Update
David's week at Belgrade has ended with a defeat against Andreas Seppi, who prevailed 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 after an hour and 52 minutes. The only positive aspect - a bit more time for David to practice at Madrid...
Edit: As there are still neither photos nor video highlights available from the match, I'm going to wait with my report until tomorrow.
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| (abiertomextenis.com/dpa; montage by VD) |
After defeating two young players from outside the Top100 in his first two matches at Belgrade, in the semifinal today (his second of the season and again on clay, after the Copa Claro) David now gets to face a fellow seeded player. Someone, who's much closer to him in terms of ranking and age. And apart from that, David and Andreas Seppi have met before, though it's been a while.
For second seed Andreas Seppi, 28 years old and at #46 currently ranked three places above David, this is the first semifinal he has been able to reach this season. With three quarterfinal appearances (at Doha, Rotterdam and then also last week at Bucharest, where he lost a close match to Fabio Fognini) as his best results ahead of this week. At Belgrade, Seppi has had two straightforward victories over Ivan Dodig and Gilles Muller.
David and Andreas Seppi have met twice but it's been six years since their last encounter, which took place at Monte Carlo. Back then, David won in straights, just like the first time they met (at Vienna, 2004).
Apart from a similar ranking and age, there's a couple of other things that David and Andreas Seppi have in common. A not necessarily reliable serve, for example. And of course, Seppi looks about as typically Italian as David looks typically Argentinean. But another thing Seppi shares with David is a tendency for drama when it comes to closing out sets or matches. Whether there's going to be drama in tonight's match and if so, who will be responsible for it
- we'll find out.


anybody knows what is going on because tennis tv started to show the afternoon match?
ReplyDeleteThey must've switched VOD and the live channel...
ReplyDeleteOther stream links in the sidebar.
Vamos David! Let's hope he'll get the most of the similarities he shares with Seppi hehe.
ReplyDeletePlease, a good serve tonight!
anybody knows what shoes david's been wearing lately? they're awesome!
ReplyDeleteI'd check topper.com.ar
ReplyDeletepoor match from David, Seppi isn't making the UEs like in the first set but it is David now making them.
ReplyDeleteHes playing good in the third altho he looks a bit tired, not much! Hopefully he can hold serve and get to the final! His first this season. Vamoss
ReplyDeleteit'd be great to break now to close this out on Seppi's serve!!
ReplyDeletea match you can say who makes the least UEs he wins
ReplyDeleteit's horrible to watch
ReplyDeletenalbandian pisses me off
ReplyDeletei cant stand it anymore
i dont believe he will be good again
he is playing bad the whole tournament with a field so weak and he still cant win
horrible horrible horrible
after a good first service game in third set he had luck in his next 3 service games to win, but he continued with these horrible service games and payed the price.
ReplyDeletehe plays awful ever since he changed his racquet back if this is not the problem then he is just terrible
ReplyDeletei think he can skip madrid the way he looks now
raonic will crush him with that poor serve and millions of unforced errors
i love him i really do thats what kills me
to see him being a waste of talent
losing to seppi??? common
if he cant win belgrade then what can he win anymore?
"nalbandian made me buy a raquet and go play
Deletenalbandian is tennis for me
and always will be
- Remember that comment?
yes i remember that is the reason i am angry that he cant be good for more than two matches
DeleteIt's just always the same you know, whether you post as Adam or isis. If David wins a good match he's the best ever to have played the game and you declare your undying support for him.
DeleteIf he loses a bad match than he's horrible, insufferable, you'll never watch tennis again etc etc...
If u cant stand it then p*** off. Stop slacking him, hes 30 he aint gunna be as good as he was and u gotta accept that. He couldve done better in his career but now this season we should just hope he doesnt get injured and ofcourse play well but not slacking him... It was an ugly match, lets hope better for madrid!! Vamos David!!
ReplyDeleteaaaargh too many UEs, it's frustrating especially because he was up a break in the 3rd :(
ReplyDeleteand he was probably tired in this match but for that I don't have understanding.
