Posts tagged Title
Fish tops Isner for Atlanta title
Jul 26th
Atlanta - Mardy Fish knows he would have had no chance one year ago against John Isner and the worst heat he has endured on the court.
Fish has lost 30 pounds since having knee surgery last year, and he credits his newly gained fitness for his winning streak which continued Sunday when he beat John Isner 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the finals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.
Fish set personal bests by winning his second straight tournament and 10th straight match.
Fish overcame temperatures in the mid-90s as the match lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes. The on-court temperature hovered near 150 degrees.
Suffering from dehydration, Fish needed an IV after the match and had a long visit to the trainer’s room. He said he “sort of went into a lower body cramp with both legs.”
A year ago, he said he’d would have had no chance.
“It’s night and day,” Fish said. “A year ago I would have fallen over in the second set probably, or probably played a match to where I knew physically I couldn’t last so I needed to change my tactics. I just simply don’t have to do that anymore.”
Isner, a former college star at the nearby University of Georgia, had no home-state advantage when dealing with the heat.
“The first hour it was the hottest,” Isner said. “It took a lot out of both of us. I don’t think I’ve ever played in conditions this hot and humid and rough like this.”
Fish, who won in Newport earlier this month, took the first four points of the tiebreaker.
“I knew the way we were both feeling a good start in the tiebreaker was going to be huge,” Fish said.
Isner rallied to win the next three points but couldn’t pull even.
Isner gained fame by winning the longest match in history, a three-day, 183-game match at Wimbledon last month. That match led to appearances on TV talk shows, and he says he spent too much time away from the court.
“You want to win this tournament but it was really pivotal I was able to get four matches under my belt,” Isner said. “I had other things I was doing because of that stupid Wimbledon match I played.”
Fish Topples Isner For Atlanta Tennis Title; Chakvetadze Rules Slovenia
Jul 26th
Atlanta, GA, United States (AHN) – Sixth-seeded American Mardy Fish came back from a set down to defeat fellow countryman second-seeded John Isner in three sets Sunday at the finale of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.
Fish, who stunned top-seeded Andy Roddick in the semis, his second career win over the former world No. 1, dominated a third-set tiebreaker to capture his second straight tournament, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
It was also the fifth career title for Fish, who thwarted marathon man Isner’s post Wimbledon campaign.
Meanwhile, Andrey Golubev, who upset defending champ Nikolay Davydenko to reach the quarters, capped his impressive run at the German Open by dumping third-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the final Sunday.
The 23-year-old Golubev, ranked 82nd, overpowered Melzer, a semifinalist at the French Open and winner of the doubles event at Wimbledon this year, 6-3, 7-5 at the clay court event in Hamburg, Germany.
With the victory, Golubev became the first Kazakhstan player to win an ATP Tour title.
In Bad Gastein, Austria, Julia Goerges of Germany captured her first WTA Tour title with 6-1, 6-4 rout of second-seeded Timea Bacsinszky in the Gastein Ladies Sunday.
It was the first final for Goerges, who bested the only remaining seeded player left in the tournament.
Also Sunday, Russian Anna Chakvetadze claimed her first championship of the year and eighth in her career after plastering Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-1, 6-2 at the Slovenia Open.
Chakvetadze, 23, was appearing in her first final since 2008 in New Haven.
Can Del Potro defend his US Open title?
Jul 23rd
Call Juan Martin Del Potro the X-factor for the upcoming U.S. Open. He’s the defending champ, and the guy who first demonstrated that if you play a sufficiently big, physical game, you can take down the Roger Federers and Rafael Nadals of this world (Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych clearly were paying attention).
As few as two weeks ago, Del Potro’s prospects for playing at Flushing Meadows looked dim. But now, the news out of Argentina is that Del Potro has recovered from the surgery on his right wrist, is hitting tennis balls and is on track to defend his title in late August. And that ought to give the top contenders the heebee-jeebies.
When Del Potro manhandled Federer in the final of the U.S. Open last September, it seemed like an epoch-ending match. For the first time in a big match on a surface other than clay, Federer met a man who could play him on Federer’s own terms and still win. It was no one-off performance, either. In the two previous rounds, Del Potro had knocked off Marin Cilic and Rafael Nadal, respectively.
