Victor Hanescu against Gilles Simon

After defeating Gael Monfils 6-2 6-3, Victor Hanescu is the first Romanian player to reach the final of this tournament. The home crowd has been waiting for 12 to cheer for it's local favorite in the last day of the tournament, and now they have it.

Tomorrow, in Bucharest, from the moment the first serve is being played, Gilles Simon will be an enemy of the state.

But let's take a moment to look at the facts here :

Gilles Simon likes to play on clay. He has shown that this year not just by a 17-10 record this year on this sourface but also in his game. He did not play a single match in a Challanger tournament this year, and that means he is used to playing only at a high level. Not an extraordinary year for the Frenchman but it has not been a bad one.

On the other hand we have Victor Hanescu, the local favorite. And just by saying that he is the first Romanian to reach the final in this tournament is a big advantage for him : the whole arena will cheer for him. His year has been awfull for him, just recovering from an injury, and that's why Hanescu decided to play a lot in Challangers (not exactly top players there, but you can build up your morale). Hanescu reached the Quarter Finals last year at Rolland Garross, so we can say that he likes clay. Hanescu has declared that he enjoys playing at the moment, he feels like he is playing good tennis, and that he is perfectly fit.
Hanescu needs to win this.


I think Hanescu will grab this one, or lose it at the limit. Either way, it will be a good final to watch.

Gael Monfils in the semifinals

Monfils managed to get in the semifinals at BCR Open Romania, after defeating compatriot Mark Giquel in straight sets.

The thing about Monfils is not weather or not he is playing well enough to win in Bucharest, but if he won't be tired after playing 3 matches more than any of his future adversaries in this tournament.

Monfils will face the winner of the match between Victor Hanescu and Potito Starace.

Pavel Out, Hanescu Trough

Unfortunately for the home crowd, Andrei Pavel lost yesterday against the number 3 seed : Potito Starace, in straight sets.

All local hopes go now to Victor Hanescu, who managed to set up a quarter final against Potito Starace, hoping to get revenge for Pavel.

Also Carlos Berlocq mannaged to get in the semifinals.

French day in Bucharest.

It seems that French players enjoy playing in Bucharest, mainly because they like clay and in Romania they play on it, compared to Sanghai where they play on hard.
Gael Monfils seems to live up to my expectations and has reached the Quarter Finals where he will play Marc Giquel, his compatriot. Giquel defeated Andreev in the second round : 6-4 6-3.

Also another qualifyier that has reached the Quarter Finals is Hugo Armando. Armando
impressed in Bucharest today when he defeated Andreas Seppi. Armando will meet Gilles
Simon.

Tommorow there will be the following matches, all of them counting for the second round :

Simone Bolelli against Yuri Schukin (no predictions here)

Ivan Navarro-Pastor against Carlos Berlocq : personally i whould take Berloq to win : 6 units at 1.50 (Gamebookers). Berloq i think is the better player and starts with a morale advantage, leading 2-0 in head 2 head encounters.

Albert Montanes against Victor Hanescu. These players played 5 times, Montanes has won 3 and Hanescu 3. I think it will be a good match to see, 2 different types of players.

Andrei Pavel will play Potito Starace tommorow for a place in the Quarter Finals. Potito Starace had a better year so far, but Pavel is just great in the last 2 months. These players have never encountered before on a tennis court. I will take Pavel to win : 5 units @ 2.20 (Gamebookers)

So these are the picks for todat

Pavel to win against Starace 5/10 @ 2.20 - Gamebookers
Berlocq to win against Navarro-Pasttor 6/10 @ 1.50 - Gamebookers.

Nr 1 and 2 out

This has been a crazy first round at the BCR Open Romania : Both first seed Nicolas Almagro and second seed Filippo Volandri have been eliminated from the competition.

Spaniard Nicolas Almagro was forced to retire with a right elbow injury during his match against Simone Bolelli of Italy. Two-time Valencia champion Almagro was leading 6-4, 1-5 when he quit.

Gael Monfils (pictured) made it two career wins in a row against Filippo Volandri, the No. 2 seed and 2006 runner-up. Monfils defeated Volandri 6-3 7-6 and will play Vassalo Arguello from Argentina in the second round.

Romanian qualifier Catalin Gard lost to Mark Giquel, and Hanescu notched over Florian Mayer with a 7-6 7-6 win.

Potito Starace is now the top seed still in the competition after 3-6 7-5 6-2 with Kristof Vliegen.

This tournament has lost a lot of big players, but that makes it only more interesting. And the Romanian crowd is now more entitled than ever to hope for a Romanian player to win the title.

Upsets in first round

BCR Open Romania : Round 1

In the first matches, it seems that there have been 2 upsets :

First of all, the last year's champion, Jurgen Melzer lost his match against Andreas Seppi (4-6 7-5 6-4). This was a tough match for Melzer against a very good player, probably the best player that is not amongst the seeds.

The other upset (it is not an actually upset, but you can call it that) is Florent Serra (the champion of 2005 here in Bucharest) retiring from his match against Evgeny Koroloev after winning the first set and being 6-5 down in the second.

It is nice to see that Gael Monfils was able to defeat Alberto Martin in a heavy disputed match in the thrid and final qualifying round, but is now facing another tough match, against Fillipo Volandri (the second seed and number 29 ATP).

We do have a couple of interesting matches programmed for today :
Andrei Pavel vs Oscar Hernandez
Potito Starace (3) vs Kristof Vliegen
and let's not forget about the Romanian Cataling Gard that made it to the main draw and is now facing Mark Giquel.

I will come back later with more news.


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BCR Open Romania

This week there will be 2 major tennis tournaments : China Open (Beijing) and BCR Open Romania (Bucuresti). I think it is obvious that i will choose to cover the tournament in Romania in more detail.

The seeds are not that well ranked compared to other tournaments, but they are regular players in this tournament, and most of them are clay players, and that is the reason why they came to play in Bucuresti.

I can't really pick a favorite in this tournament. I think that Andrei Pavel will have a good tournament (at least the Quarter finals, because he has shown a good form in the last months, and he always plays well in front of his own fans). Also, Gael Monfils will be a player to watch here, but the problem is that he is currently in the Qualifiers, and now has to play against Alberto Martin (a 0-2 record between them), and if he manages to win, he may be a little tired.

This is not my favorite, but Nicolas Almagro (first seed) is the player i think has the most qualities to win, because he is a clay player, he won a tournament this year in Valencia (ESP) and he has a 23-12 record on clay this year, given the fact that he did have some bad luck in the draws.

That is all for today, log in tomorrow for the latest news and updates regarding the tournament in Romania.

Heh

Came back from Greece the other night and noticed i was right about the winners. Hope i can keep it up like this.