One closer to 100 straight!

I think we'll be seeing a lot of Nadal pics here at TennisCast for the coming months. Hey everyone, M here. Nadal has added one more win to his now more than impressive straight clay court wins streak resting at 72. In todays Open SEAT Godo tournament in Barcelona Nadal defended his title for a second time by beating Guillermo Canas in a convincing 6-3, 6-4 display. The match lasted and hour and forty minutes and it was all Nadal from the start. The new clay court king posted the only break in the first set and the only break in the second. In the first set Nadal dominated with his 71% first serve percentage. He faced two break points but defended them nicely. He won 80% of his first serves compared to Canas' 61%. In the second set Nadal upped his serve performance and rose his first serve percentage to 80% and won 85% of those first serve. He did not face a single break point in the second. This is Nadal's third straight Barcelona final.

Nadal will not be in action this week as he will take a much needed rest before the second master series of the clay court swing. This week there two smaller tournaments in Estoril, Portugal and Munich, Germany. The highest seeds in each of those tournaments are Davydenko and Haas respectively. Nadal will be back in action along with 54 other ATP pro's on the 7th of May when action gets started in Rome. ATP Master Series TV will have all the action so make sure to check it out.

With this win we'll see one major change in the ATP 2007 race as Nadal will top Federer. Before this tournament began Nadal was a close second at 305 compared to Federer's 345 points, but that all changed when Nadal reached the finals at Barcelona where he could, if he won, recieve 50 points and thus have the chance to pass Federer. With his win he adds those 50 points and moves ever so closely over Federer in the Race at 355 to Federer's 345. It's a tight race for sure this year. Nadal will also receive 300 points for his overall ranking and move to over 5000 points, still a distant second to Federer's 7200. We'll be back next week with results from Estoril and Munich and with our pre-tournament analysis of Rome. See you guys soon. M out.

Oh, remember, Mario gets here this week so we'll be posting our second podcast pretty soon and weekly episodes will follow after that so check back soon.

Quarterfinal Results!

Sup everyone, M here. The quarterfinals came to a close today and the semifinals are set to go tomorrow in Barcelona. As we had mentioned in a previous entry Ferrer was the first one through to the semis after taking down Nalbandian. This was their sixth meeting and the fifth win for Ferrrer in their head to head. He didn't face a break point, which is hard to come by on clay courts and even harder so against such a high caliber player like Nalbandian, who seemed to be on a hot streak after his convincing win against former #1 Carlos Moya. The second quarterfinal match that got under way involved Nadal. He was seeking his 70th straight clay court win already way ahead of Guillermo Villa's previous record of 53. It will be a long time for this new record to be broken. Nadal was playing exceptionally well in his previous two matches but today, well we can say he played sloppier than usual. He was broken when serving for the match. This was the first time his serve was broken in the tournament. Either Starace was playing high quality tennis or Nadal was just off. Let's give the Italian some credit shall we. He hung tight in the second set until he served at 5 -5 when Nadal broke and then served out the match. I guess Starace just couldn't deal with Nadal's energy as the Spaniard pump fisted his way to a 7-5 win. We mentioned before that Nadal last beat Ferrer in 2005 at the French Open. He has three straight wins against Ferrer coming into this semifinal. Nadal will be fueled by a couple things, his current streak and the chance to defend his title once again. Ferrer will fight to prove his fellow countrymen that he is a factor to be reckoned with on clay. They play tomorrow as the second semifinal at around 3:45pm Barcelona time or 9:45am easter time. The first semifinal will be played at 1:oopm Barcelona time or at 7am eastern time and involves Calleri and Canas.