And Del Potro backed up that inspired U.S. Open triumph: in the ensuing weeks and months, he beat Federer again and put up a good win over hard-charging Soderling. His year end head-to-heads looked like this:
Vs. Roger Federer: 2-0 in the latter half of ’09, despite trailing 0-6 after his loss to Federer at Roland Garros in the spring.
Vs. Rafael Nadal: 3-0 in ’09 after Indian Wells, where his record slipped to 0-4.
Vs. Andy Murray: 1-5, with two losses to Murray on hard courts in the summer of ’09. Del Potro’s crafted his lone win over Murray in Madrid (on clay) in the spring of ’09.
Vs. Novak Djokovic: 0-3 — but no matches after Rome of ’09.
Vs. Andy Roddick: 2-0 in ’09, 3-0 overall in two finals and one semi. Del Potro took the big step into the first tier of players during the hard court season of ’09. The only guy who still appeared to have his number by the end of last year was Murray. And Djokovic, who’s showing signs of resurgence, is a big question mark.
Murray, a former U.S. Open finalist, looms as the main, proven stumbling block to Del Potro when he returns — if Del Potro can muster the kind of tennis he was playing at this time last year.
That’s a big “if.” Del Potro hasn’t hit a ball in anger since January, and he isn’t the kind of player who is likely to benefit from the extra rest provided by his enforced absence. In fact, Del Potro is just 21 and blessed with Ironman propensities. Remember, he first appeared on the radar in 2008, when he won four events running at the most demanding time of year — in the summer, after Wimbledon.
That streak was a testament to his versatility, too. He won the first two titles on clay and shifted to his preferred hard courts without missing a beat. He won Los Angeles and Washington, and showed no signs of slowing down until Andy Murray (him again!) finally quelled the Del Potro insurgency in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open.
A year later in New York, Del Potro won the title.
The Argentinean likes to go on a roll; it appears to build his confidence. His results in 2008 were impressive, but that win at Flushing Meadows last year didn’t come out of the thin air, either. He won Washington and lost in the final of Cincinnati in the two events he played before the U.S. Open last summer.
The big question is not whether Del Potro will be able to play in the U.S. Open, but whether he’ll get enough matches before the event to be at his best. I’m predicting that he’ll play at least one event before he defends his title, and the news that he’s hitting balls again supports the idea that he’d like to get little match play under his belt before the last major of the year. But also consider this: the guy who beat Del Potro in the final at Cincinnati last year was… you guessed it, Andy Murray.
So the X factor has an X factor of his own with which to contend.
Juan Martin del Potro Expected to Defend Title at US Open Next Month
Jul 22nd
Last year’s U.S. Open champion, Juan Martin del Potro, is expected to defend his title at this summer’s fourth and final major in Flushing, NY. The report comes from the USTA, which has listed the 21-year-old Argentinean on the U.S. Open provisional entry list.
The defending champion underwent surgery on his right wrist earlier this year. His wrist began to bother him shortly after defeating Roger Federer at the 2009 U.S. Open finals. Aside from the Australian Open, del Potro has not participated in a single ATP event all year.
He was originally slated to miss the U.S. Open after undergoing surgery, but the prognosis has recently changed. According to USTA spokesman Tim Curry, del Potro is already hitting balls and practicing. His agent, Ugo Colombini, also told the Associated Press that, “Del Potro is working and hopefully he will be back soon.”
The world No. 7 is now reportedly ahead of recovery schedule. Del Potro climbed as high as No. 4 in January on the ATP tour rankings. He owns seven career ATP titles, with five of them coming on hard court. The U.S. Open is scheduled to begin on August 30.
Delray Beach a contender for ‘Best Tennis Town’ title
Jul 21st
Hosting the International Tennis Championships, the ATP Champions and World tours may have helped Delray Beach land as one of 10 finalists in the “Best Tennis Town” contest.
The contest is held annually by the United States Tennis Association. The winner will be determined by a nationwide online vote and Delray Beach would like residents, visitors, tourists and tennis lovers to vote.
The city even changed its name to “Tennis Beach” to drum up support.
The winner will take home the 2010 “Best Tennis Town” title, an accompanying trophy and $100,000 to be used for community-wide tennis programming or facility enhancements.
The second- and third-prize winners will receive $50,000 and $25,000, respectively, and seven honorable mention communities will each receive a $2,000 tennis equipment package.
To vote for Delray Beach or for more information about the “Best Tennis Town” contest, visit besttennistown.com through Monday.
