Helsinki 2009: Thursday & Friday
Posted by Labamba on November 28 2009 02:43:47
The Polish Federer has been a suitable nickname for Przysiezny in this tournament. He has easily blown past all his opponents this week playing some brilliant tennis along the way.
Extended News
Helsinki Thursday & Friday: Henkkamania is running wild + Polish Federer in majestic form
It’s been two very hectic days of tennis here in Helsinki and the home crowd has had plenty to celebrate thanks to the performances of Henri Kontinen and Jarkko Nieminen. The stadium has been practically sold out for the past two evenings and the atmosphere has never been better in this tournament. The level of play has also been good; there have been some great performances by certain individuals and some exciting matches that have gone all the way to a third set tiebreaker. It’s the singles semifinals day tomorrow with the Dutchman Robin Haase taking on the Pole Michal Przysiezny and the home hero Henri Kontinen going up against the Swiss player Stephane Bohli. Next I’ll analyze the latest performances of the four semifinalists starting with the young Finn who has become the new darling of the home crowd.
Henri Kontinen
After the epic Berrer win in R1, Henkka has kept up a consistent level of play defeating Julian Reister in R2 and then in the QF today scoring the biggest scalp of his young career in the form of his good friend and idol Jarkko Nieminen. Henri has served 40 aces in the tournament so far and many of them when in trouble on his service games. The best parts of his performances have been the mental strength and the ability to take his chances. The crowd has really taken into Henkka and his creative style of tennis has made him the new #1 fan favorite here in Finland.
Stephane Bohli
The solid Swiss player has defeated Bogdanovic, Koubek and Veic so far in this tournament. Today against the Croat Veic he had no problems and has shown some good form on these courts. In the semifinals Bohli must overcome a negative 0-1 H2H against Kontinen and the enthusiastic Finnish crowd.
Robin Haase
The comeback man Haase has continued his winning run from the qualies all the way to the semifinals. The winning streak is now six matches long, but it almost came to an end today. Haase had to dig very deep to defeat the dangerous Belgian Desein in a third set tiebreak. He has played really well in patches, but the lack of matches at this level has also been evident at times. It’s still clear to see this man is on his way back to Top 100 next year with all the talent he has and the best news for him is that the problematic knee seems to be holding up well.
Michal Przysiezny
The Polish Federer has been a suitable nickname for Przysiezny in this tournament. He has easily blown past all his opponents this week playing some brilliant tennis along the way. And just like Haase, the Pole had to come through the qualies here. Today in the quarterfinals against the second seed Beck, Przysiezny mixed up his game beautifully using different spins, angles and tactics to outplay the Slovak. The serve has also been a big weapon for the Pole; he gets a lot of pop on it despite not looking like the biggest or the strongest player out there. If Przysiezny stays healthy next year, it’s easy to predict that his rise in the rankings will continue. Tomorrow in the semifinals he’ll have a tough test in Haase, but based on the form shown so far the Pole should go through to the final.
Ville Talvenmaa