Chucho in the land of cassoulet and hope he can get some wins in France

I don't expect much here, but hope he can win a couple of matches in Gstaad.

Chucho isn't very good after a break and he plays Lapentti in the 1st round, not an easy match, but we'll see what happens.

(1) DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS v MONFILS, Gael FRA
SERRA, Florent FRA v QUALIFIER
LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP v (WC) KRATOCHVIL, Michel SUI
ROITMAN, Sergio ARG v (5) MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA

(4) KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GER v HERNYCH, Jan CZE
QUALIFIER v QUALIFIER
ESCHAUER, Werner AUT v (WC) LAMMER, Michael SUI
HARTFIELD, Diego ARG v (6) GICQUEL, Marc FRA

(8) STARACE, Potito ITA v HAJEK, Jan CZE
MONTANES, Albert ESP v (WC) ANDREEV, Igor RUS
VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL v GAUDIO, Gaston ARG
RAMIREZ HIDALGO, Ruben ESP v (3) GASQUET, Richard FRA

(7) WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI v VASSALLO ARGUELLO, Martin ARG
ACASUSO, Jose ARG v LAPENTTI, Nicolas ECU
QUALIFIER v SEPPI, Andreas ITA
KOUBEK, Stefan AUT v (2) YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS

He's back on the clay, that's all that matters for me right now. :cool:

Chucho's playing today, 2nd match on Sports Center 1.

He's also associated to Armando in doubles.

Geez Lapentti first round in altitude, what a brutal Rd 1 match.

GL chucho, you are going to need it. He needs the practice before defending all those points next week.

Lapentti is normally better at Kitzi than at Gstaad, but he has the game to upset Chucho and also we know Chucho is never good after a break.

Lapentti won in straight sets, hope Chucho can show the same form he did last year.

Only good thing is that I will have a player I like in the next round.

(1) Rafael Nadal (ESP) V Alexander Waske (GER)
Simon Greul (GER) V Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
Stefan Koubek (AUT) V Jose Acasuso (ARG)
Jan Hernych (CZE) V (8) Juan Monaco (ARG)

(3) Tomas Berdych (CZE) V Nicolas Lapentti (ECU)
Carlos Berlocq (ARG) V Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
Jan Hajek (CZE) V Diego Hartfield (ARG)
Gaston Gaudio (ARG) V (6) Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)

(7) Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) V Max Mirnyi (BLR)
QUALIFIER V Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) V Florian Mayer (GER)
QUALIFIER V (4) David Ferrer (ESP)

(5) Guillermo Canas (ARG) V Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
QUALIFIER V Benjamin Becker (GER)
QUALIFIER V Ivan Navarro Pastor (ESP)
Gael Monfils (FRA) V (2) Tommy Robredo (ESP)

Sorry but I won't cheer for Koubek. Chucho trained hard today, with Orsanic.

Chucho won his doubles match today, with Pico Monaco. Good match, against friends -Armando & Hartfield.

Tomorrow, he's 1st match on the Grandstand at 11am. He'll have to wake up at 5am to be awake at that time!! I'll be there. Btw, he made us laugh today during the match. He just showed us his back, which is badly sunburnt. He pulled off his shirt and it wasn't great to see. But we all burst out laughing when he faked pulling down the shorts........what a clown!!!!

Chucho appreciates his fans and that's good to see and as for him and Koubek that is going to be funny as they both hate getting up in the morning.

The round 1 exits continue

At least Chucho is still in the doubles and look forward to reading the reports, and as bad it is Chucho losing, it's good as I am a Koubek fan, and at least someone I like made the 2nd round.

Well, I saw Chucho train early this morning, and he seemed really ok, awake!!
But during the match, there was something totally different. The 1st serve wasn't working at all, and Chucho didn't feel confident enough to risk. Koubek played a great match....nothing more to say, apart from the fact that Chucho saved 5 matchpts.

Yes, he's still in the doubles, maybe he's gonna do like Gaston last year....hopefully.

(1) DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB v (Q) ANDUJAR, Pablo ESP
(Q) TROICKI, Viktor SRB v (LL) RUSEVSKI, Predrag MKD
BERLOCQ, Carlos ARG v (Q) GONZALEZ, Maximo ARG
HANESCU, Victor ROU v (8) TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB

(3) LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO v PAVEL, Andrei ROU
(SE) HAASE, Robin NED v MANTILLA, Felix ESP
ZVEREV, Mischa GER v SERRA, Florent FRA
DLOUHY, Lukas CZE v (7) VOLANDRI, Filippo ITA

(6) MOYA, Carlos ESP v (WC) WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI
(WC) BELIC, Luka CRO v (Q) RIBA, Pere ESP
ROGER-VASSELIN, Edouard FRA v ACASUSO, Jose ARG
MONTANES, Albert ESP v (4) FERRER, David ESP

(5) CANAS, Guillermo ARG v (WC) KARANUSIC, Roko CRO
GAUDIO, Gaston ARG v RAMIREZ HIDALGO, Ruben ESP
CILIC, Marin CRO v MONTCOURT, Mathieu FRA
SIMON, Gilles FRA v (2) DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS

Chucho's 1st match on Court 1. Starting 5PM CET.

