Shooting for #1

Okay, it's probably a long shot to think that any of the players I'm going to talk about here will be rising to the very top of the ATP rankings any time soon -- but with some impressive performances in the early days of the clay court season, there are a couple men in action this week who have a real shot at picking up their first career titles. And you might be a little surprised to see who's still in the mix.

In Casablanca top seeded Guillermo Garcia Lopez was stunned by wildcard Lamine Ouahab of Morocco, and that created a big hole in the top half of the draw -- so far Daniel Gimeno-Traver has seemed more than happy to fill it. The world #95 has picked up a handful of wins over top ten players during his career, but has never made a significant run in the rankings himself. He's got fourteen Challengers titles to his name though, and seems ready to make a stand on the ATP Tour now. He was well in control of his match against Mikhail Kukushkin when the seventh seed retired in their second round and then dismissed Ouahab with little drama today to reach the semis. Though he'll face wünderkind Jiri Vesely next, he could use experience to his advantage and may finally be able to get his big break. Young Damir Dzumhur has a similar opportunity -- the twenty-two year old Bosnian had only won eleven matches on Tour during his career and had to qualify for most of the events he's played this year. But at the Grand Prix Hassan he's so far looked on-point -- he got a straight-set win over veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu in his opener and on Friday notched an easy win over sixth seed Andreas Haider-Maurer in just over an hour. Next he'll meet Martin Klizan, a man who's had ups and downs throughout his career, and it's not impossible to think Dzumhur has a real shot at getting the upset.

Things have been just as interesting in Houston, even with most of the seeds doing well through their early rounds. It hasn't been all smooth sailing though -- 2013 titleist John Isner, fresh off a stellar run in Miami couldn't keep his momentum going on the dirt and fell in yesterday's late night match. His vanquisher, Teymuraz Gabashvili has pulled off big wins in the past -- he stunned Andy Roddick at Roland Garros back in 2010 and took out David Ferrer in Barcelona just last year. Still at #79 in the world he's usually far off the radar. But he still could surprise us -- he faces defending champion Fernando Verdasco next, and the Spaniard has been famously spotty of late. He could be caught off guard this time too. And Jack Sock, back in action after surgery cut short his breakout 2014 season, scored his second straight win over second seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut yesterday. His next opponent, Colombian Santiago Giraldo may be the on-paper favorite, but with a middling 7-9 record on the year he's been far from impressive, and the young American could surely take advantage.

Sure there are still a couple more matches left before this weekend's champions are crowned, but the performances these guys have put up so far this week may show just how hungry they are to nab that elusive first title. And once they break the seal, there's no telling how far they can go.

Unlikely Heroes

During a weekend in which only one top seed made it to a final, we shouldn't be surprised that things didn't go entirely according to plan when deciding where the trophies went. In fact, just one of the four titles awarded Sunday went to the higher seed in the championship match, and even those players who didn't come away the winners put in performances that could launch them into a new level of play.

Alize Cornet may have been the favorite in the Katowice Open final, but certainly did some heavy lifting to get there. The French wildcard dropped a bagel set to the former Klara Zakopalova (née Koukalova) but scored a comeback in the quarters and, after losing the first six games to top-seeded Aga Radwanska in the semis, rallied for the upset to reach her second championship of the year. And while this time she made good on her favored status, the real story in Poland may have been that of Camila Giorgi. The young Italian had pulled off big wins in the past, most recently against Maria Sharapova in Indian Wells, but had yet to follow up one victory with another. This week, though, she took down Roberta Vinci -- inexplicably still ranked in the top twenty, despite having won just two matches this year -- veteran Shahar Peer, and always tricky Carla Suarez Navarro. In the final she was down a set and a break before forcing a decider, and even came back from a two-break deficit to even the score. She did lose eventually, in a three-plus hour long marathon battle, but having finally kept momentum going for longer than a day she may have proven she has some staying power.

