2006 News

March 18, 2006

“There’s not that much strategy,” Dmitry Tursunov explained after his three-set win over Ivo Karlovic. “You just try to get one of your returns in, and make sure you don’t do anything stupid on your serve.”

Apparently that practicality worked – and, it helps if your ace-machine opponent has some trouble finding the serve box – even though Karlovic blasted 30 aces in three long sets. Tursunov got looks at second serves throughout the match – but it was still tough to break the tree-like Croat, whose first serve has been clocked in the 140s. Even Karlovic’s second serve has a wicked kick.

Read more: BMW TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINALS GO THE DISTANCE

March 17, 2006

(Sunrise, FL) - Italy’s No. 3 player, and tournament No. 3 seed Andreas Seppi stepped onto stadium court Friday afternoon feeling a little weak – and it showed. German Simon Greul won the first set of the BMW Tennis Championship quarterfinal easily, 6-2. “My start was not very good,” Seppi admitted. “I made a lot of mistakes, especially on the first points. I had a long match yesterday, 7-6 in the third, and in the night I had a bit of a fever, so I was a little tired in the beginning.”

The second set was on serve until 2-1, when Greul served up two double faults, giving Seppi an early break. Seppi picked up another break on a string of Greul errors; then held at love to get the match to 4-1; and broke again to go up 5-1. The German still had some fight left – breaking back the next game; but Seppi held to win the second set 6-2. In set three – after Greul broke Seppi on his first serve, it was like déjà vu. Greul donated a couple more doubles and played a few loose points that gave the break back to Seppi at 2-1; followed by a hold at love for Seppi. The Italian found his groove and his passing shots, hitting clean winners when Greul approached the net. He won the third set 6-2 to close out the match.

Read more: SEEDS ADVANCE IN QUARTER FINALS

March 16, 2006

(Sunrise, FL) - It was another picture-perfect afternoon at Sunrise Tennis Club – but top seed Florent Serra wasn’t enjoying the scenery in his match against Jiri Vanek. The first set went to Serra 6-3; then Vanek turned the favor, winning the second 6-3. In the third – things got interesting.

Vanek broke Serra to go up 3-2; then consolidated the break. After a couple of holds, Serra serving at advantage – he played a beautiful drop shot and Vanek’s lob fell long. At 5-4 on Vanek’s serve, Serra had two game points; but the game went to deuce twice. On Serra’s ad, Vanek approached the net and Serra ripped a clean backhand winner, tieing up the match at 5-5.

“After I broke him finally in the third set, I was 5-3 leading and then I started to be a little nervous,” Vanek said. “That was the point where he started to play good again. And he broke me back, then it was five-all, and it was a fight again.”

Read more: CZECH DEFEATS TOP SEED; KARLOVIC, MARTIN, TURSUNOV ADVANCE

(Sunrise, FL) - Four seeded players advanced at the BMW Tennis Championship today; but one fan favorite fell in the first round.

In the first stadium court match Wednesday, #2 seed Dmitry Tursunov lost the first set to American Kevin Kim 3-6, then cruised through the next two, in windy conditions. “It wasn’t really that big of a difference in the first set, he just played a little bit better on important points and put a little more pressure on me,” Tursunov said. “In the second set I think I did a little bit better, hitting to his weaker side and trying to wear him out a little bit. These are tough conditions so whoever is willing to keep his hand in the fire a little bit longer is going to succeed.”

Read more: Tursunov, Mayer, Karlovic, Martin Advance