Saturday, April 13, 2013

Almagro dispatchs Williams in straight sets; advances to final at Clay Court Champs

Nicolas Almagro advanced to his first final of
2013 with his win over Rhyne Williams in Houston.
Photo by Darla tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography
By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2013 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 13, 2013) Number one seed Nicolas Almagro punched his ticket to the final at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship with a 6-2, 6-1 in over wild card entry Rhyne Williams at historic River Oaks Country Club in Houston.

Almagron wasted little time in dispatching the 22-year old American winning in 56 minutes to secure his spot in the final.

This will be the Spaniards first trip to the finals, having advancing to the semifinals in Buenos Aires and Acapulco this year.

He is currently ranked number 12 in the world.

The 27-year old had an opening round bye and made his Houston debut with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over Gael Monfils.

He then followed his second round win with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over number seven seed Paolo Lorenzo in the quarter finals.
Wild card entry Rhyne Williams was playing
River Oaks for the first time at the
U.S. Clay Court Championships.
Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography

In response to a question in the press conference if he if he played as well as he appeared to play, Almagro stated:

“I think I played better than the first two days. I feel good today and I think he (Williams) was a little bit tired. I tried to be focused at the time and I moved really good on (the) court today and that it is important for me.”

In fact, he totally dominated his young opponent, serving seven aces and scoring 82% on first service points.

In his first final of 2013, Almagro will face the winner of the Juan Monaco vs. John Isner match.

The final will be at 2:00 p.m. with live coverage on the Tennis Channel.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Doubles field set at US Men's Clay Court Championship

Photo by Darla S Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography
By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2013 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 7, 2013)  The doubles seeding at the US Men's Clay Court Championships has been posted at Red Oaks Country Club in Houston, with 16 teams vying for the $25,000 championship purse.


The 2011 champions, Bob and Mike Bryan, are the No. 1 seed. They will play the team of Oliver Marach (AUT) and Andre Sa (BRA) in the first round.

The number two seed, Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) and Scott Lipsky (USA), will face off against American's Steve Johnson and Jack Sock.

Treat Huey (PHI) and Dominic Inglot (GBR), the number three seed, will play Fernando Verdasco (ESP) and Mischa Zverev (GER).

The team of Eric Butorac (USA) and Jonathan Erlich (ISR) will take the court against Somdev Devvarman (IND) and Michael Russell (USA).

In addition to the $25,000 check,  the winning team will also earn 250 ATP points.

The runners-up will take home $13,140 and 150 ATP points.

Each semi-finalist team will earn $7120 and 90 points while the quarter-finalists take home $4,070 and 45 ATP points.

Each first round winning team will earn $2,390.

The Bryan brothers are currently ranked number two in the world.

Tennis fans can follow live scoring at www.ATPWorldTour.com.