On Their Games Again

It sure seems like it's been a while since this weekend's champions have held a trophy over their heads -- for some it's been just a month or so, for others several years, but if any of them can keep their momentum going, it could mean big things for the rest of their years.

Stan Wawrinka began the 2015 season almost the way he did the last one, picking up another crown in Chennai and rolling through his first couple matches at the Australian Open. But when he fell short of repeating his title run, he took a few steps back down the rankings. He was the fourth seed last week in Rotterdam and had trouble getting his footing, losing sets to wildcard Jesse Huta Galung and Guillermo Garcia Lopez, ultimately reaching the final by the skin of his teeth. Against defending champion Tomas Berdych on Sunday he was tested again, dropping the opening set, but he was able to rally from the deficit and clinched the win in just under two hours. It may not be as high profile a trophy as the one he gave up, but with two top ten wins this week, both over higher seeds, he might have put himself back on track to go after the big ones again.

After a similarly stunning 2014, Andrea Petkovic has had a little big more trouble getting her footing this year. A semifinalist at Roland Garros she finished off the season with a title at the Tournament of Champions, but went oh-and-three to start 2015, losing each time to players outside the top fifty. She started to get things back together during Fed Cup play, though, avenging a loss to Jarmila Gajdosova in Sydney and knocking out Sam Stosur in a 12-10 third set marathon. She continued her win streak in Antwerp last week, drubbing one-time Aussie runner-up Dominika Cibulkova and following it up with a win over always tricky Barbora Zahlavova Strycova to make the final. She was spared a contest on Sunday, though, when fifth seeded Carla Suarez Navarro pulled out of the match with a neck injury, but Petko's run was nonetheless impressive. She'll get right back to work this week in Dubai, and hopefully she'll keep her run going -- just a hair away from her career high ranking from three years ago, it's starting to feel like she can make a big push even higher this time around.

Kei Nishikori is certainly making a case for himself to keep climbing as well. Currently at his peak #5 in the world, the man from Japan is coming off a year that brought him four trophies, ten top-ten victories and his first Grand Slam final. He hasn't had bad results in 2015 by any means, but the semis in Brisbane and the quarterfinals in Melbourne don't seem quite as impressive now that we've seen what he can do. So this past week in Memphis, the two-time defending champion was under a little pressure. Qualifiers Ryan Harrison and Austin Krajicek both took sets off the top seed and even a reinvigorated Sam Querrey, who'd scored an impressive win over John Isner in the quarters, was able to push him to a decider. But Kei got his groove back in the final against big-serving Kevin Anderson, withstanding twelve aces from the South African to nab his third consecutive title in Tennessee in straight sets. And hopefully he'll be able to raise his game again when he faces even tougher opponents down the road.

Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas has already proven he can turn up the heat when the pressure's on. The twenty-nine year old veteran had never cracked the top forty before last year, but then went on a solid run over the summer picking up titles in Umag and Bastad, the first two finals he'd ever contested. He finished off the season with a couple of Challengers wins and ended the year at a career high #32 in the world. After a slow start to the year though -- his only win in January came over a still-recovering Nicolas Almagro -- he pulled things together this past week in Sao Paulo. Seeded fifth at the Brazil Open, he took out the Spaniard again and added wins over upstart Jiri Vesely and world #31 Santiago Giraldo to his resum&eactue;. Yesterday against unknown qualifier Luca Vanni -- who incidentally jumped forty-one spots up the rankings thanks to his Cinderella run -- he held tough in three tight sets, notching the win in a tiebreak and keeping his record in finals a spotless 3-0. He's headed straight to Rio this week and face Almagro yet again in his opener, but having backed up his most recent win with an ultimate title, he may just have established himself as a real favorite this time.

Veteran Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova is trying to work her way back to that favored status, too. The one-time world #4 has had a rough couple of years, and in 2014 fell well out of seeding territory at the Majors. She showed some signs of progress to start this season, scoring a win over Sara Errani in Auckland and pushing Garbiñe Muguruza to a third set in Melbourne. Still almost two years removed from her last title, she was nevertheless a long shot in her return to Pattaya City. But after upsetting third seed Zarina Diyas in her opener, the 2012 champion in Thailand didn't look back again. After dropping the first set in Sunday's final to Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic, Dani's experience came through and she was able to power through for her seventh career title and first since 2013. She seems to have recovered well enough -- earlier today she won her first match in Dubai with a win over Mona Barthel in three long sets -- but she'll face an even bigger challenge from Simona Halep in the next round. But a strong performance could work wonders for her confidence -- back in the top fifty now there's no reason she can't make another move higher.