Plenty of time for big Chucho to sleep and fire up.

Yep, good thing, because it's very hot there at that moment.

Chucho thumped Roger-Vasselin 6-2 6-0

Now he plays his old friend Ferrer.

And it's 1st match on Center Court, starting at 5PM CET.

Lets get that winning feeling back Chucho, some unfinished business with Ferrer after last year's Stuttgart final

I will be watching this one after that horrible defeat in Stuttgart.

Chucho lost this match 2-6 7-6 6-2.

Ferrer was 3/3 from break points and Chucho was 3/9, this was a huge chance blown and should have been done and dusted in 2 sets, but Ferrer is always the same, he never gives up and he has to be beaten.

Ferrer ran away with it in the 3rd.

Chucho..... :rolleyes:

Chucho is back in Sopot, where he won his 1st event.

[1] Davydenko vs Pavel
Vassallo Arguello vs Q
Montanes vs Hartfield
Zabaleta vs [6] Almagro

[3] Chela vs Roitman
Acasuso vs Eschauer
Q vs Olejniczak
Tipsarevic vs [7] Mayer

[8] Starace vs Q
Simon vs Troicki
Lapentti vs Andreev
Przysiężny vs [4] Volandri

[5] Calleri vs Koubek
Vliegen vs Horna
Massu vs Q
Kubot vs [2] Robredo

He is playing tomorrow.

CENTER COURT - 12:30 PM

Gaston GAUDIO (ARG) vs Steve DARCIS (BEL)

Not Before 2:00 PM

Mariano ZABALETA (ARG) vs Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP)

Not Before 5:15 PM

Michal PRZYSIEZNY (POL) vs Filippo VOLANDRI (ITA)

followed by

Nicolas LAPENTTI (ECU) vs Igor ANDREEV (RUS)

COURT N 1 - 12:30 PM

Boris PASHANSKI (SRB) vs Pablo CUEVAS (URU)

Not Before 3:30 PM

Albert MONTANES (ESP) vs Diego HARTFIELD (ARG)

followed by

Jose ACASUSO (ARG) vs Werner ESCHAUER (AUT)

followed by

Gaston GAUDIO (ARG)/Nicolas MASSU (CHI) vs Tomas CIBULEC (CZE)/Petr PALA (CZE)

COURT N 2 - 12:30 PM

Juan Pablo BRZEZICKI (ARG) vs Maximo GONZALEZ (ARG)

COURT N 3 - 12:30 PM

Olivier PATIENCE (FRA) vs Yuri SCHUKIN (RUS)

Not Before 4:00 PM

Hugo ARMANDO (USA)/Pablo CUEVAS (URU) vs Jasper SMIT (NED)/Martijn VAN HAASTEREN (NED

Chucho won 6-2 6-3, this is a bonus for a very tough match next round.

Good job Chucho and good luck for the upcoming match.

Very tough match today against an in from Roitman. If only he was in a bit of form he would walk this tournament.

GL Chucho

Battle of the hige forehands here and Roitman won their match in Buenos Aires this year, hope Chucho can turn it around.

Vamos Chucho!! :bounce:

Chucho won in straight sets and according to BG, he played quite well, good to see from the big man.

Good job Chucho!! Keep that up now....

From the ATP site:

Acasuso Hoping to Revive Modest Season in Sopot

Former Top 20 star Jose Acasuso will look to atone for a modest 2007 season after Wednesday reaching the quarterfinals in Sopot. Acasuso defeated fellow Argentine Sergio Roitman 6-4, 6-4 to reach just his third quarterfinal of the season.

One year ago Acasuso was at a career-high No. 20 in the ATP Rankings but he has since slipped to No. 72 and has Rogers Masters quarterfinal points soon to drop from his 'Best 18' total. If his Rogers Masters points go undefended, Acasuso could see his ranking flirt with dropping outside the Top 100. That makes a strong performance in Sopot all the more important.

Since reaching the quarterfinals in Toronto last year Acasuso had gone 16-21 in ATP tournaments before this week.

Against Roitman Acasuso won more than 70 percent of points on both his first and second serves. He faced two break points and dropped serve once.
[...]

On playing Acaususo next, Mayer said: "He hasn't had his best year but last week he almost beat David Ferrer on clay and this week he's beaten two good guys in straight sets, so it will be a tough test."

http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/news/news1.asp

Chucho will need to be vigilant for sure as Mayer is much harder to play here and his dropshots can really piss off Chucho.

