World Tennis Magazine

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michael yani

Yani and Pospisil star in day of first round upsets at the Malaysian Open

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Qualifier Michael Yani knocks out fellow American Brian Baker while Jurgen Melzer’s injury gifts Pospisil second round berth; Two of top four doubles seeds in action tomorrow

Singapore-born American Michael Yani pulled off the upset of the tournament so far when he defeated compatriot Brian Baker 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in one hour and 41 mins in the day’s final match on Centre Court here at the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2012 held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Qualifying for the main draw of this tournament for the second time in three attempts, Yani is only ranked No. 238 in the ATP rankings, while 27-year-old Brian Baker has been having the season of his career after returning from a long term injury layoff, climbing up several hundred ranking spots up to No. 62 in the last year.

MIchael Yani in Kuala Lumpur

The match wasn’t to follow the script, however, as 31-year-old Yani took the first set convincingly, and although he was down 4-2 in the second, he broke Baker back to force the match into a tie-break.

With the tie-break finely poised at 3-5 with Baker on serve, the American took a tumble when trying to retrieve an excellent drop shot from the resurgent Yani. Following a three minute delay for treatment, Baker got back up to play but double-faulted immediately and allowed Yani to serve for a truly memorable victory.

Meanwhile, Canadian world No. 122 Vasek Pospisil moved on to the second round of the Malaysian Open after Austrian eight seed and world No. 37 Jurgen Melzer pulled out midway in the second set of their first round match that stood at 6-4, 2-0 after 54 minutes.

In their first time playing each other, the 22-year-old Pospisil controlled the match from the start by breaking the Austrian as early as the second game. Melzer completed the first set, but midway through the second, decided he could not compete further and retired with a left leg quadriceps injury.

“I had been playing well in practice and I wasn’t surprised when I took the first set as I was in good form,” said Pospisil, who is second only to Milos Raonic in Canada and hopes to break back into the top 100 by year end.

Pospisil will meet Michael Yani in the second round, guaranteeing at least one of them their best ever finish in an ATP 250 tournament this year.

Wild card entry and one of only two Asians left in the singles main draw, Jimmy Wang of Chinese Taipei overcame Italian qualifier and world No. 277 Riccardo Ghedin 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 27 minutes to move into second round.

Back in late 2010 from two wrist surgeries that kept him off the tour for close to three years, the No. 153 ranked Wang served well and had nine aces to his opponent’s one – and only got broken once, in the first set.

“It’s the first time I am playing him but I saw him play yesterday and maybe that helped a little,” said the 27-year-old.

Wang will need to pull off the upset of the tournament if he is to proceed past the second round, as he will be up against world No. 11 and singles second seed Juan Monaco of Argentina next.

“I have never played him before but watched him many times. He is a solid player and I’ll just do my best against him,” said Wang of his chances.

Meanwhile, in the day’s first match, teenage Malaysian wild card Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam put up a valiant effort but fell tamely in the end to world No. 97 Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, losing 6-2, 6-1 in just 50 minutes on Centre Court.

Currently the country’s top ranked tennis player after picking up his first ATP ranking point last year, the 18-year-old is also the youngest participant in the tournament and is playing his first ever singles main draw match in an ATP 250 tournament.

“I started confidently and I think he was maybe a little nervous, but once he found his rhythm, it was very difficult for me to keep up,” said Ariez, who held serve in the first game and even broke his opponent in the fourth game of the first set.

“I think there is definitely improvement from last year. I don’t think it is impossible for me to play at this level. Physically, I have to be stronger, and if I keep going I know I can get there,” he added.

The 25-year-old Sijsling will meet the winner of the match between Spain’s eighth seeded Feliciano Lopez and Slovak Lukas Lacko in the second round.

Three more first round singles matches tomorrow as doubles main draw also gets underway

Doubles specialist Julian Knowle of Austria takes on in-form Spaniard Albert Ramos in the first Centre Court match tomorrow.

Knowle, playing singles for the first time since 2005, is not likely to put up much of a challenge in his first match-up against 24-year-old world No. 48 Ramos, who reached his career high of No. 38 in July when he made the quarterfinal of the ATP 250 SkiStar Swedish Open and the ATP 500 German Tennis Championships. Ramos was also a finalist at the ATP 250 Grand Prix Hassan II held in Casablanca this April.

