UpdateII
David has won his first match at Rome since 2008, defeating Albert Ramos 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 37 minutes. After a straightforward first set, David got broken when he served for the match but then managed to close it out on his second attempt.
In the second round, David's next opponent will now be fourth seed Andy Murray.
More tonight...
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| (abiertomextenis.com/teniselespinar.com; montage by VD) |
Update
3.06pm local - David's match is now next up on Pietrangeli.
Ahead of focusing of David's first-round encounter today, his first match at Rome in four years, here's a look at the rankings situation this week. With the points from last year's edition of Rome already gone now (and with ten points for the first round in Madrid added to David's, as well as Chela's and Berlocq's count), David is now ranked #42 with 1005 ranking points, 55 points behind Carlos Berlocq (#38) and 80 behind Chela (#37).
And at #39, between David and his two countrymen, there's David's opponent today.
24-year-old Albert Ramos from Spain is a clay specialist, who cracked the Top100 for the first time last summer. And that he has now reached what's the highest ranking in his career so far is mostly the consequence of his results on clay. With the final he reached at Casablanca (lost to Andujar) and two semifinals, at São Paulo (lost to Almagro) and more recently at Estoril (lost to Gasquet) as his best results of this season. Last week at Madrid, Ramos lost in the first round to Federico Delbonis.
Ramos was the highest-ranked player who had to play qualies at Rome and he beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Gianluca Naso for a place in the main draw.
David and Albert Ramos have never met on the Tour before. And to be honest, I've never seen Ramos play. So I can't really tell you anything about the match-up. What's clear, though is that David will find himself dealing with a leftie today. And with a clay-courter.
I've never seen Ramos play either, but I guess he has all the qualities of a claycourt specialist, so physically he'll be tough, long rallies and all.
ReplyDeletelooks like the qualies' draw was very good this year.
looking at the ranking, David, Berlocq and Chela are so close, I imagine they also think about the Olympics race, pressure... :)
Good luck David!!!
Other possible opponents for David from qualies would've been Giraldo or Garcia-Lopez - and also "honorary VamosDavider" Robin Haase.
ReplyDeleteBut that Ramos had to play qualies while David made it into the main draw is a typical example of how it's the ranking at the time the entry list closes that counts.
And yeah, getting close now, in terms of the Olympics...
I've never seen Ramos either. I'm always wary, though, of left-handed clay-court specialists. Hope David's on his game today. Pick up some all important points. Two WTA matches ahead of him, so maybe those matches will go quick.
ReplyDeleteWe're into the third set of the second WTA match now. Could've finished in two but well, here we are.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be very windy at Rome today. Not good.
It would be wrong to underestimate Ramos just because he lost to Delbonis. The latter may still be ranked (just) outside the top 100, but he is very promising and has beaten other strong opponents - notably Florian Mayer (who distinguished himself yet again yesterday by eliminating Milos Raonic from Rome almost before the tournament had begun).
ReplyDeleteAt Madrid, the conditions favoured the big servers. But at Rome, we're now back on a traditional clay court.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anybody underestimates Albert Ramos. I mentioned Madrid because I usually include the latest results of David's opponent in my pre-match post.
Looking forewward to this one. Nalby needs to put me in a good mood for revision after
ReplyDeleteBoth David and Ramos on court now. Vamos David!!
ReplyDeletewindy windy out there. Hope David's serve will be okay. Vamos!
ReplyDeleteI'm at work and can't watch. I'm sneaking very occasional looks here at and live scores. Vamos David!
ReplyDeleteAargh, he went to break point against while I was posting that. Hold, David!
ReplyDeleteThat point to set up break point is a perfect example of the touch and feeling David has, really cant teach that.
ReplyDeleteOne down, one to go. Nice set. The red clay is so much better than that blue stuff.
ReplyDeleteHow is David's serving? The stats look pretty good, with 71% first serves and 81% of first serve points won.
ReplyDeleteLooks pretty good. Three double faults, but 3 aces. Strong serving I'd say.
DeleteHes had such a solid game. played really well. If he gets through this hes got a good shot at murray
ReplyDeletewe all wish his serve at 278km/h was right... hehe :)
ReplyDeleteokay then, close the match on Ramos' serve, David!!!
or not. David serving again for the match. For good this time, hopefully!
ReplyDeletePretty good win for David today. Solid serve, great slides, pretty lobs.
ReplyDeleteI actually expected a tougher match, more resistance by Ramos but David played good. (even though he had to serve twice for the match, nothing dramatic :)
Ramos started to play better towards the end of the second set but that was too late. Maybe David felt a bit too secure after going up a double break in the second...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, overall a good match for him, especially given the windy conditions. I was expecting more DFs, more drama on serve.
And yeah, he did slide today - though he's not supposed to. But I thought he moved well.
If he could just improve that serve! there will be much better results, and less defeats like Seppi or Volandri type.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that David was able to pull through and now is the big test. Im confident only because Murray might be a bit rusty. I just hope David is able to be more consistent on his serves. Murray is beatable, David just has to be mentally strong. Chela lost his match today so David could gain some valuable spots. Vamos David
ReplyDeleteGood straight sets win for David against a though clay-court specialist like Ramos who's in the best form of his life. Now against Murray David has to play attacking tennis from the start and hope to be in one of those days where he can beat anyone. Let´s hope he's not in one of those where he can lose to almost anyone,lol.
ReplyDelete