The New Crop

It wasn't just the same old during this weekend's Davis Cup action -- sure, plenty of favorites made it through their first rounds, but after a couple surprises it looks like we'll have a little new blood in the quarterfinals. And the pressure will be on them to deliver, now that they've shown what kind of force they can be.

Of course it wasn't all Cinderella stories. The defending champion Czechs clinched their return to the quarters with a win over the Roger Federer-less Swiss, the French, runners-up in 2010, blanked a lackluster Israeli team, and the Serbs wrapped up their victory in the first two days of play, though they did end up losing the dead rubbers when the subbed in the B-team. There were some interesting results, too, even among those who advanced through the first tie. The U.S., a surprise semifinalist last year, went down to the wire against a spunky Brazilian team while, Argentina -- three times a runner-up in recent years, but missing their biggest star -- wholly demolished a strong German squad which sported two top-thirty players for themselves. But at the end of the day, it's wasn't their victories that made the biggest impact.

The little-known Kazakhs, on the other hand, pulled off some of the more notable upsets this weekend -- the fact that no one on their team was ranked in the top hundred makes that feat even more impressive. Andrey Golubev and Evgeny Korolev each scored wins on Day One, the latter besting former top-ten player Jurgen Melzer in three fairly one-sided sets. Though the Austrians were able to stay alive by taking the doubles rubber on Saturday, Golubev was able to seal the deal, coming back after losing a set to Melzer and securing only the country's second World Group win in its nineteen appearances. They'll meet the Czechs next, a rematch of the 2011 first round -- which they won against all odds. It won't be an easy task of course, but with months to go before that showdown, the Kazakhs have plenty of opportunity to prep. And with their recently strong history, it doesn't look like they should be counted out just yet.

Meanwhile the Italians were able to notch some big victories of their own on their home soil. Against a tough Croat team that boasted top fifteen plater Marin Cilic and one-time standout Ivan Dodig, they were the on-paper underdogs, and they kept us guessing until the end. After Cilic won a marathon first rubber to give his team the lead, Italian #1 Andreas Seppi delivered to keep things even. The Italians won the doubles round, but Cilic came back in the battle of the favorites. That left things to recently struggling Fabio Fognini, who'd won just one match since losing the St. Petersburg final last September. He'd lost his only previous meeting with Ivan Dodig a little over two years ago, but after dropping the first set this time around, he found a way to rally, giving Italy its first World Group win in fifteen years. They made it all the way to the final that year, which will be hard to replicate. But given their performance so far, there's no telling what they can still do.

For their efforts the Italians will meet in the quarters an even bigger underdog Canadian team, which scored its very first World Group win over the weekend after four failed attempts. Pitted against the top seeded Spaniards -- missing, incidentally, their top four players -- both high-flying Milos Raonic and largely unknown Frank Dancevic won their Day One rubbers and the Canucks very nearly clinched it before Spain got on the board after a long doubles man. But it was too little, too late -- Raonic kicked off Sunday against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, a man who's been known to draw some big wins in his time. But the Canadian got the better of him this week -- in straight sets he secured the victory and put his country in quite a good place to make a bigger dent in this year's draw.

Whether these gentlemen are able to keep their momentum going remains to be seen, but with the wins they've already scored this weekend, they've certainly shown they can put up the right fight. Of course with some more experienced groups still very much in the mix, it's going to be a long road to eventual Davis Cup glory, but there may never be a better chance for these teams to get there. And with plenty of new faces out there, who's to say what can happen.

Reaching a Milestone

I have a confession to make.

I have this really bad habit of starting something with a bang and then letting my interest fizzle out and eventually dropping the project entirely. I've started multiple novels but haven't finished one; I took up surfing after a trip to Mexico in 2005 but my board's been sitting idle in my front hallway for over a year.

But here I am, just about eight months into my latest endeavor, and I've reached my landmark 100^th posting!

Yay, me!

Don't worry, I'm not going to celebrate by running through my top 100 moments in tennis or anything crazy like that -- obviously I don't have that kind of patience. Instead I choose to look at a couple players who are poised to make their own jump over the #100 line -- though for them, the lower the number the better.

Within a stone's throw of the top hundred is Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev, who reached his first tour final in St. Petersburg last year before losing to Andy Murray. That performance brought him to a career-high ranking of eighty-ninth in the world, but some early round losses in 2009 have pushed him down again. Andrey lost trying to qualify for Rome this week, but a turnaround in the coming weeks could get him back on track.

Currently ranked #112 Victor Crivoi was slightly more successful in Italy. After reaching the quarterfinals in a challenger event here last week, he made it through the qualifying rounds of the Masters tourney and then unceremoniously outsed James Blake in his first main round match. Though he was subsequently dismissed by Robin Soderling he did put up a fight and took the second set in a tiebreak. If he keeps it up, his first week in the top hundred isn't that far away.

On the women's side the low single digits are dominated by a group of American girls who are trying to prove there are more players in the country than the Williams sisters. Julie Ditty, Alexa Glatch and Melanie Oudin are all coming off a busy Fed Cup weekend where Glatch helped secure the team's first final appearance since 2003. She and Melanie are actually both in the double digits when it comes to race points thanks to recent strong showings, but still have a ways to go in the broader rankings. As clay court season is traditionally difficult for the Americans, it may take some doing, but there's no reason these youngsters couldn't rack up some points over the summer.

