Both Medvedev and Sinner had for different reasons withdrawn from this series - while Zverev has deided to play in the Montpellier series, which only ends tomorrow.   The draw for the round to be played are as follows;-

ROUND 1

Upper Half of the Draw

1    Stefanos  Tsitsipas                vs         Alejandro Davidovih Fokina

Lloyd Harris                               vs         Ilja Ivashka 

David Goffin                              vs          Alec de Minaur

8    Nikoloz Basilashvili               vs         Mackenzie McDonald

4    Hubert Hurkacz                   vs          Jo-Wilfred Tsonga

Lorenzo Musetti                         vs         Mikael Ymer

Botic Van der Zandschulp           vs       Bernabe Zapata Mirales 

5    Denis Shapovalov                vs        Jiri Lehecka

Bottom Half of the Draw     

6    Cameron Norrie                  vs           Ugo Humbert

Karen Khashanov                     vs            Alexi Popyrin 

Alexander Bublik                      vs            Andy Murray

3    Felix Auger-Alliassime         vs         Egor Gerasimov

7    Aslan Karatsev                    vs          Tallon Griekspoor

Filip Krajinovic                          vs           Marcos Fucsovics

Hugo Gaston                              vs           Soonwoo Kwon

2    Andrey Rublev                    vs           Henri Laaksonen

Roob hasn’t left?

This is just an info item - can't you read/

The four qualifiers have completed their games and are going into the main draw.  They are -

Egor Gerasimov;

Jiri Lehecka and

Henri Laaksonen

Bernabe Zapata Mirales 

There is also the possibility of a lucky loser to play instead of Alexander Bublik - the latter is in the final in Montpellier against Alexander Zverev and unless the first round match is on Tuesday  Bublik  will likely not play in Rotterdam.    

What the hell is going on on tennis?  Alexander Bublik beat Alexander Z verev in the final of the Montpellier Tournament.    

ROUND 2

Upper Half of the Draw

1    Stefanos  Tsitsipas                vs         Ilya Ivashka 

Alec de Minaur                          vs         Mackenzie McDonald

4    Hubert Hurkacz                   vs         Lorenzo Musetti

Botic Van der Zandschulp           vs       Jiri Lehecka

Bottom Half of the Draw     

6    Cameron Norrie                  vs         Karen Khachanov

3    Felix Auger-Alliassime         vs        Andy Murray

Tallon Griekspoor                       vs          Marcos Fucsovics

2    Andrey Rublev                    vs           Soonwoo Kwon

‘What’s going on with tennis? ’…..easy question, when the Big 3 aren’t playing any clown can win a tournament.

So you go on about the big 3 - who are they.  Was the win by Nadal also a clown win?   I think the win by Bublik was even a greater surprise than the win by Nadal.       

So you go on about the big 3 - who are they.  Was the win by Nadal also a clown win?   I think the win by Bublik was even a greater surprise than the win by Nadal.       

Not to you it wasn’t, you said it would be a miracle if Nadal breaks Medvedev once. I wouldn’t describe Bublik’s win as a miracle.

Bublik has never won an ATP title before - he is rated the no 35 player in the World - so it is a miracle.     Zverev beat Djokovic and Medvedev twice in crucial tournaments.  Are you totally deluded and dense on this issue as well?     

Not a miracle……read and learn:

The German Zverev, the top seed, had cruised through the tournament but ran into a confident Bublik, the No. 6 seed. Bublik, of Kazakhstan, also defeated Zverev in Rotterdam last season.

If the 6th seed wins a tournament it’s no miracle. Especially considering Bublik has beaten Zverev before.

Schplotttttttt!

Himmell - are you relying on a newspaper report and not facts as to ranking of players and past performances.   I look at facts - Bublik never won an ATP tournament ever - and is rated as the no 35 player in  the world.    He beats an out-of-form Zverev after the latter performed badly in the Aussie Open as well.   A real surprise result on par with the Nadal small margin win over.   In his last match before the Aussie Open Nadal lost against Andy Murray in Abu Dhabi and then you blamed his so-so performance on Covid infection.    The sports loony bin is  what you have qualified for in every code of sport.   By the way if the bookmakers quote a player as a 11/1 shot the player is indeed an outsider not expected to win.  

 Schplotttttttt!           

It’s really simple….if a player beat another player less than a year ago….it’s hardly a miracle if he beats him again. Especially if, as you say, Zverev is out of form. You’re so sublimely stupid you don’t even know that you making points against your own case. There’s dumb and then there’s dumbmike.

