Dish-Houston

Former champions Lleyton Hewitt (2009) and Tommy Haas (2004) as well as former finalist James Blake (2008) are among the players added to the field for the 2013 US Men's Clay Court Championship as the preliminary entry list was released this week. Twenty-three players, including six ranked within the Top 25 on the ATP World Tour, have committed to the 28-player field for the tournament at River Oaks Country Club April 8-14.

Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam champion from Australia, and Germany's Haas headline a list of international stars in the event that includes defending champion Juan Monaco from Argentina, France's Gael Monfilsand Spaniard's Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco.

Blake, a former Top 5 player, is among a group of seven Americans that includes 2012 River Oaks runner-up John Isner, 2010 finalist Sam Querrey, Ryan Harrison, Tim Smyczek, Houston resident Michael Russell and wild card recipient Jack Sock.

"Getting the entry list always gives everyone around River Oaks a little energy boost because it means the tournament is now less than six weeks away," said Tournament Director Van Barry. "With the players that has signed up for the 2013 tournament, I anticipate a lot of excitement for this tournament. It's such a deep field, I think every day of the week will have plenty of stars and quality matches."

Here are the first 22 entries for the 213 US Men's Clay Court Championship, with their nationality and ranking as of Monday, Feb. 25:
Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 12
Martin Alund (Argentina) 91
Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) 87
Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 75
James Blake (USA) 99
Flavio Cipolla (Italy) 100
Somdev Devvarman (India) 85*
Tommy Haas (Germany) 19
Ryan Harrison (USA) 76
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 98
John Isner (USA) 15
Jesse Levine (Canada) 95
Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) 57
Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) 77
Juan Monaco (Argentina) 14
Guido Pella (Argentina) 88
Sam Querrey (USA) 23
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 96
Michael Russell (USA) 72
Tim Smyczek (USA) 101
Jack Sock (USA) 130
Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 24
*Protected Ranking

One more player will join the field as wild cards while four more players will advance into the main draw through the qualifying tournament that will be held begin April 6 at River Oaks.

In addition to these singles players, four-time doubles champion the Bryan Brothers will return to River Oaks. The twin brothers Bob and Mike are the World No. 1 doubles team. They own the record for Grand Slam titles with 13 together as well as total career titles together with 85. 

Individual session tickets and the very popular “Champ Pass” are on sale on now. The Champ Pass for the 2013 US Men’s Clay Court Championship includes a ticket to the Friday, Saturday and Sunday sessions. "The Champ Pass" usually sells out before the tournament begins. A limited number of season ticket packages are still remaining. Information on tickets can be found at www.mensclaycourt.com or by calling 713-874-6294.
 
US Men’s Clay Court Championship at River Oaks Country Club
The 104th competition for the US Men’s Clay Court Championship will be held April 8-14, 2013, at River Oaks Country Club in Houston. Started by the USTA in 1910, the Clay Court Championship has been held at numerous venues around the country. The tournament has been held in Houston since 2001, and will be held at River Oaks Country Club for the fourth straight year. Prior to hosting the US Men’s Clay Court Championship, River Oaks Country Club hosted its own event, The River Oaks International. Started in 1931, the River Oaks International roster of former champions includes Jack Kramer, Tony Trabert, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas and James Blake. The 2013 US Men’s Clay Court Championship will be the 79^th tournament at River Oaks, with the club hosting a tournament every year since 1946 after a four-year lapse due to the war. More information is available at www.mensclaycourt.com or on Twitter at @mensclaycourt. 

YEAH!! Tennis is sooooo happening in Houston RIGHT NOW!! Yesterday's results were strong and tonight will be DOMINATED by James Blake and Sam Querrey!

See you at the ROCC, DISHIES!

RESULTS - SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012
QUALIFYING SECOND ROUND
[1] Go Soeda (JPN) d Robby Ginepri (USA) 64 64
[2] Horacio Zeballos (ARG) d (WC) Nicholas Naumann (USA) 63 61
[3] Ricardo Mello (BRA) d Peter Polansky (CAN) 75 63
[4] Michael Russell (USA) d Denes Lukacs (HUN) 64 75
[5] Tommy Haas (GER) d Chris Wettengel (USA) 63 63
Catalin-Ionut Gard (ROU) d [6] Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) 75 46 62
Daniel Kosakowski (USA) d [7] Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 76(4) 64
Jan Hernych (CZE) d [8] Michael Yani (USA) 76(5) 10 ret.
 

