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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Serena Williams announced today that she will not compete at this year’s US Open. She’s still recovering from the freak accident she suffered in Munich which she had to undergo surgery for last month.
“It is with much frustration and deep sadness that I am having to pull out of the U.S. Open,” Williams said in a statement released by her publicist.
Williams went on to add: “My doctors have advised against my playing so that my foot can heal.”
It’s a huge loss for… Serena’s fans? With Serena out, there is no clear favorite to win The Open, no one who you can point to and say with a yawn, she’ll blow away the field.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tommy Haas have also pulled out of the final Grand Slam of the year. Jo with his knee injury and Tommy taking more time off to heal from his hip surgery.
Ana Ivanovic and John Isner both suffered ankle injuries during their matches last week and are doubtful about competing in New York.
A ball hasn’t been struck in Paris yet but we’ve already lost notable names due to injury.
Kim Clijsters (left foot), Juan Martin del Potro (wrist surgery), Tommy Haas (hip surgery, out until the summer hard courts), Nikolay Davydenko (wrist), James Blake (knee), Igor Andreev (left ankle), Gilles Simon (knee), Sania Mirza (wrist) and Sabine Lisicki (left ankle).
Update: David Nalbandian is out too due to a left hamstring injury. (Thanks, Tracey!)
Update 2: Radek Stepanek, Ivo Karlovic and Carlos Moya (wait, he’s still playing?) have all pulled out.
The not my favorite favorites are scheduled to play today; Roger Federer and Serena Williams. But it balances out with my favorite eye candies; Novak Djokovic, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Haas and Juan Monaco.
TiVo, DVR, find a stream and watch:
Lleyton Hewitt [22] vs Marcos Baghdatis Marcos is coming off a huge come from behind 5-set win against David Ferrer in their 2nd round meeting. His fitness level will surely be an issue if he and Lleyton go the distance. Homeboy, Lleyton, has yet to drop a set going into this match.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [10] vs Tommy Haas [18] Oh my, who am I supposed to root for in this match? Jo didn’t look his sharpest in his last match against Taylor Dent (though he won in straight sets) so Tommy could pull of a mini upset here. Then again, Tommy did need 5 sets to defeat Janko Tipsarevic so old man hotness might be tired. Whatever happens, I’ll be a happy camper.
Vera Zvonareva [9] vs Gisela Dulko I haven’t seen Vera play at all this tournament but judging from her scorelines, dropping no more that 5 games in her first two rounds, girl’s been rolling. Can Gisela pull another big upset? I highly doubt it but it’s not impossible.
Daniela Hantuchova [22] vs Na Li [16] Danka’s another player who I haven’t seen play this tournament and it’s a nice surprise to see her doing well (kinda) in this tournament. Nails is tricky and has a huge game so if Dank’s can pull this off, it’ll be a really awesome win for her.
Day 4 was mostly business as usual for the seeds, a few good 5-setters on the men’s side and one major upset on the women’s. If you can still call Ana Ivanovic falling early in a tournament an upset.
For those of us who follow the WTA closely, we all saw this one coming from 10 miles away. Ana’s ball tossing woes continue to plague her and the rest of her game early in the year. Her confidence has been shot to death a few times over and it hurts to watch.
I can’t begin to imagine what kind of pressure she was put under after that stellar start to 2008. There are a select few athletes who were born and programmed to thrive in those situations and it was clear she wasn’t one of them. And her team was not ready to help her deal with it. That said, she’s relatively young and there is plenty of time to bounce back. This 2-year slump, with everybody writing her off will most likely help her rather than push her down further. Can she even go any further down? If this isn’t rock bottom (for Ana’s type of career atleast) then I don’t know what is. So, there’s no way but up from here on out, right? RIGHT?
All credit to Gisela Dulko for hanging tough through all the ups and downs in their match. It was a well deserved win.
Day 4′s notable wins and losses:
[20] Ana Ivanovic (SRB) lost to Gisela Dulko (ARG) 7-6(6), 5-7, 4-6
Alberta Brianti (ITA) def Sabine Lisicki (GER) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
[3] Novak Djokovic (SRB) def Marco Chuidinelli (SUI) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3
[17] David Ferrer (ESP) lost to Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(4), 3-6, 1-6
[18] Tommy Haas (GER) def Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
[30] Juan Monaco (ARG) def Michael Llodra (FRA) 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-3
Looking forward to Day 4 and getting back into my tennis watching life. Some eye candy taking on the courts today; Novak Djokovic, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Haas and Juan Monaco. Oh and some great players too; Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Nikolay Davydenko.
Find a stream for these matches (you know ESPN2 won’t show them):
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [10] vs Taylor Dent (Actually, ESPN2 will show this one.)
Tough second round for Jo. Taylor played well and inspired in his first round match and his serve was very much on point together with most of his groundies. Jo will need to play consistently throughout the match.
Gisela Dulko vs Ana Ivanovic [20] Eye candy alert. The battle of the beauties! These days, you never know what you’ll get with Ana and her ball toss (she probably doesn’t know either) so I feel like every single match is tough for her. Gisela is going to be very tricky and I wouldn’t be surprised if this match goes down the wire or if Gisela will pull off another second round upset in a major (augh!).
Janko Tipsarevic vs Tommy Haas [18] Eye candy alert. I dislike Janko a lot but he does have a big game and always a dangerous opponent. I will never forget him almost dispatching RF two years ago here. Unfortunately for Tommy, he’s constantly plagued with injury, we can only hope he’s not suffering from anything today.
