Indianapolis Tennis Championships—Indianapolis, U.S.A

Third seed Sam Querrey will begin his 2009 Indianapolis campaign under the lights this evening against Frenchmen Arnaud Clement. Querrey will be coming into Indy hot after his finals appearance in Newport earlier this month. His challenge against Clement tonight maybe a stern one.

The counter—punching ability of the scrappy Frenchmen has been well documented. A one time Aussie Open finalist, Clement packs the experience and court-craft to cut down any player, of any size.

Querrey will have to be sharp, and as he suggested on his "tweet" today: "I hope Clement wears his cool shades under the lights." Leave it to Sam to alleviate the pressures of big—time tennis by thinking of the minuscule components of his opponents play.

Querrey and Clement will begin at 7pm EST. The winner of Querrey/Clement match will face Rajeev Ram who defeated countryman Devin Britton during Sunday's lone first round contest.

Elsewhere, seventh seed Marc Giquel added a loss to the already tragic year of Ernests Gulibs. The Latvian has not won back—to—back matches all season. His dismal 11—18 win/loss record is a poor reflection of the tremendous talent which he does possess. Let's hope Ernests can turn around a year which has no where to go but up.

With the win, Gicquel advances to round two where he will meet either Danai Udomchoke or Jesse Levine. Levine qualified for Indy on Monday with a 7—6 (7—5) 7—5 victory over "X-man" Xavier Malisse.

Frank Dancevic, the tournaments 2007 finalist began the long hard road to rekindling his heroics of two seasons ago with a straight-set win over American Bobby Reynolds. The recently married Reynolds could not find any rhythm today, against a man whom he was 2—0 lifetime against. Dancevic employed his great serve and forehand routine to oust Reynolds by the score of 6—2, 7—6 (7—5) in one hour and 15 minutes.

Dancevic advanced to round two on the strength of six aces, 81 percent of his first serve points won, and two breaks of serve.

Reynolds by contrast only won 69 percent of his first points and could not create a single break—point chance throughout.

The Canadian will take on sixth seed Benjamin Becker or Go Soeda in round two.

Giant serving American John Isner came up with a nice win today, dispatching of athletic Frenchmen Joesslin Ouanna 6—1, 7—6 (8—6). Isner used the strength of his delivery to pound 15 aces past Ouanna; the Frenchmen never contested a break—point opportunity.

For those of you who remember, Ouanna played a spectacular match against Marat Safin during the second round of the French Open this year. The match went 10—8 in the fifth set, with all of Chatrier Court up in arms. Ouanna defiantly has top 15 talent.

Isner will now look forward to the challenge of Denis Istomin who was a 2—6, 6—4, 6—4 winner over Kevin Kim of the States.

Tuesday's action in Indianapolis will be highlighted by top seed Dmitry Tursunov vs. Michael Berrer, and Robby Ginepri vs. Sebastien De Chaunac.

International German Open—Hamburg, Germany

With the top 16 seeds receiving first round byes, Monday's action in Hamburg would be relegated to unseeded action. Spaniard Guillermo Garcia—Lopez would lead the charge on Day One; his ferocious backhand being a fans delight. The book on Garcia—Lopez had always been his unorthodox love for faster courts. His semifinal run in Eastbourne earlier this spring was a result of his fast court prowess.

The unassuming member of the Spanish Armada improved his relatively weak clay—court game earlier this season, by capturing his maiden ATP World Tour in Austria before the start of the French Open.

For those of you who caught his second round encounter against Roger Federer at Wimbledon, it was easy to see why Guillermo has been able to finish in the top 100 since the end of 2005.

Today's task for Garcia—Lopez would be to defeat the speedy and consistent efforts of Belgium Christophe Rochus. The five—foot—seven—inch (a generous figure at that) Rochus had never been a power driven player. His game rests on sheer placement, and each and every opportunity which comes his way.

Often times, Rochus can be shell—shocked by the power in today's game—today being no exception.

Garcia—Lopez utilized his flat ground—stokes to perfection today. The depth of his backhand created many short balls from Rochus (no pun intended), with the Spaniards loopy forehand reaching shoulder height on the Belgium.

With the first set in the bag, even more backhand winners began to flow off the racket of Garcia—Lopez. Three breaks of serve in set two would be more than enough to cook the over—matched Belgium. The one hour and nine minute battle featured the Spaniard winning 71 percent of his serve points, striking five aces and breaking serve on five occasions.

The win will take Garcia—Lopez into round two where he will meet sixth seed Stansilas Wawrinka. Stan—The—Man will be heavily favorite in that encounter.

Elsewhere, Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili kept up his winning ways by defeating Andreas Seppi 6—3, 6—1. Gabashvili is quietly winning matches left and right, and could be picking up steam for the up—coming Masters 1000's.

Tree—trunk server Daniel Brands who made the main draw in Hamburg via a wild—card dismissed the formidable clay—court challenge of Victor Crivoi 4—6, 6—4, 6—1. Brands will face top seed Gilles Simon in round two.

Qualifier Pablo Cuevas dashed the home—country hopes of Bjorn Phau by dismissing the speedy German 7—6 (7—0), 6—4. Cuevas is better known for losing to a 16—year old Ryan Harrison at the U.S. Claycourt Championships last spring. Harrison is competing in Indianapolis this week.

Ivan Navarro brushed aside Steve Darcis 6—4, 6—4; Philip (always fun to spell) Petzchner ousted Florent Serra 7—6 (7—3), 6—2; Pere Riba defeated fellow qualifier Evgeny Korolev 7—6 (7—3), 6—2; Potito Starace dispatched Maximo Gonzalez 5—7, 6—4, 6—3; Jan Hernych overcame Kevin Krawietz 6—0, 4—6, 6—3; Simon Greul sent Janko Tipsarevic tumbling towards his third straight loss, dusting the Serb 2—6, 6—3, 6—3; Marcel Granollers picked up a rare clay-court win over Martin Vassallo Arguello 6—4, 6—4. Granollers is another Spaniard who prefers faster courts.

The final match of the day will see German Andreas Beck against the clay—court comfort of Oscar Hernandez. Finally, a Spaniard who enjoys the clay!

Please check back, I will have daily coverage from Indianapolis, U.S.A and Hamburg, Germany. Cheers and enjoy.