He faces French youngster Adrian Mannarino in the second round. Fernando defeated Mannarino 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the 2009 Australian Open en route to his semifinal run, so let’s hope for a similar defeat here in Flushing Meadows! Vamos Fernando!

Both players said they were ready for the start of the Open on Monday, Fernando saying “I want to do my best at this tournament. I hope this year can pass beyond the quarter-finals, which I reached last year.”

Feliciano and Fernando are part of the Spanish Armada, a nickname for Spain’s four-time Davis Cup champion tennis team, but also an all-compassing nickname for all of Spain’s elite athletes, who in recent years, have risen to occupy the top of their disciplines.

The tenistas said they continue to enjoy the triumph of La Roja, the nickname for the Spanish football team that recently became world champions at this summer’s 2010 FIFA World Cup, and likewise said they were proud of the achievements of their compatriots in other fields such as Formula 1, the Tour de France and basketball, just a short list of the recent achievements of “La Armada Española.”

(via impre)

Fernando will also be joining John McEnroe and Nikolay Davydenko at a launch event in Manhattan to introduce Dunlop’s new Biomimetic rackets. I’m not sure whether or not he is currently using his new racquet, as he was playing with a blacked out frame in Cincinnati.

Speaking of Cincy, in case you missed the tweet, you can view my pictures from Fernando’s matches and practices in from last week here at my Picasa gallery! Enjoy :)

Also, we’ve just hit 100,000 total page views here at Verdasco News! I want to thank everyone who comes here for information on Fernando! I know it’s been a bit slow the past couple weeks as I’ve been out of town, but aside from university starting up in a couple weeks, I’ll be able to update the site a lot more. If there’s anything info-wise you’d like to see here, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email or leave a message in the comments, I’ll see what I can do to make your visit here even better! I’m always glad to bring you guys as much up-to-date news and information on Fernando as I can, and I hope you continue to visit the page and keep on supporting Fernando!

Also, check out Fernando’s photoshoot for the September issue of GQ magazine in the US. I’ll try to pick up the magazine this weekend in case there’s an interview inside, but in the meantime, we have these great scans to enjoy! As always, click the link to get to the full gallery!

After next week, Fernando is back to 8^th in the race to the Year End Championships in London, and goes back up to 8^th in the world, at the expense of Del Potro. If he has a good run in Cincinnati and can defend his quarterfinal at the US Open, as well as gain points in the Shanghai and Paris Masters, he can further strengthen his chance to qualify for the Finals!

Fernando just managed to grab the 8^th seed in Cincinnati, so he has a bye in the first round! He’ll play the winner of Mardy Fish/Gilles Simon in his second round match and could face Mikhail Youzhny, Richard Gasquet or compatriot Tommy Robredo in the third. He has a potential quarterfinal clash with Jurgen Melzer or Andy Murray and should he make the semifinals, he’d likely face Robin Soderling or Novak Djokovic.

The doubles draw is out! Feli and Fernando will play the Brazilian team of Marcelo Melo and Thomaz Belluci in the first round!

Also, apologises about the lack of updates! I was volunteering at the women’s tournament in Cincinnati for most of the last part of the Washington tournament and the first few days of Toronto, so I wasn’t able to update here. I’m going to be attending the men’s events in Cincinnati for the first few days, so I’ll do my best to live tweet matches and update when I can! Thanks for being so patient :p

Fernando, on serve to stay in the first set, double faulted to give Berrer a 6-4 lead. In the second set, Fernando went down an early break and trailed 4-1 and had to serve to stay in the match at 5-2. Berrer held two match points at 5-3, but Fernando found his form again and won the next four games to tie it up at one set all. The two fought hard to force a tiebreak in the deciding set (with Fernando once again having to serve to stay in the match)

Fernando suffered a scare when he twisted his ankle at 5-all in the tiebreak, but he was determined to close out the match. Afterwards, he said it was “painful for 1 minute” (thanks to @TennisRomi) but managed to close out the match 8-6 in the TB after just over two hours and 40 minutes.

“Even when I was match points down I just tried to not make mistakes and forced him to hit a winner to win the match. After that, when I broke back, I started to get confidence and then broke him again. Those four games were the best of the match for me. To get through the match on a hot night, playing with pressure, is a good win.”

FerVerdasco83

There’s also a little feed on the sidebar where you can view his most recent tweets, right above the one to view the most recent tweets from this site’s twitter, verdasconews. In addition, there are some links to the site’s facebook, twitter and youtube accounts, and a link to send me an email if you need to!

Fernando is currently training in Las Vegas right now. His next tournament starts in just about a week, at Legg Mason in Washington DC. After that, he’ll be playing the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters before preparing for the final Slam of the year at the US Open. Vamos Fernando!

The players posed holding a symbolic red cards as a sign of social rejection against abusers.

The players joined the cause while in France preparing for last weekend’s Davis Cup quarterfinal in the town of Clermont Ferrand.

The cause is the result of an agreement signed on May 20 by Spain’s Equality Minister Bibiana Aido and President of the RFET to promote equality between men and women and to create awareness and encourage the prevention of gender violence.

The campaign, the minister said at the signing of the agreement, “holds the prospect of making a simple gesture, a symbol recognized by all, a gesture involving the whole society: drawing a red card against all abusers.”

Spain was knocked out of the Davis Cup in the quarterfinals with a clean sweep by France, 5-0, preventing them from attempting a Davis Cup hat trick. Fernando lost his singles match on Friday against Michael Llodra, and his doubles with Feliciano against Llodra and Julien Benneteau, both matches going to four sets.

Fernando is currently in Madrid celebrating Spain’s victory at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. His next tournament is the Skistar Swedish Open in Båstad. He has a bye in the first round and will play either Stephane Robert or Jonathan Dasnières de Veigy in the second. Vamos Fer!