Serena & Andy early favorites for Oz

Serena Williams started off the new season right where she left off. Errr, that’s winning, if you’ve been living under a tree. As usual, it’s hard to see anyone beating Serena in Melbourne but a Viriginie Razzano could always emerge out of nowhere. And only a Virginie catching Serena on an off day can beat her. Vika and Masha ain’t doin’ it.

Between training, playing and winning, Serena found some time to take a stroll around Brisbane. She looked super relaxed in this cute floral number. (Side note: Florals will forever be this to me.)

Current US Open champ, Andy Murray, successfully defended his Brisbane title. He looked a little off, especially during his opening round, but worked his way through a soft-ish field. Shaky play isn’t ideal but Andy will walk into a Slam grounds as a major champion for the first time ever. That should do some weird (in a good way) things to his confidence.

During his winner’s speech, Andy revealed that he’s been playing with a heavy heart as his best friend and doubles specialist, Ross Hutchins, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last December. Ross announced via Twitter that he will be taking time off tennis to undergo treatment for the disease.

I am doing well, very positive with excellent medical support,friends and family around me. Looking forward to being back on the court soon!

— Ross Hutchins (@RoscoHutchins) January 6, 2013

I wish Ross a smooth and speedy recovery!

Images © Getty

Weekend Warriors

Polona Hercog successfully defended her title in Bastad after she defeated Mathilde Johansson in the final 0-6, 6-4, 7-5. Going into the tournament, Polona hadn’t won a match in almost 3 months, her last win came at Estoril last April. A nagging back injury had been bothering her for most of the year but she appears to have turned the corner in Switzerland. Hercog notched good wins over Julia Goerges and Mona Barthel en route to her second career WTA title.

Dominika Cibulkova defeated her good friend Marion Bartoli 6-1, 7-5 in the Carlsbad final to win her 2nd WTA career title. She, of course, did not drop a set en route to the title.

Whenever Pome plays, it is never not mentioned how amazing it is that, at her size, she can hit the cover off a ball. She’s been on Tour for 7 years now yet we all still get shocked at the sight of her pouncing on a ball. So, I have concluded that it will forever be a phenomenon.

Thomaz Bellucci upset world No. 8 and top seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2 in the Gstaad final to win his 3rd career ATP title. It’s a (good) surprise to see Bella beat a top guy in a final. We all know he can do it on a more regular basis but he’s completely oblivious of that fact. Perhaps this can be the start of… errr, I should know better than to finish this statement.

Bella won his first ever career title at the same tournament 3 years ago when he didn’t have a headband tan line. That was a good look.

After a whole week of hard work in Hamburg, Pico was awarded a few bottles of Coronas to celebrate. Tennis: Doing it right since 2010.

In the most physically unattractive final ever, Juan Monaco defeated Tommy Haas 7-5, 6-4 to claim his 3rd ATP title of the year. Pico moves into the Top 10 for the first time in his career with this win.

Andy Roddick says to his fellow Weekend Warriorees: Put all your titles together and it still won’t equal half of how many I got. (I totally made this up.)

Andy won his 32nd ATP career title after he defeated Gilles Muller 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the Atlanta final. Following a terrible start that included a shoulder injury scare, Andy hung tough (as per) and fought his way through the second set to win it in a tiebreak. He then cruised in the deciding set as his opponent went away completely.

Ahem. No one steals a person’s mojo twi… oh.

Images © AP, Getty

Weekend Warriors

© Gastein Ladies

Alize Cornet won her first title in FOUR years at the NÜRNBERGER Gastein Ladies in Austria. Alize didn’t drop a set all tournament long but dropped almost to her knees after claiming the title. (Har har.) I might not agree with her playing on clay when Roland Garros is already over and Wimbledon is only a few days away but this title run could help her always-shaky confidence. Maybe.

© Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Now should we Believe? No, I’m never going to stop using believe when it comes to Mels. Ever. Almost 3 yeas after that miraculous run to the US Open quarterfinals, Melanie finally wins her first WTA career title at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham. She defeated the 2007 champ, Jelena Jankovic, in the finals. It was a fantastic week for the young American who battled through qualifying and, with this win, rose from No. 208 to No. 122 in the world rankings.

In other news, WHY IS THAT SANTA HAT?!

© Thomas Starke/Bongarts/Getty Images

For Tommy, there’s something about… Halle. The old guy upset Tomas Berdych and, fellow oldie, Roger Federer en route to his 13th ATP career title. This is his second Gerry Weber Open trophy; he also won it back in 2009 over Novak Djokovic in the finals.

