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News
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Lindstedt-Tecau Clinch Casablanca Title
Third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau captured their first ATP World Tour doubles title together at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Saturday as they defeated Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 in the final of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament in Casablanca.
The Swedish-Romanian duo, playing in just their second tournament together, only dropped one set throughout the week and collected 250 ATP World Tour ranking points and €21,650 in prize money.
After securing the first set with two service breaks, Lindstedt and Tecau were made to pay for squandering four break points in the second set as their opponents struck back to level the match. The third seeds recovered to win the Match Tie-break, though, and sealed victory after 81 minutes.
"This was a hell of a match today against Rohan and Aisam,” said Tecau. “They played very well and it feels great to win my second title here playing with Robert only for the second time.”
The 33-year-old Lindstedt won his first ATP World Tour title of the season, having finished runner-up at the Open 13 with Julian Knowle, and improved to a 7-7 record in finals. The 25-year-old Tecau clinched his second ATP World Tour title, adding to the trophy he lifted at the Heineken Open in Auckland with Marcus Daniell in January.
"This was my first time here in Casablanca and I'm very impressed with the organisation,” said Lindstedt. “Everything is very well run and they are doing a great job here. Also we played in front of impressive crowds, which makes it much more fun.”
Indian Bopanna and Qureshi of Pakistan were bidding for their second ATP World Tour title from four finals together.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Happy Birthday Horia
from all your fans and us folks at RTM ;)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Tecau and Daniell take Auckland title
His first ATP Tour title is unlikely to change Kiwi Marcus Daniell much, at least outwardly, in the near future.
He'll still be flying cattle class, sleeping on hotel room floors ... maybe he'll take a second serving of dinner to keep the body well fuelled.
But inwardly, his doubles victory with Romanian Horia Tecau at the Heineken Open can't help but boost his professional tennis prospects.
"This is completely unexpected ... amazing," gushed Daniell, who actually hails from the Wairarapa. "The biggest benefit will be the belief that I can play with these guys at this level.
"Where I'm ranked, I know I have the potential to be much better. Winning four matches at this level gives me a huge amount of confidence I can do it in singles as well."
The scratch combination, drawn together at the last minute as wild cards were being handed out, took 1h 21m to dispatch Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 7-5 6-4 in the Panasonic Doubles final.
The result brings the pair $US19,500 to split them and 250 ATP ranking points each, which will boost Daniell about 450 spots to about 218th.
Tecau (24), whose ranking will jump to about 38th, was not certainly expecting his first career title when teamed with the rookie at the start of the week.
"My first thought, I was just happy to play in the tournament and have a chance," he admitted. "When the draw came out and we were playing the other wild cards, I thought it was good to have a weaker first round.
"But Marcus has a very good game. I was never thinking we were going to win the title, but I was positive we could play well and be a tough team to beat."
Their collective self belief really took off after dismissing third-seeded Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers in the quarterfinals.
"They were very tough opponents," observed Tecau. "We had a little bit of luck to win that match from, but it gave us a lot of confidence that we could play well against Brunstrom and Rojer in the semifinal."
In the final, Daniell and Tecau were rock solid throughout, never allowing their opponents to threaten service while forcing several chances of their own.
They held four break points in the third game of the match and three more at 5-5, both on Soares' serve, which they took advantage of for the crucial breakthrough of the first set.
Daniell's service had looked shaky at times throughout the week and he fell 0-30 behind as he served for the set. But he and Tecau rallied to close it out.
"We came out today in a really good frame of mind and wanted to take it to them early," reflected Daniell. "In the last coup of matches, we had a really weak first set, so we brought our 'A' game today."
Then, at 2-2 in the second set, the pair pressured into Melo's serve and the Brazilian double faulted twice, smashing his racquet into the court in frustration as he offered the title to the "home" team.
"When we broke off those two double faults, we overcame them mentally," said Daniell.
The pair's paths will now diverge as Tecau heads to the Australian Open, where he will team with Argentine Lucas Arnold, while Daniell returns to the Futures circuit to improve his singles ranking of 767.
The Kiwi's low doubles ranking somewhat precludes them teaming up again on the ATP Tour this year, but they have not dismissed the prospect of returning next year to defend their Heineken Open title together.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Tecau reaches new high
This year just seems like and endless move forward in the ranking for Horia and this week is no different, with a 18 point leap Horia reaches another career high of 47. We at RTM couldn't be prouder and hope to see the trend continue right to the top.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tecau moves into the third round of Wimbledon
Andrei Pavel and Horia Tecau of Romania have beaten the Americans, Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky, 6-4, 6-7 (9-11), 3-6, 6-4, 15-13.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tecau and Pavel move into the second round in France
Andrei Pavel and Horia Tecau, Romania, def. Rajeev Ram and Bobby Reynolds, United States, 6-2, 7-5.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Another week another career high
Horia just seems not to be able to let a week pass without advancing in the ranks these days. Best ATP Doubles Ranking: 71 (20-Apr-09) lets hope the pattern continues right to #1.
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