click here for the Eastbourne Herald

2010 Wednesday news

AEGON International | Eastbourne

16 June 2010

Amagro carried out of event

Nicolas Almagro, the no1 seed and overwhelming favourite to win, was stretchered off the sun-drenched Centre Court with a hip injury that jeopardises his involvement in next week's Wimbledon.

The Spaniard was given a testing time, and appeared to have a groin strain throughout his contest with Denis Istomin of Uzbeckistan.

AlmagroAlmagro (pictured right) trailed 6-4, 1-0 in the second round match, having only held serve twice in six games, when he had to call for his coach and assistance.

Despite being carried off in spectacular fashion, Almagro has not pulled out of SW19 where he has been seeded no19 for The Championships.

Wildcard Gilles Simon, the no3 seed, survived a tense battle despite romping pass against Uzbekistan's Andrey Kuznetsov in the opening set. The contest became a game of cat-and-mouse with neither player wanting to lose, so the inevitable tiebreak followed, only for Kuznetsov to force a third and decisive set.

Simon failed to ignite the court with his usual Gallic flair, with another tiebreak required. But the French ace stepped up a gear to run away with the final tiebreak for a 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2) triumph.

Fellow French seeds Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra joined Simon in the quarter-finals.

click here for profileBenneteau was involved in a tight match against the Israeli David 'Dudi' Sela (pictured left), who impressed on the grass courts at Queen's Club in London the previous week. 

But Benneteau, the no4 seed, was ruthless when it mattered to reel off a closely fought 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 victory despite losing less points than Sela overall (86 compared to 85).

LlodraLlodra (pictured right) was in excellent form to destroy Stephane Robert in the opening set, only to be pushed back on level term after losing the second set on a tiebreak. 

With a quarter-final place up for grabs, neither player pushed for the win, instead playing safety first in a dreary final set that Llodra - the no8 seed - won for a 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4 success. 

Another wildcard, Londoner James Ward, surprised fans and opponent Rainer Schuettler on Centre Court to claim a 6-3 7-6 (7-5) win on his seventh match point in the contest between two unseeded players.

The British no5 and world no344, coached by former player Greg Rusedski, got off to  a terrific start by breaking the German veteran's initial service game and holding serve to leap into a two game lead. Another break of serve in the ninth game for Ward sealed the first set.

Schuettler, the world no72 and former world no5, found the 23-year-old's big serves and net play too hot to handle although Ward's inexperience showed by failing to finish off the match. At 5-4, Ward fluffed four match points and was forced into a tiebreak,

click here for profileWard said: "Schuettler has been on the Tour for years, so it was a great win. I had backed myself to do well today and I can't look back too much. Hopefully I'll continue to have a good week, it's all about experience on the big courts at the big events."

Next for Ward is Alexandr Dolgopolov (pictured left), the no7 seed, after the Ukraine ace battled back to destroy China's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-2.

Free live scores | Player profiles | Free text alerts

Matches played


2ndDudi Sela ISRJulien Benneteau FRA6-7(8) 5-7
2ndStephane Robert FRAMichael Llodra FRA1-6 6-7(2) 4-6
2ndYen-Hsun Lu TPEO. Dolgopolov UKR7-6(1) 1-6 2-6
2ndJames Ward GBRRainer Schuettler GER6-3 7-6(5)
2ndGilles Simon FRAAndrey Kuznetsov RUS6-1 6-7(3) 7-6(2)
2ndDenis Istomin UZBNicolas Almagro ESP6-4 1-0 retired

Match of the day preview

(no1 seed) Nicolas Almagro vs. Denis Itomin

Top seed Nicolas Almagro has yet to claim a singles title in 2010, and Eastbourne is definitely his best chance as he is one of the most in-form players in the draw despite yesterday's struggle.

The world no18 is set to make his sixth quarter-final appearance of 2010 but faces a stiff test against Denis Istomin in their first ever career showdown.

Spaniard Almagro, the no1 seed looked shaky on Centre Court with Pole Lukasz Kubot with a 7-5, 7-6 triumph and will be aiming to make Istomin his 30th victim of the 2010 season.

Istomin, the world no74, was in emphatic form with a brilliant display on Monday to see off seeded Argentinian ace Eduardo Schwank with ease 6-0, 6-3 - his third victory on British grass.

The 23-year-old returns to Eastbourne this year, having reached the quarter-finals at the 2009 AEGON International, and could cause a huge upset if he continues his rich vein of form.

2009 Wednesday results

Eastbournetennis.net | 17 June

D. Tursunov defeated A. Bogdanovic || 6-7, 6-4, 7-6                         
D. Istomin d. S. Querrey || 3-6, 7-6, 6-4                            
F. Dancevic d. J. Ward || 7-6, 6-4                           
L. Mayer d. J. Benneteau || 6-4, 6-4    

2009 Wednesday news

Eastbournetennis.net | 17 June

With hundreds of disgruntled fans furious at the initial Centre Court line-up featuring two British stars, those who saw the contests were served up with close encounters.

Having seen seeds scatted since Sunday's start, there was a genuine chance for Brits' Alex Bogdanovic and Jamie Ward to make the third round of a very weak main draw. But neither edged through despite the vocal support from local fans on less than half full Centre Court.

Bogdanovic - known as 'Bog' for short - came perilously close to causing the largest upset of the inaugural AEGON International, only to taste defeat in a third set tiebreak to Dmitry Tursanov. The Russian had moved into the position of being top seed after Igor Andreev's poor opening round defeat but did not see Bog roll away and edged a 6-7(2) 6-4 7-6(5) triumph.

Surprisingly, the world no27 was very self assured after the contest and claimed: “It was definitely tough and I thought I played well, I played a good tiebreaker in the final set. I definitely think he [Bogdanovic] should be ranked much higher than he is because he’s got all the tools, he just needs to put everything together.”

Middlesex-based Bogdanovic, 25-year-old, admitted: “It could have been anybody’s match. In the second set I missed a lot of first serves, he attacked my second serves which gave him the break. You have to serve pretty well against players like that because as soon as your serve dips a bit he’s going to jump on it."

And Ward, the British no4, failed to make further progress at Devonshire Park. He fell in straight sets to Canada’s Frank Dancevic, who had delivered the knockout blow to top seed Andreev less than 24 hours prior to this showdown.

With the Centre Court pretty empty as the big names in the strong ladies draw attracted massive crowds on no1 and no2 courts, Ward did not have the same sort of support that compatriot Bogdanovic has experienced.

Yet Ward's comments surprised virutally everyone except his avid fans and entourage when he remarked: “It was frustrating because it was a winnable match. I felt like I was the better player out there in the first set and my level dropped a bit in the second set.”

The exit of Sam Querrey, the no6 seed, further weakened an already tame men's draw after the American was beaten in a dreary no1 court contest by Denis Istomin 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. With Leo Mayer breezing past Julian Benneteau 6-4, 6-4.

2009 tennis videos 

Click here for video playlist 1

Click here for video playlist 2

Click here for video playlist 3

CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT ATP TOUR WORLD RANKINGS