Wayne Odesnik at Indian Wells

Wayne Odesnik defended his 2008 Houston points and then added a few more.  Wayne’s performance last week will secure him a berth in the French Open as the only American other than Andy Roddick with a winning percentage on clay will be looking forward to the opportunity.

In Odesnik’s first ATP final, he went down an early break in both sets, but rallied each time.  The first set rally ended after 2 games as Hewitt saved break points at 3-2 going on to take the first set 6-2, but in the second set after being down 0-3, Odesnik won 5 in a row to go up 5-3, but could not serve out the set.  Odesnik’s is progressing nicely toward his goal to win an ATP title in 2009.

Hewitt at BNP Paribas Open

Hewitt won his 499th victory and first title in two years.

Bob and Mike in Portland

The young Sweeting Levine team was undefeated coming into this final.  They played together once in the juniors winning that tournament and, as a wild card team in Houston, they won three matches to make the finals including an impressive win over the Australian doubles team of Fisher and Kerr who had defeated the Bryan Brothers last week in Miami.

In the first two games, the Sweeting Levine team hit most shots to the body of either Bob or Mike which the Bryan brothers successfully then directed down the middle.

In the first set, Sweeting and Levine lost 6 of their 9 first serves and all of their 6 second serves.  Given the extraordinary receiving talent of the Bryan brothers team, the younger Americans neglected to adjust in the second set.    As the second set progressed, they continued to spin in second serves when a second ‘first serve’ may have been a better choice.  With such a low winning percentage on second serves, they could still come out ahead even with occasional double faults that may come with the more aggressive service strategy and it may have taken the Bryan’s off of their toes.

The fans held their breath for a moment when Mike Bryan went wide on a service return in the first game of the second set and got his foot stuck in the clay as he slid to a stop creating some ackward action on his right knee, but he spun and sprinted back in time to see Jesse Levine dump his volley in the net.

Ted Robinson of the Tennis Channel was most impressed with the Bryan’s play in this match and there tethered appearance.  Ted said Bob and Mike are “Syncro Tennis”

Levine at Indian Wells

38 minutes into the match, Bryan Bros were up 6-1, 5-0.

Levine and Sweeting survived a deciding/Championship point at 5-1 with a great 1st serve and put pressure on the Bryan’s service game getting to 2-5, 15-30, but Bob’s poach was solid and it bounced over Jesse’s racquet.  The Bryan Brothers then closed out the match 6-1, 6-2.

Since Jesse and Ryan have been the Bryan brother’s Davis Cup practice partners, Levine and Sweeting may need to show Bob and Mike something ‘new’ if they meet again.

Sweeting in Indian Wells

Odesnik in Palm Springs

A nervous start to the match for Odesnik and Phau who each were going for their first ATP final.

The birds could be heard loud and clear over the tame River Oaks Country Club fans.  The match was sold out, but as with many first matches of the day, most seats were empty at the start of the match with many open seats even near the end.

Odesnik had a couple of match points in the semifinal last year vs. Marcel Granollers, but Granollers prevailed to win the championships.

Early on, both players hit heavy forehands to their opponents backhand.  Odesnik took the first break to lead 3-1 and after facing a couple of break points Odesnik was able to consolidate the break to lead 4-1.  Phau broke back to serve at 3-4, but with new ‘bouncier’ balls, Odesnik started to get the ball up high on Phau’s backhand again.  Phau won only 2 of the next 9 games.  Odesnik took the first set 6-4 and reached a match point serving at 5-1 which Phau won nailing a winner down the line.

Serving at 5-3, Odesnik hit an ill advised down the line backhand opening the court for Phau to strike his solid cross court backhand.  At love-15, Phau missed wide a down the line forehand and Odesnik aced Phau down the middle followed by a Phau backhand that clipped the tape to give Odesnik two more match points.  Odesnik only needed one to advance to the final as a Phau groundstroke landed just beyond the baseline.  Odesnik gave a double fist pump toward his new coach, Grant Doyle.  Odesnik will face the winner of the Hewitt Korolev semifinal.