By Scoop Malinowski
Stefan Kozlov has made a smashing return in Houston qualies, defeating Bellucci 67 63 76 and Santillan 60 62 to reach the main draw where he will play world no. 63 Guido Pella for a chance to play 2 seed Sam Querrey in the second round. Kozlov, now ranked 184, has struggled with inconsistent results since winning the Las Vegas Challenger last October, but after a short hiatus after losing early in Miami qualies, he could be ready to start a hot streak like fellow American John Isner did in Miami.
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Did you know there’s a top 100 professional player who has not signed any attire endorsement deals because she only wears the designs of her mother? Yes, Camilla Giorgi’s outfits are all created by her mom. Giorgi wears Babolat shoes and plays with a babolat racquet.
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Brian Baker, who made his Tennis Channel analyst debut this weekend in the USA vs Belgium tie in Nashville, TN, had another recent surgery but is not calling it quits on his career just yet. A doubles specialist the last couple of years, Baker plans to give his playing career another go, USTA coach Brian Boland told me in Miami.
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Leander Paes is now the most successful Davis Cup doubles player in history. Paes surpassed Italian Nicola Pietrangeli in doubles wins, 43 to 42 in Tianjin, China on Saturday pairing Rohan Bopanna for a victory that sparked and saved India from an 0-2 deficit to the Chinese. Pietrangeli is still the Davis Cup’s most successful player in history with a win loss/record or 120-44 (78-32 singles, 42-12 doubles). Paes is No. 5 on the all-time list at 90-35 (48-22 singles, 43-13 doubles).
The 44-year-old Paes began his Davis Cup career at age sixteen in his 1990 debut in a doubles match against Japan with Zeeshan Ali as his partner. That match ended an 18-16 fifth-set victory and clinched the tie 3-0 for India. Three months later, Paes won junior Wimbledon. And the rest is history. Ooops. Pardon me, Paes is still making history.
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Did you know Tommy Robredo and Ernests Gulbis both played Morocco Marakkech qualies? Gulbis lost first round to Pedro Martinez and Robredo, age 35, beat Vincent Millot 60 62 and if he can beat Calvin Hemery today he will be in the main draw. Robredo is ranked 173 in the world and turns 36 in a month. Robredo appears to be nowhere near ready to retire – he’s played seven pro events already this year in Morocco, Spain, Chile, Brazil (2), France and Germany. Robredo started the year ranked 163.
Robredo turned pro in 1998, has won 12 ATP singles titles and over $13m in prize money. His career ATP win/loss record is 533-354.
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Daniel Nestor’s doubles ranking has fallen to 100, the lowest it has been in decades. This week in Houston the 44-year-old legend will try to turn around his career with new partner Ivo Karlovic. The two wildcards will meet a troublesome team in the first round – Australians Nick Kyrgios and Matt Reid. The last time Nestor’s double ranking dropped out of the top 100 was in 1994. If you want perspective on how long ago 1994 was, the four major title winners that year were Pete Sampras, Sergi Bruguera, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
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Remember Andrei Cherkasov? The Russian top tenner and Roland Garros quarterfinalist, who won two ATP singles titles both in Moscow (in 1990 and 1991) is now a coach at IMG in Bradenton.
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catherine · April 9, 2018 at 9:55 am
Leander Paes received a congatulatory tweet from Sachin Tendulker, who is a tennis fan and a Federer admirer.
catherine · April 9, 2018 at 9:58 am
Tendulkar
Scoop Malinowski · April 9, 2018 at 10:20 am
Details of Kozlov vs Bellucci…Bellucci had twice a break lead in S2, got broken right after each time. Kozlov served for S3 but got broken at 15, Bellucci saved 3 MPs in the tiebreaker but lost his serve again at 5-6.
Dan Markowitz · April 9, 2018 at 11:30 am
Those are impressive wins by Koz. You’d think clay would not be a strong surface for him, but maybe he’s hitting bigger.
Duke Carnoustie · April 9, 2018 at 11:36 am
Houston has some great matchups. Smyczek-Fritz, Escobedo-SteveJo, Mac Mac-Foe.
For fans of politics, DY could face Sandgren in round 2 in a battle between the fake racism charge and Sandgren as a proud Alt-right supporter. Liberals will lose their minds!
I think Harrison has a good draw and should make a run.
15 Americans in the main draw.
catherine · April 10, 2018 at 3:13 am
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/09/madison-brengle-lawsuit-wta-itf-needles-doping-tests
Haven’t heard anything about this before. Not sure what to think.
Scoop Malinowski · April 10, 2018 at 8:56 am
Catherine, looks like a money grab, inspired by the Bouchard lawsuit win. These lawyers will try anything for $.