
She struggled early in Malaysia, going to three sets in her second and third rounds, but when she met Elena Dementieva in the finals she went on a roll. Alisa capitalized on her compatriot's notoriously weak serves and broke her opponent four times. She won seventy percent of her own first attempts and captured her first ever Tour title in just over ninety minutes -- not bad for a final debut.
Closer to home in Delray Beach Latvian Ernests Gulbis and Croat Ivo Karlovic battled through a slew of homegrown fan-favorites to contest the championship. The two had never met before, but the big server, seeded second, was clearly the favorite. Gulbis, on the other hand, is one of those very talented, but terribly inconsistent pros -- since peaking at #38 in the world two years ago, he's languished somewhere in the low double-digits.

It's always nice to see new talent come to light, and both Kleybanova and Gulbis have finally shown they can put together a few wins in a row to capture the ultimate crown. If they're able to keep up the momentum, this could be a good year for both of them, and I'm looking forward to watching them succeed.
Hopefully now that they have the first -- and most difficult -- trophy under their belts, the rest will come easily!
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