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2010 Eastbourne tournament | Blog

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2010 AEGON International 

Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, England | 12-19 June

DAY-BY-DAY NEWS | FEATURES | DRAW | RESULTS | ALERTS 

  • Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (no5) lost to Michael Llodra (no8)

5-7 2-6

vs 

Llodra lauds it with help from Mauresmo

French ace Michael Llodra was crowned 2010 Eastbourne champion after brushing aside Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in their baseline battle, following vital tactical advice from compatriot and ex-Wimbledon winner Amelie Mauresmo.

Veteran Llodra hit 11 aces to dismiss the Spaniard in the rain-interrupted final to win 7-5, 6-2 in quickfire 67 minutes and earn his second title of the season.

World no46 Llodra, who had hit 50 aces at the tournament to reach the final showdown, had few problems with his magnificent serve to hold all 10 service games against Garcia-Lopez.

The opening set was a tight cat-and-mouse contest, with Llodra securing the only serve break in the 11th game for a deserved 6-5 lead and nine aces. 

Left-hander Llodra was constantly getting caught out by Garcia-Lopez's powerful passing shots, so had to abandon his usually reliable serve and volley tactics.

The 30-year-old served out the set to edge ahead without facing a single break point, and held Garcia-Lopez to just two points on the return in the first set.

When rain briefly interrupted play during the third game of the second set, the Centre Court crowd were feeling the cold and hoping for a ray of sunshine to break through.

But the only brightness was Llodra's much improved game after the short delay. After further advice from on-watching short-term coach Mauresmo, Llodra lifted his game to move up a gear and outplay his clay court expert opponent.

The Spanish world no41's costly double fault gave Llodra the lead but then the French ace made a meal out of completing the rout.

Llodra had to save two break points, the only ones he face in the final, and was cagey in breaking Garcia-Lopez's serve in the eighth game of the second set to capture the title.

This was Llodra's fifth career title and his second on grass after triumphing at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2004.

Llodra said: "I know I can play well on grass, but you still have to do the job out there on the court. It's always a pleasure to win a title, it doesn't happen every week so you have to enjoy it when it happens. 

"It's been a great week and I felt good right from the beginning. At 6-5 in the first set it was a great time to break and I knew that if I stayed focused I would get my chances. Then it helped to serve first in the second set.”

"When I came here I had a good sensation and it was a very good week, it's been really nice. I've been working with Amelie [Mauresmo] for two weeks now, we discuss a lot my game outside the court so I now feel more comfortable. I know the job I have to do, I can win or I can lose but I feel very relaxed, so I have to say a big thank you to Amelie."


2010 Pre-Tournament News 

Preview | by Monticelli

click here for draw & resultsSpaniard Nicolas Almagro, the world no15, is the most likely victor at the 2010 AEGON International and will be eager to improve on his first round defeat in 2006 in the tournament was the Nottingham Open.

The 25-year-old is the top seed and will be fired up as he prepares for Wimbledon after suffering a quarter-final defeat to compatriot Rafael Nadal at the 2010 French Open. He opens his campaign against Polish ace Lukasz Kubot.

Another Spaniard, world no30 Feliciano Lopez, plays his second AEGON International event in the opposite half of the draw to Almagro as the no2 seed.

The 28-year-old breezed through to the semi-finals at Queen's Club, London, and looked impressive on grass especially after stunning world no1 Nadal at the quarter-finals. 

Additional seeds are wildcard Gilles Simon (3), Julien Benneteau (4), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (5), Horacio Zeballos (6), Alexandr Dolgopolov (7) and Michael Llodra (8).

Almagro has Benneteau, Garcia-Lopez and Zeballos in his half while Lopez has a more daunting draw with Simon, Dolgopolov and Llodra as seeded players as well as veteran Rainer Schuettler, Evgeny Korolev and qualifier Kei Nishikori.

Former top 10 fixtures Simon and American James Blake will make their respective returns to the ATP Tour at Eastbourne, having both missed the circuit for the few months with knee injuries.

Fight on for top seeding

Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci and Spaniard Nicolas Almagro are fighting the US Davis Cup duo of John Isner and Sam Querrey to be no1 seed in a high quality men's draw.

Thomaz Bellucci

With Andy Murray considering a wildcard entry, depending on his showing at Queen's Club in London, the rest of the field comprises players within the world's top 70.

However, there are not many who can cope with the grass surface and become true winners at the 2010 AEGON International. See our player-by-player profile.

But Isner scraped into the top 20 in early May for a career-high world ranking, while Almagro, Bellucci (pictured) and Querrey hoover around the world's top 20. 