ReplyDeleteWasted talent? Maybe. I agree he shouldve done better in his career. Underachiever. Nalby forever. We all here love the guy so lets just hope he bounces back!!
ReplyDeleteI'm already thinking about Madrid and David will have a tough match against Raonic but well, let's hope he'll quickly get used to the blue clay!
ReplyDeleteYeahh apparently its really slow? Good or bad for david? Oppinions..
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote in the Madrid draw post, from what I've read so far, it sounds pretty much like the court at Bamberg.
ReplyDeleteWhat a golden opportunity wasted. Paire wins, David is up 2-0 and 4-1 in the third and then he starts thinking. Leads are David's Waterloo. Now he'll probably go out and knock off Raonic in the first round at Madrid. This loss hurts.
ReplyDeleteYeah, a golden opportunity wasted to gain a lot more ranking points... I just think that fitness also played a role in this. Perhaps more than thinking too much about being close to victory.
DeleteYeah, I would agree on the fitness part, too.
DeleteThe point is, thanks to the "media embargo", there were no news after the DC QF about those adductor problems that he did have during the Cilic match (though he went ballistic when that was mentioned in the media). So I don't know whether he maybe needed to take a longer pause, how much he has been training of late etc.
Deletewhy are you expecting things in madrid?
ReplyDeleteeven i am realistic which i usually dont
raonic will win in two sets under an hour if he continue to play as bad as he does
he needs to practice hard and start taking things a bit more seriously if he wants to be in the olympics and to win davis cup
since miami he is playing the worst i have seen him play
that is the worst loss in recent times such a weak field such a weak tournament
ReplyDeletewhat a shame really unbelievable
even two years ago players still feared from him and gave him respect
ReplyDeletetoday? every low ranked player believe he can pull the win off
sad thats what it is
None of us is happy about this defeat. But I think you're seriously overreacting. Again.
ReplyDeleteand the thing that boders me the most is that why he is not improving since indian wells?
ReplyDeletehe is not badly injured ?
it seems like he is going backwards
Some people go backwards, other people go in circles...
ReplyDeleteHa ha - good one, Julia. ;)
Deletepoor david really poor
ReplyDeleteToday,his opponent did not quit. After a solid 1st set,David seems to lost his range in the 2nd set but hung on and played good enough early in the decider to get a break. I didn't watch after that,expecting him to cruise for the win. But it happens..
ReplyDeleteAlthough very disappointing,it wasn't that surprising since I've been watching David long enough. This is just another one of those heartbreaking matches he should have won but ended up losing. But so long as he stays injury-free,we can still have something to hope for.
loooool julia i can just feel she is absolutely fuming by what adam is saying
ReplyDeleteShe is not absolutely fuming. Just tired of the same old same old.
ReplyDeletebefor this tournament there was a good chance for David to qualify for the olympics, now the chances are not high. I wonder only what the problem really was that he was looking so tired in this tournament, and every time when he is tired he at all serves very badly, this time he also missed easy shots completely after the first set.
ReplyDeleteWinning this event would've made qualifying much easier but this doesn't just depend on Belgrade, nor does it just depend on David's results, as I've tried to explain before.
DeleteAnd if he missed the easy shots completely after the first set then how did he manage to get within two games of winning this match?
ashot i agree with you its just doesnt seem like he is into tennis
ReplyDeletehe plays without giving it all i dont know whats the problem with him
but the excuses are over he is fit he is injury free and he suppose to be in good shape but instead of improving he is collapsing
he has nothing to do in madrid the way he looks know
He's supposed to be completely fit, without any physical problems and and in good shape - because you say so?
DeleteAs I've said before, David had adductor problems during the DC tie. And we don't know how much he was able to train ahead of Belgrade. Apparently, not enough.
since that run in washington and the two masters
ReplyDeletenalbandian simply vanished
See my previous comment.
Delete