BMW Open

Thursday 29 April

Rainer Schuettler, continuing his hot streak, defeated wildcard entrant Tommy Haas to advance to the quarterfinals. Schuettler defeated his countryman 64 26 64 and next faces Nikolay Davydenko, who advanced after defeating Victor Hanescu 67 62 64. They play on Friday as the second match on Centre Court (play begins at noon).
Last week in Monte Carlo it was blisters, today in Munich it was a bee sting, but that didn't hinder Schuettler. "Rainer is a player who hardly makes any mistakes," said Haas. "He showed again today what a fighter he is. I wish him to win the title."
The Russian holds a 2-1 advantage over Schuettler in career meetings. They last met at this very tournament in the second round in 2003 with Rainer winning 46 62 63. The first two meetings, won by Davydenko, were in 2002 Kitzbuhel Clay R32 46 26 and 2001 Washington Hard R64 64 36 06. This year's best performance from Davydenko was also in Monte Carlo where he reached his first TMS quarterfinal berth.

Thursday's match is 2nd of the day on Centre Court, not to start before 2pm (Radek v Stepanek at noon). The two photos from the first round I finally was able to post, check Tuesday's report.

There's Something About Rainer... Articles

• Reuters (UK) brief from Thursday


• The Advertiser (Aussie) report on the day


• Eurosport article from their match


• ESPN wire report


• Sport.ard has a ticker recap here, possibly


• Sport1 article on the German face off


• Sport.de report


• TennisMagazin.de piece on match


• ATP site's news recap of the day in Munich, has links to two audio clips of both Rainer and Haas. Here are Rainer's quotes from this link: “It’s tough to play in Germany against another German; we are friends so it was a really difficult match. I’m happy that I won. I think he is playing great tennis again and I am happy for him that he has such a successful comeback and I’m sure he will get up high in the rankings.”
  
  “I think I played very, very, consistent and I was trying to put him under pressure. He had to play long rallies to win the points and I was happy with my game fighting hard. Finally, at 4-4 in the third set, I made the break and then I served for the match and won it pretty easy, so I am very happy.”
  
  “The entire match was difficult because Tommy played well all match. I’m happy that his shoulder is holding up and that he is playing well.”
  
  “I’m actually a little surprised, I think Tommy is playing better than he did before his injury. I’m happy that he is having such a great comeback, being that fit and is playing good tennis. It was a very tough match. He is so hungry for tennis and looks good on court, I’m sure he will play very successful in the future and get back to where he belongs. He is top fit, he proved that today. It was a good fight, we both played very well. I had to play my best to win and still only a few points decided the match.”
  
  “It’s always a prestige match playing a German. I’ve now won four times against Tommy, I’m not sure why but apparently his games suits me. Even though we are good friends I tried to play my best tennis. It’s a pity we had to play each other in the second round already but that is the way it is. I’m happy to be in the quarterfinals.”

Tuesday 27 April

Schuettler beat Robin Soderling in their first round match this afternoon, 64 76(5). Next up is countryman Tommy Haas, who advanced after defeating Bohdan Ulihrach 63 62. They will most likely play Thursday on Centre Court with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals.
The Germans have met three times in head-to-head play with Schuettler winning each one - this will be their first meeting since Sydney in 2001. Previous results: 2001 Sydney Hard R16 76(7) 76(10); 2000 US Open Hard R64 76(5) 62 64 and 2000 Stuttgart Outdoor Clay R16 75 21. Schuettler has moved to 20th on the Indesit Ranks while Haas is at #37. Rainer made an enormous leap of 71 positions with his solid Monte Carlo run.
This year in Haas' strong comeback from shoulder problems, he won Houston and reached the semifinals in Memphis with Weiner. Please note how Haas had no problem flying from Houston and playing in Monte Carlo last week.

There's Something About Rainer... Articles

• TennisMagazin.de piece on the matchup of the Germans ( here is their report from Monte Carlo)
.

• ATP news report on Tuesday's results and Wednesday's match with a Rainer/Haas emphasis


• Sport1 article on the two


• BR-Online report


• The Star (Malaysia) article on the matchup


• ABC Sport (Aussie) similar report


• Sports Illustrated report on Tuesday's results


• Sports Network brief on BMW happenings


• CNN International tennis recap


• SI's Wertheim's tennis column from last week, has this reader asking the latest hot question of each week... essentially What The Hell Is Going On With ___. "Methinks we must ask: WTHIGOW Rainer Schuettler? -- George Creppy, New York"
  
• Werhteim's Sports Illustrated column from this week that has a response... "How about some props for the runner-up Rainer Schuettler? A week ago, our man was a WTHIGOW candidate. After a dynamite week in which he beat Carlos Moya and recovered from a 1-3 deficit in the final set to outlast Lleyton Hewitt, Schuettler looks to be back in business. When it Rainers, it pours." It also brings a new WTHIGOW candidate... Tommy Haas! "WTHIGOW Tommy Haas? (I assume WTHIGOW can be used in an admiring, positive way?) -- Adrian Ewins, Saskatoon, Canada / Nice touch. Yeah how about Tommy Haas? Off the tennis radar while recovering from the shoulder injury, he is suddenly back in the mix, playing top-10 tennis. Plus, he's a trooper. After he beat Roddick to win the Houston event last Sunday, he jumped on a plane to make the Monte Carlo draw. The guy has always been ubertalented. Maybe in a perverse way, the time off did him some good."


• Tennis-X had this one liner in their notes on this page... "There is dancing in the streets on the Rainer Schuettler website."

Schuettler Shots... Photos



Anyone catch the ESPN2 show of the Monte Carlo highlights? What did you think of the show? I thought the announcers were incredibly dull and it would have been nice to have an interview with any player who stepped on the court. Another nice touch would have been if Announcer A pronounced Rainer's name the way Announcer B did. If this is their answer to gaining new viewers, it's dreadful, even the scoring ticker was bizarre.

Monday 26 April

German Rainer Schuettler heads to Munich for the BMW Open as the top seed. His first round match will be against Robin Soderling on Tuesday. Schuettler is not slated for doubles play.
Schuettler lost to Soderling in their only meeting, a 64 64 57 36 46 first round upset at the Australian Open this year. This year the Swede was a finalist in Marseille.
They are the third match of the day on Centre Court, all play starts at noon.

The singles draw can be found here.
Live scoring from the event's site can be found here.