Saturday, April 29, 2006

RESULTS JC was upset by Almagro (new nemesis?) 3-6 3-6. Next tournament up will be the Rome AMS (May 8-14).

> photos

Friday, April 28, 2006

ARTICLE Ferrero brings Costa career to end

BARCELONA (AFP) - Juan Carlos Ferrero won a battle of former French Open champions as he ended the career of friend and rival Albert Costa 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 in the third round of the Barcelona Open.

Costa, the 2002 Roland Garros champion who beat Ferrero in four sets to claim the 2002 title in Paris, had said he would retire when his run in Barcelona concluded.

Tenth seed Ferrero, who lifted his own Paris trophy a year later, smashed down an overhead for match points and spelled the end for his 30-year-old compatriot as Costa sent a backhand return wide.

A sellout crowd at the real Club de Tenis gave father-of-two Costa a standing ovation after he and Ferrero shook hands and embraced at the net.

Costa, the 1997 Barcelona champion and 2002 finalist, won a dozen career titles and ended with a 21-13 record at this home event.

He also played on Spain's 2000 Davis Cup championship team.

Ferrero will Friday test himself in a quarter-final against new Spanish hope Nicolas Almagro, who benefitted from 14 double faults from 2004 French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria to earn a 6-2, 6-0 win.

[...]

> source
> photos

Thursday, April 27, 2006

ARTICLE Ferrero is too powerful for Martin

BARCELONA, Spain -- Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero outslugged fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4 7-6 to reach the Barcelona Open third round.

The 10th seed, runner-up to Rafael Nadal last year, was a break down at 4-3 in the first set but bounced back with three games in succession to move ahead.

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko went out 6-7 7-5 6-4 to Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Ferrero, the world number 28, led 3-0 in the second but Martin hit back to force a tiebreak only for his compatriot to romp through it 7-1.

Ferrero will next meet either another former French Open champion from Spain, Albert Costa, who is due to retire after the tournament, or eighth seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.

Ninth seed Tomas Berdych was a casualty, losing 7-6 6-3 to unseeded Spaniard Albert Portas, while Finn Jarkko Nieminen and Russian Evgeny Korolev also reached the last 16.

Davydenko won a tight first set against Karlovic, taking the tiebreak 9-7, but the Croatian squared the match by taking the second set 7-5 and then took the decider 6-4.

Later on Wednesday, top seed and French Open champion Nadal opened the defense of his title with a second-round match against fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

> source

> photos

JC faces Costa in the third round tomorrow at 14:30. Best of luck to him!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

ORDER OF PLAY for Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Pista Central start 10:30 AM

(7)Bhupathi/Friedl vs Djokovic/Tursunov

Not before 11:45 AM
(10)J Ferrero (ESP) vs A Martin (ESP)

Monday, April 24, 2006

ORDER OF PLAY - Monday, 24 April 2006

Pista Central start 10:45 AM

A Pavel (ROM) vs N Almagro (ESP)
Martin/Robredo vs Suk/Vik (possible court change)
Not before 2:30 PM
V Spadea (USA) vs (WC)A Costa (ESP)
Not before 5:00 PM
(10)J Ferrero (ESP) vs K Vliegen (BEL)
(15)C Moya (ESP) vs (Q)E Korolev (RUS)

Good luck, JC!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

BARCELONA MAIN DRAW JC is seeded 10th and will face Belgian Kristof Vilegen in the first round. Seeded players in his quarter: Coria, Monfils and Hrbaty. Best of luck and let's hope he goes one better than last year!