Of course as some rise, others must fall and there are inevitably some names that are dangerously close to falling out of the top one hundred.

Despite the fact that former #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero broke his five-year title drought last month in Casablanca, he fell back thirty ranking points to #100 with early exits in Barcelona and Rome. Even more shocking, the eight-plus month absense of Maria Sharapova from the Tour has brought her down to #64. According to the WTA she's not planning to return for at least two weeks, which will shave almost two hundred points from her twelve-month score -- and could drop her to her lowest ranking in six years.

So good luck to all these players as they fight to retain their place or break into a whole level of talent. There are thousands of players just dying to take their spot among the tennis elite.

And just like me, a hundred articles in, once you make it this far the pressure to keep it up is that much more!

A Race to the Finish

With only a few tournaments left before the year-end championships for both men and women, all eyes of the tennis world were this week turned to Europe. From Luxembourg to Linz, Basel to Lyon, and even as far east as St. Petersburg, players were making their last minute bids to qualify for a spot.

Switzerland is supposed to be a neutral country, but with native son Roger Federer seeded at the top of the draw in Basel, I'm sure the fans there were anything but. He was the winner here for the last two years and, after an early exit in Madrid last week, he was eager to defend his title. Despite dropping a set in the first round to twenty-six year old American Bobby Reynolds, Roger easily coasted through his next three matches to make it to the finals.

There he met former world #3 David Nalbandian, who's trying to make a late-season surge of his own. He's fallen to #8 after a couple of tough years and a solid performance in Switzerland would certainly help him secure a spot to play for the ATP Masters Cup. After early exits at all four Grand Slams this year, the Argentine began his comeback by winning in Stockholm and beating both Benjamin Becker and Juan Martin Del Potro for his right to play for the title here.



But Roger was not to be subdued. In two simple sets, he walked away with his third straight Swiss title.

In Linz, Austria, another former #1 was trying to regain some glory. Ana Ivanovic has had a less successful second half of the year, losing in the second round of the U.S. Open to a relatively unknown Julie Coin and then making early exits in Tokyo, Beijing and Moscow. She made it to the semis in Zurich, but lost in three long sets to Venus Williams. Linz held better prospects for Ana, though, as she made it past Zurich finalist Flavia Panetta and nineteen-year-old Aggie Radwanska to play in the finals.



There she faced Vera Zvonareva, the one Russian player that hasn't quite gotten the attention she deserves. The Olympic bronze medalist made her way into the top ten almost unnoticed this year and even won titles in Prague and Guangzhou.



But Ana emerged the victor in Austria, winning in straight sets. It was her first title since she took the French Open in June.

In St. Petersburg Andy Murray took his fifth ATP title of the year, but it should surprise no one that I don't want to spend much time on him.

The real story in Russia this week was the other finalist, Andrey Golubev. The twenty-one-year-old Kazakh is currently ranked #150 in the world and had never made it even to the semis of an ATP event. But this week the qualifier made it past four opponents, including Marat Safin, to reach the finals. His eventual loss to Murray wasn't surprising, but making it that far was certainly the highlight of his relatively short career.



Back to Luxembourg where the women were playing in the Tier III FORTIS Championships. I've alluded to my frustration with Elena Dementieva before. Like James Blake, she's one of my favorite players, and though she often makes her presence well known on the court, she can easily lose in the clutch. She made it to the fourth round in Australia but lost to eventual winner Maria Sharapova, the quarters at Roland Garros where she fell to Dinara Safina, the semis at Wimbledon and ceded to Williams, and the semis in Flushing Meadows where she lost to Jelena Jankovic. She's also posted losses to much lower seeded players: Agnes Szavay in Paris, Zvonareva in Charleston, Katarina Srebotnik in Tokyo, among others.



That's not to say Elena hasn't had some success this year. She won gold in Beijing and the title in Dubai. The fact that she advanced so far in so many tournaments helped bring her ranking from #11 in January to #5 now. But given her inconsistency, I couldn't help feeling anxious when she found herself facing Caroline Wozniacki in the finals in Luxembourg.

Wozniacki has been a real force in women's tennis this year, and she notched decisive wins over Anabel Medina Garrigues and Na Li on her way to the finals.

But my worries were calmed this week when Elena scored her second win over the Danish teenager, coming back from a first set loss to with the third in a tiebreak. And happily I was finally able to see my favorite earn a long-anticipated title.

And finally in Lyon a couple of lesser-known players were competing for the title at the Grand Prix de Tennis.

Sweden's Robin Soderling has not won an ATP singles title since 2005, though he's played in three finals this year. Nevertheless he's been able to bring his ranking from #53 to #27 since January with wins over Richard Gasquet, Andy Roddick and James Blake. In France he took out Roddick for the second time this year as well as rising star Gilles Simon.



His opponent in the finals was Frenchman Julien Benneteau who was looking for his first ATP singles title. Despite three career doubles championships, Benneteau has had twelve first-round exits in singles draws this year and only made one final in Casablanca, where he lost to Simon. But with wins over Tommy Robredo and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, it looked like Lyon might be his best opportunity to notch that first title.



Unfortunately for Julien that turned out not to be the case, and Robin won his first title in over three years.

So, congrats to all this week's winners, and good luck in your quests to make it to the championships! You've all shown you're up for the challenge!

And to everyone else, see you next time. As always, serve well and play hard!