Canas will be the clear favorite. Not only because of Rankings but the mere fact that he didn't have a quarterfinal match will give him a edge in physical ability. No match you say? Yep, what was supposed to be a great quarterfinal turned to dissapointment as not a single game was played between Canas and Davydenko. The number 4 in the world retired citing a wrist injury. Apparently he was getting massaged for a sore shoulder and by the end of it he couldn't freely move his fingers. A let down for sure as he was poised to make a resurgence this clay court season after many dissapointing results. Calleri on the other hand did have to play his quarterfinal and got through quite easily. He defeated Oscar Hernandez from Spain 6-0, 6-3. He played great tennis, he lost just one point on serve and thus did not face a single break point. He hopes to carry that win against Canas, who is looking to reach his third final of the year(Costa do Sauipe and Miami). We will of course be on top of all the results and we'll be posting them as fast as they come in so come back tomorrow morning for your dose of tennis action. Have a great weekend everyone. M out.

Quarterfinals underway in Barcelona

Hey everyone M here. The singles quarterfinals are underway in Barcelona today. The first of the four matches is already complete with David Ferrer reaching the semis after beating David Nalbandian 7-6(5), 6-2. The spaniard didn't face a single break point and continues his strong season. The next match is set to begin within the hour with Nadal facing Starace. The two have only met once before back in 2005 in Buenos Aires where Nadal came on top in the round of 16 with a score of 6-1, 6-3. The match after Nadal's is a promising one with Fed Defeater Guillermo Canas duking it out against the number 2 seed Davydenko. This could be a close match if Davydenko plays like the number 4 player we all know. He has been struggling a little these past few weeks so we'll wait and see how he holds up against currently on fire Canas. The final match of the day will be between Oscar Hernandez from Spain and the number 15 seed Agustin Calleri. The two met earlier this year in the Acapulco round of 16 and played a solid three set match with Calleri moving through. We'll have all the results later today so make sure to check back soon.

Back from hiatus with Monte Carlo Results and Analysis

M here back from our month long hiatus. Sorry about the break guys but things came up, but...we're back and better than ever. The site has been reworked from top to bottom. We got the acin and double faultin lists back up. We got the links to the best tennis sites back up as well. New additions include some pretty cool things. The first one you'll notice is the new TennisCast logo! Yes we finally got the logo done and for now we'll be sticking to that one until a better one comes along. If you guys out there have some Photoshopping skills then please don't hesitate to send us your ideas to tenniscast@gmail.com. We read all the mails we get sent so go and get cracking. We'll have fun with the logo and we'll be making adjustments as the different tennis seasons pass us by this year, and so we start with clay. The second major boost we made to the site is our video section. You can catch it right below the logo. Each week we'll be updating the video section with great clips from the world of tennis. This week we're posting some recap clips of the Monte Carlo final. Check back each week and watch different clips. We got a lot to post so make sure to check them out. We have Federer clips, Ferrero clips, funny tennis clips and even some classics. Now that we're back from our hiatus we'll have constant updates and next week we'll have extensive coverage of the Rome Master Series. This week's videos go along with our results analysis so lets get to it.

So as I write this Nadal's clay court winning streak is at 69. He played today and moved on to the quarterfinals of the Open SEAT Godo tournament in Barcelona by defeating the former Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson 6-1, 6-4. He is one away from getting to 70 and his next match against Starace seems pretty easy. The big news though...Nadal won Monte Carlo. Not only did he win Monte Carlo, but he did not lose a set in the entire tournament. This is including the final where he manhandled Federer and won in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. The game was a little tighter than the score implies but it was no doubt a beating handed to Federer. Nadal played with aggression and his energy was present every point while Federer seemed to be dragging his feet after every point. It seemed like Nadal sucked out all of the energy out of Federer and used it to his advantage. I think this was the key to his victory. Although Federer making twice as many unforced errors as Nadal also helped, I think the intensity with witch Nadal played made all the difference and will make the difference in the upcoming Master Series events in Rome and Hamburg and more importantly at Roland Garros.

