07-08-2006, 09:00 PM
Sijsling in de spotlights bij het ranking verhaaltje van SteveG na zijn challenger overwinning afgelopen week.
Player Profile
Igor Sijsling is one of the young players on the rise. The 17 year old Dutchman who will turn 18 next week has a 32-14 record on the year. He had already risen from #783 to #477 since the beginning of the year and won his first pro title at Netherlands F3 in June. But like a lot of young players its one thing to win in your home country but a true test is how you do on foreign soil. Sijsling has had an amazing three weeks. First, he got an opportunity to play in his first ATP main draw when he got a wild card in Amersfoort. He lost the match but was able to take a set off of Daniele Bracciali. That must have been a big confidence boost because the following week he went back to the futures level in Belgium F2 and dominated the field. After struggling through a long tie-break (17-15) in his first set against Philippe-Albin de Bonnevie, he went on to take the title, defeating Stefan Wauters of the home nation in the finals. Then last week he stepped it up to the challenger in Saransk. There he defeated Yuri Schukin in the quarterfinals, got past his countryman Robin Haase, who is a few months older than Sijsling and has probably received more attention so far, and finally met up with the #3 seed, Farrukh Dustov in the finals. He won in straight sets to take his first challenger title. The points from both of those events go on the rankings this week making Sijsling the #5 mover of the week behind Marat Safin. He zooms 178 spots in the rankings to #299, just two spots behind Haase. With the recent retirements of Sjeng Schalken and Richard Krajicek, and their current top player, Raemon Sluiter, all the way at #89, the Dutch fans are looking for someone to cheer for. Both Sijsling and Haase are giving them hope that some day they will be top players.
Player Profile
Igor Sijsling is one of the young players on the rise. The 17 year old Dutchman who will turn 18 next week has a 32-14 record on the year. He had already risen from #783 to #477 since the beginning of the year and won his first pro title at Netherlands F3 in June. But like a lot of young players its one thing to win in your home country but a true test is how you do on foreign soil. Sijsling has had an amazing three weeks. First, he got an opportunity to play in his first ATP main draw when he got a wild card in Amersfoort. He lost the match but was able to take a set off of Daniele Bracciali. That must have been a big confidence boost because the following week he went back to the futures level in Belgium F2 and dominated the field. After struggling through a long tie-break (17-15) in his first set against Philippe-Albin de Bonnevie, he went on to take the title, defeating Stefan Wauters of the home nation in the finals. Then last week he stepped it up to the challenger in Saransk. There he defeated Yuri Schukin in the quarterfinals, got past his countryman Robin Haase, who is a few months older than Sijsling and has probably received more attention so far, and finally met up with the #3 seed, Farrukh Dustov in the finals. He won in straight sets to take his first challenger title. The points from both of those events go on the rankings this week making Sijsling the #5 mover of the week behind Marat Safin. He zooms 178 spots in the rankings to #299, just two spots behind Haase. With the recent retirements of Sjeng Schalken and Richard Krajicek, and their current top player, Raemon Sluiter, all the way at #89, the Dutch fans are looking for someone to cheer for. Both Sijsling and Haase are giving them hope that some day they will be top players.