Black Tennis Pros

2011 Men's Standings

Place	Player	Points
1	Mardy Fish* (USA)	160
2	Ernests Gulbis (LAT)	85
T-3	John Isner (USA)	70
	Gael Monfils (FRA)	70
	Radek Stepanek (CZE)	70
6	Janko Tipsarevic* (SRB)	60
7	Ryan Harrison (USA)	50
T-8	Novak Djokovic* (SRB)	45
	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga* (FRA)	45
T-10	Kevin Anderson (RSA)	30
	Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)	30
	Viktor Troicki (SRB)	30
T-13	Nicolas Almagro (ESP)	25
	Tomas Berdych (CZE)	25
	Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA)	25
	Gilles Muller (LUX)	25
	Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)	25
	Donald Young (USA)	25
T-19	Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)	15
	Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)	15
	Marin Cilic (CRO)	15
	Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)	15
	Somdev Devvarman (IND)	15
	Ivan Dodig (CRO)	15
	Roger Federer (SUI)	15
	Richard Gasquet (FRA)	15
	Ivo Karlovic (CRO)	15
	Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)	15
	Rajeev Ram (USA)	15
	Fernando Verdasco (ESP)	15

   

2011 Women's Standings

 

Place	Player	Points
1	Agnieszka Radwanska* (POL)	130
2	Serena Williams* (USA)	115
3	Vera Zvonareva (RUS)	60
4	Andrea Petkovic (GER)	50
T-5	Victoria Azarenka* (BLR)	45
	Marion Bartoli (FRA)	45
	Samantha Stosur* (AUS)	45
T-8	Ana Ivanovic (SRB)	40
	Sabine Lisicki (GER)	40
10	Maria Sharapova (RUS)	30
T-11	Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)	25
	Lucie Safarova (CZE)	25
	Roberta Vinci (ITA)	25
	Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)	25
T-15	Marina Erakovic (NZL)	15
	Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)	15
	Petra Kvitova (CZE)	15
	Na Li (CHN)	15
	Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)	15
	Ayumi Morita (JPN)	15
	Shuai Peng (CHN)	15
	Francesca Schiavone (ITA)	15
	Sloane Stephens (USA)	15
	Jie Zheng (CHN)	15

 Standings through Friday, August 12

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

WASHINGTON DC - Seventh-ranked Monfils, in his first US final and his first final of any kind since last year's Paris Masters, fell to 3-11 in ATP title matches, foiled in a bid for his first outdoor hardcourt crown and fourth career title.


"To be honest, I'm unlucky," Monfils said of his finals failure rate.

Monfils, who never managed a break point against Stepanek, also said he was a bit tired after his rain-hit semi-final finished only 14 hours before the final started.

"But when you step on the court you forget about this," Monfils said.

Stepanek came to the net for 29 of his 57 points. While connecting on only 37 percent of his first serves, he won 90 percent of those points, including all 12 in the final set, and took 63 percent of second-serve points.

"He didn't miss much," Monfils said. "I was a fraction slower as well. I couldn't hit many passing shots. He played a great match."

Fromn the start, Stepanek moved to keep Monfils on the defensive.

"I wanted to be in control," Stepanek said. "If I was going to go for it or miss it I wanted to decide all the points. It was my game plan to be aggressive and attack when I can. I was in control from the first point to the last."

Stepanek broke Monfils with a backhand winner down the line in the third game of the match and led 3-2 when rain halted play. A break in the rain allowed them to play three points, enough for Stepanek to hold to 4-2, before another downpour hit.

"He was very aggressive," Monfils said. "I expected that but he didn't miss a lot at the start, hit it pretty deep and fast. This was a bit tricky for me."

When play resumed, each man held twice, Stepanek taking the set on a service winner after 54 minutes.

Stepanek broke Monfils again to open the second set, the Frenchman racing down the Czech's forehand volley but netting a forehand. Stepanek made the break stand, serving out to win after 93 minutes with a forehand volley winner.

Stepanek, the oldest player in the world's top 100, became the ATP's oldest champion since France's Fabrice Santoro at 35 at Newport in 2008, Washington's eldest winner since a 35-year-old Connors and a top-30 player after starting the week ranked 54th.

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

 
WASHINGTON (AFP) — French top seed Gael Monfils saved a match point and edged John Isner 6-4, 3-6 7-5 (8/6) in a rain-disrupted match early Sunday to reach the final of the $1.4 million ATP Washington Classic.

Big-serving American Isner and fleet-footed showman Monfils staged a classic despite a rain delay at the start and two interruptions that pushed the end to 1:15 in the morning, when Isner netted a forehand after a Monfils lob winner.

After a split with Australian coach Roger Rasheed last month following three years together and a left wrist injury that kept him out for six weeks early in the season, seventh-ranked Monfils was thrilled to reach his first US final.

"I'm very happy," Monfils said. "It's not finished, but almost a great achievement. I have had a tough year. I had an injury and a new coach. To come up strong again, it feels good."