ORDER OF PLAY - MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2012
Stadium Court start 12:00 pm
Qualifying - [4] Michael Russell (USA) vs Daniel Kosakowski (USA)
Qualifying - [1] Go Soeda (JPN) vs [5] Tommy Haas (GER)
Michael Kohlman (GER) & Alexander Waske (GER) vs (WC) Robert Kendrick (USA) & Ryan Sweeting (USA)
Not Before 6:00 pm
(6) Carlos Berlocq (ARG) vs James Blake (USA)
Eric Prodon (FRA) vs Sam Querrey (USA)

COURT 3 start 12:00 pm
Qualifying - [2] Horacio Zeballos (ARG) vs Jan Hernych (CZE)
Qualifying - [3] Ricardo Mello (BRA) vs Catalin-Ionut Gard (ROU)
Not Before 4 p.m.
Bjorn Phau (GER) vs Diego Junqueira (ARG)

NOTES
- Monday nights' schedule includes a pair of former finalists in Americans James Blake (2008) and Sam Querrey (2010).
- A preliminary schedule for the week has been set. This schedule is subject to change.
TUESDAY: Night session will feature defending champion Ryan Sweeting against a qualifier.
WEDNESDAY: Afternoon session will feature American rising star Ryan Harrison against No. 7 Alex Bogomolov, Jr. The night session will feature No. 3 Feliciano Lopez in his first match of the tournament.
THURSDAY: The first matches for No. 1 Mardy Fish, No. 2 John Isner and No. 4 Juan Monaco will all be held, but the sessions are still to be determined.
- This marks the second year in a row a former champion has played in qualifying at the US Men's Clay Court Championship. Tommy Haas, who has a bye in the 2012 qualifying draw, won the event in 2004. The 2007 champion Ivo Karlovic successfully qualified last year.
- Qualifying is a rare event for Tommy Haas. This is just the seventh time since he began playing on the ATP World Tour in 1996 that he has played qualifying. He has successfully reached the main draw just twice in his previous six attempts, including last fall in Vienna where he reached the quarterfinals.
- Five participants in the US Men's Clay Court Championship are playing Davis Cup this weekend. Ryan Harrison and John Isner represented the U.S. in a win over France, Ivo Karlovic  played for Croatia at Argentina where Juan Monaco was on the team, and Joao Souza represented Brazil in a home zonal tie against Colombia.

ONLY LIMITED TICKETS REMAIN for the 2012 US Men’s Clay Court Championship. Information on tickets can be found at www.mensclaycourt.com or by calling 713-527-0345. Once again, the US Men’s Clay Court Championship will provide the Texas Children’s Ticket Turnback program. Any fans holding tickets for a session that they cannot use are invited to return those tickets to the box office where they will be sold for face value and the entire resale price will be donated to Texas Children’s Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Institute.

Tennis fever has clearly hit Houston!! Mardy Fish became the No. 1 player from the U.S. on Wednesday with a straight sets win over David Ferrer in the Miami quarterfinals. When the new rankings are released Monday, Fish will be ranked higher than Andy Roddick, who has been the top American since 2008. Fish is projected to climb from his current career high of No. 15 to No. 11 by reaching the Miami semifinals, and would likely reach the Top 10 if he were to advance to the Miami final.

Ryan Sweeting's wild card brings the total number of Americans in the field for 2011 to eight, including six of the seven Americans who are ranked in the Top 100. The 23-year-old played a brief collegiate career at the University of Florida and was the 2005 US Open junior champion. This will be Sweeting's third main draw appearance in Houston, including last year when he reached the second round as a qualifier before falling to Chile's Nicolas Massu in a third set.

Four players have been added to the field this week. In addition to Sweeting, former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler of Germany, Russian Igor Kunitsyn and Germany's Mischa Zverev have joined the field. Schuettler took the place of 2010 champion Juan Ignacio Chela, who withdrew for personal reasons, while Kunitsyn and Daniel entered the field after all possible special exempt spots from Miami were eliminated.

