Wk.8- Nadal wins again...surprise!

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

he Americas clay swing just keeps on swinging. This week we are in Rio, whilst the European hard courts are also visited and the Asia odyssey continues. It was not a good week for top seeds. Gasquet was poor, losing to Gulbis in the semifinals of the Open 13. He could only get 5 games against the Latvian star, whilst compatriot Tsonga also fell in straight sets. Gulbis is now 5-0 in finals, which shows remarkable consistency, though all of them are at 250 level. He has beaten Karlovic, Fish and now Tsonga in finals. Perhaps he really is not a slam player and his forte is more the ATP tour itself. Anyway, he has risen to a career high of 18 in the world. He has no points to defend in Miami, but he does have points to defend in Indian Wells; he made the fourth round there and very nearly beat Nadal. Gasquet has fourth round and semifinal points to defend, and with his form, that's a pretty big ask.

There were five retirements in the tennis tournament down in picturesque Delray Beach. Two of those were seeds- Nishikori and Hewitt. Cilic considered his impressive run by winning another title in Februrary and making his third final. Isner needed three-setters in the first three rounds before finally getting ousted by Cilic in the semi. There are positive signs there for the enormous American. He has traditionally done well at the two big tournaments coming up and, should his form hold, he is definitely capable of a run in both Miami and Indian Wells.

And Nadal won, too. But really we knew that was going to happen, didn't we? He is, if it had escaped your notice, quite good on clay. Well, insanely ridiculously nigh on unbeatable on clay, unless your name is Djokovic. And even if your name is Djokovic, you're not guaranteed victory. Apart from one speed bump, Nadal was in cruise control this week.

But enough of my talking, stuff happened this week and it went like this:



*WEEK 8 CHAMPIONS*
MARSAILLE, FRANCE
S: Ernests Gulbis def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6/6-4
D: Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin d. Hanley/Marray
RIO, BRAZIL
S: Rafael Nadal def. Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3/7-6
D: Cabal/Farrah d. Marrero/Melo
DELRAY BEACH, USA
S: Marin Cilic def. Kevin Anderson 7-6(6)/6-7(7)/6-4
D: Bryan/Bryan d. Cermak/Elgin


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: NADAL, ESP
...Nadal won his 43rd title on clay, and 62nd overall -- seventh in the Open era, with his win in Rio. Only Vilas has more with 46. Nadal has now won 298 matches on clay, but Vilas had won 644 matches. I don't think I've been on a tennis court of any kind 644 times. That is an extraordinary amount of matches.

But anyway, Rafa consolidated his lead at the top of the rankings. He has spent 133 weeks there and will be there till May 5th at the very least. This week he was the top seed in a talented Rio field. He played Gimeno-Traver in the opener and beat him 6-3, 7-5. Traver is a talented dirtballer but Nadal is pretty much the most talented of them all, well, certainly at the moment. Next, Rafa cantered past Montanes 6-1, 6-2 before allowing Sousa just a single game. Next up was Andujar and he played quite a match, nearly beating Nadal in a fifteen minute tiebreaker. I have actually played a set in about 15 minutes, which I lost to love but I did get a couple of points.

I would love to see Nadal play Borg, or Vilas, in a five-set match on clay. My money would actually be on Borg to beat Nadal. He may be the only player in history who is mentally tougher than Nadal. I think if and when it went to five, he might actually have the advantage mentally, though definitely not physically. I think there would be a lot of good matches to be had between modern players and players way back when. This is of course ignoring technological changes and the changes in the sport which do make it difficult to compare between different eras. I would like to see Serena/Navratilova on grass myself and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

