victories

If your goal on Saturday was to see Davis Cup World Group Semifinal underdog United States and Russia keep their chances alive and make Sunday’s matches mean something, then your goal was met. Both teams pulled out remarkable doubles victorious on the road, despite outstanding efforts by their opponents.

At the Plaza de Toros Las Ventas in Madrid, Spain, the American duo of Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish kept their countries dream to win another title alive as they defeated Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco of Spain, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in just over three hours. Fish, who will be getting married later this month, was asked to step in and play with Bryan after Bob Bryan didn’t make the trip to Spain with an aggravated left shoulder injury. Coming off a solid singles season in which he defeated Roger Federer at the Masters Series Indian Wells and was a quarterfinalist at the recent US Open, Fish was making his first Davis Cup doubles appearance in five years.

Despite losing the first set, the Americans got back on track quickly and took a commanding two sets to one lead behind strong serving and steady volleys and returns. The Americans looked to be closing in on the victory, when Bryan was broken at 4-3 and then Fish was broken at 4-5, as the Spaniards won the set and leveled the match at two sets apiece. In the final set, Verdasco surrendered his serve in the fifth game, as the first-time duo of Bryan and Fish would hold serve the rest of the set to earn the doubles point for the Americans. Bryan and Fish won 84 percent of first serve points, while breaking serve on four occasions. The Spaniards, who entered Saturday’s match with a 3-2 lifetime Davis Cup doubles record, won only 70 percent of first serve points and could only break serve three times, despite having thirteen opportunities.

World No. 1 and four-time defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal will try to clinch a spot in the finals for Spain, as he takes on Andy Roddick during the first match of the day. 74 years ago was the last time the United States came back from a 2-0 deficit in Davis Cup play.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Russian duo of Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov (pictured) won a thrilling five-setter over Argentina’s Guillermo Canas and David Nalbandian, 6-2, 6-1, 6-7(9), 3-6, 8-6. Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev decided earlier in the week to play Igor Andreev with Tursunov, but decided last minute on Saturday to pull the plug on that idea and let Davis Cup rookie Kunitsyn play with Tursunov. The Russians got off to a quick start and earned a two set lead, which ultimately calmed down a very energetic Buenos Aires crowd. After taking a 6-3 in the third set tiebreaker, it looked as if the match was about to end, but Canas and Nalbandian had other ideas. The Argentine’s would fight off three match points to rally and win the tiebreaker 11-9 and then take the fourth set to send things to a final set. The veteran Argentine duo would jump out to a 3-1 lead in the final set, but Canas was then quickly broken. Nalbandian would then lose his serve in the seventh game, while Kunitsyn would lose serve in the next game. After both teams held serve through the 12th game, Canas got broken in the 13th game, as Tursunov then served the match out, to give the Russians the doubles point.

The loss was Nalbandian’s first clay court Davis Cup doubles loss, bringing his career record in Davis Cup to 26-7. Canas’ doubles record drops to 4-3. If the Argentine’s can win one of two singles matches on Sunday, they will advance to the finals, where they will host either Spain or the United States on the weekend of November 21-23.

Jamie Murray and Mirnyi no longer doubles partners

Jamie Murray, the recent US Open mixed doubles runner-up with Liezel Huber, announced on BBC 5 Live radio, that his doubles partnership with Max Mirnyi of Belarus has come to an end.

The pair had a 15-17 record throughout the 2008 season, including beating then top ranked Bob and Mike Bryan to win the Delray Beach title. In four grand slam appearances this year, the duo advanced to the 3rd round at Wimbledon, while losing in the first round at the others.

Murray, who is currently playing doubles with Ross Hutchins this weekend against Austria at the Davis Cup competition held at Wimbledon, hints the partnership might become a regular thing in the 2009 season.

"We might play some tournaments next year,” said the 22-year-old Scot.

Murray has won four titles during his young career, three of which were with former partner Eric Butorac.

Mirnyi, who has won 34 career doubles titles including two US Open titles and two at Roland Garros in his successful career, has not announced whom he will team up with in 2009.

