Rankings report: It’s a fascinating time of the year in the rankings, as the French Open approaches and the value of a ranking in the top 32 (or 34 or 35, depending on injuries) rises. As I wrote in February, a seed increases a player’s chances of advancing further in the tournament. The benefit is most marked in the 30-35 range, where #32 won’t have to face another seed until the third round, while #35 could draw Rafael Nadal in the first round.
By winning in Estoril and Munich, respectively, both Juan Martin del Potro and Nikolay Davydenko bounced back into the top 32–Davydenko up 12 places to #28, and Delpo up 14 to #32. Florian Mayer, the other finalist in Munich, also moved up from #35 to #30 on last week’s result.
Another big gainer was James Blake, up 40 spots to #109 on the strength of his title in Sarasota. The losing finalist at that tournament, Alex Bogomolov, rose to #91, his career high. Also marking a career best is Benoit Paire, who reached the semifinal in Ostrava, good enough to get him to #99, his first time in the top 100.
Big losers include Fernando Verdasco, down yet another two spots to #17, and Ernests Gulbis, who fell a whopping 31 places down to #64. At the rate he’s going, he’ll have to qualify for Masters 1000 events this summer.
Pobrecitos: Every year, I go into the clay court season knowing it will be bad for Americans, yet every year, the top Americans manage to disappoint. Andy Roddick may have reached a new low, losing to qualifer Flavio Cipolla. I love Cipolla, but I root for him with full knowledge of his limitations, and those limitations should include an inability to beat Roddick. Yet the Italian came through a very tight match, breaking four times to Andy’s two.
In the second round, Cipolla will face Michael Llodra, who had a much easier time dispatching his American opponent, allowing Sam Querrey only five games. Querrey won only 51% of his service points, a disappointing number regardless of surface. The only American in the second round is John Isner, who served his way past Mardy Fish.
Matches to watch: The first round isn’t quite over, and the remaining matches include many blockbusters. On the card for tomorrow:
- del Potro vs Mikhail Youhzny. The Russian hasn’t shown much in months, while Delpo sent the rest of the field a message with his 6-2 6-2 drubbing of Verdasco in the Estoril final.
- Milos Raonic vs Feliciano Lopez. Lopez is playing well, challenging Novak Djokovic in the Belgrade final and reaching the quarters in Barcelona. Assuming Raonic’s back holds up, his recent results suggest he should make this match a close one. They’ll play each other in doubles, as well, Raonic with Nicholas Almagro, and Lopez with Verdasco.
- Kevin Anderson vs Olivier Rochus. If nothing else, it should be entertaining to watch Rochus threaten a guy more than a foot taller than he is. The winner gets Djokovic
- Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs Thiemo de Bakker. This second-rounder features two guys who weren’t favored to get there. GGL beat 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka (who is having an awful clay season), while de Bakker won a three-setter over Juan Carlos Ferrero. Both guys are capable of playing at a top-20 level, and both have already recorded solid victories this week.