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2010 Saturday news

AEGON International | Eastbourne

Details will appear on 19 June 2010

2009 Saturday information

2009 AEGON International | 20 June

Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) defeated Frank Dancevic (Canada)  6-3, 7-6

"It’s good to win, it doesn’t matter which surface it is on,” served up newly-crowned Eastbourne 2009 singles champion Dmitry Tursunov after capturing his first title of the season.

The Miami-based Russian, originally from Moscow, had struggled in the first three rounds to overcome opponents but had few problems in sealing success at the AEGON International at the expense of qualifier Frank Dancevic 6-3, 7-6.

The tournament no2 seed walked away with the opening set as Canadian serve and volley expert Dancevic played defensively. And Tursunov's participation was in slight jeopardy after he required treatment to his ankle midway through the second set, which had previously resulted in a two-month rest from the ATP Tour.
 
“It's a great feeling. I suffered a bit in the second set but now I feel great,"  admitted Tursunov. "Playing on grass can be tough because we only get three or four weeks on it so players are a bit like cats in water, but it seems like a good surface to me. Obviously it’s given me some practice on grass, which is very important in the lead-in to Wimbledon as last season I didn't play as many matches ahead of Wimbledon."

Road to men's final

Preview by Ross Hudson

Russian no2 seed Dmitry Tursunov (world no27)
vs.
Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic (world no126)

FRANK DANCEVIC ||| Canadian, Unseeded 
At 6'1" Canadian Frank Dancevic may not have been a giant but he has been the giantkiller of the first ever ATP Tour event at Eastbourne and has constantly played on Centre Court.

He managed to pick up the pieces in the main draw after squeezing through the qualifying rounds despite a slight injury that jeopardised his involvement against the top seed on Monday. 

Had he not faced such an opportunity as playing someone in the world's top 30 - and on Centre Court - then Dancevic may well have rested for next week's Wimbledon. And he played out of his skin to spectacularly see off Russian Igor Andreev, 7-6(6), 6-2. 

Given slightly more trouble to dispatch British wildcard James Ward, who at world no224 was the only player ranked lower than him that he's faced in the main draw, Dancevic edged through the second round contest 7-6(6), 6-4 in the second round.

He avoided playing a seed in the quarter-finals because France's Julian Benneteau upset no5 seed Mikhail Youzhny, a quarter-finalist at Queen's Club the previous week, and Argentina's Leonardo Mayer beat Benneteau. The encounter against world no70 Mayer proved to be Dancevic's toughest match en route to the final despite the 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 result.

"It was a difficult match and I was lucky to hang in there," said the 24-year-old. "I came into this tournament wanting to get a few matches before Wimbledon and I'm on a pretty good roll. Grass is definitely one of my favourite surfaces and when I play on grass I feel at home."

In a one-way semi-final Dancevic defeated no4 seed Fabrice 'The Magician' Santoro. The French veteran remains a force to be reckoned with, despite playing his final year on the ATP Tour, but Dancevic survived the legendarily tricky shots coming from the other side of the net to progress 6-4, 6-4.

"I played super aggressive today against Fabrice," admitted serve and volley expert Dancevic. "It was a difficult match because of the way he plays and the wind, but I went out thinking I'm going to go for everything and hit the ball as hard as I can."

Dancevic has played in one ATP Tour final, beaten by Dmitry Tursunov at 2007 Indianapolis.

Final record || won 0 lost 1
 
DMITRY TURSUNOV ||| Russian, Seeded no2
As expected, Dmitry Tursunov has reached the inaugural ATP Tour final at Devonshire Park. The world no27 opened his campaign by struggling against enthusiastic Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

 The 26-year-old Russian was almost out of the tournament in the second round when he was fully stretched by Alex Bogdanovic in a three set thriller on Centre Court.

Tursunov found himseld trailing 5-3 in the final set tiebreak to the ace British qualifier before grabbing the next four points to seal a nervy 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(5) success.

And Tursunov admitted: "I thought I played well, I played a good tiebreaker," said Tursunov. "He's a difficult guy to play, he's got all the shots. I definitely think he should be ranked much higher than he is but he just needs to put everything together."

The entertaining Russian's brush with failure has since seen him in emphatic form. He pulled off victory in a very close quarter-final to oust Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 7-6(6), 6-4, who had seen off no6 seed Sam Querrey.

But Tursunov's most comprehensive win was surprisingly reserved for his semi-final showdown with Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The no8 seed seemed to have run of out steam after impressively defeating Russian Evgeny Korolev, Andy Murray's Olympic conquerer Yen-Hsun Lu, and Serbian grass court expert Janko Tipsarevic.

Although Garcia-Lopez hit a string of winners off that showed more variety in his tactics than the Russian, it was Tursunov's trademark power that paid dividends with a flattering 6-2, 6-2 result. But his lack of volleys give the game away as to why the sturdy Russian is not really a force to be reckoned with among the world's top 10.