Underdogs had a little more luck elsewhere this weekend. At the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, the two top players, John Isner and Tommy Robredo, both lost their openers, allowing numbers three and four to grind their way to the final. Nicolas Almagro, who'd only won one match in the last two months -- he'd skipped January's events with injury -- had a few relatively easy early rounds and got a walkover from Sam Querrey in the semis. Fourth-seeded Fernando Verdasco made it an all-Spanish final -- after a challenge from Steve Johnson in his opener, he rolled through his next two matches to make his first championship match since last July. He hadn't had much luck when playing for a title, though, losing in his last six attempts and going trophy-less for almost four years, and at #29 in the world with just five career crowns to Almagro's thirteen, he was the on-paper underdog in Sunday's championship. But Verdasco had the better record against his compatriot, 6-3 head-to-head, and capitalized on that history from the start -- taking advantage of weak serving from his opponent, he got the break in the first set and, after saving set points in the second, stayed stronger in the tiebreak to close out the win. While the size of the upset may not have been tremendous, the importance of the win -- the end of a long losing streak -- was much greater, and could bode well for the upcoming clay court season.

Things got a little more dramatic in Casablanca. Here, too, high seeds lost early -- Gael Monfils pulled out after his big Davis Cup weekend, while both Kevin Anderson, red-hot at the start of the season, and crowd favorite Benoit Paire, lost early. Ultimately fourth seed Marcel Granollers, a middle-of-the-road singles player who's been ranked in the twenties and thirties the last several years, and yet another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, well off his career high #23 in the world, were left contesting the final. Like with Verdasco, his last title came in 2010, but the thirty-year-old had beaten Monfils in Miami and had put together wins over the likes of Carlos Berlocq and Paire already this week. He also had history on his side, having won his only previous Tour meeting with Granollers at this event four years ago. But the younger finalist got the lead in this contest, taking the first set and fighting back from a break down in the second. But GGL stayed tougher here too, forcing a decider and then never looking back. It was just his third career championship -- and, again, his first in over three years -- and the win brings him back into the top forty for the first time since 2011. If he keeps the momentum over the next couple weeks, who knows what he could accomplish -- he might just be able to turn the big events upside down.

Speaking of rocking the boat, there may have been no bigger surprise this weekend than what we saw in Bogota. Former world #1 Jelena Jankovic made good on her top seeding at the Copa Claro and reached her first final since taking the title there last year without dropping a set. But with the three seeds below her all losing their openers -- and the other not fairing much better -- she didn't face anyone in the top seventy-five until Sunday. And even then she only faced off against world #74 Caroline Garcia, who'd only just made her first Tour semi a few weeks back in Acapulco. But the young Frenchwoman can play on clay -- remember a few years back when she so nearly took out Maria Sharapova in the Roland Garros second round -- and after forcing Serena Williams to a third set in Miami, she might just be improving her overall game too. In today's match she needed barely eighty minutes to dispatch Jankovic, her first ever win over a top ten player. The victory brings Garcia to within a stone's throw of the top fifty, and with several weeks of dirt events still to come, I would expect her climb even higher and maybe finally prove herself on the big stage.

Across the board this weekend's winners proved themselves up to the task against some formidable foes. And these long shots, able to perform at their best when it really counted, may have really turned a corner -- whether launching their careers or cementing a comeback, every one of them showed they're ones to watch.

And the next time they take the court, they might not be much of dark horse at all.

And So It Begins...

It's that time of year again -- the boys have officially made the shift to the clay season, and began their French Open warm-ups in earnest this week.

The Casablanca field was full of dirt specialists, with the top four seeds winning all of their titles on the surface. But that didn't mean the favorites all advanced without drama -- top seeded Florian Mayer lost his opener in a fairly one-sided straight setter to Jeremy Chardy while Alexandr Dolgopolov, playing well off the game that brought him to #13 in the world earlier this year, dropped just as quickly to Flavio Cipolla in his first match. In fact only two seeds made it to the quarterfinals -- defending champion Pablo Andujar and rising star Albert Ramos, who'd already beaten the likes of Fernando Verdasco, Richard Gasquet and Feliciano Lopez this year.

The two Spaniards eventually made their way to final on Sunday, though Ramos had a slightly easier trip -- though he lost serve a handful of times during the week, he never dropped a set. Andujar, on the other hand, was breadstick-ed in his middle quarterfinal set by qualifier Sergio Guttierrez-Ferrol before rebounding in the semis. But he took control early in his third career meeting with Ramos today, allowing his countryman just eight points on serve in the first set. The underdog raised his game in the second, though, but it was too late -- he managed to eke out one more point than Andujar, but eventually fell in the tiebreak, 7-5, and last year's champion kept his record against Ramos undefeated.

