This de Bakker kid is making a name for himself beating JCF and Tsonga. Good for him. Doubt he'll get by el Sod though. Vamos el Sod!!!!!!!

Yes, chr18 I too think Soderling will win, he looked extremely impressive against the talented Mr Schwank. However, don't you just love de Bakker? A "new" skillful player, not afraid to take the game to Tsonga and with gr8 net skills and I loved the way he kept enticing T to the net and lobbing him. An excellent match. Come on!

Finally de Bakker is making the most of his potential! It took him a while to get his game together. Hopefully he can keep this up on a consistent level. It wasn't until last year when he won 3 or 4 challengers in a row and defeated Monfils in the Davis Cup, the he was doubted in the Netherlands. Back then he was ranked 122 when playing Davis Cup, which Guy Forget couldn't believe. We, in the Netherlands believed, that de Bakker, as a former junior world #1, would surge on to the ATP Tour. When that didn't happen, I thought he would be like Michealla Krajicek. Great in the juniors, but no good in the seniors. Always a talent, never a real force. Look at him now, already in the top 50 en still climbing.

I do think le Sod has to much firepower for de Bakker. Win or lose, he has made an impact this tournament :D

well since de bakker has done the worst thing he can do to me, ( defeat juanqui), he should go on and do something that makes me feel better.. he should defeat soda..
as for juanqui, i hope that it remains his worst tournament till end of wimby..

This De Bakker boy is very interesting. He is really good at the net. I'm impressed that he really knows when to move in to the net, when to pass Tsonga at the net and his volleying so well. He looks very comfortable at the net, this may be useful when playing Soderling. He needs to serve well too in order to have a chance against Soderling.

Comparing him to Bellucci, both the same age at 21, I find DeBakker's game more interesting. Does anyone know how De Bakker fare on the clay court during his juniors days? He, Bellucci and Delpo may be the future batch of challengers at the FO.

@luckystar..
since he defeated ferrero, i searched a bit about him.. this guy was a former wimby champ, with a semi appearance in roland garros and few titles on clay and hards..
i think he prefers clay but he has good results at other places..
and as for bellucci, i think he is pure clay courter..
delpo is in another league..
and you are forgetting gulbis, he is slowly making his move to the higher rungs of rankings ladder..

Much as I don't like Sod, I don't think De Bakker has a hope in hell of beating him. How he managed to beat Ferrero and Tsonga is a mystery to me. I did not see the Ferrero match but I thought the match between De Bakker and Tsonga was very low key.

Thanks clayking for the info. I do agree that beating Soderling may be a bridge too far for De Bakker. I think Ferrero may be a bit affected by fatigue in this tournament, after all he did play many tournaments and matches so far this season, though no disrespect to
De Bakker. He did play well against Tsonga, imagine he outplayed Tsonga at the net? And to think that Rafa breadsticked and bagelled him at MC? Really tells me how far ahead Rafa is on clay, over the whole pack.

Of course it's early days yet for De Bakker, but I do remember we also question Delpo at the end of 2008 and we see what happened in 2009? De Bakker may not be another Delpo but I do hope he can provide some challenges to the existing top players and make things more interesting.

Gulbis is one guy with lots of talent but I'm afraid he is something like Almagro, who relies on his talent and his form to do the job, with no specific game plans for each of his opponents. I think that's why Gulbis and Almagro normally won't go far in tournaments, just when u think they are going to and end up feeling disappointed. Case in point, Almargo vs Tsonga, a match that is clearly winnable by Almagro and he ends up losing it.

@luckystar
i believe it is too early to label gulbis as almagro.. he has just started giving good results..the problem was that he was labelled a champ in making as early as 18.. and all that talk may have got to him.. but now he has got over it and he is beginning to be consistent.. this year, taking a set off fed, reaching semis of an atp 500, winning an atp 250 and now a qf at a higher profile 500 event.. certainly he is progressing.. and also defeating some good players on the way..
if even after a year he is still someone with ranking of 30-40 i'll agree you are right.. but now it is too early..

clayking, I may be too harsh on Gulbis. I do agree that his results so far this year are much better than the previous years'. He is still young at 21/22 compared to Almagro at 24/25. His use of drop shots yesterday against Verdasco was impressive, if he can improve on his consistency, I believe he can go far from here. Hopefully, he finds enough motivation to continue to improve his game and get the right results.

During the match Tsonga did implode to a certain degree ... but partially because of DeBakker's consistency. I suspect he had been quite nervous during his match with Nadal but he has a dangerous serve, really solid from the baseline and he could teach a number of top tenners how to drop shot successfully.

Hmm..the vastly experienced and far older Verdasco didn't do too well against Rafa did he? I think de bakker's got loads of potential. Also against Tsonga I thought he returned serve really well.

DeBakkers got a lot of potential as shown by this tourney. As for Gulbis, im pleased to see that hes finally being a bit more consistent. I would like to see him make his breakthrough this year. Him n federer have a few similarities. both r talented, but struggled for consistency early on, n both made their 1st grand slam 1/4 final appearance at the French Open.

on another note, soderling is overpowering DeBakker atm.

@tj..
soda is not overpowering.. the debakker is squandering his chances.. he already blew 4 break chances..

yes he is clayking. the match is getting won or lost of the swedes racquet. hes hitting some HUGE forehands. (his forehand is the 2nd biggest in the game rite now)

well..
sorry for jumping to conclusions..
that de bakker kid has lost it..
btw you can negate that forehand..
ferrero could have negated it by engaging him in long rallies and continuously attacking his backhand..
ferrero certainly had a 50% chance against him..
but he lost to this guy!!
anyway just a question..
is soda 2nd or 3rd when it comes to forehands??

do u mean biggest or best? coz soderling forehand is the 2nd biggest after delpo imo. as for best forehands, u cant look past federer and nadals.

biggest..
i thought gonzo was 2nd..

yes, when it comes to sheer pace. but gonzo works the ball around, and then hits a huge one out of nowhere. soderling hits the ball harder on a more consistent basis. thats why i think its the 2nd biggest.

oh you meant that..
yes, i agree there..
but that technically makes gonzo the 2nd biggest...

De Bakker looked spent. Well usually after a big win, I would expect an inexperienced player to behave and play like this. He is easy meat for Soderling.

Gulbis like Fed? Maybe you are talking about the 'finding his way' similarity, no way he can compare with Fed in terms of talent. I don't see him having the same motivation as Fed too, for I think Fed really knows what he wants even when he was young and worked hard for it. I don't see Gulbis having the same kind of motivation. Maybe if he works hard, he may be able to get a slam during his career. He may be a bit like Safin, loads of talent but unable to realize it to its full potential.

Biggest forehand I think should belong to Delpo. Gonzo, Verdasco, Soderling all have big forehands too; Berdych and Cilic's are not bad too. Difficult to say who has second or third etc forehands. Most lethal forehands should be Fed's; and Nadal's on clay. I think both of them can hit their forehands from anywhere around the court; Delpo's can blow you off the court but I think his work best cross court.

a personal announcement..
i like debakker.. i'll forgive him for defeating JCF.. :P
on a more serious note, the way he fought back and held a break point which could have actually levelled the procceedings in second set, actually shows a lot of character..
and that consistency with which he executes those drop shots will murder a few clay dreams..

p.s. the kid has actually won a junior wimby.. makes him an all round guy..

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