Serbia needs just one more point to move through to a semifinal against Argentina.

Serbia are one point away from a semifinal place after the perfect start to their tie against Sweden in Halmstad. Janko Tipsarevic, who was a substitute for World No. 1 Novak Djokovic who withdrew with a knee injury, played just nine games against Davis Cup debutant Ervin Eleskovic before the Swede retired with a knee injury. Tipsarevic was leading 62 1-0 after 44 minutes when the rubber came to an abrupt end.

Earlier in the day Troicki was taken to four sets in a gripping opening singles rubber against Michael Ryderstedt, who takes over the role of Sweden’s No. 1 player this weekend in the absence of Robin Soderling. There are 281 places separating the two players, but it only showed in the opening two sets. Buoyed by a vocal away contingent of Serbian fans, Troicki raced into a two-set lead but thereafter was made to work hard for a 63 61 67(6) 75 victory in just under three hours. Ryderstedt, who was making his Davis Cup debut, started poorly and handed his opponent the first two sets with too many unforced errors. He failed to get into a rhythm on his serve until the third set. At 0-40 down at 5-5 in the third, it looked like Ryderstedt was going to be having an early bath, but the Swede somehow fought back and pushed his Serbian opponent into a tiebreak. After taking the tiebreak 8-6, the momentum was with the home player and he even served for the fourth set at 5-4. But Troicki showed why he is ranked No. 16 in the world and reeled off three games in a row to win the opening point of the tie for Serbia.

Serbia needs just one more point to move through to a semifinal against Argentina, who have already won their tie against Kazakhstan. The tie in Buenos Aires was brought forward a day due to government elections locally

Murray hobbles to victory over Berrer, but will face Troicki on Monday.

Andy Murray suffered an injury scare as he moved through to the last 16 of the French Open. Murray’s thrashed German Michael Berrer 6-2 6-3 6-2 at Roland Garros on Saturday, but twisted his ankle during the second set and required lengthy treatment. When play resumed, Murray quickly wrapped up victory, but how he recovers in the build-up to Monday’s fourth-round clash with Viktor Troicki will be key to his chances of progressing further.

Serbia’s Viktor Troicki lies in wait for Andy Murray in the fourth round of the French Open. Troicki booked his place in the last 16 at Roland Garros with a four-set win over the dangerous Alex Dolgopolov. The 15th seed overcame the loss of the second set to post a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory on Saturday. Troicki’s most consistent tennis won the day – he hit just 23 unforced errors to his opponent’s 56, rendering winner count of 68-37 in Dolgopolov’s favour irrelevant.

The fourth-round match between Murray and Troicki will take place on Monday.

 

 

Novak Djokovic is the number one seed at the Serbia Open 2011. He should break Ivan Lendl’s 25-0 win streak.

The 2009 champion has been given a BYE in the first round and will start his campaign against either world no.97 Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo or a qualifier. No.5 seed and last year’s finalist, American John Isner, is in Novak’s quarter and the two players could meet in the quarter-finals. Nole’s potential semi-final opponents are Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,3) and Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,7).

Viktor Troicki (SRB,2), Albert Montanes (ESP,4) Ernests Gulbis (LAT,WC,6), Juan Monaco (ARG,8), Feliciano Lopez (ESP), Fernando Gonzalez (CHI,WC) are in the bottom half of the draw and Djokovic can’t meet them before the finals. Serbia Open is an ATP World Tour 250 tournament. The prize fund is € 373,200. The winner will get € 66,500 and 250 ATP points.

MAIN DRAW:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) – BYE

Qualifier vs. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP)

Tobias Kamke (GER) vs. Blaz Kavcic (SLO)

Ricardo Mello (BRA) vs. [5] John Isner (USA)

[3] Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) – BYE

Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs. Somdev Devvarman (IND)

Mischa Zverev (GER) vs. Dudi Sela (ISR)

Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs. [7] Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

[8] Juan Monaco (ARG) vs. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

[WC] Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) vs. Qualifier

Qualifier vs. Michael Berrer (GER)

[4] Albert Montanes (ESP) – BYE

[WC, 6] Ernests Gulbis (LAT) vs. Iliya Marchenko (UKR)

Filippo Volandri (ITA) vs. [WC] Dusan Lajovic (SRB)

Marcel Granollers (ESP) vs. Qualifier

[2] Viktor Troicki (SRB) – BYE

Novak has won every tournament he’s entered in 2011: the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami. He is currently on a 24-0 winning streak for the season, and increased his overall winning streak to 26 wins in a row, dating back to last December’s Davis Cup final when Serbia lifted the trophy for the first time in it’s history.

Djokovic is only one match short of equalling Ivan Lendl’s 25-0 start in 1986.

 

 

Djokovic celebrates an easy win as Troicki retires.