Seventh seeded Julien Benneteau will take on Argentinean Carlos Berlocq in their first round match, with the duo having last met back in the 2007 Roland Garros, where Berlocq came from a set down to defeat the Frenchman in the first round.

However, both players reached their career best rankings earlier this year, with Bennetaeu currently ranked higher at No. 34 and Berlocq at No. 49.

Bennetaeu can probably boast the better form with some great matches this year, including leading Roger Federer by two sets to nil in the Wimbledon third round, before succumbing to the world number two.

Twenty-year-old Russian Philip Davydenko, the final remaining wild card and nephew of 2009 tournament champion Nikolay Davydenko, will take on Matthew Ebden on Court 1 tomorrow for the only other first round singles match being contested.

The Russian, ranked outside the top 1000, is likely to find the going tough against the No. 64 ranked 24-year-old Australian, who is playing the best tennis of his career this year. The winner of this tie will meet with the winner of the match between Benneteau and Berlocq.

The doubles main draw also kicks off tomorrow with five of the eight first round matches being contested and two of the top four seeded pairings in play.

The second seeded pairing of Daniele Bracciali of Italy and Brazilian Marcelo Melo will take on the American duo of Rajeev Ram and Brian Baker in the day’s last match on Court 1.

Rajeev Ram is fresh from winning his first doubles title of the year at the St. Petersburg Open in Russia just last week, together with Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic.

Meanwhile, third seeds Bruno Soares of Brazil and Austrian partner Alexander Peya will play wildcard duo Jimmy Wang and Malaysian veteran Si Yew Ming on Centre Court not before 6.30pm.

Tournament singles champion in 2009, Nikolay Davydenko will take to court for his doubles campaign tomorrow, partnering Belgium’s Dick Norman as they face the Russian-Uzbek pairing of Mikhail Elgin and Denis Istomin in the first round.

Colombian Alejandro Falla and Igor Sijsling are up against Great Briton duo Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, with the tie scheduled for 2pm on Court 1.

Meanwhile, Melzer, who will have an MRI in the morning, may still return to the court in his doubles match, partnering second seeded singles Juan Monaco of Argentina, and playing against the US-Australian pairing of James Cerretani and Matthew Ebden in the day’s last match scheduled for Centre Court.

Both David Ferrer and Juan Monaco arrived in KL today ahead of their singles debuts on Thursday.

The tournament is supported by the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and Tourism Malaysia and sponsors that include Rado, CNN International, the DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Wilson, 100 Plus, the Albukhary Foundation, Astro and the ATP World Tour’s Premier Partner Corona. The event is sanctioned by the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia.

Michael Yani’s tennis journeyman dream

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There is indeed a tennis bucket list out there, and I can tell you what’s at the top of Michael Yani’s, even if you never heard of Michael Yani or mistake him for that wild-haired Greek guy who plays the pan flute, or whatever they call that musical instrument.

That guy is Yanni. This is Yani, one of dozens of tennis pros you’ve never heard of, who travel the world making a few bucks here and a few bucks there and who remain obscure even to those who read the agate tennis scores every day in the paper.

For the record, Michael Yani is 31 years old, ranked No. 175 and in 12 years of living, briefly, in some great hotels and, more regularly, in a lot of seedy ones, he’s earned about $330,000, or about $27,500 a year — hardly enough to keep him in blue chips or even to afford an occasional business class flight. But, hey, this isn’t about the money, he’ll tell you. This is about tennis.

And before he chucks it all in and starts leaning on his Duke University degree, he’s praying for one Grand Slam win. Just one. That’s at the top of his bucket list, though I personally like his No. 2 choice better, which is to play a night match at the U.S. Open against “one of those guys.”

One of those guys meaning Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal or Roger Federer. The scene: Opening night match at the Open, Arthur Ashe Stadium filled, flash going off in every corner of the stadium, loud music signaling the entrance of the two players, and there’s Yani, ambling down the tunnel and onto the court behind one of the best players in the world. Maybe even waving to the crowd, as if every one of them out there is on his Facebook page.

“I’m dying to play one of those guys at night at the Open,” he said. You can tell as his eyes light up that he’s gone over this scenario in his head more than once. Maybe he’s dreamed it.

We’re sitting in the players lounge at the Longboat Key Tennis Club in Sarasota, Fla., where Michael has just won a couple rounds at a Challenger before getting bounced. He’s snapped up $2,920 and 18 ranking points. Petty cash to top 50 players, but, really, this is a good week for the Michael Yanis of this world.

