Grand Slam Professional Tennis Predictions and Picks by Nick Bollettieri. US Open, French Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open » Monte Carlo

Nadal conquers Federer…again

Nick's Picks — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:09:33 +0000

For the third straight year, Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in the finals at Monte Carlo. Nadal has now won this Masters Series event four straight years! Nadal won the match 7-5, 7-5 and is now 7-1 against Federer on clay and 9-6 against him overall. Nadal has now won 98 of his last 99 matches on clay, with the lone loss coming in the finals at Hamburg last year against Federer.

This wasn’t an easy victory for Nadal. Federer broke Nadal to go up 4-3 in the first set and got out to a blistering 4-0 lead in the second set. Each time he blew it, only to see Nadal come back and win. What really surprised me was Federer’s change of tactic in the second set. To get to 4-0, Federer was standing on or near the baseline and was taking the ball early and dictating play. All of a sudden, he started standing 6-8 feet behind the baseline and letting Nadal control the action. It was the sort of wrong move that you don’t see Federer make very much.

To me, that was the difference in the match. Nadal gained the upper hand, and never looked back. Obviously, it didn’t help that Federer had 44 unforced errors and was broken six times, but in the grand scheme of things he will still in the match after all that.

Heading into the rest of the clay court season (and the French Open), Federer cannot expect to win if he standing that far behind the baseline. He needs to come back in closer to the baseline and take the ball early like he was doing against Nadal. If he does this, I am sure he will be fine. If not, we could see the continuation of his “slow-start.”

Semifinal showdown sets

Nick's Picks — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:12:48 +0000

It’s not often that the top four seeds of a tournament all advance to the semis. It’s even more interesting when the top four seeds are the top four ranked players in the world. After Federer and Davydenko advanced earlier in the day, #2 Rafael Nadal and #3 Novak Djokovic finished off the foursome.

Nadal beat fellow Spaniard, and fifth-seeded, David Ferrer 6-1, 7-5 and will now take on Davydenko in the semis. This will be a revenge match of sorts for Nadal, after he lost to Davydenko in the finals at Miami just a couple of weeks ago. The two have met once on clay before, which was last year in Rome. Nadal won that match in three sets. This match will be a very good test for Nadal. Davydenko moves exceptionally well, and has the talent and ability to give Nadal fits. Being the three-time defending champion, Nadal is definitely the favorite but I wouldn’t be shocked if Davydenko gave him a test.

The other semifinal, which I spoke about earlier today, will pit Federer vs. Djokovic. There has been plenty made about Federer’s slump this year, but after winning last week at Estoril he looks to be on the road back. A victory here would put him in the finals for the third straight year. If Djokovic conquers Federer-mountain again, you can be sure that the critics are going to come right back out. I don’t think that is going to happen, I see Federer vs. Nadal for the third consecutive year.

Federer, Davydenko reach semis

Nick's Picks — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:10:31 +0000

Two of the world’s top four players advanced to the semis at Monte Carlo, and the remaining two will have their chance later today. World #4 Nikolay Davydenko barely got by Russian Igor Andreev 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and is looking to win his second consecutive Masters Series title. His semifinal opponent will either be #5 David Ferrer or #2 Rafael Nadal.

In the other completed quarter, Roger Federer overcame a tough start to beat David Nalbandian 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. Federer is trying to get back to the finals for the third straight year, and win this for the first time. The last two years he has lost to Nadal. Before he can do that though, he will have to get by either #3 Novak Djokovic or surprise quarterfinalist, American Sam Querrey. The potential Djokovic/Federer match is an intriguing one, as Djokovic has beaten him two out of the last three times they have played. However, back in 2006 Federer beat Djokovic right here in Monte Carlo, which is the only time they have faced on clay.

Querrey pulls off upset, gets Djokovic next

Nick's Picks — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:32:58 +0000

American Sam Querrey won a big match today over #7 Richard Gasquet 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the Monte Carlo Masters series event to reach the quarterfinals. Querrey had 11 aces, and converted on two of four break chances. That was really the difference in the match, because Gasquet had 10 break opportunities and only converted on two of them. This is Querrey’s second appearance in a quarterfinal at a Masters Series event, with the first coming last year at Cincinnati. He lost that match to James Blake in three sets.

Querrey will now get Djokovic in the quarters, after the Serb crushed Andy Murray 6-0, 6-4. Again, the difference here was break chances. Djokovic converted 5/10, while Murray was only 1/5. Djokovic is 1-0 against Querrey in his career, with that win coming earlier this year at the Australian Open.

This is going to be a tough match for Querrey to win, but if his serve is working he will compete. I believe it’s a good sign though for one of our American boys to get into the quarters of a clay court Masters Series event. There has been so much made about the American failures on clay, but maybe this is the start of something good.

Nadal to face Ferrer in quarters

Nick's Picks — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:03:39 +0000

Two of the world’s top five players will meet in the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo. Rafael Nadal bested Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-1 while David Ferrer knocked out Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-0 to set up the all-Spanish showdown. Coming into the match, Nadal is 4-3 against Ferrer but he has lost the last two times they have played (both in 2007 on hard courts). The two have played four times on clay, with Nadal winning three of those matches.

Nadal is the three-time defending champion in Monte Carlo, while Ferrer has lost in the quarterfinals the last three years (twice to Federer). This match is going to be excellent, as both players are top-notch on the dirt. Ferrer moves better than just about anybody in the world, but the relentless groundstrokes from Nadal may be too much for him. I have to give the edge to Nadal in this match, but I think it is going to be close.

Elsewhere, world #1 Roger Federer moved into the quarters with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Gael Monfils of France. Federer will now face either Tommy Robredo or David Nalbandian in the quarterfinal round. If Nalbandian is his opponent, this could be a very interesting match. Federer and Nalbandian are 8-8 against each other, and Nalbandian has beat him the last two times they played. On clay, Federer is 2-1 against Nalbandian with that lone loss coming in 2002 right here in Monte Carlos.

Federer, Nadal, Djokovic all advance at Monte Carlo

Nick's Picks — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:40:07 +0000

Coming off the heels of his first title of 2008 (even though he didn’t need to finish the match), Roger Federer needed three sets to dispense of Ruben Ramirez Hidaglo in the second round of the Monte Carlos Masters Series event. Federer won the match 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(1) against the Spaniard and will now face Gael Monfils in the third round. Monfils “upset” #17 Ivo Karlovic 7-6(8), 6-1 to win his second round match.

Federer and Monfils played just a couple of weeks ago in Miami, with Federer winning 6-3, 6-4 but the two have never faced on clay. This should be an interesting match. Monfils is very capable of playing with Federer, he just needs to keep his unforced errors down.

The world’s best clay-courter, Rafael Nadal, needed little time to beat Mario Ancic in his second round match. In just over an hour and 18 minutes, Nadal won the match 6-0, 6-3 over the Croat. He will now take on fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round. Nadal is the three-time defending champion at Monte Carlo, and his last two finals victories have come over Roger Federer.

Finally, third-ranked Novak Djokovic won his second round match over Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3. Djokovic will now take on #14 Andy Murray in the second round. Djokovic is 3-0 against Murray in his career, but this could be an interesting match. Both players are only 21 years old, and both had a lot of hype over the last couple of years. It has been Djokovic though that has broken through, while Murray is still waiting to win a big title. Djokovic has to be the favorite in this match, but don’t count Murray out he can beat anyone when he is on.