Federer keeps coming up with excuses after every lost match against Nadal. For the last five loses he says the same thing “I feel like I'm in good shape for the rest of clay court season, and it's going to come down to the French Open to see who wins.” He always says he learns and takes notes on every match. Lets hope thats true for Federer's sake. I think his tennis legacy is on the line. He might go down the same path as Sampras...the best player ever to play the game and never to win Roland Garros. He needs to stop taking notes. If Federer can steal one of the next master series...he will plant his seed in Nadal. He will strike at Nadal's confidence. If he loses in Rome and at Hamburg I do not think he will able to pull through at the French. He needs to chip away at Nadal's shield as early as possible. If he can win once he'll have the energy and even...hope, that he can stop Nadal at the French. This would be great for the fans as well. If he can actually put up a fight against Nadal and take one of these next tournaments the talk, the thrill and the anticipation of the French will just excite all of the tennis fans around the world including yours truly. So as much as I would like to see Nadal get to 100 straight wins on clay I think I would rather see Federer complete the slam. This is tennis history here guys and we are smack in the middle of it. Lets enjoy it while it lasts. I think we'll be at the same spot come this summer for Wimbledon and the grass season. Nadal got to the final last year and actually put more of a fight on grass than Federer ever has on clay. This will turn out to be truly interesting. Maybe we'll find out everything we need to know when both of them play on a hybrid tennis court for an exhibition. Half grass, half clay...even play for both.

M out, see ya soon with more updates from the Barcelona tournament and Nadal´s ongoing clay court streak. For now...enjoy the videos! Oh...Mario is finally coming down from Miami next week so the podcats will start rolling out on a weekly basis. Alright...that's it for now!

TennisCast Epi01

First TennisCast Episode. Pacific Life Results. Click on the link above to listen to the show.

Teenage Takeover at Indian Wells

Hey everyone welcome back to TennisCast. Maurizio here back at ya' with all the results. You know we got all of them for yesterdays four fourth round matches. Teens were the big rulers of the court yesterday pulling off impressive wins each. Enough intro...ing lets just get right into it.

In the biggest upset of the day, yet not the biggest surprise, was the defeat of #4 seed Davydenko by the hands of #13 seed Andy Murray. The Scotman (who today is playing doubles with other English Patriot Tim Henman) dished out a hard fought 7-6(3), 6-4 win over the hard working Russian. Both players were able to break twice in the first set which led to the tie break. In the second set though the key difference was in Murray being able to withstand pressure from Davydenko and hold his serve and protect his own break to steal the match. As much as Gilbert bothers people as a coach, and even more as an ESPN commentator, he seems to be doing a magnificent job with Murray. I remember watching last year's French Open (best major by far in my humble opinion) where the young Scot was battling French hopeful Monfils...and I must say it was the worst match of the tournament and probably the worst match I had seen in a long time on the ATP. It was not proffesional level tennis and both players seemed to behave like little kids on the court, walking with their heads down slowly after losing a point and showing no energy, no enthusiasm to win. Rallies were amateur in length and my grandfather who is 84 could run faster than those two that day. Murray has come a long way and this year is truly displaying the talent everyone was raving about. Murray will now face Tommy Haas who is also on a hot streak after taking down his 2007 nemesis Gonzo in another fourth round match yesterday. Haas broke three times in the match and allowed zero break points to fulfill his revenge on the Australian Open runner up. He ended the match in just over an hour and will carry that energy with him to the quarters. The two have never played against each other before. We'll see how Gilbert can squeeze the most out of Andy and we'll see if Haas can go without quitting on himself.

The rest of the top half saw the continued dominance of Novak Djokovic. He threw Benneteau out of the tournament with a very convincing 6-3, 6-1 display, also avenging a previous loss to the Frenchman back in Djokovic's Indian Wells debut in 2006...sweet sweet revenge. Djokovic broke five times and was broken once in the second set. The key was saving break point chances as the young Djokovic was able to save 10 of 11 chances, the majority coming in the first set where his serve was a little sloppier. Djokovic won't have an easy time anymore as he now faces Ferrer who came out on top in the third all Spaniard match of the tournament beating out TennisCast hero Carlos Moya. It took the #14 seed almost two hours to dispose of the hearty veteran and it took him a well fought three sets. Carlos Moya took the first set convincingly 6-1, converting on two break points and not allowing any on his serve. Things changed drastically in the second set where the momentum shifted. The tables had turned. Ferrer broke twice while he defended his serve and saved four break points to take the second set 6-2. In the third and final set Ferrer finished it off by taking the only break in the set and finishing it off 6-3. The match was a lot closer than the score reflects. Out of the 164 points...each won 82, it was when and where each point was won that made all the difference. Djokovic and Ferrer played once back in 2004 and in clay. This will be a good addition to their head to head records. Djokovic is in a groove this tournament and seems to be the one with the advantage although Ferrer always creeps around his way deep into tournaments so we'll find out soon who pulls through and into the semis.

Tonight we have Nadal vs Chela and Ljubicic vs Roddick. Make sure to catch the Ljubicic vs Roddick match on ESPN2 starting at 10:00 pm eastern time...if you can't catch the tube at that time make sure to log on to ATP Master Series TV to catch all the live streaming action straight on your PC. Alright guys i'm off to watching the Nadal vs Chela match so see ya soon! Check back later for all the results of tonight's quarterfinal action.

MauriZio

Results from a not so exciting Round of 16

Maurizio with TennisCast, i'm back with the results from yesterday's round of 16 action. There is little to talk about, the four matches that went down were neither surprising nor that exciting. On paper it certainly seemed like certain classic matches could have been played out. Instead we got a complete blowout, a routine two set match, a three setter with little emotion (maybe excepting the second set), and an ace display. Here's hoping the final four matches will live up to their potential, but we'll go over those in a little bit. First, the results.

So yes I have to admit my mood is affected by this first result from yesterday's fourth round action. We've been happily posting this week and it's amazing how much it had to do with TennisCast Idol Juan Carlos Ferrero's wins. We were fueled with excitement that he was going deeper and deeper into the tournament. Little did we now our momentum would be stoppped by that trophy biting, banana eating, monkey resembling clay court extraordinaire Rafael Nadal. In what can only be called an embarassing loss Ferrero was taken down in not just two straight sets but in an hour and was almost double bageled. He'll definitely keep Ginepri and Blake company as Double Faultin players entering next week. Sad to say but we gotta be honest here. Nadal played an amazing match and it seemed as though he came out with instinct to kill, and to take revenge for his previous loss to Ferrero back in Cinci last year. The crafty, spin-full young Spaniard converted 5 of 7 break points and saved his own 5 break chances. He gave Ferrero no chance to catch his breath, to reboot his game and that was key. Momentum was always on his side and it just seemed like Ferrero was doomed since the moment he served up his first point. After this win, he goes into the quarters without losing a single set. His next opponent is Juan Ignacio Chela, who also won yesterday against Michael Russel 6-4, 6-4. In this routine two set match Juan Ignacio Chela ended the run for surprise fourth rounder Russel. Chela had the key break in the first set and in the second broke twice and recovered from Russels sole break point in the game. Nadal and Chela have played each other twice in 2004 with each winning one game. Chela is playing great tennis this year and has a win under his belt when he took the Acapulco Tournament in Mexico the 26th of February. Each have lost four matches this year but Chela comes in with 5 more wins than Nadal at 14 though that won't stop Nadal from most likely taking this match. We'll have to wait and see how this one turns out.

The next two matches set up the other quarterfinal match at the bottom of the draw between Ljubicic and Roddick. Ljubicic disposed of Nalbandian in a two hour, three setter that involved breaks from both sides of the court. Nalbandian took the first set 6-2 with two breaks and without facing a single break point. At that point things looked like Nalbandian was going to ease through to the quarters. Little did he,nor the rest of the fans, know that Ljubicic wasn't going to give up easily. In the second set the Croatian converted one of his two break chances to take the set 6-4 and ramped up his service games to neglect Nalbandian a chance to break back. He won 93% of his first serves and 60% of his second. He finished off the game with a 6-2 score in the third set. Ljubicic will face Reebok deserter and Lacoste supporter Andy Roddick who toppled French hopeful Richard Gasquet. They had a wonderful first set and Roddick was able to dominate completely in the second using his and our favorite weapon, his serve. There were no breaks or break points in the first set and it finished off with Roddick winning the tie breaker to go up 7-6(3). Roddick used the load of confidence he had and used it to take his sole break point chance to full advantage. He broke and never looked back and easily took the second set 6-3 setting up his 10th clash with the gentle giant. Roddick looks to increase his head to head lead to 4 with this next match. Their last meeting was late in 2006 during the year ending Tennis Masters Cup where Roddick took the hard fought three setter.

Tonight we see the top half of the draw duke out their fourth round matches starting with Djokovic vs Benneteau and then followed in the Stadium court with Davydenko vs Murray, Moya vs. Ferrer and the night match between Haas and Gonzo (Fernando Gonzalez to the few who dunno). You know the deal...check out the link below for ATP Master Series TV for all live streaming action and remember to check back later for all the results. Lets hope these matches bring in more of a spectacle. Feel free to comment on who you think will take these next matches.

Putting together the final 16

Ah...the final 16 are upon us at Indian Wells. The tournament is only now getting started. Hey everyone, Maurizio here with more results and analysis of third round action at the Pacific Life Open. We had some great matches yesterday that left us with some very interesting fourth round matches to look forward to so lets dive right into it.

Of course we can't continue further without mentioning the fact that TennisCast Idol Juan Carlos Ferrero survived his match against Acasuso. The former #1 needed three sets to move into his 4th round match and 6th encounter against Spain's current #1 Rafael Nadal. It all came down to the third set where Ferrero kept his first serve percentage at 70% while Acasuso brought his first serve percentage down to 38% helping Ferrero face more second serves and allowing the Spaniard to achieve the final break of the game at 4-4. It was a tight match the whole 2 hours and 15 minutes it took to complete but Ferrero came through and posted the 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 win. Ferrero, as mentioned above, will now face the trophy biting Rafael Nadal who is trying to win his first tournament since Roland Garros last year. Ferrero stopped him once at Cincinnati last year lets hope he can pull it off again this year. Nadal breezed through Fernando Verdasco, also of Spain, 6-4, 6-4.

Another fourth round match we'll really be looking forward to will be that between Tommy Haas and Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, a rematch of the Australian Open Semifinal where Gonzo obliterated Haas in straight sets. Haas posted up a bagel in his 6-0, 6-3 fifty six minute win over Gabasvilli. He should be well rested for his upcoming match against the Gonz. Gonzo, though, had a very different match. It took Fernando an hour and forty one minutes to dispose of Robin Soderling. There were no breaks in the first set and each had one in the second. Gonzo dominated both tiebreakers and won in straight sets, although the match was a lot tougher than what that makes it sound like, with a score of 7-6(4), 7-6(2).

The next fourth round match was posted when Davydenko and Murray won their respective third rounders. Their matches were eerily similar, with Davydenko's match lasting an hour and six minutes while Murrays lasted a minute less and their scores were identical if the sets were moved around. Davydenko defeated Hernych 6-3, 6-1 while Murray ousted Mahut 6-1, 6-3. All this could be a precursor to a great round of 16 matchup.

In an interesting turn around streak killer Canas was taken out by TennisCast hero Carlos Moya in a very routine match. It was almost as though Canas hadn't achieved anything special the day before. Moya saved 5 break points and broke twice, once in the first to serve it out and once in the second to serve out the match. It was nonetheless a lengthy match with plenty of great rallies from the two veteran players. Moya saving the break points and converting his two chances were key as the match was ridiculously close with Moya winning 51% of the total points. Moya will face David Ferrer in the round of 16. Ferrer needed two quick sets to finish Tipsarevic's run in the tournament and made five break points to help ease his way into the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3 score.

Djokovic seems to have gotten a wonderful draw. His third round match was extremely routine and leaves him with plenty of energy for his next match. He disposed of young 19 year old Korolev 6-2, 6-1 in under an hour. If his level of play continues at this level he should find his next match relatively easy. He'll be facing Julien Benneteau who discarded James Blake 6-2, 7-6(1). Blake's hole-in-one before the tournament seemed to sink in all his luck and left him with none to spare for the tournament. Maybe he'll decide to play golf and sink a hole-in-one after he's one a tournament. Those four hours could have come in handy for practice. I think he'll stay in our Double Faultin' list for next week.

Roddick seemed back to the top of his game during the first set of his third round match against one of the Rochus brothers but faltered in the second, although he was still able to pull the win in two sets. In took Roddick 2 hours and 30 minutes to dispose of the small Rochus one. This was due to the fact that there were no breaks in the second set. The final score was 6-3, 7-6(5). Roddick's opponent will be none other than the better than Federer crafted one handed backhand Frenchy Richard Gasquet. Gasquet got past Jarkko Nieminen in three sets. It was a two hour match that featured 6 breaks in total each with three. With his 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win Gasquet will look to keep Andy Roddick sitting on our Double Faultin' list along with his friend James Blake.

Juan Ignacio Chela and Michael Russel also have a fourth round match forthcoming. Chela went through easily with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Gilles Simon. Russel broke through Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain with a 6-1, 7-5 win. Our last two players that make up our talented final 16 include hard fighting David Nalbandian and Nasdaq Finalist Ivan Ljubicic. Nalbandian seemed to forget he was looking to improve his ranking when he lost the first set 6-7(3) to Mathieu but quickly recovered and took the next two sets with relative easy 6-2, 6-0. If he could of played like that from the beginning the score sheet would look a lot more impressive. Ljubicic was in top form and seems ready to move through to the quarters as he dismantled Thomas Johansson 6-1, 6-4 in his third round match.

Round of 16 match action is set to start today at Indian Wells with Ljubicic vs Nalbandian at 1pm (pacific time) and continues with Ferrero vs Nadal (we'll keep a very close eye on this one), Chela vs. Russel and the night match between Gasquet and Roddick. Oh its a wonderful tournament we're getting this week. Make sure to come back later today as we analyze today's matches before they get going. ATP Master Series TV has the matches live so make sure to check them out. Also don't forget that ESPN2 begins coverage tomorrow at 11am eastern time. This is Maurizio from TennisCast wishing everyone out there a good day...go ahead and cheer for Ferrero we know you want to.

Second Round action brings in tide of upsets

Maurizio here with TennisCast results and analysis. Oh do we have a busy month ahead of us or what!? With two masters series tournaments back to back we're gonna have our heads full in results and analysis. Yesterday's matches were no exception whatsoever. We have a lot cover so lets dive straight into it.

Obviously the first thing we have to talk about is Federer's loss...who saw this coming? Honestly, did anyone out there predict this? I mean, I could have said that he was gonna lose somewhere down the tournament but I was thinking semis or even in the final but in the second round??? Well...I know what the problem was, at least in my case. I underestimated what veteran Canas can bring to the court. I think people, I include myself in there, focused more on Cana's past, his suspension, rather than his current results. The man already has a win this year (d. Ferrero) in Brazil and by beating Federer he marks his 11th win in 13 matches. The guy is playing top ten tennis and no one seemed to notice that. He's a heavy contender for this tournament now with a good draw on his side. He faces Moya next. The veteran Spaniard won his second round match against Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4. Moya and Canas have only played once before and that was back in 2002 Roland Garros so that won't help us disect anything (Canas won in 5 sets). One is safe to assume that after this win Canas will have insurmountable confidence...although Federer's loss will at the same time give hope to everyone else still playing. Canas should survive his round of 16 match against either Tipsarevic, who beat Hewitt in a lengthy three set match 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2, or #14 seed Ferrer who got past Peruvian #1 Luis Horna in a routine 6-3, 6-1 win. His next big upset could come against Blake, who moved through to the third round by downing F.Serra 6-3, 7-6(2), if the American can get past, presumably, Djokovic later on. Djokovic got past currently Double Faultin' player of the week Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-4, though we won't count this loss against him. Canas is now only the 11th player to beat the current #1 since he took over back in early 2004. Congratulations from TennisCast Guillermo.

I warned you guys we had a lot to go through. Federer's loss was not the only upset though, albeit the biggest. There were three other upsets yesterday that we're actually sad to report. Well maybe just two of them. Our favorite Russian player Marat Safin suffered his demise at the hands of Nicolas Mahut. With his dominating first serve Mahut allowed Safin only 5 points on his first serve and upset the former Australian open champ 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. Another favorite Spaniard, and top ten seed, was also upset yesterday. Tommy Robredo lost to Gilles Simon. This is the second time the two have played and the French player evened up the score with his 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-0 win. The final upset was dealt against Marcos Baghdatis of Australian Open fame. He was taken out of the tournament early by Guillermo Garcia Lopez in a tight two setter with a score of 7-5, 7-5. Speaking of Australian Open fame, Gonzo (Fernando Gonzalez) continued his impressive year with an entry into the third round after downing Frank Dancevic of Canada 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-5. His next opponent will be Robin Soderling. These two actually have a decent history with 5 matches, 3 in favor to Soderling. Interesting to note, though, that Gonzo has won the last two and is of course the higher seed in the tournament...although we know that doesn't mean a clear victory. If the Gonz can get past this small obstacle he could potentially set up a clash against ¨I'm injured I can't continue the match¨ quote favorite, Tommy Haas who flew into the third round by posting an easy 6-4, 6-1 win over Michael Llodra. Gonzo is up 2-0, with his last win against Tommy coming at the Australian Open Semifinals where he absolutely destroyed Haas in three easy sets. Haas will be looking for sweet revenge...and Gonzo, well...for further humiliation of the German.

A couple of Veterans went down yesterday sending the average tennis player age down about 6 years. Okay that was exagerating. If Fish is old (26 years old) then Bjorkman must be ancient. The two lost to formidable players. Juan Ignacio Chela handed Bjorkman a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 loss while Paul Henri Mathieu battled hard against Fish and barely survived with a 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5). Other winners included introverts Davydenko and Ljubicic and also Gilbert coached Andy Murray.

We'll see how the tournament shapes up with the absence of Federer. Someone will take advantage and everyone should have a moral boost added to their arsenal(if this were Wimbledon Roddick would be delighted). Come back soon for the results of Monday's action and later this week for a full analysis on the last 16 remaining, along with our guesses for the winners. TennisCast out.

Equipment update for the week

Welcome back tennis fans. What a start at the Pacific Life Open with pro’s all around the world fighting for that coveted ATP masters shield; some trying to make a comeback, others trying to make a name for themselves, and one man seeking to defend the title. Yes that’s right, none other than Roger Federer, the only man in this tournament’s history to have won three consecutive titles. So much diversity is upon us here at Indian Wells California, with players all across the world endorsing products for brand names such as Prince, Wilson, Head, Yonex, and many more. That’s right everyone, the competition between players is crazy for the masters shield, but the competition between these brands is massive as well. Or is it?

I’m sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself. My name is Mario; I’m the other tenniscast writer and co-host of the show who will be focused on the equipment that is currently being used on tour, and what equipment seems to be doing best in the world of tennis. Don’t worry I am not completely biased, but Prince is the best. Wait what? I imagine many of you reading are probably thinking I am biased for making such a claim, so allow me to provide proof, or simply clarify my claim. Prince is currently doing the best in the string department for tennis racquets ending the year # 1 with their “Synthetic Gut with Duraflex” making it their fifth straight year as the industries top seller. The synthetic gut with Duraflex seems to have caught the eye of numerous tennis players due to its excellence in consistency, and durability for all-around performances. So if any of you are looking for the right string to improve your game, make sure to check it out and see if it’s the right fit, it seems to be for many touring pros. It seems though, that the world of tennis isn’t relying solely on Prince for strings, but for racquets as well! Indeed, Prince’s O3 White (used by Maria Sharapova) ended the year as the top selling racquet and was accompanied by the rest of the O3 team. That is, Prince ended the year with four of their racquets with O3 technology in the top 10 for best selling racquets of 2006. To finish the great year, Prince enjoyed a second place in footwear. Good job Prince!

I’ll be following what’s hot this year from racquets, to general apparel, to shoes and strings, and see what is most popular among tour pro’s and the tennis world. Who will end # 1 by the end of 2007? Follow tenniscast the entire year, week to week to enjoy the great results, in depth analysis, and see what equipment seems to making a change in the world of tennis!