Things got a little more interesting in Houston where, even though most of the top seeds stayed deep into the draw, a couple big story-lines emerged. Thirty-three year old Michael Russell, ranked #136 in the world, dismissed top-seed Mardy Fish in the second round and kept his run going all the way to the semis. And fellow Americans Ryan Harrison, Sam Querrey and 2011 champ Ryan Sweeting, all put in some nice showings during the week, proving the country may not be quite as hard-up on the clay as so many think.

But in the end it was two of the players who've been on the hottest roll in recent month. John Isner, recent vanquisher of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, faced fifteen break points in his first three matches and never lost serve -- his win over Feliciano Lopez in the semis earned him the #1 ranking in the U.S. And Juan Monaco, who made a run to the Miami semis with wins over Gael Monfils, Andy Roddick and Fish, survived a test from Russell on Saturday, but came to his second final of the year the fresher man. Finally delivering the first break of serve to Isner in the opening set, he was the one to get the go-ahead in the third, winning the last three games of the two-and-a-half hour match and sealing the deal.

So with the first salvos of this year's clay court season now launched, it's now up to these guys to follow through. The winners, of course, have a bit of a leg up for now, but every player who showed he can put up a fight this week can turn himself into a force during the spring. And with the way things have shaken out so far this year, any one of them might make an even deeper impact than anyone expects.

Adding to, or Starting, the Trophy Case

There are a select few players who really thrive on clay -- champions like Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin have the ability to intimidate their opponents on the surface, but when they're out of the picture anything really can happen. And as we kick off the 2011 clay court season it was both some relative veterans and a few brand new names that made the first statements.

As the youngest of this week's victors, it's a little strange to think of Caroline Wozniacki as the most accomplished of the four. But ranked #1 in the world and already owning fourteen career singles titles before arriving in Charleston, that's exactly what she is. The twenty-year-old Dane didn't play the best tennis during the week, but she'd done what she needed to make her fourth final of the year, surviving scares from Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Yanina Wickmayer on the way. But she was able to raise her game on Sunday against Russian Elena Vesnina, firing off six aces and denying her opponent on all four break opportunities. After about ninety minutes, she was the one lifting the trophy, her third of the year.

On the European courts it was Caro's good friend Victoria Azarenka who prevailed. Fresh off her second title run in Miami, the top seed in Marbella began her clay court campaign in impressive style. She only dropped serve three times in her first four matches, reaching her first final on the surface since 2006. Against qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu in the championship match, she was able to take advantage of her challenger's inexperience. Though her service games were a little more spotty, Vika only allowed the Romanian -- who, over the week, had out-toughed players like Klara Zakopalova and '09 French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova -- to hold serve once during the match, and with the scoreline decisively in her favor, the Belarusian won her first ever title on the dirt.

While the ladies were adding to their trophy collections this weekend, the men were just out to capture that maiden title. The Casablanca final boasted two players who'd lost all four of the finals they'd played before -- Potito Starace, the fifth seed, took on world #69 Pablo Andujar, who'd beaten Jeremy Chardy and tournament favorite Albert Montanes on the way to the championship. The Italian had won both of the pair's two prior matches, most recently on the Santiago clay this year, and though Starace had pulled off a few comebacks this week, Andujar proved to be too much for him today. The twenty-five year old won more than eighty percent of his first serve points and stayed aggressive on return to get the win and put his clay court season on the right track.

And in another case of first-time victory, we saw American Ryan Sweeting make good on a wildcard entry in Houston to claim his premier Tour trophy. After taking out second seed, and last-year's runner up, Sam Querrey in the second round, he'd been impressive against a tough Teymuraz Gabashvili and outlasted big-serving Ivo Karlovic to make his first final. On the top half of the draw, a resurrected Kei Nishikori backed up a win over U.S. #1 Mardy Fish in the quarters by taking out clay-court specialist Pablo Cuevas in the semis. But Sweeting was solid on Sunday, holding strong after losing a break lead in the second set and ultimately earning the victory, 7-3 in the tiebreak. If nothing else, it's encouraging to see an American win on this surface again.

