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(Sunrise, FL) – The tournament’s number one seed, world No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, is out of the BMW Tennis Championship – defeated by Australia’s Chris Guccione. Sebastien Grosjean is the only remaining seed in the semi-finals, joined by today’s other quarter final winners Jurgen Melzer and Robin Haase. FERNANDO GONZALEZ (CHI) vs. CHRIS GUCCIONE (AUS) The stands were packed and rowdy with Gonzo fans Friday night as BMWTC’snumber one seed Fernando Gonzalez of “I grew up watching [Rafter], him and also Pete Sampras I watched a lot when I was young,” Guccione says, “So for me to be serve-volleying and matching with these guys is a good feeling.” It’s a style that largely went out with Rafter and Sampras, both retired now. But that’s exactly how he beat Chile’s best – gunning forward every time he served, sticking tough volleys. The strategy seemed to confound Gonzalez, who never seemed to get into a rhythm during their first-ever encounter. On several occasions all he could do was smile and shake his head after a brutal rapid-fire volley exchange at the net. “I serve-volley every point in most of my matches,” Guccione said after the match. “The plan was to get to the net as much as I could today and make Fernando try to pass me if he can and he had some good passes, but I came up with some good volleys on big points. Obviously serve and volley works well, but I was just trying to mix it up from the back, try to maybe chip-charge or loop one and maybe hit one up the line, come in, just keeping him off guard and I thought the variation that I had tonight was just what I needed.” The 6’ 7” 22-year-old lefty also brought a heavy serve – hitting at least one ace per service game – a total of twenty in the match to Gonzalez’s seven. “I served probably a little bit above average tonight,” Guccione said. “But this year especially I’ve been serving really well. It’s one thing I’ve focused on is to be the best server in the game. So to be serving this well against top players is always going to be an advantage.” Guccione says his serve has been clocked at 135+ several times over the past few weeks.
In the second, Gonzalez served first, holding at love. Next game, Guccione missed a few volleys and was down love-40 before he recovered, and brought the score all the way back to win the game in a quick succession of impressive serve-volleys. Serving again at 1-2, Guccione rolled off 12 straight points, holding at love, then breaking Gonzalez at love, then holding at love again. After one blazing passing shot, Gonzo slammed his racket down, creating a twisted art-piece of gut and graphite that will no doubt be a prized ball kid souvenir (Gonzalez graciously signed it for the young man after the match). Gonzo held his next two service games, but so did Guccione – who finished off the 6-4 set by firing one more gun-shot ace. In the third set the tall redhead broke Gonzalez in his first service game, a very bad omen considering that Guccione is such a tough guy to break when he’s serving well. In Guccione’s first service game, he fired four aces in a row to win at love. Somewhere during this barrage of fast-balls, Gonzales was cited for ball abuse. The crowd went crazy as Gonzalez held serve to get to 1-2, sensing that time was running out. Guccione tried to focus on his game, rather than the boisterous Gonzo fans. “It’s difficult, but you get used to it,” he says. “I didn’t find it too bad, they’re just supporting their player so it’s something you have to get used to especially if you want to play Davis Cup for your country. Sometimes it’s tough, it does get in your head but just try to focus and just block them out and just focus on your game is the big thing.” In the next few games, it was more of the same from the big Aussie – monster serves, backed by deft volleys and droppers, with Gonzalez looking a little baffled, trying to fight his way through it. Serving at 3-5, Gonzo got down 15-40, giving Guccione a shot at match points; but he fought his way back to win that game. It was then left for Guccione to go back to work with the same serve-volley sequences that had served him well throughout the match. Gonzalez saved one match point at 40-15, then another; but Guccione eventually held to win the final set 6-4, and the match. The young Aussie is still working on his game – developing his unique playing style, which he says is to serve-and-volley on every first serve (on every surface), mixing it up with chip-and-charge, drop shots and lobs. Sounds like a great doubles strategy, but that’s not Guccione’s main goal. “Doubles helps, but I haven’t played a lot in the past. I’m starting to play now to even further my volleys but it just takes time to develop. You know I struggled with it a few years ago, but I kept with it because it’s something I enjoy doing and something that I think works well against these players because there’s not that many serve-volleyers around these days. I think people like to see serve-volleyers, I’m glad that I’m one of them and hopefully I can continue to do it at this level.” Guccione realizes that having committed to this style, he won’t do well against players that control points from the baseline. “Obviously, for me to stay back and rally with these guys is not going to be a winning strategy most of the time so I try to get to the net as much as I can and keep them off guard.” Guccione said of Friday night’s win, “It felt great. It’s always nice to beat a player like Fernando, he’s one of the best in the world so to beat him and go through to the semi-finals, it’s a