He was born in Singapore to a Chinese father and American mother, both of whom are now retired, and there was never going to be a doubt about him claiming U.S. citizenship first.

In 12 years he’s played 345 professional matches, but only 15 in regular ATP events for a 3-12 record. Not surprisingly, his tennis life, apart from four years at Duke, has been spent flitting from one Challenger or Futures city to another. Name a major city in the world. He’s been there, though not to Prague or Belgrade, and he’s going to be at a Challenger in the Czech Republic in a couple weeks. So scratch that one off his list.

He’s tall enough at 6-foot-1 and gets by a lot on his hefty serving. Easy-going, talkative and seemingly pretty happy with the cards tennis has dealt him, he still wants that Grand Slam victory. He’s 0-4 in main draw majors, having qualified each time, and two years ago had three match points in a five-set loss to Lukas Lacko — a match that went to 12-10 in the fifth.

And, yes, he can remember every failed match point. “Old age” in tennis comes a lot faster on the Challenger tour, where most of the players are in their early 20s, and it’s not out of line to ask how much longer will Michael hang on.

“For me, it’s year to year,” he says. “At the end of the year I’ll see where I am.” Probably not as high in the rankings as he is right now. He’s got significant points coming off this summer. But he also sees the possibility of an extended career as a doubles-only guy.

Home? The road, though he spends much of his training time in Austin, Texas, where it’s easy to find coaches and players.

There are hundreds of Yanis out there, from virtually every country that has professional tennis players, and they’re all just as obscure — except, of course, to each other. Some give it just a few years and, faced with an inability to earn more than $30,000 a year and with heavy travel expenses and a realization that they’re not going become a fixture on the regular ATP tour, they’re in and out of the game by 25 or 26.

But there are also a few Michael Yanis, who have a college degree on which to fall back, who play into their 30s, for no other reason than it’s fun and the camaraderie is pretty good.

And, oh yes. The possibility of one day coming out of the tunnel at the Arthur Ashe Stadium to play one of those guys.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

No promise in future of American tennis shown in US Open qualifying

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The Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center got a beat down from Hurricane Irene and 33 Americans entered in the U.S. Open qualifying tournaments got a beat down from the international competition.

The unpleasant results: Not one of 15 U.S. women entered in the 128-draw qualifying got through to the main draw. Worse, not one U.S. women got to the third and final round of qualifying.

Ryan Harrison

On the men’s side, where 18 mostly young and aspiring U.S. players were entered, just one reached the big show and, at 30 years of age, No. 208-ranked qualifier Michael Yani is not quite the future of American tennis.

It shouldn’t be considered a complete loss or waste of resources. Coaches with the prodigiously-funded USTA player development program will tell you that, even in losses, it was an important experience for promising talent Chichi Scholl (19 years old), Jessica Pegula (17) and Taylor Townsend (15), who each won a round, and for Robin Anderson (18), Anne-Liz Jeukeng-Nkamgouo (15) and Nicole Gibbs (18), who all went out quickly.

And that would be a strong point to some degree because qualifying results at a Grand Slam aren’t going to tell you much about a 15-year-old player. At the same time, if you look at the U.S. performance in qualifying on balance, the results these last three days are not good — especially playing on home turf.

Only four women won qualifying matches — Scholl, Pegula, Townsend and Ashley Weinhold. Only Townsend extended an opponent to a third-set in second-round losses.

There were some bad first-round losses. Seeded No. 27, Alexa Glatch lost 6-3, 6-0, Krista Hardebeck was beaten 6-0, 6-2 by Scholl and Gail Brodsky went down love and love to No. 3 seed Stephanie Dubois of Canada.

A year ago, Irina Falconi, 21, was the only American to qualify for the Open. Born in Ecuador, she finished last year at No. 210 and comes into the Open this week at No. 78. She’s making progress, but, at this point, she’s a prospect. Nothing more.

One other woman who needs a mention in No. 66 Christina McHale, 19, who had a win over No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki last week in Cincinnati before going out in the third round to Nadia Petrova. She’s going to elevate to low- to mid-50s in the rankings on Monday. She’s having a strong development year and we’ll see if you can back up her Wozniacki with results at the Open.

United States men had somewhat better fortunes in the qualifying with Denis Kudla, Bradley Klahn and Rejeev Ram joining Yani in the final round. Unfortunately for Ram and Yani, they played each other in the third round, guaranteeing that not only would one Yank make the main draw but at least one would not.

