Black Tennis Pros

“It’s good. It will be a good test for her, and for me,” Williams said.

Americans James Blake and Andy Roddick had their hopes of advancing to the doubles final at the Australian Open Series Brisbane International Tournament dashed as the duo fell to the French pair Jeremy Chardy and Marc Giquel 4-6, 6-3, [11/13].

Read the rest of this post...........

American Davis Cup teammates James Blake and Andy Roddick advanced to the doubles semifinal round of the Brisbane International after defeating the Brazilian doubles team of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 7-6(3), 6-4.

Blake and Roddick will now face Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Marc Giquel for a shot at the final.

Big Davis Cup news on theses two here...

Read the rest of this post...........

BRISBANE, Australia — Gael Monfils produced tennis of the highest quality to see off an equally impressive James Blake in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Thursday.

Playing with his right shoulder heavily strapped, the mercurial Frenchman broke Blake at a crucial stage of the third set to clinch a thrilling match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.


The two men duelled for one and three quarter hours, serving powerfully and producing some crunching groundstrokes, and for a long time it was hard to see who would finish on top.

But at 3-3 in the final set the 30-year-old Blake faltered slightly and with the game poised at 30-40, Monfils struck a beautiful backhand passing shot to leave the American stranded.

Blake refused to concede and he had a chance to break back immediately, but Monfils clung on and eventually wrapped up the quarter-final on his fourth match point, celebrating by beating his chest with his fist in sheer delight.

"He had a good start and was hitting the ball well," Monfils said.

"I started with the wrong tactic -- I was hitting the ball to his forehand and James just didn't miss.

"But I think James began to spray it more and he gave me a chance to get more aggressive and try a few more shots, and I think that was the key to the match."

He also said there was no problem with his shoulder, despite the heavy strapping.

"Today was a bit better (than in the second round) because I found a good way to tape it ... tomorrow will be a lot better for sure."


Monfils will now play Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in the semi-finals after the second seed kept alive his hopes of defending his title with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 win over Wayne Odesnik of the U.S.

Read the rest of this post...........

Herald Sun (Australia) - Former world No. 4 James Blake today continued his tennis revival, fighting from three match points down to grab a quarter-final berth at the Brisbane International.

Blake, who finished out of the year-end top 25 for the first time in five years, escaped with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8) win over France's Marc Gicquel in a second round match at Pat Rafter Arena.

The American will play another Frenchman for a place in the semi-finals, either third seed Gael Monfils or Florent Serra.

Blake, who is currently ranked 40 places lower than his career best, kept the match points against him in the third set tiebreak tight and Gicquel made errors on each of the three points.

Then the Frenchman made another groundstroke error when trying to keep the ball in play on Blake's first match point at 9-8.

"I was not going to let him beat me," Blake said afterwards. "You play your best when you have a clear mindset. I would prefer to win in two and two but it is good to get some tough match-ups in the lead up to a Grand Slam."




BRISBANE - Third seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils overcame a shoulder injury and a tenacious Florent Serra to make his way into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Serra played some inspired tennis to push Monfils right to the limit, before appearing to tire in the decider and allow his higher-ranked countryman to run away with the match 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Monfils was forced to call for the trainer at the end of the first set and had his shoulder heavily strapped during the time-out.

The injury seemed to take its toll as Serra opened up a 3-0 lead at the start of the second, but Monfils fought back and took the set to a tiebreak, before running away with the third.

"I pulled my muscle a bit last week," he said of his shoulder injury.

"Last week I did a lot of weights and it's been hurting me for some time.

"I decided today to come on the court without tape and I think that was a mistake."

Monfils said he was happy with how he had served despite the pain.

"Two, three shots after the serve it hurt a little bit," he said.

"I will take some anti-inflammatories or painkillers, work on it, ice it, and hopefully tomorrow it will be much better.

He will now play American James Blake in the quarter-finals after the veteran American outlasted another Frenchman, Marc Gicquel, earlier in the day.

Read the rest of this post...........

Read the rest of this post...........

Well, well, well now... Happy New Year to Frenchman Gael Monfils, American James Blake and Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui (whom I am very happy to see again) as all three kick off the 2010 ATP calender with first round wins as world class tennis returned to Brisbane for the first time since 1994, with the state capital of Queensland hosting the combined men's and women's event in the opening week of the 2009 season.

