Bob Larson's Daily Tennis News
July 15, 2024

When Hugo Armando showed up in Stuttgart qualifying, it was natural to wonder what he was thinking. All the other Americans, being hardcourters, naturally preferred to play at Los Angeles.

It looks like Armando knew what he was doing. Not only did he qualify, not only did he win his opening match, but he even gave Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio all he wanted. The two had split the first two sets when darkness halted action on Wednesday. The match stayed close to the very end; Gaudio finally advanced 3-6 6-2 7-6 after Armando failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third.

Gaudio, in fact, had more trouble against Armando than against his third round opponent, #16 seed Tomas Berdych. The Argentine won his second match of the day 6-2 6-4.

Form did not follow nearly as smoothly in the other third round contests. #13 Ivo Karlovic was the ATP's "one to Watch" this week, and he was the only seed left in the top quarter of the draw -- but he fell 6-2 7-5 to Radek Stepanek. Stepanek's pal Jiri Novak also advanced, but with great difficulty; he beat Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 4-6 6-1. #8 seed Mariano Zabaleta's winning streak is over, too; having won six straight, he fell to #12 Albert Costa 7-5 7-6. An even bigger upset saw #15 Nikolay Davydenko come within a hair of blowing a 5-1 third set lead but recover to end #4 Andrei Pavel's hopes for a Top 15 spot 7-5 1-6 6-4.

In the "we see patterns even when they aren't patterns" department, we observe that every match involving an unseeded player had a 6-2 set. Gaudio's second set over Armando was 6-2. Stepanek's first set against Karlovic was 6-2. Plus, in the day's only match involving two unseeded players, Guillermo Canas beat Stefan Koubek 6-4 6-2. And #11 seed David Ferrer beat qualifier Richard Gasquet by that same 6-4 6-2 score.

The day's last singles match also involved a 6-2 set. Rafael Nadal took the day's biggest scalp -- and gave more evidence that he's back -- with a 6-2 6-3 win over Juan Ignacio Chela.

Nadal: �It�s an important win for me defeating a clay court specialist like Juan Ignacio Chela. Being in the quarterfinals of a tournament like Stuttgart is a great for my confidence and the points I will get.�

�I know it'll be difficult against David Ferrer, he has a lot confidence. He is playing well just defeating Richard Gasquet, who took out Tommy Robredo in the first round.�

It's interesting to note that only two of the top ten seeds (Gaudio and Novak) are left, but four of six seeds below that (Ferrer, Costa, Nadal, Davydenko) are still around.