Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters

[VMoe86]

The first Masters 1000 on clay has started and with 53 Sign Ups it set a new record among Masters 1000 tournaments -- only Australian Open 2013 had more Sign Ups!

Draw

My goal has been accomplished: Last year I got 10 points and this year I'm already at 45 points, vulturing at its best. Maybe I will even play a match or two.

My money is on Haas to win the virtual Monte-Carlo: He will slaughter his opponents.

[eliomelma]

Ops, forget to signup!!

[Richie1308]

The draw is finally out, I may meet Clog soon with the opposite players than those we used last time we played. Sounds interesting ! And next hum...well I'll just hope there will be a "next" then, wait and see.

[C4iLL]

I should write a preview about that, there is a looooot of things to say about this tournament !

[djarvik]

I am going to take out Cerji, and you know it!

[Robbin92]

My preview is that Djarvik will win this tournament if he reaches the final, he knows how to play them.

[Florian]

Hey guys if I find enough time to install windows on my new Mac i ll have some chances to pass the first rounds, otherwise I'm just receiving bagel over bagel right now with my old one ^^

[C4iLL]

Florian you need to play, don't let the damn Dutch reaching quarter or even Semi Finals !!!

[Florian]

Florian you need to play, don't let the damn Dutch reaching quarter or even Semi Finals !!!

Then I'll let you tell me more about bootcamp

[C4iLL]

In june it will be 4 years I installed it, I forgot about the process ^^
ps : 4 years without any formating and it works perfectly ! Viva Mac !

[Clog]

The draw is finally out, I may meet Clog soon with the opposite players than those we used last time we played. Sounds interesting ! And next hum...well I'll just hope there will be a "next" then, wait and see.

It couldn't be worse for me.

[El Croato]

El Croato (Roger Federer) - ddotson (Milos Raonic) 4/6 6/3 7/5

The score says it all: a round of 64 match that was a true battle, especially in terms of tactic.

I did not have much time to warm up for the match and I have only got myself to blame here as I wanted to watch the DFB Pokal semi-final between Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg. Well, I think choosing not to warm up for an official match will serve me right in the future. In the first set, I did not feel quite comfortable as I was kinda trying to sort myself out, even though I succeeded in winning my first service games. Then, at 3-3 if remember well, ddotson, who got rapidly into the match and played some very solid and powerful tennis, broke me. At that time, I knew that I would lose the first set as I had not been even close to breaking ddotson by then. He kept serving very well, it was not just about power, but rather about high accuracy. So he won the first 6/4 without skipping a beat.

The second set was another story as I was feeling better and better on the court, hitting many more winners with both my forehand and backhand. Furthermore, I decided to try to make the exchanges last longer so as to jeopardize his stamina, whose bar was only empty three or four times throughout the game as he resisted pretty well to my tactical game inspired by the so-called Super Pusher. I do not remember when I broke him exactly, all I know is that that one break was sufficient for me to get the second set by six games to three.

The third and final set was the most balanced of our match. Both of us systematically won our service games without too much difficulty, many of them were indeed won to love. By the end of the set, I really felt that I could break him as he was giving some signs of fading confidence (unless I am mistaken) given some easy strikes that he missed while he was dominating the exchange. That is what happened at 5-5 when I was relieved to be able to convert one of the break opportunities I had. Then, I just needed to keep focus on my service game to snatch victory, but luck helped me a lot there. We played quite a funny point during that last game (well, it was not funny for him, of course). Ddotson decided to go up to the net, hit a volley and I was very late on the ball and nevertheless managed to return his volley, my shot was meant to go outside the court, but it somehow touched the net cord (God bless it ^^) and found its way inside the court (I unfortunately did not record our match, but maybe ddotson did so he might post that 'funny' point); this – as he put it in the post-match conference – just killed him. I admitted to him that I had been a lucky dog there, but it was reassuring to see that luck could smile to me as well as it was not always the case in the past.

I would like to underline the fair-play ddotson showed during the whole match, he is a very friendly guy who does not fly off the handle in defeat and I wish him all the best in the rest of the season.

[C4iLL]

Vs Raonic it's crucial to make his stamina go down to lower his serve speed, you were right to do that croato

[spencercarlos]

Vincetheprince def MichaelD 36 76 61

I really enjoyed playing with this puncher
He is only ACE all the **** time.. I really really was trying out there.

So the "queen" loses and can't handle it.


This video ilustrates your skills to explain the whole situation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... zlJo#t=22s

[VMoe86]

VMoe86 (Haas) defeats Sorauze (del Potro) 6-4, 6-3

It was a closer match than I hoped and prepared for, which says something about Sorauze's level. I did not play TE at all today, except a little offline warm up when he asked to play the match. So, I was not really prepared for the match and did not play my very best. On the other hand, Sorauze played very well for most of the match: Moved well, positioned well, was defending well as del Potro and was able to turn around rallies and turn defence into attack. He made some errors here and there, which cost him.

First set it started with him serving. He held quite easily and I had to respond. I could not, faced a break, he hit a net cord ball and I hit an error off it -- break for him. I did not feel comfortable on court at all, my returning was bad and he was defending well so that I struggled also on serve. Quite quickly it got to 4-1 to him. It was time to raise my level: The next two games I won quickly, barely losing a point. Then I was serving at 3-4 to consolidate the rebreak, he got to 0-30. I thought "You cannot allow him to break again!" and digged out of that hole. At 4-4, I broke again and served the first set out.

Second set started just like the first set ended: I broke him immediately and held for a 2-0 lead. I got another chance for a break, but he got out of that game and so we held serve until 4-3. There he got again dangerously close into a service game: 15-40. I don't remember how I saved the first break point, but on the second we had a rally going on and suddenly the game froze. It then said "Connection Lost", in the match log it says he retired. We both did not know what happened, but that interruption destroyed his rhythm and I was lucky in this situation. When we restarted I saved that break point with a serve which he could only dump into the net. He made some errors and I held for 5-3, similar my break for 6-3, although here I did a clever mix up: A short slice down the line off a 2nd serve return, because he was standing so far back all the time. This got me to deuce. I then finished the match with another break.

Anyway, good game Sorauze! I'm sure he will do some damage in this season. I know I shouldn't have gone cold into that match, but now I have plenty of time to prepare for the QF where I want to make a better a match than at Miami -- won't be easy, though.