Mayer leads 2-1 in their series H2h and they are both playing in their own 'turf' so to speak.

Provided Chucho gets that fh working like he has this week and I don't give Mayer much of a chance in this one.

Should be a good match and goes without saying Chucho needs to do well this week.

Match scheduled at 12.30 CET on Center Court. Vamos!!

Chucho won a very poor match against Mayer he got the W and that is what counts for now.

He plays Montañes in the SF and is 5-0 in their matches, so lets continue that and make the final.

I missed the first set but by all accounts neither player seemd to play well at all?

Anyway final result is all that matter, and yes 5-0 against Montanes I will be disappointed if he doesn't make the final.

Oh God, I'm so happy :sobbing: :sobbing:

From the ATP Site:

Acasuso Reaches Sopot Semis

It was a good day for one of the former champions in action in Sopot, as Jose Acasuso advanced to the semifinals with a 7-6(4), 6-3 quarterfinal upset over No. 7 seed Florian Mayer. The two players traded breaks of serve twice in the first set before Acasuso took control in the tie-break. The Argentine was the stronger one in the second set also, winning all 11 points on his first serve and converting on two of six opportunities to break his German opponent.

Acasuso is now through to his first ATP semifinal of the year, having lost in the quarterfinals twice previously at clay court stops in Acapulco (losing to Agustin Calleri) and Casablanca (losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu). He also has a stellar record in Sopot, improving to 14-3 here with his win on Friday. He is a one-time champion in 2002, one-time runner-up in 2004 (to Rafael Nadal) and a one-time quarterfinalist in 2005 (falling to Potito Starace).

Awaiting Acasuso in the semifinals will be fellow non-seed Albert Montanes, a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 winner on Friday over Martin Vassallo Arguello

http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/news/news1.asp

Chucho gave Montañes a beatdown 6-1 6-2 and he played solidly and was moving well for the most part and did what he needed to against an opponent who looked beaten before the toss of the coin.

Boredo or Simon await.

Vamos Chucho!! :bounce:

Bad loss by Chucho 7-5 6-0 to Boredo, especially after having set points in the 1st set and then going to water after that was bad to see.

Good week with a poor ending.

It was so frustrating to watch him give so many points to Robredo in the 2nd set. But he made the final and that was a great week for him so I hope it brings to his confidence for the upcoming events.

Chucho is playing Oli Rochus in a tough 1st rounder, at least it's not his brother Chris who is a nightmare for Chucho.

(1) DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS v BYE
DELIC, Amer USA v (WC) YOUNG, Donald USA
DEL POTRO, Juan Martin ARG v TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA
(13) SIMON, Gilles FRA v BYE

(10) ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP v BYE
BENNETEAU, Julien FRA v HERNANDEZ, Oscar ESP
LAPENTTI, Nicolas ECU v KOUBEK, Stefan AUT
(5) MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA v BYE

(3) BLAKE, James USA v BYE
QUALIFIER v CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA
MASSU, Nicolas CHI v GINEPRI, Robby USA
(16) CALLERI, Agustin ARG v BYE

(12) VERDASCO, Fernando ESP v BYE
QUALIFIER v SPADEA, Vincent USA
TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB v LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP
(6) NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN v BYE

(8) STARACE, Potito v BYE
VLIEGEN, Kristof v JOHANSSON, Thomas
RUSSELL, Michael v GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo
(11) KARLOVIC, Ivo v BYE

(14) ANDREEV, Igor v BYE
MONTANES, Albert v QUALIFIER
BECKER, Benjamin v (WC) ISNER, John
(4vWC) FERRER, David v BYE

(7) VOLANDRI, Filippo v BYE
(WC) FISH, Mardy v MAYER, Florian
ROCHUS, Olivier v ACASUSO, Jose
(9) HRBATY, Dominik v BYE

(15) MONFILS, Gael vBYE
WAWRINKA, Stanislas v QUALIFIER
GICQUEL, Marc v BERLOCQ, Carlos
(2) ROBREDO, Tommy v BYE

Chucho had a good win against Oli Rochus 6-1 7-6(7) and for once won a match while coming back from a break, which he has had problems with in the past.

Now he has a winnable match against Hrbaty.

Unexpected win by Chucho, well done

Good job Big Man. :)

Its important he gets a decent hit out this week given he was a non starter in the 2 masters series events

Today a very winnable match against Hrbaty where he leads the H2h 2-0 & Hrbaty in career worst form at the moment.

Hope they can get on today and Chucho has a big chance to get through Hrbaty will play Fish and it's not like Mardy is in the greatest form either.