(1)Rafael,NADAL vs BYE
LOPEZ, Feliciano vs Q
Q vs DJOKOVIC, Novak
(16)SRICHAPHAN, Paradorn vs Q

(9)BERDYCH, Tomas vs MONTANES, Albert
PORTAS, Albert vs HERNANDEZ, Oscar
KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp vs SLUITER, Raemon
(7)NIEMINEN, Jarkko vs BYE

(3)CORIA, Guillermo vs BYE
ZIB, Tomas vs (WC) vs BLANCO, Galo
PAVEL, Andrei vs ALMAGRO, Nicolas
(13)MONFILS, Gael vs Q

(10)FERRERO, Juan Carlos vs VLIEGEN, Kristof
MARTIN, Alberto vs (WC)SALVA-VIDAL, Bartolome
(WC)COSTA, Albert vs SPADEA, Vincent
(8)HRBATY, Dominik vs BYE

(6)ROBREDO, Tommy vs BYE
STARACE, Potito vs DLOUHY, Lukas
CALLERI, Agustin vs GIMELSTOB, Justin
(12)VERDASCO, Fernandovs vs VIK, Robin

(14)TURSUNOV, Dmitry vs (WC)CUADRADO, Carlos
MATHIEU, Paul-Henri vs MARIN, Juan Antonio
VOLANDRI, Filippo vs Q
(4)STEPANEK, Radek vs BYE

(5)FERRER, David vs BYE
(WC)GRANOLLERS-PUJOL, Marcel vs MURRAY, Andy
WAWRINKA, Stanislas vs LAPENTTI, Nicolas
(11)ANDREEV, Igor vs GABASHVILI, Teimuraz

(15)MOYA, Carlos vs Q
Q vs VICENTE, Fernando
KARLOVIC, Ivo vs MIRNYI, Max
(2)DAVYDENKO, Nikolay vs BYE


>> full draw (pdf)

Friday, April 21, 2006

NEW BLOGGER AND NEW LAYOUT

A big welcome to our new JCFO T. Blogger Veer from the Netherlands. We know she'll be a great addition to the blog and keep us up-to-date on all things JCF especially during the European clay court season ^^

And in other T. Blog news we have a new layout for spring. Hope you like it!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

RESULTS

No. 8 seed David Ferrer won the All-Spanish thriller against No. 11 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 to become the first player to advance to the quarterfinals of the Masters Series Monte Carlo.

After a quick first set for Ferrer, Ferrero started to find his powerful strokes and take the second set to a tie-break, which he won 7-5. In the final set, Ferrer continued his steady play breaking serve early and jumped to a 5-2 lead. Ferrero held saved one match point on his serve and saved one more at 5-3 but Ferrer finally prevailed 6-3 to close out the match in two hours, 22 minutes. Ferrer will now play the winner of Roger Federer and local favorite Benjamin Balleret.

Next tournament: Open Seat Barcelona

RESULTS / ORDER OF PLAY

Ferrero, a two-time winner at Monte Carlo and a former French Open champion, beat Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-1, 6-2.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Court Central start 10:00 AM
(11)J Ferrero (ESP) vs (8)D Ferrer (ESP)
(4)I Ljubicic (CRO) vs (WC)G Simon (FRA)
(1)R Federer (SUI) vs B Balleret (MON)
K Vliegen (BEL) vs (2)R Nadal (ESP)
Allegro/Federer vs (8)Huss/Vizner

> photos and audio clip

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

ORDER OF PLAY - Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Court des Princes start 10:00 AM

(11)J Ferrero (ESP) vs J Chela (ARG)
B Balleret (MON) vs (13)S Grosjean (FRA)
(WC)G Simon (FRA) vs (16)T Berdych (CZE)
(Q)P Starace (ITA) vs R Soderling (SWE)
(12)F Gonzalez (CHI) vs F Lopez (ESP)

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

RESULTS

"...former world No. 1 Ferrero whipped Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-1, 6-2. The 2003 Roland Garros titlist Ferrero, of Spain, was the back-to-back Monte- Carlo titlist in 2002 and 2003."

Next JC faces Chela in the second round.

>> photos

Monday, April 17, 2006

ORDER OF PLAY Monday 17 April 2006

Court des Princes
Matches Start At: 10:00

1. Boris PASHANSKI (SCG) vs Michael LLODRA (FRA)
2. Xavier MALISSE (BEL) vs David NALBANDIAN (ARG)
3. Davide SANGUINETTI (ITA) vs Andreas SEPPI (ITA)
4. Juan Carlos FERRERO (ESP) vs Dmitry TURSUNOV (RUS)

Sunday, April 16, 2006

MONTE-CARLO MAIN DRAW JC faces the dangerous Dmitry Tursunov in the first round of Monte-Carlo! Hopefully he isn't upset in his opening match *fingers crossed* Seeds in JC's half: Federer, Grosjean, Ferrer, Gonzalez, Davydenko.


