ATP…Dubai ATP 500, Acapulco ATP 500, Brasil ATP 250

[klacr]

Kyrgios bails. Saves his back and his ego for Davis Cup back home in Australia.
Wawrinka into finals. Plays either Baghdatis or Lopez.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Big Time...

Kyrgios bails. Saves his back and his ego for Davis Cup back home in Australia.
Wawrinka into finals. Plays either Baghdatis or Lopez.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Wrestling...

[klacr]

Baghdatis and Wawrinka in Dubai. Was rooting for Lopez. Big opportunity missed by the Spaniard.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Stan has it. Succeeds Roger.

[gzhpcu]

First Dimitrov dismantled, now Sam Querry. Looks like Thiem's victory over Nadal got the ball rolling. Very impressive playing from the young Austrian. If he continues like this, he definitely will be a contender for a Grand Slam title. Beautiful serve, great groundstrokes. Be interesting to see him the first time he comes up against Djokovic...

[stotty]

Be interesting to see him the first time he comes up against Djokovic...

Yes, the ultimate benchmark.

[stroke]

Thiem looks really ready to make a big impact, particularly when the clay court season starts leading to the FO. Should be a good match with him vs Tomic in the Acapulco final.

[gzhpcu]

Thiem pulls through, even if he loses a set, he keeps fighting. Hope to see him win more, very attractive game!

[nickw]

Thiem very impressive, proving that although he is more comfortable on clay, he's starting to show that he can play the same high level on hard courts. However, Acapulco was by all accounts a very slow surface (as is Miami where he had his other stand-out hard court result last year), so perhaps jury still out with the faster surfaces, especially as he's yet to have any notable results indoors or on grass.

I thought Thiago Monteiro was worthy of a mention, eyebrows raised when he was given a WC into Rio last week (despite being ranked 404, and 9th Brazilian player), but he beat Tsonga, pushed Cuevas, and backed that up this week by beating the in-form Almagro, Munoz, and pushing Cuevas again (lost from a set and a break up). Hard hitting left-hander, not quite 22, could be one to watch. Cuevas himself, is gunning for back-to-back titles tonight, and finally played a right-handed player yesterday after his previous 7 matches were all against lefties!

Elsewhere, Fritz really impressed me. I watched a couple of his matches in the Juniors at Wimbledon last year, looked good then, but what a rise from ranked 700 back then!

And Stan picks up the Dubai title not playing his best tennis, but that's the 9th final in a row that he's won, a stat that proves this guy has real class.

[stroke]

Thiem and Tomic both played well and competed well. Theim reminds me of a younger, slightly bigger Kohlshrieber. He looks to be moving to top 10 soon. I love Tomic's so efficient game. He really can dictate well with those short backswings. To me, his forehand is very deceptive. John called it an extreme type 3 one time and I agree. Tomic could very well move into the 10 also, but he probably will have to get completely away from the Fognini not feeling it today episodes.

[klacr]

Thiem and Tomic both played well and competed well. Theim reminds me of a younger, slightly bigger Kohlshrieber. He looks to be moving to top 10 soon. I love Tomic's so efficient game. He really can dictate well with those short backswings. To me, his forehand is very deceptive. John called it an extreme type 3 one time and I agree. Tomic could very well move into the 10 also, but he probably will have to get completely away from the Fognini not feeling it today episodes.

A younger and slightly bigger Kohlschreiber also means a place in the top-10.
You can't teach size. Awesome game. Really enjoy watching Thiem.

In Dubai, Wawrinka winning was a nice boost. That tiebreak at 15-13 was something special. It helped that Djokovic bailed in quarters with an eye issue and Lopez lost his heart against Baghdatis.

Fun to watch Baghdatis play. I remember hearing about Marcos Baghdatis back in 2000. I was playing in college and one of the teams we played had a player named Petros (Peter). He was a friendly guy and as we got to know each other, he told me he has a younger brother that showed some promise in the sport. He said his brother left Cyprus for Paris to train at Bob Brett's academy. I asked for his name. Peter said his little brother's name is Marcos. I told him I'd keep an eye out for him. . 6 Years later this Marcos kid is playing in the Aussie Open finals against Federer. Peter wasn't lying.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton