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Sunrise, Florida, March 15, 2007- Only two seeds advanced today in the BMW Tennis Championship, as a qualifier and a wild card took out two of the remaining four this afternoon. First up on stadium court, Australian Chris Guccione defeated No. 3 Marc Gicquel 6-3, 7-6(4); followed by a stunning three-set win for Serbian Nenad Zimonjic over defending champion and No. 1 seed Dmitry Tursunov, 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5. No. 6 Nicolas Massu and No. 5 Gael Monfils are the surviving seeds going into the quarter finals. Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten
It was a particularly sweet win for Zimonjic, a doubles specialist currently ranked 9 in doubles (with 15 ATP titles), but 630 in singles. His BMWTC wins over Davide Sanguinetti and 21-ranked Tursunov earned him 30 ATP points and some much-needed confidence. “First of all, I have to say that I'm really happy to be playing singles, thanks again to the tournament director Gabe Norona. I couldn't use [the wild card] better than what I did, to beat Sanguinetti, who is a former top 50 player. I lost to him twice before, and to beat Dmitry who is one of the best players at the moment, so obviously this is huge confidence, it gives me more belief that I can still do it in singles and I can play so I'm looking forward to the next tournament in singles and next match and I will just try to enjoy this moment as much as I can.”
In fact, Tursunov never seemed to get into a groove during the match. Zimonjic forced him to net again and again, where the Russian did not look comfortable. In the critical third set, Tursunov netted a couple of volleys - giving Zimonjic an opening. Zimonjic's crafty doubles strategy started to pay off - low slices, angled volleys, varied serve positions - and in the final set, Tursunov was rarely able to take control of points with his powerful baseline shots. “The thing is, if you give Dmitry a chance he punishes you right away,” Zimonjic said. “He can hit the winner off the forehand, backhand, serve, returns - doesn't matter - so you have to go for your shots. I had to serve really well, I had to mix up my serve and mix up my game so he doesn't know what's coming. And that's what I managed to do today. It's not easy especially against a player like him because if he's at his best he can beat anybody. He can beat top ten guys which he proved a couple of times, even in the big occasion beating Andy Roddick in an important match last year in the Davis Cup. So it's a great win for me. I have to say one of the top wins that I ever had.” Zimonjic, whose nickname is “Ziki”, says his goal is to break the top 200 this year in singles. A tour player for 12 years, and almost 31 years old - he has won four Challengers in his career, but if he can pull off a few more rounds here - the BMW would be the best trophy so far. Young French star Gael Monfils, who defeated Serbian qualifier Dusan Vemic in tonight's singles match, is his next opponent. “Here I have to say the tournament is very strong. It's not like a challenger event, it's more like an ATP tour event. Even the qualifying was tough and there are no easy matches here for sure, so whoever makes it to the quarters he came there because he is playing good so whoever I have to face in the Although Zimonjic has always had better results in doubles, he said he's always wanted to excel in singles as well. “I don't mind playing full court, I like to practice a lot with the singles guys, not like most of the doubles players, where they practice among themselves you know playing some specific games for doubles. I prefer to play with singles guys, work on my singles game and that helps my doubles game as well. I love this game, I love tennis and I think I deserve another chance just to see where my limits are in singles.” Zimonjic also plans to continue playing doubles with partner Fabrice Santoro, with whom he won three titles last year. They are entered as a team at the upcoming Sony Ericsson in Miami. ---- Nicolas Massu says he is here at Sunrise for one reason - to win. It's been five years since the Chilean has played a Challenger. He's been ranked inside the top 50 for almost four years, going as high as No. 9 (in 2004), with wins over top ten players, bringing home gold medals in both doubles and singles at the 2004 Olympics, and in 2005 reaching the 4 th round of the U.S. Open. Injuries have been a problem over the past year - although he won his sixth career title in 2006 at Costa do Sauipe, and reached three other finals. The No. 5 seed is currently ranked 50. This year, after losing first round at Indian Wells - he asked BMWTC Tournament Director Gabe Norona for a wild card, and got it. Like other top players, he's using the Challenger to warm up for the Sony Ericsson - but make no mistake, he's here to hold up the trophy on Sunday. “I feel like very good because I have confidence,” Massu said this evening, after winning his second round. “I beat in the first round [Ivan] Miranda who is a good player on hard court, and today against [Igor] Kunitsyn, it was the first time I played with him. I was really solid with my serve and my forehand, so I'm very happy the way I'm playing. The bad thing is that I lost in the first round at Indian wells but when you lose you have to play another tournament, and I'm trying to do my best in this tournament. I know it's a small tournament but if I come here I come to win.” “I think this is maybe more difficult than a lot of ATP tournaments,” Massu said. “The difference is in the money and the points. But I think this tournament, you can see the players in the draw. There are guys that were [ranked] twenty now playing this challenger. I never see that before. So that's the reason I'm going to concentrate and do my best here because