Novak Djokovic has reached the round of 16 at Australian Open for the fifth year in a row when his Davis Cup teammate and world no. 27 Viktor Troicki retired after just 39 minutes on Hisense Arena on Friday. A lenghty baseline rally ended with Troicki hitting the net to bring up the first break point for Nole in the second game of the match. The chance went after great Viktor’s service, but he earned the second with a fantastic lob, and this time didn’t waste it. A year younger Serb converted it with a forehand winner down the line for an early advantage. Troicki fought back immediately with a rebreak, but Djokovic broke him once again and then held to 15 for 4-1. Viktor saved two break/set points in the eighth game, but Nole capitalised on the third to clinch the set 6-2. Troicki then retired due to a stomach muscle strain.

“I just heard that he had some struggles with his stomach muscle, but I wasn’t sure how serious it is,” said Djokovic. “I didn’t know that he’s not able to serve… He obviously tried his best. It’s the third round of a Grand Slam. It’s not the way you want to finish the tournament, definitely. It’s sad for him, but I have to move on.” Troicki admitted he’d struggled with the injury throughout the week. “I was thinking it might get better for today, but it didn’t,” he said. “I didn’t want to risk anything; the season’s just started. I had to be 100 per cent if I wanted to beat Novak – if any chance, I needed to be 100 per cent – so today I think I took a smart decision and retired from the match.”

Novak next faces no.14 seed Nicolas Almagro. The Spaniard beat world no.16 Croat Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(8), 6-3.

Will Simon climb back into the top 10!

Gilles Simon has become the fourth Frenchman in the Open era to win the men’s singles event at the Medibank International Sydney following a 7-5 7-6(4) win over No.4 seed Viktor Troicki at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre. Former world No.6 Simon, currently ranked No.41 and on the comeback trail after a debilitating knee injury last year, didn’t drop a set all week as he joined compatriots Henri Leconte (1985), Yannick Noah (1990) and Guy Forget (1991) as Sydney champions. In front of an enthusiastic crowd on Ken Rosewall Arena, the men traded breaks early in the first set but each held serve through to 6-5 for Simon, though Troicki had to save set point in the 10th game. The Frenchman managed to break through on Troicki’s next service game, breaking to win the opener 7-5 after 57 minutes, leading the Serbian to smash his racquet to the ground twice as he headed to his chair. The outburst may have helped Troicki as he broke Simon’s serve twice to lead 3-0, hitting some blazing forehand winners in the process. However Simon recovered both breaks as Troicki’s frustration began to surface, so when he broke for 6-5 it was somewhat of a surprise. Simon got himself to 0-40 on Troicki’s next service game but the No.4-seeded Serbian got back to deuce, firing a second-serve ace at 30-40. Nonetheless Simon broke back and sent the set to a tie-break. Simon rode the momentum through the breaker and despite a spirited challenge from Troicki, 26-year-old Simon held on to improve to 5-0 against his Serbian opponent, triumphing after one hour, 58 minutes.

The victory was Simon’s eighth ATP singles title and means he has now won at least one title in each of the past five seasons.

“In the past few months I’ve played pretty good against the French guys,” Troicki said.

Viktor Troicki continued to be a nemesis for French players when he knocked out last year’s finalist Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals of the Sydney International on Thursday. The Serbian fourth seed was too strong for Gasquet, winning 6-4, 6-4 in 77 minutes to set up a Friday semi-final with Germany’s Florian Mayer. Troicki became a national hero when he swept Serbia to an historic first Davis Cup title in easing past Michael Llodra in straight sets in the fifth and deciding rubber in Belgrade last month.

“In the past few months I’ve played pretty good against the French guys,” Troicki said. “Surprisingly I beat them in straight sets. “It’s going good and hopefully I can continue. It’s not easy to play against them, but for me, I guess it suits me.”

In Friday’s other semifinal Frenchman Gilles Simon will play Ernests Gulbis, the Latvian third seed. “I thought I had the match under control and I had a break in the second set,” Troicki said. “Richard started playing better and started playing some really great shots. “Luckily, at the end I broke him and served it out. So it was a tough one. I mean, he’s an ex-top 10 player.” Mayer cruised to a comfortable 6-4, 6-1 victory over Italian Potito Starace.

Simon, who was hindered by a persistent right knee injury for the first half of last year, wore down Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-3 to set up a last-four shot at Gulbis. Simon, who reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Australian Open, continued his fine tournament after ousting Taiwan’s eighth seed Lu Yen-Hsun and Portugal’s Frederico Gil to line up against Gulbis. The former world number six said he was now trussing his right knee after suffering chronic inflammation which forced him out of last year’s French Open. “I’m really happy to play without any pain, because a lot of time I had something,” Simon said. “It’s now two months that I can work on it normally without thinking about it. I’m not thinking any more about where I’m going to put my feet or anything. Just run.”

