Ah, I forgot to wrap up the weekend tournaments, so let me get that done.

There were two clay court tournaments held last week.  In the Swedish Open, there was only one non-Spaniard in the semifinals, namely Robin Soderling.  He made the finals, but lost to Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.  Similarly, at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, there was only one non-Spaniard in the semifinals, namely, Gael Monfils.  He also made the finals, but like Soderling, Monfils also lost.  However, Monfils didn’t even complete the match.  Montanes won the first set 6-2.  Although Monfils was up 2-1, he retired.

This week was the first tournament in the US Open Series.  Recently, that first tournament was held in Indianapolis.  This year, it was moved to Atlanta.  Atlanta has hosted a tournament as recently as about 10 years ago.  In that tournament, Andy Roddick had a wildcard and won his first tournament.  That tournament was played on clay in 2001, but this year it’s played on hard courts.  There were three players in that tournament that played this year.  Andy Roddick, Xavier Malisse (who Andy beat in the final), and Rainer Schuettler.

Andy Roddick took a wildcard to Atlanta, feeling he was match short.  He recalled that he used to thank each tournament director whenever he got a wildcard in his early career.  He joked that he should write another thank you card since he hasn’t taken a wildcard in a while.

There are eight seeds in the tournament.  The top four seeds get byes.  They include Andy Roddick, John Isner, Lleyton Hewitt, and Horacio Zeballos.  The next four seeds are: Janko Tipsarevic, Mardy Fish, Xavier Malisse, and Benjamin Becker.

There are quite a few Americans playing included Rajeev Ram, Taylor Dent, James Blake, Ryan Sweeting (who qualified), Robby Ginepri, Donaly Young (wildcard), and Michael Russell.  Ram beat Karol Beck, but as a reward, he gets to play the guy that beat him a Wimbledon, Andy Roddick.

Xavier Malisse beat Ryan Sweeting.  Taylor Dent beat James Blake in three sets.  Mardy Fish beat Brit James Ward.  He’ll face Robby Ginepri who beat Aussie Nick Lindahl.  Donald Young upset Dudi Sela.  He’ll face tall Kevin Anderson who upset Janko Tipsarevic in the first round.

Michael Russell upset Benjamin Becker.  He’ll face Rainer Schuettler who beat Teimuraz Gabashvili.  Veteran Gilles Muller won his first round match and will play John Isner in the second round.

Apparently, Andy Roddick has shaved his head, so he’ll sport an Agassi-like look or perhaps more Ivan Ljubicic.