I know this is a challenger but if I win this tournament it's important for me because I play next week in Miami. Miami is like 40 minutes from here so the courts are very similar, if I play good here I will be with a lot of confidence in Miami. That is the reason I'm trying to play my best here. Confidence in tennis is everything.” One thing's for sure - Massu is looking to intimidate his opponents - going for broke, every single shot; running balls down like a demon. His second serve is often just as hard as the first - and if he misses, the balls go up into the stands. “Yes, I'm trying to change that,” he said. “I think that maybe I lost a little bit of matches because I'm trying to change my game. I think tennis has changed a lot in the last five years. On clay maybe not too much but on hard courts it's unbelievable how fast tennis is now. So I'm trying to play not too far from the baseline, to be aggressive in the important moments. I'm going to miss a lot also but I'm going to win a lot. So I'm trying to do that, this is the week to make it, so if I'm confident this week you never know what will happen, maybe in Miami I play unbelievable, and I have a good tournament. We'll see what happens on the weekend.” Massu plays Potito Starace tomorrow, who took out No. 2 seed Dominik Hrbaty in the first round. But Massu isn't thinking too far ahead. “You have to go step by step, you don't have to think about the draw. But I think I have a good chance. When I play on hard court, my game, I play really good. I have the best result of my life on this surface. You never know what will happen. In this moment I feel good, I have confidence about tomorrow, against Starace. You never know, maybe on Sunday I am with the trophy, maybe not. I'm here to do my best and I think that I have a lot of chances.” (For today's complete singles results please click here ; for doubles results click here .) OUTER COURT MATCHES : Oliver Marach (AUT) d. Danai Udomchoke (THA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 It was a slow start for Oliver Marach of Austria. “I fought hard in the second set, and despite the wind - I came through in the third,” said Marach. He however Ivo Karlovic (CRO) d. Sergio Roitman 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) It was a slow start for the winner of this match. Sergio Roitman of Argentina jumped out to a quick lead and was passing left and right off of the Karlovic Serve and Volley. Roitman was rare and ready today for passing, but Karlovic's Confidence was too much. Converting 5/6 on break point opportunities against, Ivo was steady at crucial moments of the match. “It gives me a lot of confidence saving break points,” said Karlovic. Roitman was a crowd pleaser, making them laugh at opportune moments; especially when an ice cream truck passed by. The Crown Prince of the BMW Tennis Championships this week fell slightly short and was overwhelmed in the tiebreak. A mini-break for Karlovic, a hold, and a mini-break for Roitman. Holds and breaks the rest of the way for Karlovic 7-1 in the 3 rd set tiebreak. Coetzee/DeVoest d. Gicquel/Serra 6-2, 7-6(3) Playing together for only the second time, the Coetzee/DeVoest team gelled well enough to close the match in straight sets. “We're happy we didn't have to play the third set 10 point tie break - and we feel good with the win” said Coetzee/DeVoest after the Match. Zib/Friedl d. Martin/Roitman 6-4, 6-1 Playing together for only the second time, the Zib/Friedl team eased into the match and closed it out in straight sets. “We've only played together once or twice” said Zib/Friedl. Results for March 15, 2007: Chris Guccione (AUS) d. [3] Marc Gicquel (FRA) 6-3, 7-6(4) Night doubles match: |
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Zimonjic has played Tursunov twice in doubles, and won both of those matches, in Sydney last year and at Wimbledon, but he knew going into today's match that things would be different. “He's a really powerful player, he moves really well,” Zimonjic said. “He can hit the winners off any shot pretty much so I knew I had to serve well; I had to mix up my serve, you know the placement, variations a lot on the serve then sometimes serve and volley, stay back, try to stay in the rally with him, or try to come in just to break his rhythm so he doesn't know what's coming next. I think I managed to do it. I was hoping to finish in two sets but he came with really great returns to break my serve in the second set and then he played better tie breaker and then the 3 rd set was really tough, I had one break point and he had one or two later so it was quite a tough match for me.” 
quarters, it's going to be a difficult match. I have to play good again, it's going to be a different match because [Monfils is] maybe not as powerful as Dmitry but again very dangerous, good first serve, very good forehand, runs very well.” 
came through in flying colors is this three set marathon win. Udomchoke of Thailand, quarterfinalist in Durban, pulled out all the stops in the first set - yet only managed a break of serve to close it. Early in the second set, their were cracks in the Udomchoke Amour as Marach broke in the second game of the set. Udomchoke started to pull back with a break of his own in the fifth game - while Marach Stamped his mark with three aces in the seventh game of the second set. In the eighth game, Udomchoke threw in two Aces of his own, but was unable to convert as Marach broke yet again. Marach then held serve to close the set at 7-5. The third set was rather routine for Marach, with a few blips on the radar from Udomchoke. Marach charged out to a 5-0 lead; when Udomchoke finally held on to get a game in the 6 th . The final point from the racquet of Marach was an Ace, 6 all told. Of note, Udomchoke struggled with his serve, often relying on the second. 
