BARCELONA OPEN

BANJA  LUKA (BELGRADE) OPEN

ROUND 2

The Banja Luka tournament is a repeat of what happened last Year insofar as Djokovic and Rublev is concerned,    In 2022   Both players went out in Round 2 of the Monte Carlo Masters tournament and both decided to go to Belgarde and play in this tournament.   In the end Rublev won in the final.    Both turned up again this year after playing in Monte Carlo - this time Djokovic went out in Round 3 - but Rublev won the Monte Carlo Masters.    Be it as it may in 2022 the two were seeded 1 and  2 - this year it is the same seedings, but in that match-up it may be  Rublev will be the favorite to beat Djokovic.

BARCELONA OPEN

BARCELONA OPEN

QUARTERFINALS

MUNICH OPEN

QUARTERFINALS 

Top Half of the draw 

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

BARCELONA OPEN

SEMIFINALS

1      Holger Rune                                            vs       Christopher O'Connell

2      Taylor Fritz                                             vs        4      Botic van der Zandschulp 

SEMIFINALS

4    Miomir Kecmanovic                                vs        Dusan Lajovic      

There are 2 observations about what happened in the 3 tournaments thus far - the first one having nothing to do with players.   So lets deal with the Munich tournament in the first instance,    Thy twice had to stop matches because it is too dark to play.   So why  were the lights not being used to light up the courts - they have modern lighting at the stadium - but it is not allowed to be sued,   Does it have to do with the Ukraine War?

So far there were struggling performances in the tournaments and those include Alcaraz, Djokovic and Sinner and it would be interesting to see how the three do in the quarter and semi-finals to be played today and tomorrow,   Ruud has already been out in Barcelona - so who of the three mentioned will suffer the same fate today or tomorrow,   The four players that made hay thus far are Tsitsipas, Rublev, Runeand Fritz.   All four face poor opposition in the quarterfinals today.         

Sinner withdrew from the Barcelona Open  due to injury - wonder whether he will play in Madrid next week? 

Djokovic last year in this tournament got to the final in 2022 where he had a poor match against Rublev.   In  2023 he was disgraced in the quarter4inals by the number 57 ranked player Dusan Lajovic.   Is he going  to play in Madrid next week?

BARCELONA OPEN

FINAL

1      Holger Rune                                   vs       4     Botic van der Zandschulp 

FINAL

2     Andrey Rublev                                vs          Dusan Lajovic      

The three finals start rather early and the  reason being that all finalists needs to get to Madrid asap with a view to preparation for participation in the APT1000  Madrid Masters tournament by Monday.     The said Madrid tournament is starting this week - so the starting times for the three finals are as follows:

Munich         -       13:30

Banja Luka  -        14:00

Barcelona     -       16:00

The outcomes of the finals will be as follows:-

Munich winner              -

Banja Luka winner        -

Barcelona winner          -   

Congrats to the three winners - they are moving up in ranking and in the race to Torino.                 

The three finals start rather early and the  reason being that all finalists needs to get to Madrid asap with a view to preparation for participation in the APT1000  Madrid Masters tournament by Monday.     The said Madrid tournament is starting this week - so the starting times for the three finals are as follows:

Munich         -       13:30

Banja Luka  -        14:00

Barcelona     -       16:00

The outcomes of the finals will be as follows:-

Munich winner              -        Holger Rune 

Banja Luka winner        -        Dusan Lajovic     

Barcelona winner          -         Carlos Alcaraz

C congrats to the three winners - they are moving up in ranking and in the race to Torino.