Open 13, Marseille, Feb 15-21

[choupi]

Back from Rotterdam, Marcos will play in Marseille next week,where he's already had good results. Hope the good vibes will be there all week.

Official website of the event: www.open13.fr/home.html
There's an English version, which is pretty rare for a French event
Another good thing is that you can watch some live matches when you click on WebTv (homepage). Not every match will be covered though.

Good luck Marcos!

[getta]

Main Draw

(1) SODERLING, Robin SWE/BYE
STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy UKR vs. BOLELLI, Simone ITA
QUALIFIER vs. LLODRA, Michael FRA
BRANDS, Daniel GER vs. (7) BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP

(4) ROBREDO, Tommy ESP/BYE
ZVEREV, Mischa GER vs. (WC) GUEZ, David FRA
HAJEK, Jan CZE vs. QUALIFIER
(WC) RUFIN, Guillaume FRA vs. (6) YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS

(8) BENNETEAU, Julien FRA vs. QUALIFIER
KUNITSYN, Igor RUS vs. SERRA, Florent FRA
CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA vs. SEPPI, Andreas ITA
BYE/(3) MONFILS, Gael FRA

(5) SIMON, Gilles FRA vs. ROCHUS, Olivier BEL
QUALIFIER vs. QUALIFIER
ROCHUS, Christophe BELvs. ISTOMIN, Denis UZB
BYE/(2) TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA

[getta]

it’s an excellent website with nice online information indeed, Choupi.

here’s the blog.
already voted that Marcos will be the winner. keep voting for Marcos!!!

btw, I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas is a good pump up song. voted for it.

[getta]

Monday OoP

CENTRE COURT

Matches Start At: 11:00 am
Laurent RECOUDERC (FRA) vs. Ruben BEMELMANS (BEL)

followed by
Illya MARCHENKO (UKR) vs. [Conor NILAND (IRL) or Edouard ROGER-VASSELIN (FRA)]


Not Before 2:00 PM
Arnaud CLEMENT (FRA) / Nicolas MAHUT (FRA)
vs.
Colin FLEMING (GBR) / Ken SKUPSKI (GBR)


Not Before 4:00 PM
Igor KUNITSYN (RUS) vs. Florent SERRA (FRA)


Not Before 6:45 PM
Daniel BRANDS (GER) vs. Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP)

followed by
Mischa ZVEREV (GER) vs. David GUEZ (FRA)

[getta]

www.open13.fr/news-day-2010-96.html

It's main draw time



After the final round of qualies, that will start at 11 am, it will be main draw time at the Open 13.
...
Runner up in 2007, Marcos Baghdatis had a tough 2009 season. The boy from Limasol, got it together towards the end of the year. He won the Stockholm tournament and followed up with another win in Sydney earlier this season. Ranked 36th in the world, Baghdatis will matchup with German Daniel Brands for a first between the two players. The 60 spots in the rankings separating the men puts "Bagda" in the drivers seat to move into the second round.
...

[getta]

i watched Daniel Brands in the flesh in his match against Economidis at the Athens challenger last April. he’s a tall guy with an all-out power game who can potentially become dangerous at the challenger circuit only… he defeated Eco in three sets, should have finished him in two though, but had the crowd against him… oh well, i was absolutely bored stiff and left the stadium well before the end to let them turn it to a borefiesta…

back to today’s match, don’t mind that there aren’t any live streams available.
on the contrary, i would be shattered if there weren’t any live streams for Marcos’ second round match cause Michaël has a beautiful game and is fun to watch.

[getta]

Tuesday OoP

COURT 1

Matches Start At: 11:00 am
Illya MARCHENKO (UKR) vs. Ruben BEMELMANS (BEL)


Not Before 1:00 PM
Julian KNOWLE (AUT)/Robert LINDSTEDT (SWE) vs. Thierry ASCIONE (FRA)/Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP)


Not Before 2:30 PM
Sanchai RATIWATANA (THA)/Sonchat RATIWATANA (THA) vs. David GUEZ (FRA)/Florent SERRA (FRA)

followed by
Josselin OUANNA (FRA)/Edouard ROGER-VASSELIN (FRA) vs. Sergiy STAKHOVSKY (UKR)/Rogier WASSEN (NED)

followed by
Christophe ROCHUS (BEL) vs. Denis ISTOMIN (UZB)

[getta]

www.open13.fr/news-day-2010-99.html

Baghdatis powers into second round



Number 7 seed, Marcos Baghdatis captured his second round berth by beating German Daniel Brands 6-3 6-2 in just over an hour.

It wasn't until the 33rd minute of the first set that Marcos Baghdatis decided to make his move. Up 4-3, the Cypriot broke his opponent thanks to a netted volley by Brands. The following service game was pure formality for the 2006 Australian Open runner up, who captured the first set 6-3.
Conceding his serve on the opener of the second set was too much for the German to handle. Another break while being up 3-1 put Baghdatis in the drivers seat. Extremely confident on his serve, the kid from Limasol only dropped 5 points while serving in the second set. Final score 6-3 6-2 in an hour and xx minutes.In the second round, Baghdatis will face the winner of the match between 2009 runner-up Michaël Llodra (very comfortable on the court of the Palais des Sports) and qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

[getta]

why on earth Marcos decided to play doubles? now i get it.

he sees the Davis Cup tie against Egypt approach around the corner and needs to train to play doubles as well, at an appropriate competitive level.

it's what we all know now, his team - the Cypriot team - would have been sheesh, scary crap were it not for Marcos himself.

[getta]

Marcos and Ascione lost to Knowle and Lindstedt 4-6 6-7(3).

===============================================================

Wednesday OoP

CENTRE COURT

Matches Start At: 11:00 am
Rohan BOPANNA (IND)/Jeff COETZEE (RSA) vs. Christophe ROCHUS (BEL)/Olivier ROCHUS (BEL)

Not Before 12:00 PM
Tommy ROBREDO (ESP) vs. Mischa ZVEREV (GER)

Not Before 2:00 PM
Julien BENNETEAU (FRA) vs. Florent SERRA (FRA)

followed by
Michael LLODRA (FRA) vs. Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP)

Not Before 6:45 PM
Josselin OUANNA (FRA) vs. Jo-Wilfried TSONGA (FRA)

followed by
Guillaume RUFIN (FRA) vs. Mikhail YOUZHNY (RUS)

[getta]

i’m a bit worried about today’s match not only cause the surface suits Mika’s game, but also cause Mika is a lefty and possesses the game technique which is likely to impinge Marcos’ nerves.

ok ignore me, it’s just my babbling. only let me mark the paper with a sceptical pen and remind you of what Marcos said in Brisbane last year when he was speaking about his toughest opponents.



“basically i don’t like playing lefties. i don’t know why. it’s just in my head…. also, i don’t like playing Max Mirnyi… he covers the court, he serves pretty good… i think i must work on that part of my game…”

oh my. Marcos is not gonna like Mika’s game either… he’s a lefty AND he does play serve-and-volley. he may not have shown his best form lately, yet he’s considered a tricky opponent.

vamos Marcos!

[getta]

Marcos lost to Mika 6-7(6) 4-6.

i don't feel foggy headed cause it looked like a perfectly smooth landing.

on to Dubai.

[christos]

Little disappointing. He could had gone a little further