“[Winning] my thirteenth title was a goal of mine to maybe achieve in the next coming months, years or however long I am going to play. To have somebody across the net like Roger is a real honour for me. To have that picture with the winning trophy and Roger next to me is something really special, something I’ll obviously never forget. I’m just really happy and proud.”

Tommy also made headlines earlier in the week when he criticized Andy Murray’s rope-a-dope tactics. In thr article, you’ll also find Muzz’s (kind of) response to the comments but basically said that he doesn’t care for Tommy’s opinions. ATP dramz is cute. #duncurr

© Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

Marin won his 7th ATP career title and first ever on grass at the AEGON Championships in London after his opponent, David Nalbandian, was defaulted for injuring a linesperson during the final. I’m sure it wasn’t the way Marin wanted to win a title but his opponent’s reckless behavior had no place in that championship match. Plus, it wasn’t like he magically made it to the finals so he deserved the trophy for getting to that stage and being the only responsible sportsman on court.

Nole defends, Aga wins big, Masha freezes

After his somewhat shocking loss to John Isner in the Indian Wells semifinals two weeks ago, Nole bounced right back and defended his Sony Ericsson Open title. He hasn’t been in devastating form a la Nole 2011 to start the year but he’s able to grind out matches and find ways to win. That was very evident in Miami when he had to battle not only his opponent but also himself to close out his quarterfinal, semifinal and final matches. Although Nole did not drop a set the entire tournament, he was extended to a second set tiebreaker in his last 3 matches (he had chances to serve out his QF and SF matches but was broken).

Nevertheless, the world No. 1 won his 30th title without playing his best tennis. This is could be troubling news for his rivals. Nole was “in the zone” in 2011 and sooner or later it was going to fizzle out and his body was going to catch up with him but winning ugly is forever!

It’s too early to say that he’s favorite to win Roland Garros as he hasn’t struck a ball on the dirt yet. (I don’t know why everyone’s talking about this already.) But I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s one of the three favorites to win. Do you agree or do you agree? I am making bold predictions here and would like some company.

Ninja Radwanska won the biggest title of her career after upsetting Maria Bridesmaidpova (and me) in the finals of Miami. Aga played well—moved and defended great—to endlessly frustrate Maria who can no longer play tennis on championship days. She deserved to win this title as she was clearly the more solid and composed player that day. I wrote about everything that Aga did well here.

What does this loss mean for Maria? Well, it’s pretty bad and big blow to her confidence. Unlike her 2 previous finals losses this year, this match was on her racquet. What’s that metaphor about squeezing too tightly that you eventually end up losing hold of it? I think that applies here. Maria’s trying to accomplish something that has never been done before (win a big one after surgery) and she’s putting way too much pressure on herself. 3 years of working and fighting and it’s so close and she wants it so much that she tightens up at the sight of the finish line. Oh, sh*t, am I really about to do this?!? (You know she’s cursing up a storm in her head.)

I always say it’s a slow and steady progression with her. That’s kind of how she’s dealt with this “new” career. 2009-2010 was a relearning curve—figure out the serve, trust the shoulder and gain some match confidence. Last year was when she began to become a threat again (Thanks, Hoggy!) and, obviously, continuing on with it this year. One giant leap left and probably the toughest one to make. But Maria loves a challenge, right? Well, here you go. Biggest. Challenge. Ever.

To give you a better idea of how I feel about Masha’s losing skid in finals, here’s Christina Aguilera.

Images via Getty

Federer, Ferrer make it two in a row

This post wast supposed to go up yesterday but I was busy in Indian Wells.

© KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images

Roger Federer won his second consecutive title after he defeated Andy Murray 7-5, 6-4 in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships finals. Fed has won 10 straight matches and is in great form heading into the Indian Wells and Miami Masters 1000 double. I wouldn’t bet against him snagging one of those titles from Nole.

© ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images

David Ferrer nabbed his second straight title in as many weeks at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco. He delivered a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing of fellow Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, in the finals to make it three in a row in Acapulco. With this title, Daveed regains the No. 5 spot from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who borrowed it from him briefly.

In the last two years, after winning Acapulco, Daveed gone on to lose his opening round matches in Indian Wells. Obviously, it’s great to win tournaments but I’ve always found it odd when top players play on clay in the middle of a hardcourt season and with two big hardcourt tournaments ahead. Has Daveed conceded that he’ll never win Masters 1000s on hard? His finalist result in Shanghai at the end of last year suggest otherwise.

© CameraSport

Kevin Anderson won his second career title after defeating Marinko Matosevic in the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships finals 6-4, 7-6(2). Kevin had a big week with wins over Andy Roddick (saved a match point along the way) and John Isner. This title run has him back up to his career high ranking of No. 30.

