Wk.17- Nadal vs. Rosol... sort of

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Tipsarevic entered the Natase Open as the top seed and he also said he was fit and healthy. He lost after winning just one match. He is still clinging onto his top ten status, but barely. Rosol won his first ATP title, although I think he may have won a couple of challengers. Speaking of Rosol, Nadal won his eighth title in Barca. Paire played him closest but he didn't drop a set. Gulbis continued his upward surge. He was the top seed in the qualies and came through pretty easily, and then followed it up by beating Stepanek and Verdasco to make the third round. He lost a tightish two setter to Raonic then. Raonic has made back-to-back semis here and perhaps he could win this event in post-Nadal days. Ferrer crashed here, but Kohlschreiber won two very close three setters and benefiting from a withdrawal before being blown away by Almagro. Juan Monaco also played well and slipped under the radar a little, too.



*WEEK 17 CHAMPIONS*
BARCELONA, SPAIN
S: Rafael Nadal def. Nicolas Almagro 6-4/6-3
D: Peya/Soares d. Lindstedt/Nestor
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
S: Lukas Rosol def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3/6-2
D: Mirnyi/Tecau d. Dlouhy/Marach


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Lukas Rosol, CZE
...We expect Nadal to win in Spain. We expect him to win on red clay, so Spanish red clay....well it's only going to go one way. Rosol's achievement for me is more impressive despite it being a 250 because he has been in average form since Wimbledon really, and also because the Bucharest field was so strong. He thrashed the eighth and second seeds. He also edged the third seed Seppi on three sets, including a 6-1 opening set victory. He then put away tested clay courter Lopez in two straight sets in the final. All in all a very good week.
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RISER: Rafael Nadal, ESP
...Eight titles here and in Monte Carlo, 6 in Rome and 7 at the French. No one on the men's tour -- some will push the Evert argument -- has ever been as dominant on clay, possibly no one has ever been as dominant in one month or on one surface, either. He has won every clay Masters, 500 and Slam there is except for the 500 version of the Hamburg Masters tournament. I think the only person who can stop Nadal in Paris is Nadal. I don't think over five sets Djokovic can beat him on clay. Not yet.
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SURPRISE: Peya/Soares, AUT/BRA
...They won the doubles title despite being unseeded. They beat Berlocq/Chardy in the opener in a tightish three setter before beating Fleming/Marray. After that they beat seeds 2 and 3 back-to-back, only losing one set. They won the final set breaker in the final 10-3, too.
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VETERAN: Fernando Verdasco, ESP
...He last reached a final in 2012. He last won a title at Barcelona in 2010. He has been in a massive slump. I don't think he has won 15 matches this season yet. He has a big game, yes, but currently he is unable to put that big game down on the court. He will soon be looking at retirement as a big option. I think he has had 4 years at the top but he is finally starting to come down from those heights. He will nevertheless be a dangerous floater at the French.
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COMEBACK: Ernests Gulbis, LAT
...The latest stage in the Latvian's extraordinary comeback. He is now a more consistent performer. He still has the same unpredictability about him but he seems to be back and even more dangerous after cutting out the bad habits. It took a strong showing from Raonic to finally put away Gulbis this week. He nearly beat Nadal earlier this year and I think it is only a matter of time before he wins another title. He also has a good chance to be a seed at the French, but he will be a very dangerous floater there no matter his ranking.
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NEW FACE: Pablo Carreño, ESP
...He edged Haase 7-6 in the third in the first round and then he had chances against Bellucci. He eventually lost to the Brazilian in three very tight sets. He has been playing decently in low level challengers and futures. He has also appeared in Barcelona a few times, as well.
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DOWN: Ferrer & Berdych, ESP/CZE
...Normally Ferrer is Mr. Consistent so the fact he has been inconsistent recently is cause for concern. He has been very up and down as of late. He will do well in Estoril, but how will he do in the Masters and at the French. He has serious points to defend there and he needs to try to hit top form once more. Berdych has been a bit average recently. That loss to Fognini was a bad one. He just barely beat Davydenko and then he crashed against Robredo, who did play quite well to be fair. Still, you'd expect Berdman to play better than that.
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1. Barca QF - Raonic d. Robredo
...6-7/6-3/7-6. A great match that could have gone either way. Robredo is really getting his spark back and this was a great match because of the different styles.
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2. Barca 3rd Rd - Nadal d. Paire
...7-6/6-2. I think Paire has the game to reach a slam final at some point. He will be seeded at the French, so it'll be interesting to see how well he can do at his home slam.
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3. Bucharest 2nd Rd - Rosol d. Seppi
...6-1/3-6/6-3. A tightish match that Rosol came through to announce his re-emergence.
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**MUNICH, GERMANY**
=SF=
Kohlschreiber [4] d. Monfils
Haas [3] d. [2] Cilic
=FINAL=
Haas [3] d. [4] Kohlschreiber

**OEIRAS, PORTUGAL**
=SF=
Ferrer [1] d. [8] Robredo
Wawrinka [2] d. [4] Fognini
=FINAL=
Ferrer [1] d. [2] Wawrinka

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