I didn't follow the scores but an impressive scoreline against Hrbaty :yeah:

Time to get rid of the Fish now who has a dose of the serving yips.

Easy enough win for Chucho and fry the fish.

Chucho lost in 3 sets and he got some matches and now he can get on the bus to New York.

He will play Vassallo Arguello in the 1st round and then Roddick in the 2nd round.

I don't like that draw!! :(

Chucho beat his best friend Vassallo 6-4 6-7 6-3 6-4 and now he has to play Roddick and just hope he shows a better attitude against him than he has in the past and serve with some thought behind it.

the problem is Chucho can not return Roddick serve, but i hope he can play like those first two sets against Hewitt two years ago :)

At least I should be able to watch the match

Who knows anything can happen

the problem is Chucho can not return Roddick serve, but i hope he can play like those first two sets against Hewitt two years ago :)

He should bother with his own serve and taking care of that, before worrying about the Duck's serve.

Just saw he had to retire with a knee injury :sad: Hop it's not too bad.

Played well for the 1st set, but the injury to the knee hampered Chucho and hope he is right by Bucharest.

Shame his match had to end they way it did

Chucho returns from injury to play in Moscow

Over a month of being inactive....we all know how he fares after such a long break :o

He plays Berrer.

Chucho's knee is still a bit tender, but they are going to try and play some matches and see how it goes.

He is up against Berrer in the 1st round of the Kremlin Cup.

Still cant believe, Chucho came to Moscow :) (though i saw him yesterday). Sitting on second court, waiting for his match :D
Vamos Chucho!

Chucho lost in 3 sets, it's pretty much just about getting match practice for him now.

No real suprise I suppose

Hopefully he wasn't bothered by the knee

i'm so sorry Chuco lost. It seemed like nothing was working out today with him. So many easy shots lost, so many unlucky things... The same time Berrer probobly was playing his best match ever. Now he's watching Gato Hartfild's match and looks quite lost :(
Hope he will be ok soon. Vamos!
Hopefully he wasn't bothered by the knee
At least it didnt look like that

Chucho is playing in a 125K Challenger in France. He has to get revenge on Dlouhy for RG.

Jiri Vanek CZE [8] vs. Qualifier
Christophe Rochus BEL vs. Steve Darcis BEL
Michel Kratochvil SUI vs. Lukasz Kubot POL
Oliver Marach AUT vs. Carlos Berlocq ARG [4]

Diego Hartfield ARG [6] vs. Jérémy Chardy FRA [WC]
Alex Bogdanovic GBR vs. Qualifier
Qualifier vs. Federico Luzzi ITA
Lukas Dlouhy CZE vs. Jose Acasuso ARG [2]

Good to see him not being idle and getting some matches under his belt

Chucho defeated drop shot Dlouhy 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-3 and will now play Luzzi in the next round.

He should have enough weapons to take care of that match.

Chucho won a walkover over Luzzi, just hope Luzzi is ok. Now he plays Bogdanovic and he is a serve/volleyer which is a style that Chucho hates playing.

Chucho is in the final after beating Bogdanovic and Kubot by 6-4 6-3

Good job Big Man. You really deserve this but only after the final :lol:

http://www.comptoirgastronomique.com/images/files-extra-fields/cassoulet-oie-frais.jpg

Still with no chat thread around here? :p
I haven´t been here in AGES, but as I came to MTF have some fun reading GM after the final (it never fails :p ) I thought it was time to at least say hi to Choupi, George (not a George anymore?), and everyone around :wavey:

EDIT: Choupi, you came to my mind when I saw this :lol: http://www.2fingerjester.com/cats.htm

EDIT: Choupi, you came to my mind when I saw this :lol: http://www.2fingerjester.com/cats.htm
:haha: Thanks for the good laugh Lau!! I just love the Barry White and Stevie Wonder ones :yeah: Nice to read from you again btw :)

Tough one for Chucho playing against Willy.

lau, great to see you around again.

lau :wavey:

I'm tipping Chucho to win today. Matches under his belt + more favourable conditions specific to this matchup.

Vamos

Disappointing loss to Canas as he had plenty of chances in the first set but in the second set semingly couldn't get a look into Canas' serve.

A tactical injury timeout by Canas at the start of the second set didn't help either

Bad luck for Chucho, but it's not easy playing a fellow countryman and he is on the list for the Bercy qualifiers.

Chucho beat Lugassy 6-3 6-2 in the 1st round of Bercy qualies and just hope he can get revenge against Querrey to make the MD.

Querrey has been playing like tripe recently

Vamos Chucho

Vamos Big Man!! :)

Big Sam decided to serve well and served 20 aces and defeated Chucho 7-6(7) 6-3.

Hope he goes home now and prepares hard for the 2008 season.

:( too bad