Julien Benneteau leads the French resistence, which includes Michael Llodra and Robert Stephane. While there are four Argentinians, which consist of clay court specialists Horacio Zeballos, Juan Ignacio Chela, Eduardo Schwank and Leonardo Mayer.

Gasquet is out of it

Richard GasquetRichard Gasquet, forced to skip the 2009 AEGON International, is the star player among entrants not automatically granted a place in the main draw. 

The French ace tested positive for cocaine in 2009 and is currently nearer the world's top 100 than being ranked in the top 30 on the ATP Tour. 

He is likely to tackle the qualifying event as he is way down the pecking order for alternatives at Eastbourne 2010 with compatriots Arnaud Clement and Marc Gicquel ahead of him as well as Lukas Lacko (SVK), Evgeny Korolev (KAZ), Rainer Schuettler (GER), Andrey Golubev (KAZ), Daniel Brands (GER), Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE), Illya Marchenko (UKR), Fabio Fognini (ITA), Denis Istomin (UZB), Xavier Malisse (BEL) and Andreas Beck (GER). 

Tsonga delays debut

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the exciting French ace, 2010 Australian Open semi-finalist and a big crowd favourite has opted to skip making his Eastbourne debut.

Instead, Tsonga is following up Queen's Club in London by becoming one of four top 10 players from the ATP Tour to play at the Boodles Challenge 2010 in Buckinghamshire.

"Grass is a good surface for me, I feel very confident and comfortable and can play quite well on it," said Tsonga. "I can imagine what it's going to be like on grass - the bigger the crowd, the better I usually play,"

"Ali" will have a shot at winning EastbourneThe Swiss-based Tsonga (pictured right) missed Eastbourne for the 2009 tournament, with a last-minute injury that deprived tennis fans of the showman nicknamed "Ali" for his physical likeness and determination similiar to that of boxing legend Mohammad Ali.

And last year Tsonga became the first Frenchman to finish in the world's top 10 in back-to-back years since Yannick Noah (1985-87).

Big-name Blake is early signing

former world no4 James BlakeJames Blake (pictured) was one of a trio of sign up initially  for Eastbourne, with the American veteran urgently seeking some much-needed practice prior to the Wimbledon Championships.

The former world no4 only decided to warm-up for the Championships on Devonshire Park's grass courts because he was expected to miss the entire clay court season with a knee injury that he aggravated in April 2010.

"I'm excited about playing there for the first time and I'm really forward to returning to the UK this summer," said Blake. "The AEGON International will be perfect preparation for me ahead of Wimbledon."

Tall order for US Davis Cup duo

6'9" American ace John IsnerAmerican John Isner is a rising star but currently most famous for surprisingly knocking out the compatritot Andy Roddick of the 2009 US Open. 

But the 6'9" ace (pictured left) is one of the players to watch - having claimed his first 2010 title at Auckland, New Zealand - and is on a roll in 2010. 

And Isner was unable to compete at Eastbourne in 2009 because he was hampered by mononucleosis. This slowed him down so much that he was forced to skip the 2009 French Open and Wimbledon. 

Isner enthused: “I've heard great things about the tournament from the guys who played in 2009, so I'm really looking forward to playing on some of the best grass courts in England."

Isner's Davis Cup doubles partner, Sam Querrey is back at Devonshire Park and joins Italian Andreas Seppi as the only players to have competed at the inaugural AEGON International in 2009. 

6'6" American ace Sam QuerreyQuerrey (pictured left) is a very close friend of Isner as well as occasional hitting partners, with both significant players in Patrick McEnroe's US Davis Cup team.

But Querrey suffered a terrible accident in October 2009. He cut a muscle on his forearm after falling through a glass table in Bangkok, which required 25 stitches and has left a two-inch scar.

Seppi steps up to challenge

Italian Andreas SeppiAndreas Seppi is best remembered for playing Andre Agassi during the former star's last shot at the Wimbledon Championships in 2006.

And although the little-known Italian (pictured right) may favour clay court he is no fool on grass, having reached the semi-finals at Nottingham 2006. 

But his form has been topsy-turvy, with his 2008 season the best following surprise wins at Rotterdam over Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal. 

Seppi said about returning to Eastbourne: “It will provide a great opportunity for me to compete on grass ahead of Wimbledon."

2009 AEGON International 

Eastbournetennis.com | 13-20 June

2009 NEWS | 2009 FEATURES | 2009 RESULTS | 2009 ROUND-UP

2009 champion tursunov

2009 Final

player one result player two
D. TURSUNOV [2] 6-3, 7-6
 F. DANCEVIC