Meanwhile, Klahn, who had beaten No. 14 seed Matthew Ebden in the second round, lost 6-3 in the third to go out, and Kudla, a winner over No. 24 Evgeny Donskoy in the second, lost 6-4, 6-2.

Other first-round winners were Greg Ouelette, Rhyne Williams, Mitchell Frank and Blake Strode. Certainly USTA officials would be quick to support the federation’s development program by pointing out that eight American men won opening-round qualifying matches.

That’s fine, but it’s not enough, of course, unless you’re still measuring the program in baby steps.

That’s not to say there aren’t very talented young U.S. players. Ryan Harrison, 19, has moved to No. 67 in the world with steady if not spectacular progress, and there is 16-year-old Madison Keys, who is ranked mid-400s and who is probably not going to give us a full measure of her talent for at least a couple years.

You look at the rest of the young American talent out there and it’s very hard to say there’s anyone destined for tennis’ elite.

With qualifying over, there will be 13 U.S. men in the main draw, led by Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick and John Isner, and 15 women, with Serena Williams a contender for the title. Six U.S. men and six women are in the main draw with wild cards.

Falconi, Kendrick, Lucic Highlight US Open Qualifiers

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It was a memorable Saturday for 20-year-old Irina Falconi, the former Georgia Tech All-American who easily defeated Canadian Stephanie Dubois in the final round of qualifying to earn her first entry into the U.S. Open main draw.

In fact, make that her first entry into any Grand Slam main draw. And it will be even more memorable if she can build on three qualifying wins by getting a win or two when the Open begins on Monday.

Falconi won 6-3, 6-1 over Dubois, the No. 25 seed, but is the only U.S. woman to qualify, and that won’t sit well with the people who run the USTA Player Development program in Boca Raton, Fla., and Carson, Calif. — the two main training sites.

It may be a big step forward for Falconi, who used two years in college to mature, but it’s a small step back for U.S. women after two Americans (Shenay Perry and Carly Gullikson) qualified at the 2009 Open and three (Alexa Glatch, Kristie Ahn and Perry) in 2008.

Meanwhile, only two American men qualified — No. 22 seed Robert Kendrick, who is ranked 147, and No. 219 Ryan Harrison, who got through his final round of qualifying on Friday. Kendrick on Saturday defeated Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-3. It’s the second Slam in a row in which Kendrick has qualified, having won his way into the Wimbledon main draw in June.

The U.S. had a chance for a fourth qualifier, but 32-year-old veteran Kevin Kim was beaten in the final round by Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania by 6-1, 6-3. Like Harrison, Berankis trains at the Bollettieri IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

A year ago, three American men qualified for the Open — Donald Young, Michael Yani and Jesse Witten.

There are 16 qualifiers in both the men’s and women’s tournaments and none of them has had a higher career ranking than onetime wonder teen Mirjana Lucic, who at age 16 had reached No. 11 in the world and who, a year later, was a semifinalist at Wimbledon.

Tall, physically strong even as a teenager, she appeared headed for a heralded career in tennis, but was beset by injuries and personal problems before re-committing to the game a couple years ago.

Now 28 and ranked No. 153, she qualified and is playing her first U.S. Open in eight years.

The US Open Finished the First Round of Qualifying

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It took three days and a lot of dodging raindrops, but the U.S. Open finally finished the first round of qualifying and lesser known U.S. players have done well.

Nine of 20 American men reached the secondn round and young Ryan Harrison of New Braunfels, Texas, is one of the few into the third and final round. He had won his first round match on Day 1 and Thursday defeated No. 10 seed Rui Machado of Portugal to edge within one win of getting the Open main draw next week.

Meanwhile, seven of 15 American women reached the second round, though one of them, 17-year-old Sloane Stephens, lost her second-round match to No. 13 seed Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic.

Play continues Friday. The U.S. men survivors: No. 22 seed Robert Kendrick, No. 25 Kevin Kim, Jesse Witten, Alex Bogomolov, Chase Buchanan, Michael Yani, Bobby Reynolds, Blake Strode and Harrison. Strode, of St. Louis, was the winner of the recent U.S. Open Challenge, in which grassroots players were invited to compete in a series of tournaments to win a wild card into the Open quallies.

On the women’s side, No. 5 Varvara Lepchenko, Julia Cohen, Julia Boserup, Nicole Gibbs, Irina Falconi and Krista Hardebeck are into the second round.