With just a few weeks left before the French Open, we've started setting the stage for what's to come. Of course we've come to know that almost nothing is certain on the red clay of Paris, but all four of this weekend's champions have certainly gotten off on the right foot. And whether their success came from experience or beginner's luck, if it continues we might have some new favorites to talk about at Roland Garros.

A Change of Season

Here in New York we've been teased with signs of spring for several weeks, but there hasn't yet been a definitive shift to the brighter, warmer weather we in the Northeast have been longing for.

Similarly in tennis after a sprinkling of "Golden Swing" events on the Latin American clay, the real shift to dirt only officially took place this week -- and it could be time for some new players to take center stage. The winter hard court season was all about Novak Djokovic, Kim Clijsters, and Caroline Wozniacki. Notwithstanding Kim's injury-induced hiatus, I wouldn't expect any of them to completely disappear in the weeks leading up to Roland Garros, but they might not have the week-after-week success they've become accustomed to.

The men in Houston are helmed by new American #1 Mardy Fish, whose gutsy Davis Cup wins late last year proved that boys from the States do not always crumble on the dirt. Still third-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, one of my dark-horse favorites at last year's French Open, and Teymuraz Gabashvili, who shocked Andy Roddick in Paris, might be the bigger threats. And Pablo Cuevas, a six-time Challenger titleist on the surface, might be ready to make his own breakthrough on the main Tour.

There are even more specialists over in Casablanca, where the seeds have ten trophies and another twelve finals to their names. Albert Montanes, who beat players like Marin Cilic, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Roger Federer on the surface, is hoping to go one better than his runner-up finish here in 2007. He hasn't had the best record this year, but on the courts which make him most comfortable, I expect that to change. And Fabio Fognini, whose French Open second round made my list of best matches of 2010, could easily turn around his year with a few more wins this week.

But if anyone is going to make a big statement in Morocco, it could be former top-ten Frenchman Gilles Simon, the champion here four years ago. He's been climbing his way back into the elite all year, winning a title in Sydney and taking Federer to five sets in the Australian Open second round. It's been a while since he's claimed a clay-court trophy, but with his game back on the right track this could be a good opportunity.

Over in Marbella the ladies draw is stacked with players who've seen most of their success on the dirt. French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and finalist Dinara Safina spent much of the 2009 season battling each other on this surface, and they very well could meet in the final again, but it might not be that easy. Alexandra Dulgheru has won her only two titles on the Warsaw clay and will be looking to branch out, while feisty Sara Errani has been known to cause some higher ranked players some trouble too.

But we might get a better idea of the real threats this season in Charleston where four top-ten players, including world #1 Wozniacki and Roland Garros runner-up Sam Stosur. Last year's champion at this tournament hasn't had a real deep run at any event in 2011, but now on the courts where she really hit her stride, I would expect her style of play to really shine.

Of course, with the clay court season really just getting started, there's plenty of time for some hopefuls to upend the status quo. But in the next few weeks, don't be surprised if we see a few new faces on the championship blocks -- after all, some previously latent talent is bound to wake up after the winter thaw.

Back in the Swing

No one can say Caroline Wozniacki is having a bad year -- anyone who finds herself ranked #2 in her sport has certainly seen some deal of success. But as a legitimate favorite in most of her matches these days, dealing with loss can be that much harder.

She dropped two straight rounds to Na Li to start the year and was the huge favorite in her loss to Jelena Jankovic in Indian Wells. To make matters worse, she suffered her second loss to a Belgian comeback story when Justine Henin came back from a set down to dismiss her in the Miami quarters.

But this week Caroline was back in Florida looking to defend the title she won in Ponte Vedra Beach last year. The #1 seed, she advanced through her early rounds without much to-do, keeping her record against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova unblemished and rebounding to keep Elena Vesnina from avenging her semifinal loss to the Dane last year. In doing so, she earned her twelfth Tour final -- not bad for a nineteen-year-old.