Nadal, Ferrer give Spain 2-0 lead against USA; Argentina up 2-0

To the world of bullfighting, the Plaza de Toros Las Ventas in Madrid is known as one of the most famous bullrings in the world. In 1996 to the Australian rock band AC/DC, it was known as a place for them jam in front of a sold out crowd. Today in front of 22,000 people, Patrick McEnroe’s United States Davis Cup team was looking to rock the house in their own way, in hopes of beating a heavily favored Spanish team led by four-time defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal (pictured) and World No. 5 David Ferrer, who is no stranger to success on red clay.

Earlier in the week James Blake withdrew from this week’s Davis Cup semifinal tie due to physical and mental exhaustion, then came the news that doubles great Bob Bryan would be withdrawing due to an aggravated left shoulder injury. If the defending champions wanted to shock the world by defeating host Spain and win a match that people think is impossible, veteran Andy Roddick and team rookie Sam Querrey would have to do the unthinkable.

Three weeks ago in New York, Querrey gave Nadal all he could handle in their fourth round encounter at the US Open. Although Querrey played an incredible debut Davis Cup match against the world’s greatest clay court player, Nadal was the one who came out victorious. Despite the loss, Querrey can feel that his Davis Cup debut was a successful one. The current World No. 1 and defending Wimbledon champion came back from a set and a break down to beat the California native, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, to put the Spaniards ahead 1-0. Nadal broke the young American on four occasions, while smashing 59 winners, including 25 off of his forehand side. The 6’6” American, who won his first career title in the spring in Las Vegas, slammed 17 aces and 76 winners, but sprayed 74 unforced errors in the loss.

In an instant classic, David Ferrer came from behind to end Andy Roddick’s nine match Davis Cup winning streak, as he beat the American for the fourth time in six tries, winning, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 8-6. In the over three hour battle, Ferrer was the one who was able to rise to the occasion at the big moments, as he was able to break serve three times on four chances, while Roddick broke serve six times on thirteen occasions, but hit 54 unforced errors. In the fifth set, Ferrer found himself up a break at 2-1 as the Spanish fans were cheering loudly for their man, but quickly Roddick broke back and then held to take a 3-2 lead. As the momentum shifted towards Roddick, it quickly turned into a serving battle as the American missed out on several opportunities to break serve and close out the match. At 6-6, Roddick missed some shots he isn’t accustomed to missing and Ferrer took charge breaking serve to go up 7-6, and then easily served out the match to give the Spaniards a commanding 2-0 lead. Roddick now falls to 0-7 lifetime against Top 10 players on clay courts.

In a huge match for the Americans tomorrow afternoon, Mardy Fish will team up with Mike Bryan and will most likely take on the Spanish duo of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. Spain Captain Emilio Sanchez hinted however, that he might flip around his lineup before the lineup card needs to be set. That line up could include either Nadal or Ferrer or even both of them.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Argentines had little trouble earning a 2-0 lead against Russia, as David Nalbandian and Juan Martin Del Potro were both victorious.

Nalbandian defeated Igor Andreev, 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4, to improve his singles Davis Cup record to 16-3, while his overall record including doubles is at 26-6. Nalbandian smashed 53 winners, including three aces, while saving all three break points he faced.

Del Potro, currently ranked No. 13 and one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour since mid summer, steam rolled World No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Since losing at Wimbledon, Del Potro has won 24 of his last 25 singles matches.

The Argentine’s have not lost on home soil in 10 years and will host either Spain or the United States if they can win one more match this weekend. The Davis Cup finals will be played the weekend of November 21-23.

Bob Bryan and Blake withdraw from Davis Cup; USA chances now slim against Spain

The United States Davis Cup squad, who are set to do battle starting on Friday against host Spain in the World Group semifinals, received some hearting breaking news this week that might hurt their chances of defending their title.

James Blake informed Captain Patrick McEnroe that he would not be traveling to Madrid due to physical and mental exhaustion from a long summer of tournament play. Bob Bryan (pictured), an important key to the United States doubles matches throughout the recent years, also decided not to travel to Madrid since he recently has been sidelined due to an aggravated shoulder injury.

“I aggravated it pretty bad at the Open and only made things worse,” said the left-handed doubles specialist. “I knew if I wanted a chance to play the rest of this year, I had to shut it down now. I can't even hit any balls.”

Sam Querrey will fill in for Blake at the No. 2 singles position, which will mark his first Davis Cup appearance. US Open quarterfinalist and soon to be married Mardy Fish will take over for the injured Bob Bryan.