We may have a few weeks left before then next big events of the season get underway, but all of this weekend's champions have put themselves back on the radar as we head to the American hard court season. And now that they've shown they've still got some spunk left in them, there's no telling what they'll be able to do.

Veterans' Days

Over the past several years we've seen this sport transform from one dominated by youngsters to one where the over-thirty crowd can not only survive, but actually thrive. And this week in particular some older players are not only proving they're still relevant, but a couple might finally be coming into their own.

We've talked already about how Sam Groth is coming into his own so late in his career, and he really has been able to follow up early in the year. The twenty-seven year old Australian lost a squeaker to Milos Raonic in the Brisbane quarterfinals to start the year and went on to win his first matches at his homeland's Major a few weeks after that. He's still got a lot of work ahead of him though -- pro since 2006, he's only just reached his career high ranking of #70 in the world. But he certainly has a chance to improve things -- he'll take on another big server in Kevin Anderson tonight in his Memphis second round and an upset of the second seed could give him a boatload of confidence the rest of the week. With players like big John Isner and U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori still in the field, he's going to need it.

There are other veterans on the rise this week, but many of them are climbing back after recent time outs. Nicolas Almagro missed much of last year with a foot injury and has had some trouble getting his footing back in 2015. He lost his opener in Sydney to last season's standout Pablo Cuevas and then couldn't do much damage at all to Nishikori in Melbourne. At #82 in the world now, the Spaniard's at his lowest ranking in almost nine years. He might finally be back on track now though -- after a straight set win over little-known Blaz Rola on Monday in Sao Paulo, he stunned top seeded Tommy Robredo last night, reaching his first quarterfinal since last spring. He'll get a rematch with Cuevas for a spot in the semis, but on a surface where he's much more comfortable, he might just be able to turn the tables in his favor this time.

Francesca Schiavone has been doing the same at the resurrected tournament in Antwerp. The one-time Grand Slam champion has struggled in her early thirties, losing in the first round of all but one of the last ten Majors she's played. Now ranked #81 in the world, she was winless this year before playing qualifying rounds in Belgium, but powered through rising star Oceane Dodin on her way into the main draw at the Diamond Games. She opened her campaign with an easy win over Klara Koukalova and earlier today trounced second seed Angelique Kerber in under an hour, dropping just two games to the top-ten German. The road gets tougher from here of course -- she'll take on Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarters -- but the fifth seed has already survived two three-set matches this week and the much more experienced Italian might have what it takes to score another upset.

Down in Pattaya City a couple more much-decorated vets are jumping back into the spotlight. Vera Zvonareva and Daniela Hantuchova, who combined to win the first three titles contested in Thailand, had fallen off the map over the last few year. Dani, injured or ill for much of the last two years finished 2014 at her lowest ranking of the century, while the Russian, who skipped an entire season after shoulder surgery, has struggled to regain her top form since her return. But both players have pulled off wins over low seeds this week -- Vera taking out China's Shuai Zhang and the Slovakian upending a talented Zarina Diyas. With only one seed left in the draw, either one of these comeback stories could keep going quite a while longer.

But perhaps the real story of this season has been the rapid ascent of thirty-one year old Gilles Muller who'd never before this year cracked the top forty. The Luxembourger, one of just two men from his country ranked in the top thousand -- the other is #781 in the world, reached the semis in Sydney, took out both John Isner and Roberto Bautista Agut at the Australian Open and began his run in Rotterdam with a tight win over comeback kid David Goffin. Last night he stunned Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets, notching his biggest win since taking out then-#10 Richard Gasquet nearly two years ago. Of course, with a likely meeting against Stan Wawrinka in the quarters, he'll have to raise his game even higher from here. But it sure looks like all the time he spent slugging away on the Challengers' Tour has paid off, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him keep his momentum going.

With thirty-four year old Victor Estrella Burgos's historic win in Quito last weekend, maybe we shouldn't be surprised to see players like these only just beginning to blossom. Hopefully, whether they're on the rebound or just peaking, they'll be able to keep up for months and years to come. After all, there's no reason that just the young guns should have all the fun.