Anyway, having just gone off a huge tangent or two, we will get back to the world's best player. We will see Rafa next at Indian Wells, a tournament he has won thrice and is the current defending champion. Becker, Sampras, Chang, Hewitt and Federer have all defended their titles. Can Rafa?
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RISER: CILIC, CRO
...I have written a lot on this subject over the past few weeks. I think he really is back now. He seemed to have such a small game for such a big man in his 'first career' but now perhaps he really has fulfilled his potential. This week he made his third final this year and won his second title, too. And yes, the draw did fall nicely for him but that happens to lots of people. Just ask Errani and Murray. Entire slam draws fall nicely for them with regularity. In fact if I recall rightly, Errani got three easy draws in 2012. But I digress. Marin rolled past Becker in the first round, was too good for Harrison in the second and then dismissed Gabshvili in the quarters. Isner has been rusty as of late, which is understandable. He looked to have regained some form but Cilic was still too good, needing just the one break in a 7-6, 6-3 victory. Next up was Anderson who he edged in a long match where breaks were few and far between and the serve dominated.
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SURPRISE: GULBIS, LAT
...Yeah, he won this last week. He wins it again this week for, well, winning the tournament. He very nearly fell in the second round to Agut. He triumphed in three long sets 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. He then got past a tricky opponent in the form of Mahut with little difficulty 6-3, 7-6. After that, he had to play top seed Gasquet and, luckily for the young star, Ritchie decided that it would be a good day to just not turn up. It isn't like Gasquet is playing badly. It's almost more like he can play well for two or three matches here and there but can come down like a house of cards without warning. In any case, Gulbis rose to 18th in the rankings, his highest ever. The talented Latvian will probably win Indian Wells before losing to Nieminen with a broken leg in a third set breaker in the first match of the Miami Masters. Why? Just because he can. As for Gasquet, well, he will give me a severe headache when I have to predict what will happen in the upcoming Masters.
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VETERAN: ROBREDO, ESP
...Incredibly, Robredo is now 31. Named after the opera 'Tommy', this clay courter with the gorgeous game still has it. Well, kind of. Seeded fourth here, he beat Busta and Lajovic without losing a set. Then, mystifyingly, he lost to Andujar 6-1, 6-1. The Spaniard has been to 16 clay finals winning 12 and three hard court finals of which he has won 1. He has made and won titles at three levels- 250, 500 and 1000. He may be flying under the radar at the moment, but he is one of the most dangerous players out there. A quarterfinal may not be his best result, but he has started to turn it on especially now the clay court swing has begun. He also made the fourth round of the Aussie, beating Gasquet in the third round.
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COMEBACK: n/a
...There was no comeback this week, unfortunately.
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DOWN: SEPPI, ITA
...I have seen very little of what Seppi is capable of this season. Clay really is his thing, it is where he dances his dance best. However, he is not playing there but playing on indoor hard courts instead. He lost to Llodra in straight sets this week. He should have gone out to Latin America. He hasn't and that is a bad move. Not only were the tactics wrong but the execution hasn't been great either to be honest.
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1. RIO SF - NADAL d. ANDUJAR 2-6/6-3/7-6
...Andujar deserved to win this, but deserving something and actually winning it are different things in sport. Nadal spanked his compatriot 0 and 4 in the Madrid semifinals last year. He had to survive a pair of match points, but he still came through 10-8 in that breaker. It was an incredible match full of long rallies and impossible shots. Nadal improves to 70-5 against Spaniards all time.
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2. MEMPHIS Final - CILIC d. ANDERSON 7-6/6-7/6-4
...This was always going to be tiebreaktastic. With the surface and the game styles of the two finalists, and the fact that Anderson's past four finals before this have had a tiebreaker in them. He won here in 2012 but he could not quite win it this time. He lost the first breaker 8-6 but won the next 9-7. This was a tightly contested match between two big hitters. This is Cilic's third final of February 2014. He won his second title on Sunday and his rise up the rankings is steady.
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3. Rio QF - FERRER d. BELLUCCI 4-6/6-3/6-3
...Is Bellucci back? 'Tis hard to tell, but clay was always his bag. The talented lefty actually showed up here, beating Giraldo and Monaco en route to the quarterfinals. Despite being down on his luck recently, the talented Brazilian is capable of beating anyone, anywhere or at least taking a set off them.
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*CAREER ATP SINGLES TITLES*
109...Jimmy Connors, USA
94...Ivan Lendl, CZE
77...Roger Federer, SUI
77...John McEnroe USA
64...Bjorn Borg, SWE
64...Pete Sampras, USA
62...RAFAEL NADAL, ESP
62...Guillermo Vilas, ARG
60...Andre Agassi, USA




*DUBAI*
=SF=
Djokovic [1] d. [4] Federer
Berdych [3] d. [7] Del Potro
=FINAL=
Djokovic [1] d. [3] Berdych

...I call a repeat of last year's final. In fact, we have an identical set of top four seeds, but with Federer and Delpo swapping seeds. The semifinals will swap, but the final result will remain the same.

*ACAPULCO*
=SF=
Ferrer [1] d. [3] Isner
Dimitrov [4] d. [2] Murray
=FINAL=
Ferrer [1] d. [4] Dimitrov

...We're going Loco down in Acupulco this week! Ferrer has been to four consecutive finals here and I think that will continue. He will win his fourth title here. I can't pick Murray to do anything on clay, especially not in the form he has been in this year. He starts against Andujar and has Simon in his section, too. Even if he grinds through those matches, I can't see him beating Dimi on clay.

*SAO PAOLO*
=SF=
Haas [1] d. [6] Garcia-Lopez
Almagro [2] d. Bellucci
=FINAL=
Haas [1] d. [2] Almagro

...I think this is a fairly weak field and I think that Haas is the strongest player here by a mile, even if his current form has been a little scratchy. Bellucci has shown signs he is getting it together, but picking him is still a little risky. Almagro always does well here, and look for that to continue.

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