The Unlikeliest of Results

I've said it before, but I don't know that anyone could have predicted the men's final we saw in Miami today. And it certainly seems to have heralded in a new era in tennis.

A moment he'll never forget 🙌

🎥: @TennisTV | @MiamiOpen | @HubertHurkacz pic.twitter.com/X0EvUmSNLI

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 4, 2021

Sure, with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer all opting out of this year's Miami Open, you knew that the door for some underdogs had creaked open a bit. But with players like newly-minted world #2 Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Andrey Rublev all in the mix, it certainly wasn't going to be an easy road for anyone.

And perhaps that's what makes the results over the past week even more exciting.

Young Jannik Sinner has been one of the breakout stars over the past six months, reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros before going on a ten match, two title win streak to bridge the 2020/21 seasons. Nineteen and at #31 in the world, he is the youngest player in the top hundred, and he plays far, far above his experience, evidenced by the serious praise he drew from Alexander Bublik after their quarterfinal match.

But that wasn't the only accomplishment by Sinner in Miami. Still a relatively "low" seed at #21, he "upset" a curiously higher-ranked Karen Khachanov in the third round and also beat two men who'd upset two of the favorites for the title -- Emil Ruusuvuori, who'd stunned Zverev in his opener, and Roberto Bautista Agut, who took out Medvedev in the quarters. And so in what was just his third Masters 1000 event, the Italian found himself in the final playing for what would easily be the biggest title of his young career.

Meanwhile in the bottom half of the draw, 24-year-old Hubert Hurkacz, who kicked off 2021 with a title himself in Delray Beach, was an even bigger underdog. Though he'd spent a few minutes in the top thirty over the last year, he'd lost early at his last few events and came to Miami down at #37 in the world with just a 26^th seed into the tournament.

But Hurkacz also well outplayed his ranking during his time in South Florida. After wins over Denis Shapovalov and Milos Raonic, he stunned second seeded Tsitsipas in the quarters and backed up the win by demolishing a recently red hot Rublev in the semis.

In Sunday's final, it was understandable that both men showed signs of nerves. Hurkacz got off to a fast start with a 3-0 lead, but Sinner was able to draw even and even got a chance to serve out the set. But the Pole capitalized on some shaky serving, forced a tiebreak and never really looked back. The win, a milestone for him, not only keeps his record in finals a perfect 100% -- he also won the championship in Winston Salem in 2019 -- but should propel him into the top twenty, his highest career ranking to date.

And the fact that both he and Sinner were able to perform so well and so consistently over the past week or so further underscores the new depth in the men's game. For so long it's been hard for anyone to make a crack in the wall of the Big Three, but we're certainly starting to see a little bit of that happening. And it's not just the ones rounding out the top ten who have it in them to pull out the big wins.

Besides, if this week is any indication, both Hurkacz and Sinner are going to be making a play for those spots very soon.

A Couple Young Guns and Some Old Hat

As is so often the case, tennis players got right back to work after the Australian Open, some traveling halfway across the world to compete in tournaments this past week. And impressively, when all was said and done, we not only saw some recently-struggling stars start to turn things around, but a couple relative newcomers prove they're here for the long haul.

🤩 @iga_swiatek soared to the @AdelaideTennis title with a straight sets victory over Bencic!

More on her near-flawless performance --> https://t.co/PfKG7loQJo pic.twitter.com/AxlcKV2W0K

— wta (@WTA) February 27, 2021

I'll start in Adelaide where a slew of top shelf talent crowded the draw, and some strong workhorses stepped up to the challenges. Danielle Collins, who was somewhat surprisingly dismissed in the Australian Open second round, somewhat made up for it with a win over top seed and still-#1 Ashleigh Barty here. And Coco Gauff, who's been a little quiet since her breakthrough 2019 season, will make her top forty debut Monday after making the semis.

But ultimately the final came down to reigning French Open champion Iga Swiatek and former U.S. Open semifinalist Belinda Bencic, who'd only won a handful of matches since play resumed last August. She encouragingly put together a string of wins this week, but was ultimately no match for the nineteen-year-old Pole. Swiatek hit 22 winners and just 6 errors in the barely hour-long match, dominating on serve and breaking her opponent four times. In what was just her third championship round, she showed nerves and came away with the trophy without losing a set the whole tournament -- she didn't lose one during that Roland Garros run either. And with two titles now, on two surfaces, she's really proving the force she's going to be.

Meanwhile at the inaugural Singapore Open, another young talent made us sit up and take notice. Twenty-one year old Alexei Popyrin, who'd outlasted David Goffin in a nearly four-hour marathon in Melbourne before falling in another five-setter to Lloyd Harris, rebounded nicely at this event. While he was able to avoid a second round rematch with Harris, who lost his opener to wildcard Adrian Andreev, and second-seeded countryman John Millman eliminated for him, he did face former U.S. Open champ Marin Cilic in the semis. The Croat, who'd lost his last four matches before this event, seemed to be pulling things together this week, but Popyrin was unperturbed and was able to notch the upset to make his first career final.

On Sunday he faced off against Alexander Bublik, who I feel is a better player than his #46 ranking suggests. With wins over Yoshihito Nishioka and Radu Albot this week, he too was looking for his first career title -- he'd come up short in his last three attempts, most recently at the start of the year in Antalya. He came up short here too -- after losing the first set, world #114 Popyrin stormed through the second to force a decider and never looked back. He won seven straight service games at love and only lost six points on serve total for the match. If his performance in Australia didn't put him on the map, his maiden title this week sure did, and hopefully it's just the start of what we'll see from him.

