Breaking through on clay - 4/18/2011

Date: 4/18/2011
Result: Barcelona R1, Kevin Anderson def. Pablo Cuevas, 7-5 3-6 6-4
Why it matters:
- An impressive win for Anderson.  With just two career wins on clay before this match - one a retirement, the other over Donald Young in Houston - this has to be considered an unexpected upset, even if Anderson was the seeded player.  Anderson is steadily improving though, both generally and on clay, coming off a title in Johannesburg, plus a quarterfinal in Miami, and reaching a career high ranking.  If Anderson can pick off a few more wins on his worst surface, his ranking will continue to rocket up.  With his poor prior results, he has no points to defend over the next few weeks. His goal should be to move into a good seeding position for Wimbledon.  On grass, his big game could do significant damage, so ensuring that he'll avoid the top guys, at least for a few rounds, would do him wonders.
- For Cuevas, this is a disappointing outcome in a winnable match.  Cuevas needs to win these matches to become relevant.  His win over Roddick in Miami did a lot, but when you click on Cuevas's profile on the official website, you still get his doubles results as a default.  His 2008 French Open title is a good reason why, but he's been playing more singles than doubles this year, and more successfully, too.  Good results this clay season in Europe could turn him into a current singles threat, rather than just a doubles once-was.

Honorable Mentions:
- Fes R1, Simona Halep def. Anastasia Yakimova - 62 60 - Halep is back at the site of her big breakthrough last year.  There are two types of players - those who love that "winning feeling" and do great at the same events year after year, and those who crumble when trying to defend ranking points.  Halep is trying to show she's the former, with an impressive win featuring 7 breaks of serve by Halep (Yakimova never held).
- Fes R1, Ksenia Pervak def. Angelique Kerber - 61 46 63 - Kerber opts out of a big event in her home country, to play down apparently to try to get some confidence back after a rough start to the year, and she goes down in the first round.  I think taking the easy payday at home and chance for extra points (confidence or not) would've been the wise move.  If she wants to play down other weeks, that's fine, but playing at home, especially somewhere like Germany which doesn't have many women's events, would've seemed logical.  Pervak's still developing on clay courts, but if she's willing to grind like she was today, her good results will come soon.