Gulbis worked his way into the semi-finals after beating Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-4. Gulbis said he pulled up badly from his previous day’s win over Russian Igor Andreev. “Yesterday’s match killed me physically,” he said. “It was really humid and I lost a lot of fluids, so I went straight to the hotel and I went to sleep. I didn’t feel good. “This morning I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play, but at the start of the match I felt really good.

“I will do some treatment. I will go to have a bath, ice massage, whatever it takes. I’m going to be okay tomorrow. “I just can’t go really long matches (but) don’t tell Simon.” Gulbis is the top-ranked seed left in the Sydney draw, after Wednesday’s exit of US top seed Sam Querrey and the injury-enforced withdrawal of defending champion and second seed Marcos Baghdatis.

Serbian men victorius in Basle. Could be a sign of things to come in the Davis Cup final!

Defending champion Novak Djokovic got his Swiss Indoors campaign off to an impressive start in Basle as he brushed aside the challenge of lanky Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-2. The 23-year-old needed just 71 minutes to record an impressive win as he seeks to claim his third title of the season ahead of a busy year-end including the ATP Tour Championships and the Davis Cup final.

Fellow Serbian Victor Troicki is also hitting form at the right time. Having been crowned Kremlin Cup champion in Moscow last week, Troicki hammered Germany’s Michael Berrer 6-3 6-0 in just 49 minutes. And to cap a perfect day for Serbian players, Janko Tipsarevic coasted through to the second round 6-2 6-4 over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Next up for Tipsarevic is home-town favourite Roger Federer.

Sixth seed Marin Cilic beat Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli 6-3 6-3 and there were also wins for Richard Gasquet – a 6-3 6-1 conqueror of Yen-Hsun Lu – Andrey Golubev and Santiago Giraldo.

Federer wins #64 in Stockholm while Troicki wins #1 in Moscow.

Roger Federer won the If Stockholm Open on Sunday to equal Pete Sampras’ tally of 64 ATP Tour titles. Federer beat Florian Mayer 6-4 6-3 to achieve the feat. Despite 77 per cent of Mayer’s first serves finding the service box, the German was picked off when Federer raised his game, the Swiss clinching victory after just 64 minutes. Having drawn level with Sampras, Federer now has only Jimmy Connors (109), Ivan Lendl (94) and John McEnroe (77) ahead of him on the all-time list of Open era title winners.

Viktor Troicki claimed his first ATP Tour title with a comeback win over fourth seed Marcos Baghdatis at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Troicki had lost his previous two finals and the 43rd-ranked Serb had to call on all his fighting qualities to claim his breakthrough success 3-6 6-4 6-3. Troicki had lost his only previous meeting with Baghdatis and looked set to lose again when he was broken in the sixth game of an opening set he went on to drop. But the 24-year-old battled back and levelled the contest with a single break in the second before opening up a 4-1 lead in the decider. Baghdatis saved the first match point before Troicki claimed the title with a forehand winner.

“Marcos was playing very good in the first set,” said Troicki. “But then I started playing better and better and in the end I won my first title. It feels unbelievable.”

Men’s Kremlin Cup final will be Baghdatis v. Troicki.

Marcos Baghdatis will meet Viktor Troicki in the final of Kremlin Cup on Sunday after both men secured semi-final wins in Moscow. Fourth-seeded Cypriot Baghdatis was made to work hard for his shot at the title, taken to three sets by Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin but eventually prevailing 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/2). Serbian Troicki had a more straightforward path to the final in the first last-four encounter of the day, seeing off Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-3 6-3. “It was a good match for me,” said Troicki. “The match point was one of the best points of the tournament. “I tried to be aggressive and make him run a lot and I was successful. My form is getting better and better.”

Serbia take a 2-0 lead as both US rookies lose.

Serbia got itself off to a perfect start in its Davis Cup by BNP Paribas first round tie against USA. Viktor Troicki withstood a creditable clay court challenge from John Isner to win 76(4) 67(5) 75 64 in three hours 36 minutes.

In the second tie Novak Djokovic won in 4 sets over Sam Querrey. The US team now has to win the doubles and both reverse singles to move on to the quarter final.

The Beogradska Arena was vibrating with the noise of cheer sticks and chanting from the home crowd as they carried Troicki to victory. The players had said all along that the crowd was going to play a very important role in getting them through this weekend and this was the first example of it.

Isner had an opportunity in the first set when he broke serve to lead 5-3 after Troicki sent a forehand cross court return out. The American served for the set only to be broken in the next game when Troicki powered a backhand down the line for a winner. In the tiebreak Troicki got a mini-break with the fifth point and eventually got the early upper hand with a service winner.

The match remained even throughout the second set. Neither player faced a break point, forcing a second consecutive tiebreak, which Isner clinched on his first set point. Troicki raced to a 3-1 lead in the third set and had four points for a double break and a 4-1 lead. However, he couldn’t convert and that allowed the American back in to the set.