Twenty-four of the field of 28 players has been set, with four more to enter through this weekend's qualifying tournament, including Americans James Blake and Ryan Harrison, who join Sweeting as the wild card entrants. The top four seeds for this year's event will be Fish at No. 1, 2010 finalist Sam Querrey at No. 2, Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at No. 3 and American John Isner at No. 4. These four players will have first round byes.

DISH will have tickets to give away so follow us on TWITTER or Facebook to win your tickets!

The HOT boys of Tennis are lining up to grace H-Town with their fast and furious game! Two more American stars have committed to play the 2011 US Men’s Clay Court Championship April 4-10 at River Oaks Country Club.
 
James Blake, the 2008 finalist, and John Isner, who shattered every conceivable match record during a marathon first round match at last year’s Wimbledon, have been added to a singles field that already includes 2010 finalist Sam Querrey and 2006 champion Mardy Fish.
 
These four singles stars will be joined by three-time doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan, who claimed their 10^th career major title by winning the Australian Open last month.
 
“It seems appropriate to talk about having an all-American field at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship” said tournament director Van Barry. “These players represent really two generations of American talent on the ATP World Tour. It will be our pleasure to host them along with the rest of our field at River Oaks April 4-10.”
 
Blake has been ranked as high as No. 4 in his career. He owns 10 career titles, and has reached 14 other finals, including at River Oaks in 2006. The 2008 recipient of the River Oaks Ernest Langston Sportsmanship Trophy along with his brother, Thomas, Blake owns a 16-9 career record in the US Men’s Clay Court Championship. In 2004, he teamed with Fish to claim the doubles title.
 
Isner will be making his fourth career appearance in Houston. Last year was a breakout season for the 6-foot-9 player who won an NCAA team title at Georgia. He won his maiden ATP title in Auckland while reaching three other finals. But his 2010 will be best remembered for pulling out an epic 70-68 fifth set win over Nicolas Mahut in the Wimbledon first round. Spread over three days, the match totaled 11 hours, five minutes, and featured 113 Isner aces.
 
Querrey also enjoyed a great 2010, ending the season with a career high ranking of No. 18 after winning a career-best four titles during the season, third-most on the ATP circuit, behind only Rafael Nadal (7) and Roger Federer (5). In April, Querrey reached the final at River Oaks where he lost to Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.
 
Fish, the 2006 Houston champion, reached four finals in 2010, winning a pair of titles. He ended the year at a career high ranking of No. 16 having posted a career high for match wins with a 40-14 record in 2010. Fish is 9-7 all-time at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in singles, and is a two-time doubles champion, teaming with Andy Roddick to claim the title in 2002 and with Blake to win in 2004.
 
The Bryans pushed their record haul of career titles to 68 thanks to a win at the Australian Open last month. The title in Melbourne was the 10^th major title of their career. The twins from California who are three-time champions at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship finished as the No. 1 team in the World for the sixth time in eight years in 2010.
 
The full singles acceptance list for the 2011 event will be released in late February.
 
Individual and “Champ Pass” tickets for the 2011 US Men’s Clay Court Championship are on sale now. The popular Champ Pass includes a ticket to the Friday, Saturday and Sunday sessions, which are usually sold out before the tournament begins. A limited number of season ticket packages for the 2011 event are still remaining. Information on tickets can be found at www.mensclaycourt.com or by calling 713-874-6294.

US Men’s Clay Court Championship at River Oaks Country Club
The 102nd competition for the US Men’s Clay Court Championship will be held April 4-10, 2011, at River Oaks Country Club in Houston. Started by the USTA in 1910, it has been held at numerous venues around the country. The tournament has been held in Houston since 2001, and will be held at River Oaks Country Club for the third straight year. Prior to hosting the US Men’s Clay Court Championship, River Oaks Country Club hosted its own event, The River Oaks International. Started in 1931, the River Oaks International roster of former champions includes Jack Kramer, Tony Trabert, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas and James Blake. The 2011 US Men’s Clay Court Championship will be the 77^th tournament at River Oaks, with the club hosting a tournament every year since 1946 after a four-year lapse due to the war. More information is available at www.mensclaycourt.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mensclaycourt.