Monfils and Blake opened their seasons in Brisbane, while El Aynaoui found fortune in Doha, Qatar at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, one of two ATP World Tour events held in the Middle East.

At the Queensland Tennis Center, paired against American Taylor Dent, Monfils survived a tight match scoring 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.

There is no reason for me to rehash Blake's 2009 season, we all know it and are still smarting from it; so, moving right along with some potentially good news. While Blake got off to a slow start, losing the first set to fellow American Sam Querrey 4-6; in what I hope will be his standard mode of operation for 2010, Blake was able to press on and overtake Querrey winning the remaining two sets 6-3, 6-4.

In the first round match of what will reportedly be his 'swan song' tournament, El Aynaoui defeated American Ryler Deheart 7-6³, 7-6⁴.

Up next for the three victors will be Monfils taking on Frenchman Florent Serra and Blake up against another Frenchman, Marc Giquel, while El Aynaoui will meet Belgium's Steve Darcis.

The Gulf Times is reporting that El Ayanoui will announce his retirement at the end of this tournament - "El Aynaoui's Final Fling."

Read the rest of this post...........

BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Seventh seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet upset countryman and doubles partner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International tennis tournament Friday.

After being blown off court in the opening set Gasquet staged a remarkable comeback to down the second seeded Tsonga in 98 minutes.

He will take on eighth seeded Czech Radek Stepanek, a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Sweden's Robin Soderling, in the semi-finals on Saturday with the winner to play either Fernando Verdasco or Paul-Henri Mathieu in Sunday's final.

Gasquet and Tsonga won the ATP doubles title in Sydney last year and will play together there next week.

But there was no love lost in the first set as Tsonga, the world No.6, blitzed the first set, breaking Gasquet in the second and fifth games to take the set in just 29 minutes.

Gasquet came out in the second a different player and was able to comfortably hold his serve, while at the same time Tsonga went slightly off his game.

Gasquet broke at 5-4 to even the match up then dominated the third as Tsonga began to wilt under the pressure.

He said once he began to get the upper hand his confidence began to grow.

"It was difficult because I lost the first set 6-1 and he was playing better than me," Gasquet said.

"But I told myself to keep fighting and try to serve better and I may have a chance to break him, and it happened and I won the second set.

"After that my game got better and better."

Gasquet said it was important for him to beat top 10 players.

"I am 20 in the world, I was seven, so I can beat a lot of these guys," he said.

"It's good for me to begin the season with a semi-final before a Grand Slam -- it's good for the confidence."

Read the rest of this post...........

BRISBANE, Australia: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recovered from a disastrous start to overcome Finland's Jarkko Nieminen and lead a posse of Frenchmen into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Tsonga failed to win a game in the first set but came back to win the last two sets in tie-breaks to ensure four Frenchmen made the final eight.

He closed out the match 0-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/5) to join Richard Gasquet, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Florent Serra in the quarter-finals.



Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will square off in the Doha quarterfinals on Thursday. The winner will meet either Andy Roddick or Victor Hanescu in the semis.

Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will do battle for the fourth time in their careers on Thursday when they meet in the quarterfinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Nadal holds a 3-0 edge in the head-to-head series, but only one of the victories came on hard courts. He won 6-3, 6-2 on the clay courts of Rome in 2005, 6-2, 6-2 on the Monte-Carlo dirt in 2006, and most recently 6-3, 6-2 at last season's Master Series Paris.

Monfils erased Jan Hernych in the first round but struggled with countryman Nicolas Devilder for two hours and seven minutes before outlasting him 7-5, 7-6(4).

Read the rest of this post...........

DOUBLES

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
defeated by
Julie Ditty, FRA and Carly Gullickson, USA
6-1, 6-3


SINGLES

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. Agustin Calleri, ARG


DOUBLES

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA and Marc Gicquel, FRA
defeated
Mario Ancic, CRO and Paul Henri Mathieu, FRA
7-5, 4-6 [10/4]


SINGLES

Gael Monfils, FRA defeated Jan Hernych, CZE
6-2, 6-2


DOUBLES

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA
defeated
Igor Andreev, RUS and Jaroslav Levinsky,CZE
6-4, 2-6 [10/1]

Read the rest of this post...........