Of course, it wasn't just the new generation that came out swinging this past week. In Montpellier, it was two veterans who made good on their top seedings to make the final. Roberto Bautista Agut was hoping to turn around a slow start to the year -- after a perfect 6-0 record at ATP Cup in 2020, he was 1-2 this season and lost his first round at the Australian Open too. But he seemed back on trace in France, notching a solid win over dark horse Ugo Humbert in the quarters and following through in straight sets over Peter Gojowczyk to make the final.

In the bottom half of the draw, recently struggling David Goffin -- he ended 2020 with five straight match losses and had gone down this year twice in a row to players ranked outside of the top hundred -- seemed to right his course this week. Still seeded second thanks to that weird COVID-related ranking system, he pulled off an impressive win over a very talented Lorenzo Sonego and held tough against Egor Gerasimov to make the final. After he dropped the first set to RBA, I was sure he was done for, but the Belgian found the strength to rebound and come back for the win. It was his fifth career title and his first since 2017 -- and coming after so many months of hard knocks, it might not have come at a better time.

Finally in Córdoba, we'll get the perfect juxtaposition of the two themes of the week -- old versus new, veteran versus upstart. Thiry-three year old Albert Ramos-Viñolas is four years removed from his career-high ranking in the top twenty, and with seven first round losses since the lockdown, most people probably didn't give him much of a chance here. But he stunned top-seeded Diego Schwartzman in the quarters and backed it up with a win over another Argentine, Facundo Bagnis, in the semis.

Meanwhile, young Juan Manuel Cerundolo, only nineteen and ranked just #335 in the world, was playing his first ever tour-level tournament, and boy did he make a statement. After slogging through qualifying matches, he took out fellow young gun Thiago Seyboth Wild in his opener, and then got the better of two seeds in the next two rounds -- Miomir Kecmanovic and Thiago Monteiro. Can he possibly keep his Cinderella run going in tonight's final? Well, I suppose weirder things have happened.

And while the result may not have wider implications for the inevitable passing of the torch in this sport, it might just seal in the winner between the two generations for this week, at least.

A Strong Opening Statement

Well the first tournaments of 2021 are officially in the books, and we sure were treated to some striking performances as we get ready for the Australian Open. From the Middle East to Florida, we saw a slew of stars kick off the year on a positive note, and it wasn't just those who walked away with the trophies that made the strongest statements.

Christian Harrison:

✅ Defeats Gianluca Mager in quarterfinal
✅ Reaches first career ATP semifinal
✅ 7-0 at #DBOpen (qualies, singles, and doubles) pic.twitter.com/5qVN5iLxP9

— Delray Beach Open (@DelrayBeachOpen) January 11, 2021

That's not to take anything away from Aryna Sabalenka, who won her third straight tournament in Abu Dhabi. The often-streaky star has been on point for months, and made her way through a tough draw in the desert, with wins over Maria Sakkari -- who'd ousted top seed Sofia Kenin -- and 2020 standouts Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur on her way to the final. She was the clear favorite over Veronika Kudermetova, who stunned Elina Svitolina on the way to her first title match, and she didn't disappoint.

But young Marta Kostyuk also made a bit of a statement during the week. Barely ranked in double digits, the eighteen-year-old has spent most of her time on the ITF circuit, but she made the third round at the U.S. Open last year with wins over Daria Kasatkina and a seeded Anastasija Sevastova. She had her path cleared for her a bit in Abu Dhabi, with others taking care of threats like Jennifer Brady and Karolina Pliskova for her. But she held her ground well and if she keeps it up could be primed for more success to come.

Meanwhile in Antalya, Turkey, which for the past few years was held in the summer on grass just ahead of Wimbledon, we got to see a slew of Next Gen players take the hardcourts for a chance to wrack up some hardware before heading to Melbourne. But it wasn't top seeded Matteo Berrettini or former world #7 David Goffin making the headlines -- though the latter, at least, did make the semis, notching his first match wins since the U.S. Open. Instead the final saw his vanquisher, twenty-year-old Alex de Minaur, score a win over Alexander Bublik, winning the fourth title of his career and reminding us why he's the top ranked Australian on tour.

It's worth keeping an eye on Bublik this year too, though. While he injured his ankle in his semifinal match and had to retire after the first two games of the championship, he's the kind of guy who knows how to get under the top players' skin -- and not just because of his controversial serve style. Last year he pulled off wins over Denis Shapovalov and Gael Monfils and he was the one who ousted Berrettini in the quarters. He hasn't won a title yet, but if he'd been healthy I wouldn't have put an upset past him this time around.

Perhaps the biggest surprises, though, happened in Delray Beach. Not that we shouldn't have expected Poland's Hubert Hurkacz to find the success he did -- the fourth seed scored wins over Andrey Rublev and Dominic Thiem last year -- but he had to fight through a couple of true stand-outs to do it. Most obviously in the final against rising star Sebastian Korda, who only cracked the top two hundred after a Cinderella run at Roland Garros last fall. He notched wins over fifth seed Tommy Paul and former top-tenner John Isner -- his second straight victory over the big man -- to make his first tour final. While he ran out of steam in Wednesday's match, he continues to be one high on the radar.

And then, of course, is the true wonder of the week -- Christian Harrison, the 26-year-old ranked #789 in the world who'd only won two tour-level main draw matches in his entire caree before this trip to Florida. After eight surgeries from 2009 to 2018, though he finally seemed to get his footing, powering through qualifying rounds and stunning top-seeded Cristian Garin early in his campaign. He put up a fight versus Hurkacz in the semis, though, and even teamed with his brother Ryan to make the doubles final. And while this one result should give him a nice boost back up the rankings, the real takeaway is the feel-good story he's left in our cores.

Of course these were only the opening salvos of the 2021 tennis season, and it will be a few weeks before play picks back up in Australia. But it certainly seems like we've gotten off to a good start. And hopefully there's a lot more of what we've seen still to come.