Throughout their impressive Davis Cup career, the Bryan twins have put together an amazing 14-2 record, including a straight sets win over Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko of Russia to seal the 2007 Davis Cup title for the United States.

Mike Bryan has never played a Davis Cup match without brother Bob and hasn’t played with a different partner besides his brother since the 2002 Long Island event, a tournament he won with India’s Mahesh Bhupathi. The Bryan twins have won 49 titles together, including the recently completed US Open.

Davis Cup veteran Andy Roddick, who is currently ranked No. 8 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, will lead the American team on the red clay in Spain. Emilio Sanchez will captain the Spanish team, while World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 6 David Ferrer will lead the way for the Spaniards in singles, with Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez playing the doubles rubber.

Davis Cup World Group semifinal nominations

Argentina vs. Russia

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina (Clay)

Argentina

David Nalbandian

Juan Martin Del Potro

Agustin Calleri

Guillermo Canas

Captain: Alberto Mancini

Russia

Nikolay Davydenko

Igor Andreev

Dmitry Tursunov

Igor Kunitsyn

Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

Spain vs. United States

Location: Madrid, Spain (Clay)

Spain

Rafael Nadal

David Ferrer

Fernando Verdasco

Feliciano Lopez

Captain: Emilio Sanchez

United States

Andy Roddick

Sam Querrey

Bob Bryan

Mike Bryan

Captain: Patrick McEnroe

ATP Challenger Series Results* (Sept. 8-14)

Orleans, France (Hard)
No. 5 Nicolas Mahut (FRA) def. No. 7 Christophe Rochus (BEL), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(2)

Donetsk, Ukraine (Hard)
No. 1 (Q) Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) def. WC Sergei Bubka (UKR), 6-3, 6-3

Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA (Hard)
No. 5 Kevin Kim (USA) def. No. 2 Vincent Spadea (USA), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

Seville, Spain (Clay)
Pere Riba (ESP) def. LL Enrico Burzi (ITA), 6-1, 6-3

Ljubljana, Slovenia (Clay)
No. 5 Ilia Bozoljac (SRB) def. Giancarlo Petrazzuolo (ITA), 6-4, 6-3

Quito, Ecuador (Clay)
No. 8 Giovanni Lapentti (ECU) def. Riccardo Ghedin (ITA), 6-4, 6-4

*The ATP Challenger Series is a series of international men’s professional tennis tournaments throughout the world that allow players to win enough ranking points to earn an entry into an ATP-level main draw or qualifying draw. The ATP Challenger Series is fully administered by the ATP Tour.

Key phrases
WC = Wild Card
Q = Qualifier
LL = Lucky Loser

This Week's Biggest Movers*

On the rise:

• # 92 (+14) Christophe Rochus (BEL)
• #49 (+12) Carlos Moya (ESP)
• #73 (+10) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
• #87 (+10) Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS)

Moving on down:

• #67 (-17) Victor Hanescu (ROU)
• #81 (-13) Olivier Rochus (BEL)
• #109 (-13) Federico Gil (POR)
• #90 (-8) Evgeny Korolev (RUS)

* Each week, this will feature players in or just recently out of the Top 100 whose rankings have undergone the greatest change since the last set of rankings.

Simon downs Moya for Bucharest title

No. 1 seed Gilles Simon won his third ATP career title of the year on Sunday, defeating Carlos Moya in the BCR Open Romania final, 6-3, 6-4. The win marked his second straight win at Bucharest, as the Frenchman now holds to an 11-1 record in three years of playing at the clay court event.

Simon was ranked just 42nd last year when he entered the event, and a year later he is up to No. 17 in the world after two straight titles there, although he is No. 12 in the ATP 2008 Race. Simon’s 2007 campaign ended with a career-best 35 wins, but his current record of 40-20 has by far shattered his previous best year, which also was coupled with 26 losses.

The 23-year-old’s three ATP titles have all come this year, while this was the second on clay despite just a 12-6 clay court record here in 2008. After the match, the victorious Simon had this to say:

“This was definitely my best match of the week," he said. "I was playing very well. These days I feel like my opponents have to play really well to beat me. I knew that it was important to return well against him. I felt good on court and I'm happy about the result. It's nice to defend the title here in Bucharest.”

Simon’s opponent, Moya, was out trying to extend his streak of consecutive years winning at least one ATP title each year to nine. For the second time this season, however, the Spaniard was denied in an ATP final and has a limited number of chances left to be victorious for a ninth year in a row.

