Robin Haase has won his first ATP level title beating Albert Montanes 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in Kitzbuel in Austria in his first final. Haase felt the fatigue from his efforts earlier in the tournament during the final but managed to regroup to claim the title.
Haase had to beat Feliciano Lopez and Andreas Seppi in one day after rain delayed his progress. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Andreas Seppi, Feliciano Lopez, Robin Haase
Fabio Fognini has announced his withdrawal from Roland Garros only moments ago suffering a quad injury during the end stages of his five set match against Albert Montanes.
The withdrawal of the Italian is a gift for Djokovic who has been playing a large number of matches because he has been winning everything. Djokovic will now have a four day break to recharge his batteries and progresses to the semifinals without any contest. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Fabio Fognini, Injury, Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros
Las
t night as I settle onto the couch to watch the tennis at Roland Garros heading into the wee hour of the Australian morning Twitter was alive with outrage as Fabio Fognini and Albert Montanes battled seemingly endlessly to decide who would be Novak Djokovic’s next scalp. The issue was that Fognini, at 7-8 in the fifth set, appeared to be cramping and received treatment. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Fabio Fognini, Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros
Novak Djokovic, man of the moment, had little difficulty dismissing Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to book a place in the quarterfinals against the exhausted Fabio Fognini.
Novak needed just and hour and 47 minutes to beat the owner of the worlds best single handed backhand. Impressively Novak lifted his level against Gasquet, playing sharper tennis than he had against Juan Martin del Potro in the previous round. Read more
M
arin Cilic has suffered a first round defeat in the French Open at the hands of 33 year old Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ranked 72 places below him. Cilic was out on court 7 where spectators watch the big Croat’s game unravel. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Marin Cilic, Roland Garros, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo
Roger Federer’s Australian Open draw is out and the defending champion faces Lukas Lacko in the first round before likely facing Gilles Simon in the second round.
Other players in his water are Albert Montanes, Sam Querrey, Tommy Robredo, Mardy Fish, Gael Monfils, Stanislas Wawrinka and Andy Roddick. Looking at the draw Federer should have no problem passing past these players. Read more
Just one week after Spain claimed the World Cup and two weeks after Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon, the winning ways of Spain have continued as Nicolas Almagro and Albert Montanes both claimed a title overnight.
Nico fought off Robin Soderling to secure his sixth career title in Bastard where Soderling was defending champion. It was the fourth consecutive match in which the world number five was pushed to five sets, having not played his best tennis since returning to the clay courts. Almagro, on the other hand, had taken to the clay like a fish to water (or really like a Spaniard to clay) and won the match, and the tournament 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Bastad, Gael Monfils, Hamburg, Injury, Nicolas Almagro, Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Stuttgart, Wimbledon
This generation of Spanish tennis players have frequently been referred to as the Spanish Armada, a reference to the Spanish fleet that tried to overthrow England’s Queen Elizabeth in 1588. While the actual Armada failed in their quest the ‘tennis Armada’ has been far more successful.
As it stands today the Spaniards had some impressive statistics: 4 in the top 20, 7 in the top 30, 13 in the top 100. Read more
Albert Montanes, recent winner at the Estoril Open, and conqueror of Roger Federer, took an early 3-1 lead over Gulbis, one of the stars of Rome earlier this month. Gulbis then smashed his racket in the eight game, recovering with a strong service game. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Ernests Gulbis, Estoril, Injury, Madrid, Mikhail Youzhny, Roger Federer, Rome
Defending champion Albert Montanes has defeated Roger Federer in straight sets in the semi finals of the Estoril Open 6-2, 7-6 in just 82 minutes. Even though Federer had said earlier this week that anything less than the title would be a disapointment, he refused to acknowledge the loss as an issue for his Roland Garros preparation. Read more
Posted in Albert Montanes, Estoril, Frederico Gil, Gael Monfils, Ivan Ljubicic, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer
