Results - Thursday August 13, 2009

No. 2 Seed Capdeville Advances

by Jeffrey Dunham
Aug 13, 11:16 pm EDT

No. 2 seed and defending LG&T champion Paul Capdeville of Chile defeated 21 year-old qualifier Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in today’s feature match. Capdeville, 26, ultimately proved to be too steady for his error-prone opponent, although Sijsling challenged him shot for shot for much of the first set. A backhand lob that landed just inside the baseline got Capdeville to break point at 3-3 in the second set. Sijsling’s subsequent forehand error sealed his fate, as Capdeville went on to hold for 5-3 with a sharply-angled cross court backhand. Serving at 3-5, Sijsling’s game really started to unravel with a wild forehand and two successive backhand errors, but he eventually held for 4-5. Capdeville, ranked No. 104, then easily served it out for a final score of 6-4, 6-4.

The Santiago-born Capdeville has had some success on the ATP Tour, owning a 24-13 record at grand slams, including the qualifiers. In fact, Wimbledon is the only grand slam where he hasn’t qualified, which seems a bit unusual, as he hits rather flat groundstrokes for a player that one would presume to be a South American clay-courter.

In another second round match of note, South African Rik DeVoest defeated American hopeful Tim Smyczek, 7-6 (2), 6-1. It was a bit of a nervous start for Smyczek, born in Milwaukee and ranked No. 293, as he recovered from being down 0-40 in his opening service game with three big first serves to eventually hold. In a highly competitive first set, Smyczek demonstrated his lack of comfort at the net when he missed an easy backhand volley in the tiebreak to give DeVoest the mini-break. A couple of unforced errors later and a deep inside-out forehand by DeVoest took him to 6-2 in the tiebreak, which Smyczek then handed to him with a double fault. In the second set, Smyczek’s spirit was broken and he faded quickly.

Pretoria’s DeVoest is a 29-year old veteran ranked No. 199. He has seen most of his success in doubles, as evidenced by his final-round showing with partner Nathan Healey at the 2004 LG&T. Riding a recent wave of confidence that includes a doubles win in Vancouver last week, DeVoest was also a singles finalist at the tour stop in Johannesburg, South Africa in April, losing to France’s Fabrice Santoro.

As for No. 293 ranked Smyczek, his entry into the LG&T was secured by the receipt of a “special exemption” from the USTA, which is awarded to players who are unable to appear in the qualifying of an event based on their success in another tour event occurring at the same time. Last weekend, Smyczek reached the semifinals of the Vancouver challenger, losing in three sets to Belgium’s Xavier Malisse. Consequently, he was unable to qualify for the LG&T and received the special exemption. This is a good way to reward players who have had recent good results and allows them to build some momentum and improve their rankings.