Monaco triumphs at Heineken Stars 2010

HCMC – Juan Monaco from Argentina won the Heineken Stars 2010 tennis competition at HCMC’s Phu Tho sports center on Saturday after beating Mardy Fish from the U.S. 2-1 in the final.

Monaco, who currently ranks 33rd on the ATP table, defeated world No. 19 Fish 6-3 in the first set. The American dominated the second set at 6-1 but Monaco earned a 6-3 victory in the third for the US$40,000 winner’s prize. 

David Nalbandian of Argentina, Tommy Haas of Germany and Robby Ginepri of the U.S. had pulled out of this year’s tournament at the last minute because of injuries. Juan Monaco from Argentina, Tommy Robredo from Spain and Mardy Fish from the U.S were the replacements.

Monaco was a winner of the Austria Open, Buenos Aires and Poertschach in 2007 and he won two men’s doubles titles in Valencia and Auckland in 2008. Robredo earned nine ATP World Tour men’s singles titles and three ATP World Tour men’s doubles titles.

Meanwhile, Mardy Fish is the 2008 US Open quarterfinalist and the silver medalist at Olympic Athens 2004. The U.S. player lost to Roger Federer 1-2 at the ATP Masters Tour 1000 Cincinnati in the finals. Fish also was an ATP London 2010 finalist after beating Andy Murray in the semis.

Monaco went into Saturday’s decider with a 2-0 win over Sam Querrey from the U.S. in the semifinal on Friday 7-6, 6-2. Fish had overcome Tommy Robredo from Spain 6-3, 7-6 in the other semi.

Fish came second, receiving US$20,000. The third places went to Querrey, who ranks 22nd in the world and world No. 42 Robredo, who walked off with US$10,000 each.

Heineken Stars 2010, the third tennis tournament in Vietnam featuring current leading professionals, was organized by the Vietnam Tennis Federation, Heineken’s producers Vietnam Brewery Ltd., and the locally based TLT Sports Marketing Co.

The second tournament in 2008 drew Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, Robin Soderling and Mardy Fish. Tsonga was the champion after defeating Soderling.

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Fish faces Monaco in Stars final

Powerful return: Argentina's Juan Monaco returns the ball against American Sam Querrey in the men's single semi-final of the Heineken Stars tourney in HCM City yesterday. Monaco won 7-6, 6-2. — VNS Photo Tien Thanh

HCM CITY — Argentina's Juan Monaco will meet American Mardy Fish in the Heineken Stars 2010 final after both took control of the semi-final matches.

World No 42 Monaco stunned world No 21 American Sam Querrey in straight sets 7-6 (1), 6-2 while world No 19 Mardy Fish also defeated world No 35 Tommy Robredo in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6, (7-5).

"I am happy to be the winner today. I played very well and took advantage of Querrey's unforced errors," Monaco said.

"I have made many between-the-legs shots in my career and I am happy I could do it again here for Vietnamese fans. I just chased the ball and hit it but when I turned my head, I was surprised to see it went over the net," the Argentine said when asked about a wonderful shot in the second set.

"I am currently in 42nd place and I hope I to finish the year in the top 20," he said.

Querrey, who has won four ATP titles this year, said: "I served well today but made so many unforced errors while Monaco played great tennis today. He had very good forehands and backhands."

"The time change did not effect my loss because I felt good for the match," added Querrey, who will be aiming to end the year as American No 2.

Despite being an exhibition tournament, players showed off their world-class tennis skills. While Querrey boasted powerful serves, scoring 14 aces throughout the match, Monaco frequently blasted heavy forehands as well as accurate and fine-slice backhands into corners.

The first set went on serves when Querrey saved a breakpoint in the fourth game and Monaco did the same to save two breakpoints in the fifth game to force a first set tie break. Querrey made five unforced errors in the tie break to allow the Argentine to take the set with a volley winner.

The second set went to Monaco, who broke the fifth game to lead 3-2 and won his service game to expand the lead to 4-2 with effective attacks at the net and heavy forehands into the corners.

Monaco broke the seventh game with the most amazing shot of the match. When the score was at 30-15, Querrey sent a lob up and over Monaco. The Argentine sprinted to the baseline to hit the ball through his legs and took 3,000 fans by surprise.

Monaco easily won his service and the last game to take the second set at 6-2 to claim victory over Querrey. — VNS

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Argentine photographer honours warriors

On his second visit to Vietnam , Argentine photographer Jorge Monaco
sought to launch a project with Vietnamese veterans – something that has
haunted him for years.

Since the first time he set foot in Vietnam 13 years ago, he had
great respect for the brave country, with its tradition of fighting off
invaders and protecting its soil.

He came back to the
country to take photographs of the veterans, all from different military
ranks and different missions from different places, who contributed in
the successes of the resistances known throughout the nation. They are
all witnesses of the glorious history of Vietnam .

"The
idea to carry out the photo essay flashed in my mind from a previous
trip in 1997," he confessed. "It is an outstanding project for my
career, and I'm very satisfied with it."

The wars belong
to the past, but as time goes by, the veterans, all of them valuable
heritage to Vietnam and the world, will pass away. That's why he
wants to capture their images for the next generations.

"My intention was to produce this photo series as a tribute to all who
participated in the fight for the liberation of Vietnam , but with a
more humane approach," he added.

The images will tell much
more about the lives of the ex-combatants and Vietnamese customs
through the simple moments in their ordinary days, at home or at work.

Monaco photographed victims of Agent Orange, the toxic chemical used
by US troops during their war of aggression against Vietnam , which
still causes damage to the children and grandchildren of those soldiers.

This represents the first approach to the issue of
victims of Agent Orange, said Monaco , who has accumulated numerous
awards in national and international photo contests.

Monaco , who was born in Buenos Aires in 1957, won first place in
the national ranking of photography in the years from 1985-89.

He was part of a selection of 10 authors who represented Argentina in
the FIAP (International Federation for Photographic Artists) World Cup,
specialising in monochrome in 1989 in Belgium .

Also
in 1989 he was selected among the 27 best photographers in the world to
show their works in Germany to commemorate the 150th anniversary of
the invention of photography.

After his first trip to
Vietnam in 1999, he organised an exhibition entitled Vietnam – El
Gran Dragon Dorado ( Vietnam – The Great Golden Dragon), showcasing
his impressions of the country as a peaceful and friendly place.

It was the first photo exhibition on Vietnam in Argentina and also
the first exhibition to take place at the national parliament, the
Auditorium of the Chamber of Deputies, in Buenos Aires .

Monaco , who serves as Director of the National School of Photography
in Buenos Aires , plans to return to Vietnam to take more photos,
to enrich his collection and with the intention of publishing a book,
which, he said, would be a beautiful end to this artistic and
photographic research.

"This time Vietnam impressed me
once again thanks to its achievements in socio-economic development,"
he said. "I will come back because I still find inspiration in the
country."

Monaco has come home after a three-week trip
to Vietnam . He is preparing to display the fruits of his labour in
Argentina . All of the photos will be given captions and stories about
their characters to help visitors understand the Vietnamese soldiers.
The work is not easy and has taken up much of Monaco 's time. He says
the collection will be released on a special occasion.

The Vietnam News Agency Bureau in Argentina will follow up and bring news about the significant exposure./.

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