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Sunset Ridge takes title
Jul 21st
CARY – The Sunset Ridge tennis club made the most of its first appearance in three years in the championship game of the 18U Intermediate division of the 2010 North Carolina USTA Junior Team Tennis State Championships at the Cary Tennis Park, defeating Charlotte’s Team High School 32-26 for the state title Sunday afternoon.
With the win, Sunset Ridge qualified for the USTA Southern Section Championships, which will begin in Mobile, Ala., on Aug. 20. “I’m thrilled for my team,” Sunset Ridge coach Kevin Caccia said. “All the players have worked really hard. They have tried several years to make it this far and they have fallen short every time. I’m really, really happy that they got this opportunity.” Each team match consisted of four-game short sets in boys singles, girls singles, boys doubles, girls doubles and mixed doubles play. Match winners were determined based on total games won. Sunset Ridge earned the right to represent Cary in the weekend tournament by having the best regular season record of the nine tennis clubs in Cary. Kevin Caccia’s team of three boys and four girls from various area high schools made the most of the opportunity, winning all three round robin games to advance to the finals against Team High School. In the championship match, Sunset Ridge held a one point lead going into the decisive mixed doubles match with Ryan Cornett and Shelby Bickel, who plays high school tennis for Apex, in position to seal the victory. “I told the team, get us to the finals,” Cornett, an Enloe student, said. “And I will do the best I can to get us to Alabama. I saw the way Shelby played her match before the mixed doubles and she was playing great. And I was playing great, I thought, in my boys doubles match before that. We were hitting the ball well and were very confident.” Cornett and Bickel quickly made it clear that Sunset Ridge’s players and families would need to be free for an August trip to Alabama for sectionals. They took the first game 4-0 and then won the first game of the second set to make the state championship a certainty. Sunset Ridge took the championship match by a final score of 32-26. Sunset Ridge’s seven players were just a few of more than 500 athletes from across the state who participated in the 2010 United States Tennis Association Junior Team Tennis State Championships over the weekend at the Cary Tennis Park. The annual tournament, which is in its 15th year, drew more players than ever before, with 150 more participants than it had in 2009. Players from ages five to 18 combined to occupy all 30 of the park’s courts throughout the weekend. “We honestly did not expect 500 people,” tournament coordinator Marusa Pogacnik said. “Last year we had four 8U teams and four 10U teams. When we got the projections this year, we couldn’t possibly have them all here. We had to choose only one or two teams from each local league. “ The tournament consisted of five age groups, 8U, 10U, 12U, 14U, and 18U, with the oldest three groups further divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced play. The participants in the 8U division played on smaller courts, and those at the 10U level played QuickStart tennis. QuickStart is played on full-sized courts, but with the end lines moved up 18 feet, from 78 to 60 feet away from the net. “QuickStart has been in existence for many years in Europe. The last couple years it has really been taking off. The U.S. is finally catching on,” Pogacnik said. “A lot of the reason for the large turnout is that we have added the QuickStart division to the tournament, as well as the fact that last year was the first time we have had beginners.” In 18U Advanced play, which concluded Saturday, Reid Kinlaw’s young Cary Tennis Park team finished fourth in a four-team bracket but pleased Kinlaw by playing hard against much older and more experienced players. “It was the first time we fielded an 18U Advanced team,” Kinlaw said. “I was very happy with the way they played. It will be very positive for next year to see the things they can work on. We are a young team. If there was a 16U division, they could have all played on the 16U team.”Snow Hill Competes For Title Of America’s Best Tennis Town
Jul 20th
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A Greene County town is competing for the title of America’s best tennis town and it needs your help.
Snow Hill is competing with nine other towns and cities in the U.S. to win the United States Tennis Association title.
Snow Hill, which has a population of about 1,700 people, is competing against places like Atlanta, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina – which is why tennis players in Snow Hill are asking for your help. They want people to vote for Snow Hill on line and help the town win $100,000 for more tennis courts and programs in the community.
Town officials say while Snow Hill may be small, around 11,000 people visited last year to do something involving tennis, whether with the schools, tournaments, or clubs. They also say Snow Hill boasts a tennis ball stamping factory and has more USTA players per capita than any other town in the southeast. But local officials say there’s another big reason:
Voting continues through Monday with the winner announced during the U.S. Open in August.
We have a link below where you can vote.