Elsewhere

Su-Wei Hseih won her first ever WTA Tour title at the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. Hseih came all the way from qualifying rounds to defeating the tournament’s 5th seed Petra Martic in the finals 2-6, 7-5, 4-1 ret. to lift her first trophy.

Sara Errani sweeps the Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament by winning both the singles and doubles titles. She defeated fellow Italian, Flavia Pennetta, in the singles finals 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-0 and won the doubles title with another Italian, Roberta Vinci.

And the trophy goes to…

Agnieszka Radwanksa defeated Julia Goerges in the finals of Dubai, 7-5, 6-4, to win her first title of the year. In four tournaments this year, Aga has only lost to Victoria Azarenka. In light of all the “real No. 1″ talk during the Wozniacki Era, does this make her the real No. 2?

Aga improves her career finals win-loss record to 8-2. Very Ninja-like of her to sneak in an 80% success in finals. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Juan Martin del Potro claimed his first ever indoor hardcourt title at the Open 13 tournament in Marseille. He defeated a crafty lefty, Michael Llodra, in the finals, 6-4, 6-4.

This title caps off a very successful two-week indoor run for Delpo. Last week, he was in the finals of Rotterdam where he lost to a man who hasn’t dropped an indoor hardcourt match since 2010, Roger Federer.

Sofia Arvidsson really likes Memphis. She won her second WTA Tour career title after defeating Marina Erakovic in the finals, 6-3, 6-4. Her first title also came at this tournament exactly 6 years ago and she was runner-up to Maria Sharapova in 2010. The WTA website has crowned her the Queen of Memphis.

It was also a sentimental win for Sofia and her team. Her sparring partner suffered a recent death in his family.

“I’m so happy, but sad also – my sparring partner had to go home earlier in the week because his godson was dying of cancer, and he died yesterday. When I was out there I thought this was just a tennis match, and I was quite relaxed.

“This is for him.”

Jurgen Melzer is the broken toe wonder. He defeated a red hot Milos Raonic in the Memphis finals, 7-5, 7-6(4), to win the title. Jojo has been playing on a broken toe all week and still notched wins over John Isner, Radek Stepanek and Raonic en route to the title.

With this run, Broken Toe rises 19 spots to No. 19 in the rankings. A few more good weeks and we could see him back in the Top 10.

Elsewhere

David Ferrer denied Nicolas Almagro a second straight title in Buenos Aires after he defeated the younger Spaniard, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. This is Daveed’s 13th career ATP World Tour title.

18-year-old Timea Babos won her first ever WTA Tour title in Monterrey. She defeated Alexandra Cadantu in the finals, 6-4, 6-4.

Images © AP Photo

Azarenka, Federer and Raonic stay perfect

KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/Getty Images

Victoria Azarenka keeps her unbeaten streak going and wins her third title of 2012. She improved to 17-0 after defeating Samantha Stosur in the Doha finals.

Vika is handling her post-grand slam breakthrough differently from the last 3 winners. While the others floated around the Tour after their wins seemingly hungover from all the glory, she keeps going and winning like she’s been expecting all of this. And perhaps she has, it’s been a long time coming. I have to admit, it’s refreshing to see someone in the women’s game not crumble under pressure. If Vika can remain healthy, who knows how long she can keep at this.

KOEN SUYK/AFP/Getty Images

Roger Federer, not a stranger to streaks, is currently riding a 24-0 one on indoor hard courts. His last loss on this surface was November 2010 against Gael Monfils at the Bercy Indoors. Since then, he has won 5 titles including this week’s ABN Amro World Tennis in Rotterdam.

Roger scored an routine 6-1, 6-4 victory in the finals over a surging Juan Martin del Potro. A good win for the 30-year old following the disappointing Davis Cup loss to the United States. He won’t let us forget that he’s still got it.

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

In his two appearances at the SAP Open, this year and last, Milos Raonic has yet to lose a set. That’s right, a set. At this weekend’s championship match, he defeated Denis Istomin, 7-6(3), 6-2, to claim his third career ATP World Tour title.

Milos played incredibly well to defend his title. His serve was on fire (I think it could really kill someone.) and his forehand is at it’s best ever. It’s a little scary to think that he still has a lot of room for improvement. I’m really excited to watch him grow and see how far he can take his talents. (Hopefully, not to South Be… hahaaaa haa ha.)

Elsewhere

Nicolas Almagro successfully defended his Brazil Open title. He defeated Filippo Volandri in the finals, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

19-year-old Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino won her first ever WTA Tour title at the XX Copa BBVA Colsanitas in Bogota. She is the youngest Spanish player to win a title since Anabel Medina Garrigues won Palermo in 2001.