Monfils will play for his fourth career title in Sunday's championship match at the hardcourt event against 54th-ranked Czech Radek Stepanek, who ousted American Donald Young 6-3, 6-3, in the other semi-final.

"It will be a tough match," Monfils said. "He will be aggressive. I will have to be strong from the start because it won't be easy."

Stepanek has dropped five of seven meetings with Monfils, including their most recent clash two weeks ago on Hamburg clay.

"He's moving incredibly well," Stepanek said. "He's a great shotmaker."

Isner denied Monfils on two match points in the 10th game of the third set, smashing a forehand volley winner and a 130-mph ace that Monfils appealed to video replay only to find the system had failed.

"It's frustrating because on match point, the machine goes down," Monfils said. "That's the first time that has happened to me."

In the tie-breaker, neither player took a point off the other's serve until the decider. Isner blasted a 127-mph ace to reach his lone match point at 6-5, but Monfils answered with a 110-mph ace, setting up the drama-ending shots.

"The 6-all point he hit a huge second serve, put it on the line and lobbed me," Isner said. "It was a risky shot and then I cracked on match point."

Monfils reached his first ATP final since last November at the Paris Masters event and only his second outdoor hardcourt final since 2006, the other coming last year at Tokyo. His most recent title came last October at Montpellier.

Monfils, 24, must win five matches in four days to claim a fourth career ATP crown due to rain that forced him to play twice Thursday.

Isner, ranked 35th, had won 11 of his prior 12 matches but saw his career rivalry with the Frenchman leveled at 3-3. Isner, 26, won their first meeting in a 2007 Washington semi-final that went to three tie-breakers.

Rain dogged Monfils and Isner, delaying their start, returning after they had played only seven points and striking again after Isner held to lead 5-2 in the second set, sending Monfils to talk with new coach Patrick Chamagne.

"I had the feel of his game and his serve," Monfils said. "I discussed with my coach and released all the frustration I had."

Monfils took the only break of the first set to lead 5-4 when Isner smacked a forehand wide and the Frenchman held serve with a 109-mph ace to win the set.

But Monfils netted a forehand drop volley in the second game of the second set and Isner rode the break to claim the set, the only disruption coming during a pause after a 107-mph Isner serve hit a spectator in the face.

Stepanek, the oldest player in the world's top 100 and oldest ATP finalist of the year at age 32, seeks his fifth career title in his first final since last year at Brisbane.

Stepanek, whose most recent ATP title came in 2009 at San Jose, could crack the top 30 with what he said would be the biggest title of his career.

"This tournament can give me a kick for the rest of the season," Stepanek said. "If I can make it to the US Open and be seeded, that would be great for me."

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

France’s Gael Monfils didn’t show his best form in cruising past Croatia ‘s Antonio Veic 6-4, 6-4 6-4 in the second round. Next, he faces a much taller task in American John Isner.

Putting his various ailments behind him, the 12th seed played an athletic and fairly effective game behind the baseline match in besting the Croat, cranking big forehand winners when called upon to ice the contest. “I’ve had two easy rounds, and that’s never happened to me at Grand Slam before.”

But Monfils, who is coached by Australian Roger Rasheed, wasn’t thrilled with his play.

“On a scale of 1 to 20, I would give myself a five,” he said. “Roger would probably give me a two. Against Isner, I’m planning on giving him a much better number.”

“He has a monster serve,” said Monfils. “It’s going to be really hard to return serve. If he’s serving well, it’s almost a bet as to whether I go left or right. I’m going to have to try and read his serve really well.”

James Blake, USA

I don't know what this exchange of glances on the sidelines was about, but there was definitely a fight happening on court. Blake was not able to topple Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro, who won the match 6-4, 6-7(3), 5-7, 6-3, 10-8, but he put up one hell of of a contest.

In the best match on the men’s side to date, del Potro had to come up with every shot in the book to repel the veteran American, who fought off one break point after another late in the fifth set in an attempt to pull off what could have been one of the most critical victories of his career.

“As soon as I let any ball sit up a little, he was taking it to me,” Blake said. “That’s my goal too, and I had chances at them and made some mistakes. That's the difference. You miss a couple balls and he’s moving on, and I'm not. But that’s why he won the US Open and is No. 4 in the world.”

“It’s tough to rank the [five set losses] but right now it hurts pretty bad,” said Blake. “I had plenty of messages from people back home who were up until 5 am watching me, and I don’t even want to respond to many. I just feel bad that they were up watching and are probably going to sleep a little disappointed. Luckily for me they will all be my friends tomorrow, which will help me get through after I stop beating myself up for a few hours or few days.”

That was an encouraging battle to watch, no disappointment here Blake.

Donald Young, USA

"Every match I played in the qualies, it seemed like they were rooting for the other guy, but this will just be at a totally different level, obviously," he said."I'll just have to go out there and play and imagine they're cheering my name."I've played a couple of pretty top players, but none like Lleyton here with the crowd. He's from here and they love him. (But) that's what you look for, you want to play these players."

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