Mar 1, 2010 ~ ATP Men's Tennis

Monday, March 1, 2010

Davis Cup: Chile to host Davis Cup despite earthquake

Davis Cup: Chile to host Davis Cup despite earthquake

Chile is still planning to host its Davis Cup series against Israel despite the devastating earthquake that has killed at least 700 people on Saturday.

Nicolas Massu arrived on Monday from Miami and expressed concern for the Chilean people but said he was ready to play in the series that begins on Friday.

Jose Hinzpeter, president of the Chile tennis federation, also said he wants the series to go ahead as scheduled in the northern port town of Coquimbo, which suffered little damage.

As a little note I would like to add that we are will all the chileans during this difficult times. I have many friends from chile and it´s so sad and tragic what´s going on there :( At the moment of the earthquake we were in Mendoza and we felt it too.

Ernests Gulbis wins first title at Delray Beach

Ernests Gulbis wins first title at Delray Beach

Ernests Gulbis defeated Ivo Karlovic 6-2 6-3 to win the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships title.

Gulbis had a surprisingly easy time facing Karlovic taking the win and the title in one hour 20 minutes.

"Everything I do it's the first for my country," Gulbis said. "I was first one in top 300, first one in top 200, first one in top 100."

Now he's poised to move into the top 40 in the world when the new rankings are announced on Monday.

Karlovic was the first one to break for a 2-1 lead but then Gulbis took control of the match by breaking Karlovic to go up 3-2 and then win the next four games to close out the set.

Gulbis broke Karlovic again early in the second set and coasted to the triumph.

Karlovic hit 14 aces but also five double faults to open the door for Gulbis who did not drop a set in the entire tournament.

"So I didn't lose a set, I don't see that as a big accomplishment," he said. "I think winning a title is a big accomplishment."

“This year is going to be his breakthrough,” said Karlovic.

“Everything that he hit was in. He was very cool, calm. Nothing could impress him.”

"I would like to thank him for this gift on my birthday," Karlovic quipped. "Everything he touched with his racket today was unbelievable, a clean winner."

Source Reuters/AP
Photo AP

Davis Cup: Almagro replaces Ferrero in Spain Davis Cup team

Davis Cup: Almagro replaces Ferrero in Spain Davis Cup team

It looks like Argentina is not the only team that is losing top players...

Nicolas Almagro will replace Juan Carlos Ferrero for Spain’s Davis Cup tie against Switzerland on March 5-7.

Ferrero hurt his knee during the final of the Mexico Open in Acapulco during his loss to David Ferrer.

Amagro was informed he was in the squad by Spanish team captain Albert Costa on Sunday and je is ready to join Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers, who are also on the team.

Spain lost Rafael Nadal as well due to a knee injury and Switzerland’s Roger Federer also announced he would not take part in the Davis Cup.

Davis Cup: Juan Monaco out, Del Bonis in for Argentina

Davis Cup: Juan Monaco out, Del Bonis in for Argentina

More bad news for Argentin´s Davis cup team.... Juan Monaco will not be able to play the first round due to an injury and will be replaced by Federico Del Bonis against Sweden next weekend.

Del Bonis is Left-handed and just 19 years old. He is ranked 211 and will join Horacio Zeballos, Leonardo Mayer and Eduardo Schwank in the team for the world group.

Monaco pulled a muscle during his semi-final against Juan Carlos Ferrero in Acapulco. Argentina has previously lost Juan Martin del Potro and David Nalbandian to injury.

Sunrise BMW Tennis Championship Players entry list

Sunrise BMW Tennis Championship Players entry list

The BMW Tennis Championship will have 13 top 50 players in their field for the 2010 enet. This loaded field for the 7th annual BMW Tennis Championship will take to the courts the week of March 14-21 at the Sunrise Tennis Club.

Mikhail Youzhny and Gilles Simon are leading the field so far while the last tennis player in is ranked No. 66, Potito Starace. In some ATP tournaments Starace's ranking would have earned him a top eight seed.

"Incredible, this is shaping up to be a great main draw," said Gabe Norona, the tournament's director and co-owner. "I am absolutely ecstatic at the talent we will have in Sunrise. There are some impressive names on our alternates list who have won multiple ATP tiles such as Arnaud Clement, Taylor Dent, Juan Ignacio Chela, Nicolas Massu and Rainer Schuettler. We are truly honored to have so many top players that want to come play our event."

Additional top players in the main draw include Richard Gasquet, Jurgen Melzer, Nicolas Almargo, Florent Serra and Thomaz Bellucci.

Gasquet was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2007 and has been ranked as high as No. 7. Melzer won the inaugural tournament held in 2004.
Almargo has won five ATP titles and is currently ranked No. 27. Serra was the tournament's top seed in 2006 and has won two ATP titles.
Bellucci claimed his second ATP title earlier this month in Chile picking up a win over 11th ranked Fernando Gonzalez in the semifinals prior to upsetting second seed Juan Monaco in the finals.