You are so sublimely stupid that you do not understand when it comes to an upset in matches means can  cannot evaluate player performances in any code of sport.   The winning by Bublik was according to you not an upset result - blaas my siel. 

Of course it was an upset….but it wasn’t a massive upset….he had beaten Zverev before. And it certainly wasn’t a miracle,

As for stupid, tell me about your degrees. How many do you have and from what universities?

You are stupid when it comes to performance evaluation of all co/0des of sport - it has zero to do with ho many degrees you brag about having.  You know zero about objectivity and is a self- praising BSter ruled by prejudice.    You do not mind inventing lies - maybe you have been influenced by liars like Clinton.

None then.

I have two and that is enough and you have 7 and still knows nothing about sports because your prejudice takes over and then the idiot speak flows like shit from your mouth. 

In any event this is a information thread - so pleas e stay off it if you have nothing to contribute.  

Physical Ed and social studies….from which institution?

Now back to discussion of the Rotterdam Open.   Remember how Nadal struggled to ebat Shapovalov in the Aussie Open.   Well Jiri Lehecka  - a qualifier ranked 143 nobody ever heard about before - easily beat  Shapovalov today.   Going through the two results it is clear that Nadal had the luck of a pox-doctor to win the Aussie Open.  

Be it as it may - 

*    3 of the 8 seeded players lost in Round 1;

*    4 of the seeded players are going through to Round 2; and   

*    1  of the s eeded players still have to play their Round 1 matches,      

Mozart

This thread deals with the Rotterdam Open and you have so far polluted it with your brainless  personal agenda.     

QUARTERFINALS

Upper Half of the Draw

1    Stefanos  Tsitsipas                  vs          Alec de Minaur 

Jiri Lehecka                                  vs          Lorenzo Musetti 

Bottom Half of the Draw     

 3    Felix Auger-Alliassime         vs         6    Cameron Norrie 

2   Andrey Rublev                       vs         Marcos Fucsovics

Rublev played a poor game against a weak opponent today - so I do not think he will beat his opponent in the quarterfinal.    However, there have been a lot of surprises in this tournament - so there is a slight chance for Rublev to win.   Rublev has been poor the last year and there seems to be a problem in his top storey.

So what have we left in  the series -  4 seeded players are playing - two of the four are playing each other - Auger-Aliassime and Norrie - so the number goes down to three,    Of the three Rublev has been losing against players he beat in the past and that for example is against Fucsovics - where he lost on clay.   Will that be the case again today?   If he loses the number of seeded players will be reduced to 2.   

So what happens then?  The next important tournament is in Dubai and will some of the top ten ranked players duck out of that one as well?       

SEMIFINALS

1    Stefanos  Tsitsipas                  vs          Jiri Lehecka

2    Andrey Rublev                       vs         3    Felix Auger-Alliassime   

Lehecka as a 19 year old seems to be a potential top class prospect for the future.   He was not in the group of players who played in the New Generation Games in November - but seems to be in the top class range of the younger players.     

Rublev played a bit better than normal - but he will have to be a lot better to beat Auger-Aliassime    Rublev played Aliassime twice and both times beat him in three sets.   However the latter was in good form and Rublev in sub-standard form over the last three months.    

When the top player was booted out of OZ Nadal was the next best so his win in the tournament was no surprise Mike.

Second best but still the winner.

Nadal never won a sincle tournament since may last year and in the waarmong up tournament in Abu Dhabi was beaten by Andy Murray.   I do not consider reputation - I look at performance when I said he was a surprise winner.   In fact he had the luck of a pox-docter and the fact is whe you watch the match it was clear that Medvedev picked up an injury which effected his serving and he made a lot of double faults and served at a slower pace than mormal creating an opening for Nadal to win.   

FINAL

1    Stefanos  Tsitsipas                  vs         3    Felix Auger-Alliassime  

Lehecka diod very well and took the first set - that could have ended in a surprise result, but in the end Fsitfipas won the 2nd and 3rd sets in a hard-fought battle.        

So Auger-Aliassime won the final and is now an ATP 500 champion.   Congrats to him. 

I think something has gone wrong in the case of players.  Rublev is just one example where the players lose their heads and end up losing.   There are inexplicable losses - including Zverev and  Tsitsipas as well - so that remains a problem in tennis as well.