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

Top-seeded Ivanovic goes down

Nick's Picks — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:32:32 +0000

For the first time in 2008, Ana Ivanovic lost before the third round of a tournament. Previously, her worst results came in Doha and Miami where she lost in the third round. Today, however, she fell to Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the second round at Rome. Ivanovic only capitalized on five of 19 break opportunities and she let Pironkova break her seven times. Also, Ivanovic had six double faults and only won 52% of the points on her first serve. All in all, it was not her best match.

With Ivanovic now out, the road to the title becomes easier for the likes of Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams who are both scheduled to play their second round matches today.

Djokovic conquers Rome

Nick's Picks — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:19:54 +0000

After Federer and Nadal both lost earlier in the tournament, Novak Djokovic immediately became the favorite in Rome. He got a bit of a free pass when Radek Stepanek retired losing 6-0, 1-0 in the semifinals, and then he got another one when Andy Roddick pulled out of the other semifinal match. So, Djokovic ended up playing Stanislas Wawrinka in the finals.

The first set was dominated by Wawrinka. He pushed Djokovic all over the court with his powerful forehand and equally as good one-handed backhand. After that, it was all Djokovic as he rolled 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The key to this match was the adjustment Djokovic made by coming to the net and hitting short shots. His drop shots were especially effective because Wawrinka moved back a few extra feet behind the baseline.

Wawrinka is one heck of a player, and if he adds more net play to his powerful game, I think he has the ability to contend with the top players. With his run to the finals, he jumped 14 spots in the rankings to a new career high of #10 in the world.

Personally, I miss being at the Italian Open with Arias, Krickstein, Courier and Agassi. Those were the good old days, where no one dropped out during the event. The semifinal withdrawals took to much away from the final weekend of play.

Stepanek pulls off big upset

Nick's Picks — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:09:12 +0000

Two days after three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal lost in the second round in Rome, top-seeded Roger Federer went down today. He was beaten by Radek Stepanek 7-6(4), 7-6(7) in the quarterfinals. This was Stepanek’s second win over Federer in six career tries, and coming into this match he had lost four straight to the world #1.

Coming into this match, things looked like they had turned around for Federer. He reached the finals at Monte Carlo two weeks ago (lost to Nadal) and had won Estoril the week before. After Nadal lost, Federer was certainly the favorite but now that he is out the field is wide open.

Already this morning, American James Blake was beaten by Stanislas Wawrinka 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-1 (there goes my big prediction about the American semifinal). Wawrinka will meet either Andy Roddick or Tommy Robredo in the semis. That match is being played right now, and Roddick won the first set 6-3 and lost the second 6-4. If Roddick can win his match, this would be a great opportunity for him to win a clay-court title (something he hasn’t done since April of 2005 at Houston).

The last quarterfinal to be played today will be between Novak Djokovic and Nicolas Almagro. Djokovic has to be the favorite with Federer and Nadal now out. Djokovic is looking for his first clay-court title since he won Estoril last year.

Could we get an All-American semi?

Nick's Picks — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:24:47 +0000

As the quarterfinals are now set in Rome, the question this morning has to be whether or not we will get an All-American semifinal? It could/would be between Andy Roddick and James Blake if they can both win their quarterfinal matches today. Blake is playing right now against Stanislas Wawrinka and has won the first set in a tie-break. Roddick will play a little later today against #14 Tommy Robredo. Robredo is an excellent player, but Roddick may have caught a bit of a break as Robredo was able to upset #4 Nikolay Davydenko in three sets. This is mainly because Roddick is 7-0 against Robredo, with a win over him on clay in Rome in 2002.

After all the talk about Americans suffering on clay, I don’t think this potential match could be overstated. I know that Blake definitely got a big break with JCF ousting Rafael Nadal (who would have been his opponent in the quarters) in the second round, but those are the kind of things that happen in tennis. To have an American semi, which would ultimately lead to an American in the final, would be great for tennis in the States. It would also, hopefully, lead to both players gaining confidence heading into the French Open. If you remember, last year’s French Open was a disaster for American men. Roddick, Blake and every other American male lost their first round match, giving the Americans an 0-9 record last year. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again.

If they were to play, Roddick holds a 6-2 lead versus Blake in his career. But, Blake’s two wins have come the last two times they have played. On clay, they have only met once, which was in 2002 at Houston with Roddick winning.

Down goes the champ!

Nick's Picks — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:34:47 +0000

Now here is one loss I didn’t see coming. Three-time defending champion and clay-master Rafael Nadal lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero today in the second round at Rome. Ferrero won the match 7-5, 6-1 and didn’t let Nadal convert a single break chance against him. Nadal had been 6-1 versus Ferrero in his career, with four of those victories coming on clay (including at Monte Carlo two weeks ago). Nadal’s last loss on clay came to Roger Federer in the finals at Hamburg in 2007, and that was a stunner!

Heading into this tournament, Nadal had won the title in Monte Carlo and Barcelona (both for the fourth straight time), and had a 17 match winning streak at Rome. As you know, he doesn’t lose on clay very often. He now has a 117-4 record on the surface since 2005, and this is his first loss to a Spaniard on clay since he fell to David Ferrer in the quarterfinals in 2004 at Stuttgart.

This loss will definitely give Roger Federer (and others) some hope as we progress towards the French Open.

