{"id":91,"date":"2011-03-10T13:39:27","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T13:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heavytopspin.com\/?p=91"},"modified":"2011-03-10T13:39:27","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T13:39:27","slug":"thursday-topspin-rohan-bopanna-singles-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/10\/thursday-topspin-rohan-bopanna-singles-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday Topspin: Rohan Bopanna, Singles Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indians at Indian Wells: <\/em>It’s no surprise that Somdev Devvarman<\/strong> came through qualifying–he was the second seed and won both his matches in straight sets. \u00a0Rohan Bopanna<\/strong>, on the other hand–he may have been the lowest ranked player in the qualifying draw.<\/p>\n

Yet, after a tough three-setter against Peter Polansky<\/strong> and a tight two-tiebreak match against top seed Daniel Brands<\/strong>, Bopanna finds himself in the main draw. \u00a0This is the first time he’s made it this far in singles at a 1000-level event. \u00a0He’ll face wild card Bernard Tomic<\/strong> in the first round. \u00a0If he wins, he faces none other than Viktor Troicki<\/strong>, the man who he pushed to five sets in Davis Cup last week.<\/p>\n

Opportunities for qualifiers: <\/em>The 96-player draw is unusual, and it gives a big opportunity to qualifiers and others who just missed the cut. \u00a0In most draws, non-seeded players can show up just to face Rafael Nadal<\/strong> in the first round. \u00a0Here, you’re guaranteed to get at least one match against someone outside the top 30.<\/p>\n

A couple of players in position to take advantage of the format are Ryan Sweeting<\/strong> and Matthew Ebden<\/strong>. \u00a0Sweeting plays the Spainard Marcel Granollers<\/strong> in the first round and would then face Juan Monaco<\/strong>, one of the most beatable seeds in the tourney. \u00a0Ebden battles\u00a0Mischa Zverev<\/strong> for a chance to play Tommy Robredo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Match of the day: <\/em>The top half of the draw is in action, meaning a lot of qualifiers get to play their third match in three days. \u00a0That doesn’t apply, however, to the marquee event: Juan Martin Del Potro<\/strong> vs. Radek Stepanek<\/strong>. \u00a0Stepanek can be a challenge for any player, and that might be particularly true for Del Potro, who has faced a barrage of aggressive big servers in Memphis and Delray Beach.<\/p>\n

If I were setting the schedule, the undercard would be the matchup of Richard Berankis<\/strong> and Alex Bogomolov Jr.<\/strong> Bogie is playing well, having just won the title in Dallas and qualified here, and of course Berankis has big potential.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere: <\/em>Speaking of big potential, Grigor Dimitrov<\/strong> isn’t going to display it this week. \u00a0Seeded #1 in Sarajevo, he lost in the first round to Karol Beck<\/strong>. \u00a0That means no semifinal matchup with Dmitri Tursunov<\/strong>, though the Russian is through to the second round thanks to an injury to Igor Sijsling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Miami wild cards: <\/em>We’re already talking about the next tournament, apparently. \u00a0Miami has given main draw slots to James Blake<\/strong>, Ryan Harrison<\/strong>, Jack Sock<\/strong>, Milos Raonic<\/strong>, and Tomic. \u00a0I’m a bit surprised by the love for Tomic stateside; yes, he’s young and talented, but he’s only a fan favorite until the fans get to know him. \u00a0After he showed up in Dallas and tanked a match, you have to wonder why the Miami tournament is doing this for him.<\/p>\n

After all, I’m guessing Evgeny Donskoy<\/strong> is available.<\/p>\n

See you tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indians at Indian Wells: It’s no surprise that Somdev Devvarman came through qualifying–he was the second seed and won both his matches in straight sets. \u00a0Rohan Bopanna, on the other hand–he may have been the lowest ranked player in the qualifying draw. Yet, after a tough three-setter against Peter Polansky and a tight two-tiebreak match … Continue reading Thursday Topspin: Rohan Bopanna, Singles Champion<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,56,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-recaps","category-indian-wells","category-miami"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}