DOHA, MARSEILLE & SANTIAGO 2021, ATP250: 8th - 13th or 14th March: Main thread

[Sallydaisy]

Doha, Marseille and Santiago
3 x ATP250 events this week.

Doha leads into Dubai (outdoor hard)
Marseille is indoor hard, Santiago is outdoor clay.

[Sallydaisy]

DOHA

SINGLES DRAW
[1] Thiem v Bye
WC Zavid v WC Karatsev
Q Ramanthan v Bublik
Opelka v [6] Bautista Agut

[3] Rublev v Bye
Gasquet by WO v Q Rola
Lajovic v Fucsovics by WO
Q Harris v [7] Wawrinka

[6] Goffin v Krajinovic
Sonego v Fritz
Q O'Connell vPospisil
Bye v [4] Shapovalov

LL Gombos [8] Coricv Jaziri
Basilashvili v Millman
Chardy v Evans
Bye v [2] Federer

Federer returns to action here, his first tournament since January 2020.
He has a Bye in R1 and then faces the winner of Evans v Chardy in R2.
Evans has been the hitting partner for Federer for the last couple of weeks in Dubai. Chardy is playing extremely well at the moment.
This is Federers' possible route through the Singles Draw per seedings:-
R1: BYE
R2: Chardy/Evans
QF: Coric
SF: Shapovalov/Goffin
F: Thiem/Rublev

QUALIFYING
There has been some mirth on various tennis forums regarding the almost non-existent field for Qualies in Qatar ...
Ordinarily such a draw would have 16 players including a couple of Wildcards - usually local chaps - and occasionally an ALT player from the doubles field if someone withdraws ill/injured at the last minute.

This year there were only 7 proper entries and all of them ended up seeded. The 8th seed is an ALT Marcelo Melo, that well known and successful doubles player, who last featured in a singles event in 2013!!! The other 8 participants are 2 more ALTs, (including Tim Puetz who has just beaten Melo), 1 Wildcard and 5 Byes.
Methinks the Byes might have it ...
;)
QUALIES DRAW
https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/doha/451/draws?matchType=QualifierSingles

SINGLES DRAW
https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/doha/451/draws

[Sallydaisy]

MARSEILLE
Cameron Norrie has been drawn to play a Qualifier in R1.
Unfortunately, Marseille hasn't yet published the Qualifying Draw.
**EDIT** Qualifying Draw below.https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ev3c89JXYAI_qyf?format=jpg&name=large

The Main Singles Draw has attracted some sarcasm for its' choice of 1 Wildcard...


Steven@GBtennis (https://twitter.com/GBtennis)1h (https://twitter.com/GBtennis/status/1368179737525432325)
Meanwhile. the Marseille organisers have made a bit of a mockery of the wild card system by giving a main draw singles wild card to the world no. 967, who has never even won a Challenger singles main draw match, apparently just for being the younger brother of the no. 2 seed.

SINGLES DRAWhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvzNf8wWYAMWiTF?format=jpg&name=large

[Sallydaisy]

SANTIAGO - Singles Draw
Not yet available

QUALIFYING DRAW
32 man draw (unusual for an ATP250)
https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/santiago/8996/draws

[themass15]

Does anyone know if anyone (other than Tennis TV) is showing Marseille?

[Sallydaisy]

MARSEILLE
There is live coverage of singles matches on Tennis TV only.
Commentary is from Chris Dennis, Paul Scott and Chris Wilkinson.

SANTIAGO
There is live coverage of singles matches on Tennis TV only.
Commentary is from Miles Maclagan, Sue Thearle and Mikey Perera.

DOHA - Amazon Prime Video

Tuesday in Doha
Dan Evans vs Jeremy Chardy at 11:30
Amazon Prime Video https://amzn.to/3qv0AG5 (https://t.co/caPxH0WWN8?amp=1)

[Sallydaisy]

Marseille OOP for Wednesday - Cameron Norrie to play.
Also, Johnny O'Mara and Lloyd Glasspool with their respective partners.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwDwBHLWEAwgUD0?format=jpg&name=900x900

[Sallydaisy]

Marseille - Thursday 11th March - Brits in Action

Cameron Norrie vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert nb 12:30 - on Tennis TV

Luke Bambridge/Dominic Inglot vs Nathaniel Lammons/Jackson Withrow at 10:30
Ken Skupski/Neal Skupski vs Lloyd Glasspool/Harri Heliovaara nb 14:30
Doubles not televised.

[Sallydaisy]

Rublev has had a stellar run the to Doha Semi-Final ...
;)

R32 Bye
R16 WO (Gasquet)
Q/F WO (Fucsovics)

[exislander]

Rublev has had a stellar run the to Doha Semi-Final ...
;)

R32 Bye
R16 WO (Gasquet)
Q/F WO (Fucsovics)

Should be fresh but maybe short on match practice?

[Sallydaisy]

DOHA Quarter Final
:faint:

Nikoloz Basilashvili has beaten Roger Federer 3'6, 6'1, 7'5
Very tight match with the break in the 11th game of the 3rd set proving crucial.
Federer saved 2 match points but the Georgian sealed the win with his 3rd chance.

[JAMES4578]

Fed fell away in 2nd but third was close, Roger even had match point at 5-4. However do not think he played as well as yesterday, possibly a bit jaded.

[RosieBear]

So frustrating. Fed not as sharp today, Dan softened him up and Basilasvili gets the win. Poor Dan - of course there are positives to take but like he said, he didn't want a lesson he wanted the win. Gah.

[Sallydaisy]

ORDERS OF PLAY TODAY, Friday 12th March.
All times GMT, results added as and when.

DOHA Semi-Finals
13.30: [3] Bautista Agut d [5] Rublev 6'3, 6'3
follow: Basilashvili d Fritz 7-6(3), 6-1
follow: Final of the Doubles Karatsev/Rublev d Daniell/Oswald

MARSEILLE Quarter- Finals
11.30: Doubles SF - Arends/Pel d Lammons/Withrow 6'1, 7'6(4)
13.30: Q Ebden d [3] Khachanov 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
follow: [1] Medvedev d [5] Sinner 6-2, 6-4
16.30: Hubert d [2] Tsitsipas 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2
follow: [4] Humbert d Q Rinderknech 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4)

SANTIAGO Quarter-Finals
14.00: Bagnis d [4] Djere 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
16.30: [8] Delbonis d Q Rune 6-3, 6-3
19.00: [1] Garin d Q Varillas 7-6, 6-3
21.00: Galan d Baena 6-4, 6-4

[Sallydaisy]

Nikoloz Basilashvili has taken the title in Doha.
:trophy:

[JAMES4578]

Tight opening set but Basilashvili took it on the breaker 7-5 and outplayed Bautista Augut 6-2 in the 2nd. Hoped for more from the spaniard but the Georgian certainly had a good week and no let down after beating Federer earlier.

[Sallydaisy]

MARSEILLE FINAL: Sunday 14th March.
[1] Medvedev v [4] Herbert

[banskogirl]

Nikoloz Basilashvili has taken the title in Doha.
:trophy:

He's not hard to look at :shamed:

[Sallydaisy]

Meanwhile in Marseille, the battle for the title continues ... into a 3rd set.
[1] Medvedev 6'4, 6'7(4) v [4] Herbert. Going with serve ...

[Sallydaisy]

Medvedev takes the title in Marseille, 6'4, 6'7, 6'4
:trophy:

PHH ran him close - and it was difficult to see who was running since they were wearing almost identical outfits - but the Russian is on a roll.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ewc1bt8WUAUoB_7?format=jpg&name=900x900