Ferrer, Nalbandian are first top seeds to fall

Nick's Picks — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:29:54 +0000

The world’s fifth-ranked player, David Ferrer, became the first big causality at Rome, losing to Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. This can’t be considered a bad loss for Ferrer, because Stepanek is an excellent player and ranked in the top 30 (#27). He has the ability to beat anyone when he is playing well, and is always a threat to go deep into tournaments. Stepanek will now face qualifier Luis Horna in the third round. Stepanek and Horna are 1-1 against each other, but the two haven’t faced since 2005.

The other top 10 seed to lose was #7 David Nalbandian. He was beaten by Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-5. This is the second time in 2008 that Almagro has beaten Nalbandian on clay. He did it at Acapulco earlier this year in straight sets as well. Almagro will play #12 Fernando Gonzalez in the third round.

Three other top 10 seeds, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, and James Blake all advanced to the third round on Wednesday. Djokovic beat Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-0 and will now face either Igor Andreev or Juan Monaco in the next round. Davydenko got a big win over Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2 and Blake needed three sets to beat Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1. Davydenko will play either Tommy Robredo or Nicolas Mahut, while Blake will get either Nicolas Lapentti or Fernando Verdasco.

Roddick, Federer advance in Rome

Nick's Picks — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:30:49 +0000

Despite reports that he may have injured himself moving furniture, Andy Roddick advanced to the third round at Rome. Roddick showed no ill side effects of the injury with a 6-1, 6-4 dismantling of fellow American Mardy Fish. The match took just over an hour and six minutes, and Roddick didn’t have a single double fault in the match. He will now have to await a couple of matches to see who he will face in the third round. This was Roddick’s first clay-court match of the year, and he has had success in Rome in the past. He reached the quarters in 2006 and the semis in 2002. I am sure Roddick would like to head into the French Open with some confidence, because he has never fared to well there. In seven career appearances there, he has lost in the first or second round six times.

The only other player to advance to the third round this morning was top-seeded Roger Federer. The Fed defeated one of the guys that has given him trouble in the past, Guillermo Canas, 6-3, 6-3. Canas had beaten Federer three out of the five times they had played previous, but was no match for him this time. Federer had eight aces and converted three of his seven break chances in the match. Like Roddick, Federer will now have to wait to see who he will face.

Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal will face Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round, after Ferrero beat Nicolas Kiefer in three sets earlier today. Nadal is 6-1 against Ferrero, including a win over him two weeks ago at Monte Carlo.

Gasquet makes early exit in Rome

Nick's Picks — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:51:02 +0000

The world’s ninth-ranked player, Richard Gasquet, fell to qualifier Luis Horna earlier today 6-4, 6-1 in the first round at Rome. This marks two consecutive weeks that Gasquet has made relatively early exits (for his standards). Last week he lost to American Sam Querrey on the clay at Barcelona.

Heading into this match, Horna was riding a two-month losing streak and was ranked #111 in the world. During the match, Gasquet didn’t get a single break chance and only got in 51% of his first serves.

Gasquet is the only player ranked in the top 10 to have not reached a quarterfinal at an ATP event this year. The last time he lost to a player ranked outside of the top 100, was in February of 2007 in the Davis Cup against Andrei Pavel. This can’t be a good sign for Gasquet, as he heads into the French Open as his countries greatest hope.

Monday Morning News – May 5, 2008

Nick's Picks — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:43:37 +0000

Here is the big tennis news from the weekend…

Another weekend on clay and another title for Nadal. His 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory over David Ferrer gave his four straight Barcelona titles. This is the second tournament in a row that he has won four straight times (Monte Carlo is the other). Nadal is now playing in Rome this week, and just like in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, he is hunting for his fourth consecutive title. Nadal will face either Nicolas Kiefer or Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round in Rome. There is one player in this week’s draw that Nadal didn’t have to deal with last week: Roger Federer. Now, we all know how dominant Nadal has been against Federer in the past on clay, but Federer is capable of pushing the Spaniard to the limit.
Fernando Gonzalez captured his 10th career title, and second of 2008, over the weekend at Munich. Gonzalez defeated Simone Bolelli in the finals 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-3. With the win, Gonzalez jumped four spots in the rankings from #15 to #11. He is playing this week in Rome, and will face Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the first round.
One of the feel-good stories from last week that may have gotten lost in all the Nadal-hype was the return of 36-year old Younes El Aynaoui. The former top 15 player, has won a Challenger and a Future already this year and played in Munich last week. He reached the semis, before he fell to eventual champion Gonzalez. He did beat two top 100 players last week in Steve Darcis and Juan Martin Del Potro. Now ranked 295th, he had not reached a semi-final since October 2003 and – with his effort here this week – he became the oldest semi-finalist in an ATP tournament since 40-year-old Jimmy Connors reached the round of four at San Francisco in 1993. Younes is one of my favorite guys. He spent quite a lot of time at the Academy in the past, and is always a crowd pleaser. It is great to have him back on the tour and playing.
On the women’s side, Vera Zvonareva and Gisela Dulko both won titles. Zvonareva beat Victoria Azarenka in the finals at Prague to win her sixth career WTA Tour title, and her first of 2008. In Fes,
Morocco Gisela Dulko won her third career title and first of the year, beating top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues in the finals 7-6(2), 7-6(5). Congratulations to both Zvonareva and Dulko!