really good feeling.” He added that this win ranks as one of the best of his career. “It’s definitely up there. He’s twelve in the world, so he’s not far from the top. But it’s another win, I’ve got to focus on the next matches. There are still a couple of matches to go to hopefully win the tournament.” And what would it mean to Guccione to win the BMWTC? “It’d be great,” he said, “It’d be a great lead-up to Key Biscayne next week, lots of matches in similar conditions, and also the points will help boost the ranking up so it’d be great. It’s guys playing for their careers, so everyone’s fighting out here very hard.” His semi-final opponent will be Robin Haase of The Netherlands, a guy he played doubles with this tournament (they lost last night to Tipsarevic/Demic) but he’s not looking to fool with what’s working for him. “I’ll sit down with my coach and work out a strategy,” Guccione says, “but I think I’ll be serve-volleying a lot, it doesn’t really matter who I’m playing out here. Other than playing two doubles matches with him this week I haven’t seen him play a lot. Obviously he’s got a great serve and good ground-strokes, he can volley, he moves well so he’s going to be a tough player. He’s still very young so it’s going to be a difficult match for me but we’ll see.” Final score 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 Guccione vs Gonzales by the Numbers. SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN (FRA) vs. POTITO STARACE (ITA) Boca Raton resident Sebastian Grosjean is very happy to be through to the semi-finals at the BMWTC for the first time. “You don’t have the points like you Of today’s win over Italy’s number two player, he said, “I played a really good match. Starace is a great player, he’s really dangerous when he’s taking the point with his forehand. I tried to be close to the baseline, to play deep and come in a little bit more to the net, and I won a lot of important points at the net, that helped me a lot to win.” The first set was a 6-1 breeze for Grosjean, but Starace jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the second, closing that one out 6-3. The third set started with a pair of service breaks, but then Grosjean got into a groove, spicing up his game with a mix of baseline winners, slices and volleys. Serving at 5-3, Grosjean lured the Dutchman into the net with a drop-shot, then hit a brilliant passing shot to close out the match. “I served well but I think I served a little bit better yesterday,” Grosjean said. “It was a little bit more wind today so, but I was happy the way I played you know I was aggressive on the court, I tried to come to the net and not give him the opportunity to be aggressive, and it works. I played him only once, at the French Open and he beat me like a couple years ago. I mean he’s a good player, he’s got really consistent results, he’s maybe better on a clay court but he’s really dangerous and plays well on a hard court that’s not too fast, so I think it’s a good win.” Tomorrow afternoon the Frenchman faces Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who won the event in 2004. “I think it’s going to be different because he’s a lefty, and he’s a strange player, he comes to the net, hits the drop shot, he’s a really great player to watch,” Grosjean said, “and I will need to be aggressive also, and don’t let him dictate the point. Jurgen is a great player, always do well on a hard court, and even on clay, so it will be a tough match, he wants to win but I also want to win. So it’s going to be an interesting match.” Final score – Grosjean defeated Starace 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. ROBIN HAASE vs. JANKO TIPSAREVIC
At four games all in the first set, Haase broke the Tipsarevic serve, consolidating it with a hold at love, securing that set 6-4. Between sets the ATP trainer came out to work on a heel blister for Tipsarevic, which seemed to initially hamper his movement in the second set; although he held his first service to go up 1-0; then broke Haase, and held again for 3-0. Haase’s next game went to deuce, and Tipsarevic broke again for 4-0. Haase was hitting out on easy rally balls, and it looked like his game was breaking down a bit as the errors piled up. He struggled to get one of his breaks back, but serving at 1-4 he double faulted on game point. Serving with new balls, Tipsarevic held at love to win the second set 6-1. Both players came out firing in the crux third set, although Haase got to deuce on his first service game; and Tipsarevic followed that with another love-hold. The match turned when Haase broke Tipsarevic’s next serve, then held serve to go up 4-1. In that game, Tipsarevic argued a call on a Haase ace, but it stood. Next game, on his serve – the Serbian didn’t like another call which cost him the first point. He blasted a ball into the back wall, drawing a ball abuse penalty. After that point, Tipsarevic seemed edgy and impatient, going for winners early in points and often missing the lines. That game went to seven deuces, ending with Tipsarevic smacking a big backhand winner deep into the deuce corner. An easy hold for Haase was followed by a love-hold from Tipsarevic, but the clock had been punched for this match – Haase served it out for 6-3, with Tipsarevic hitting one into the net at 40-5. Final score was 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. By the Numbers OTHER MATCHES In other quarter final action, Jurgen Melzer of Austria defeated Ivo Minar of Czechoslovakia, 7-6(4), 6-1. For complete results see our results page and draw sheets. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: J. C. Summerford |
