Pulling out: I guess we won’t be seeing Milos Raonic play on clay after all, at least not for another several weeks. He withdrew from Acupulco with a shoulder injury. That makes room for yet another lucky loser–the third in Mexico, to go along with three in Delray Beach.
Andy Roddick also withdrew from his tournament, but Americans still make up the top three seeds. John Isner, however, is already gone, double-faulting away match point in a third set tiebreak against Teymuraz Gabashvili. Also out of the Delray Beach draw is Ryan Harrison, who lost a three-setter against Florent Serra. Too bad for Harrison, losing a winnable match on home turf.
Today: Half of the Dubai action is over, but still coming is Roger Federer‘s first match since the Australian Open, in which he faces HT.com favorite Somdev Devvarman. I was going to make a comment about how Devvarman’s chances of winning barely merited making the trip, but then I looked it up. First-round losers in Dubai take home better than $11,000 for their efforts. Not bad.
Speaking of Dubai, file this under “matches I want on DVD.” Richard Gasquet made handy work of Grigor Dimitrov–nothing too surprising or thrilling, but imagine what a clinic that was for those of us with one-handed backhands!
In Acupulco, Nicholas Almagro works toward a third straight title by facing Victor Hanescu. You have to wonder why Hanescu chose the golden swing: He lost in the first round in Brazil, then the second round in Buenos Aires, and now he’s almost guaranteed a third-straight early exit. The best match of the day follows Almagro’s, as a battle of the lefties features Fernando Verdasco and Thomaz Bellucci.
Finally, the headliner in Delray is Juan Martin Del Potro against Richard Berankis. Del Potro is starting to look strong again, and with Roddick out of the draw, you might have to consider him a favorite. Crazy as it sounds, if Berankis plays well, he may prove to be Del Potro’s toughest opponent of the week.
Challengers: With three ATP-level tournaments going on, there aren’t a lot of “name” players in the Casablanca and Wolfsburg challengers this week. What there is: Polish 20-year-old Jerzy Janowicz is playing in Wolfsburg, and he beat Olivier Rochus in a third-set tiebreak yesterday to open his week. He’s likely to face Sebastian Rieschick in the next round.
See you tomorrow!