"Since we are a dual entry event with Indian Wells, there may be some players who we may lose if they are still in the Indian Wells tournament, but there is also a strong possibility we may add more top 20 players since that tournament starts five days prior to our event." added Norona. "Over the past few years Fernando Gonzalez (CHI), Tomas Berdych (CZE) and our 2009 Champion Robin Soderling are just a few top players who ended up in our draws after losing in Indian Wells."

Tickets for the 2010 BMW Tennis Championship start at only $10 per session and are available for purchase online (BMWTennisChampionship.com),by phone (Toll Free: 877.877.7677) and in-person at the Sunrise Tennis Club: 9605 West Oakland Park Blvd, Sunrise FL (Ph: 954.572-2286) and Pro Tennis World: 11306 State Road 84, Davie, FL (Ph: 954.474.1780).

Complete Entry List
Main Draw
Almagro, Nicolas ESP 27
Beck, Andreas GER 43
Becker, Benjamin GER 40
Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 32
Berrer, Michael GER 56
Chardy, Jeremy FRA 41
Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 47
Gasquet, Richard FRA 54
Gicquel, Marc FRA 63
Greul, Simon GER 62
Korolev, Evgeny KAZ 46
Lacko, Lukas SVK 60
Mayer, Florian GER 53
Melzer, Jurgen AUT 31
Petzschner, Philipp GER 55
Seppi, Andreas ITA 45
Serra, Florent FRA 59
Simon, Gilles FRA 18
Starace, Potito ITA 66
Tipsarevic, Janko SRB 39
Youzhny, Mikhail RUS 15
Zeballos, Horacio ARG 49

Alternates
1. Clement, Arnaud FRA 67
2. Russell, Michael USA 68
3. Mayer, Leonardo ARG 69
4. Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 70
5. Falla, Alejandro COL 71
6. Koellerer, Daniel AUT 74
7. de Bakker, Thiemo NED 76
8. Dent, Taylor USA 78
9. Gimeno-Traver, Daniel ESP 79
10. Hernandez, Oscar ESP 80
11. Ram, Rajeev USA 82
12. Chela, Juan Ignacio ARG 83
13. Hajek, Jan CZE 85
14. Zverev, Mischa GER 86
15. Malisse, Xavier BEL 88
16. Schuettler, Rainer GER 92
17. Lorenzi, Paolo ITA 94
18. Golubev, Andrey KAZ 95
19. Massu, Nicolas CHI 96
20. Giraldo, Santiago COL 98
21. Brands, Daniel GER 100
22. Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 103
23. @ # Nishikori, Kei JPN 106
24. Odesnik, Wayne USA 108
25. # Kiefer, Nicolas GER 112
26. Ginepri, Robby USA 113
27. Mello, Ricardo BRA 114
28. Levine, Jesse USA 119
29. Ball, Carsten AUS 122
30. Kim, Kevin USA 123
31. Phau, Bjorn GER 125
32. Levy, Harel ISR 128
33. Anderson, Kevin RSA 133
34. Koubek, Stefan AUT 135
35. Kendrick, Robert USA 137
36. Przysiezny, Michal POL 138
37. Yani, Michael USA 148
38. Young, Donald USA 150
39. Capdeville, Paul CHI 154
40. Sweeting, Ryan USA 157
41. Silva, Julio BRA 161
42. Delgado, Ramon PAR 168
43. Kindlmann, Dieter GER 174
44. @ Grosjean, Sebastien FRA 175
45. Dabul, Brian ARG 176
46. Kuznetsov, Alex USA 185
47. Salamanca, Carlos COL 188
48. Evans, Brendan USA 189
49. De Chaunac, Sebastien FRA 197
50. Berankis, Ricardas LTU 198
51. Im, Kyu Tae KOR 205
52. Millot, Vincent FRA 214
53. Amritraj, Prakash IND 222
54. # Munoz-De La Nava, Daniel ESP 223
55. Lapentti, Giovanni ECU 226
56. # Mertens, Yannick BEL 241
57. Niland, Conor IRL 244
58. Bogomolov Jr., Alex USA 248
59. Vagnozzi, Simone ITA 267
60. McClune, Michael USA 273
61. Tavares, Leonardo POR 286
62. Smyczek, Tim USA 289
63. Harrison, Ryan USA 296
64. Sirianni, Joseph AUS 304

About BMW Tennis Championship

The BMW Tennis Championship, played at the award-winning Sunrise (FL) Tennis Club, is in its seventh year as a key stop between two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events (the BNP Paribas Open and Sony Ericsson Open, played just 45 minutes short of Sunrise). The date of the BMW Tennis Championship enables the entry list to consistently host a field of top players. In the past six years the tournament has attracted 22 current/past top ten players, including three Grand Slam Champions -- Juan Martin del Potro, Gustavo Kuerten and Thomas Johansson.

Website: BMWTennisChampionship.com
Facebook - BMW Tennis Championship
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/BMWTennisChamp