Moya to face defending champion Simon in Bucharest Final

The championship match at the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest is set. The 1996 runner-up Carlos Moya (pictured) and defending champion Gilles Simon went different routes to earn a berth in the finals. Moya won in convincing fashion over top-seeded Richard Gasquet, while Simon grinded out a three set win over No. 8 seed Jose Acasuso that lasted roughly three hours.

Moya, the 1998 Roland Garros champion and former World No. 1 wasted little time in earning a berth into his 44th career ATP singles final as he defeated No. 1 seed Gasquet, 6-2, 6-4. The Spaniard smashed three aces, while only tossing in two doubles faults, compared to five double faults by Gasquet. Moya was able to save both break points he faced, while breaking the Frenchman’s serve on three occasions. Gasquet won only 10 return of serve points throughout the match, while Moya was very successful when returning second serves. He won 69 percent of points on Gasquet’s second serve. A winner of 20 ATP singles titles since turning pro in 1995, Moya will now play in his 28th career clay court final. The 32-year-old currently ranked No. 61 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings looks to win a title for the 9th consecutive year.

In the classic match of the day that gave spectators all that they could handle, No. 2 seed Simon held off 2004 champion Acasuso, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, to earn a berth in his third final of the year. Earning titles earlier this year on hard courts in Indianapolis and clay courts in Casablanca (Morocco), Simon was able to stay focused and break serve at the right time in the final set to advance. Both players were able to break each other’s serve on four occasions, but Simon won 120 points overall compared to Acasuso’s 112. Along with the two singles titles he has won this year, Simon is having a career best year, including beating Roger Federer at the Masters Series Canada and earning a career high ranking of No. 13. The Frenchman currently is ranked No. 17 in the world. With the lose Acasuso falls to 25-22 on the year and drops to 0-4 lifetime against the 23-year-old Frenchman, three of the losses coming this season. Simon now holds a 39-20 record this season and is 10-1 lifetime at the BCR Open Romania.

Sunday’s championship match will mark the second meeting between Moya and Simon, with the veteran Spaniard leading the series 1-0, having won in 2005 on hard courts at the Masters Series Cincinnati.

Defending champion Simon, Gasquet, Moya, Acasuso advance to semifinals in Bucharest

All four seeds still alive entering Friday’s quarterfinal matches at the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest came out victorious and advanced to the semifinals.

No. 1 seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet (pictured), came from a set down to defeat Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1, to earn a spot in his second ATP semifinal of the season. Rain interrupted play in the first set tiebreaker throwing off the Frenchman’s momentum. Currently ranked No. 12 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Gasquet quickly refocused and was able to cruise in the second and third sets to advance. Gasquet smashed 8 aces, converted on six of eight break point chances and won 79 percent of his first serve points in the almost two hour match. The win marked Gasquet’s 26th victory of the season, while Gabashvili dropped to 11-10 on the year. In the semifinals Gasquet will meet No. 6 seed Carlos Moya, with the Spaniard leading all time series 2-0. The only meeting on clay courts occurred in Mexico in 2004, with Moya coming from behind to defeat the relatively new to the tour Frenchman in three sets.

In a two and a half hour battle, the 32-year-old veteran who turned pro in 1995, edged out Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. The 1998 Roland Garros champion and former World No. 1 hit 10 aces compared to only 3 double faults and won 76 percent of his first serve points. Last season, Moya won the title in Umag (Croatia), which marked the eighth time in as many years that he has one at least one title. With a win on Saturday over Gasquet, Moya would advance to his 44th career ATP final, having won 20 titles already. Today’s victory by Moya’s marked his 12th win on red clay this season.

Defending champion and No. 2 seed Gilles Simon and 2004 champion Jose Acasuso had less trouble advancing to the semifinals as they both won in straight sets. Simon earned a 6-2, 6-3, win over fellow Frenchman Florent Serra to advance. At one point in the first set, Simon won sixteen of seventeen points on Serra’s serve, which included four service breaks. Acasuso defeated Spaniard Ivan Navarro, 6-4, 6-4, to earn his third semifinal appearance of the season. Simon leads the series with Acasuso 3-0. Both wins that occurred this season were played on hard courts with Simon winning in straight sets two weeks ago at the US Open in the second round.