(1) FEDERER, Roger SUI v Qualifier
KARLOVIC, Ivo CRO v MARTIN, Alberto ESP
ROCHUS, Christophe BEL v HAAS, Tommy GER
VERDASCO, Fernando ESP v (13) GROSJEAN, Sebastien FRA

(11) FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP v TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS
CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG v RUSEDSKI, Greg GBR
HRBATY, Dominik SVK v Qualifier
MASSU, Nicolas CHI v (8) FERRER, David ESP

(4) LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO v ANDREEV, Igor RUS
SRICHAPHAN, Paradorn THA v SERRA, Florent FRA
(WC) SIMON, Gilles FRA v Qualifier
SANTORO, Fabrice FRA v (16) BERDYCH, Tomas CZE

(12) GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI v MOYA, Carlos ESP
HANESCU, Victor ROM v LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP
Qualifier v Qualifier
SODERLING, Robin SWE v (5) DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS

(7) GAUDIO, Gaston ARG v HENMAN, Tim GBR
ACASUSO, Jose ARG v VOLANDRI, Filippo ITA
Qualifier v WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI
Qualifier v (10) STEPANEK, Radek CZE

(15) ROBREDO, Tommy ESP v HORNA, Luis PER
MONFILS, Gael FRA v ROCHUS, Olivier BEL
SANGUINETTI, Davide ITA v SEPPI, Andreas ITA
MALISSE, Xavier BEL v (3) NALBANDIAN, David ARG

(6) CORIA, Guillermo ARG v YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS
MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA v SAFIN, Marat RUS
PASHANSKI, Boris SCG v (WC) LLODRA, Michael FRA
MIRNYI, Max BLR v (9) KIEFER, Nicolas GER

(14) NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN v VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL
Qualifier v (WC) BENNETEAU, Julien FRA
(WC) LISNARD, Jean-Rene MON v MURRAY, Andy GBR
CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA v (2) NADAL, Rafael ESP

>> full draw (pdf)

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

RESULTS

Ferrero, Davydenko Fall in Opener

Nicolas Almagro posted the third upset of the day by defeating countryman and crowd favorite Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the IV Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana on Tuesday. The 20 year old Murcia-native went down a break early in the third set but quickly recovered and broke in the last game of the match to clinch one of the biggest wins of his career (also beat Marat Safin in ATP Masters Series Rome) in two hours, 40 minutes.

¨This was a special day for me, against a great player. He was No. 1 of the world and crowd favorite. I´ve been working really hard lately and is nice to see the results coming. It was a great day and that I won´t easily forget.¨ Said Almagro.

Next tournament: Monte Carlo AMS

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

ORDER OF PLAY

Martes, 11 de abril, 2006

(1)N Davydenko (RUS) vs J Hernych (CZE)
(3)D Ferrer (ESP) vs (Q)T Ascione (FRA)

No antes de 15:00

(Q)N Almagro (ESP) vs (4)J Ferrero (ESP)
(5)I Andreev (RUS) vs (WC)M Safin (RUS)

Sunday, April 09, 2006

VALENCIA DRAW

DAVYDENKO, Nikolay vs HERNYCH Jan
GARCIA LOPEZ, Guilermo vs LOPEZ Feliciano
STARACE Potito vs DLOUHY Lukas
MARTIN Alberto vs VERDASCO Fernando

FERRER Davis vs Q
RAMIREZ-HIDALGO Ruben vs SEPPI Andreas
SIMON Giles vs VIK Robin
SANGUINETTI Davide vs TURSUNOV Dmitry

VOLANDRI Fillippo vs Q
ZIB Tomas vs PAVEL Andrey
Q vs PHAU Bjorn
Q vs FERRERO Juan Carlos

ANDREEV Igor vs SAFIN Marat
COSTA Albert vs PASHANSKI Boris
MAYER Florian vs BURNIOL Guilern
SLUITER Raemon vs GAUDIO Gaston