Future Tennis Stars

Here is the draw for this week’s Delray Beach International Tennis Championships. Surprisingly, it’s played in Delray Beach. If you like young Americans, this is your event with Donald Young, Wayne Odesnik, Sam Querrey and Jesse Lavine entered. What, no John Isner?

BLAKE, James USA vs. KENDRICK, Robert USA
CAPDEVILLE, Paul CHI vs. BOWLES, Clint USA
KUNITSYN, Igor RUS vs. BECKER, Benjamin GER
QUALIFIER vs. HANESCU, Victor ROU
SELA, Dudi ISR vs. RUSSELL, Michael USA
GINEPRI, Robby USA vs. MONTCOURT, Mathieu FRA
NAVARRO, Ivan ESP vs. SERRA, Florent FRA
QUALIFIER vs. FISH, Mardy USA
SPADEA, Vincent USA vs. GREMELMAYR, Denis GER
MULLER, Gilles LUX vs. LEVINE, Jesse USA
ODESNIK, Wayne USA vs. GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP
SCHUKIN, Yuri RUS vs. QUERREY, Sam USA
MAYER, Florian GER vs. QUALIFIER
YOUNG, Donald USA vs. QUALIFIER
REYNOLDS, Bobby USA vs. MALISSE, Xavier BEL
HARTFIELD, Diego ARG vs. HAAS, Tommy GER

Here is the draw for this week’s Open 13 event from Marseille, France:

DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB vs. QUALIFIER
GUEZ, David FRA vs. SIMON, Gilles FRA
LLODRA, Michael FRA vs. SEPPI, Andreas ITA
GICQUEL, Marc FRA vs. MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA
MURRAY, Andy GBR vs. QUALIFIER
WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI vs. GROSJEAN, Sebastien FRA
MAHUT, Nicolas FRA vs. QUALIFIER
LEE, Hyung-Taik KOR vs. FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP
BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP vs. CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA
LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP vs. KARLOVIC, Ivo CRO
BENNETEAU, Julien FRA vs. PAVEL, Andrei ROU
CILIC, Marin CRO vs. YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS
TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA vs. ANCIC, Mario CRO
BERRER, Michael GER vs. QUALIFIER
NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN vs. SODERLING, Robin SWE
BOLELLI, Simone ITA vs. GASQUET, Richard FRA

In the first week back on the ATP Tour, the men were in Chennai and Adelaide.

In Adelaide, Chris Guccione beat Wayne Odesnik in the first round while Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Murray cruised. Hewitt was upset in the quarterfinals by Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. Michael Llodra went on to beat Jarkko Nieminen for the title.

In Chennai, Marcos Baghdatis was upset by upstart Robin Hasse in the first round and Rafael Nadal cruised past Mathieu Montcourt.  Nadal went on to cruise to the semifinals where he clashed with Carlos Moya in what would be one of the longest matches in the last 20 years which Nadal would win 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-1). An obviously tired Nadal would lose to Mikhail Youzhny in a rout 6-0, 6-1.

The season is barely over and thoughts are already on 2008. David Nalbandian confirmed his place in the Kooyong Classic and joins a stellar field which also includes Roger Federer, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Fernando Gonzalez, Tommy Haas and Ivan Ljubicic.

Kooyong has long been a favourite warmup for the Australian Open. The 8 man tournament is an exhibition and does not count in any ATP statistics or records.

Last year, Andy Roddick beat Roger Federer in the final earlier this year. However, Federer slammed Roddick in the Australian Open.

Bob and Mike Bryan pulled out of the season ending Masters Cup due to Mike’s elbow injury. That top ranked pair will be replaced with Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich.

“I am extremely disappointed that I won’t be able to compete in the Tennis Masters Cup this year,” Mike Bryan said. “Unfortunately I have had a problem with my elbow for the past couple of weeks and it hasn’t recovered in time to be ready for the tournament.”

The Bryans won the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup doubles title in 2003 and 2004.

Rafael Nadal ended Marcos Baghdatis’ hopes of playing in the Masters Cup in Shangha. Baghdatis lost a touch 2 hour and 25 minute, three set match, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. It looked like Baghdatis was going to get his first ever career win over Nadal after he took the first set and led 3-1 in the second. Nadal came back however and took the match. Baghdatis needed to reach the finals to get a spot in the season ending championships but instead, Richard Gasquet will take that spot and will play David Nalbandian for Sunday’s final.