This afternoon she met Olga Govortsova, two years her senior. The Belarusian had slain a few big guns -- second seed Alona Bondarenko in the first round and third Dominika Cibulkova in the semis -- to make her third Tour championship match. She'd obviously proven she couldn't be ignored. Wozniacki got off to a good start, breaking her opponent twice in the opening set, but then found herself down a couple games in the second. Govortsova was in position to serve for the set and even up the match, but that was just when Caroline's championship spirit shone brightest. Olga was serving to force a tiebreak, but couldn't get the better of her opponent. In straight sets, Wozniacki had won her seventh trophy, and her second straight at the MPS Group Championships.



Meanwhile in Houston, another player who'd been on a bit more of a slump was trying to re-right his own career. Juan Ignacio Chela had been on a three year title drought and was coming back from a herniated disc injury that sidelined him for much of 2008. Before this week, he hadn't put together back-to-back main bracket wins all year. But in Texas he took out three seeds in a row, including defending champ Lleyton Hewitt, before meeting Sam Querrey in the finals.

For his part, Querrey had done well to prove that Americans can win -- at least a little -- on clay. He got through veteran Nicolas Massu and scored a personal victory be defeating Wayne Odesnik in the semis. He even took the first set from Chela on Sunday.

In a surprisingly close match, though, the Argentine withstood eleven aces and kept his own serving percentage high. He scored a late break in the second set to draw even and immediately retaliated when Querrey broke his serve in the first game of the last set. After two and a half hours, Chela had won his fifth career championship, and his first since 2007.



It's always good to begin a new season with a win, and for both Wozniacki and Chela it's got to be nice to put an end to their recent string of losses, whether at the end or at the beginning of a tournament. And as we get closer and closer to the French Open, it'll be great to see what these guys can do!

Winds of Change

SpringSummer is in the air in New York as temperatures went from the mid-fifties to nearly ninety in the blink of an eye. There's been a similarly abrupt shift on the tennis courts as the world's top players moved from hard courts to the (sometimes) elusive clay in a matter of days -- and a couple will face their first big tests on the surface ahead of the year's next Grand Slam.

I admit that I was a little terrified when I first played on a clay court. If Pete Sampras, the greatest player of all-time, in my opinion, couldn't win on the surface, how could I? And in fact, most American men struggle on the red dust. Andre Agassi and Jim Courier were able to take a couple of French Open titles between them, but before that you have to go all the way back to 1955 and Tony Trabert to find the last U.S. champion at Roland Garros. Even Andy Roddick, who's been a staple in the top-ten for almost a decade, has only made it as far as the fourth round -- once.



This week the next generation of American men are in action in Houston, seeking to prove that they might be able to succeed on the surface. So far they haven't had the best luck. Jesse Levine and Donald Young both lost their first round matches while Taylor Dent and Rajeev Ram each retired from their openers.

It's not all bad news, though -- twenty-two year old Ryan Sweeting made it through qualifying rounds and defeated fifth seed Evgeny Korolev before falling in a three-and-a-half hour battle to Nicolas Massu in his second main draw match. And two Americans hold big seeds -- John Isner and Sam Querrey, likely the best hopes our country has to bring home a few Major titles this decade.

Querrey, the #3 seed in Houston, will be tested first as he faces Blaz Kavcic, a man who just misses having a double-digit ranking. Sam was able to pull off a nice win over Viktor Troicki in the first round of Davis Cup -- his only win on clay this year. Overall, he has a lackluster 7-17 record on the surface. He shouldn't have a hard time making the quarters, but when he meets Massu there, well, that could be a different story.

Americans' best chance is probably with second seeded Isner, who'll open tomorrow against Xavier Malisse -- but that's also far from a sure thing. The #2 U.S. player has even less experience on clay, a 3-7 career history, and his biggest weapon -- a rocket-fast serve -- is largely neutralized on the slower surface. The Belgian is certainly more experienced, having been on the pro Tour for twelve years or so, but he is having trouble putting together big wins of late. A win for Isner would give him an easier road to the semis and could put the U.S. at large on the map during the clay court season.

We're a long way from being a real threat in Paris, but we're certainly making our way there. If either of these guys can pull off a few wins or -- dare I say it? -- a title in Houston, it could be the start of a new era in American men's tennis.

After all, if I can learn to play on clay, anyone can.

A Blast From the Past

After almost a month of high-intensity matches in Indian Wells and Miami, dominated by current all-stars and rising talent, this week some smaller tournaments were able to bring some not-so-new names to back into the spotlight.

Early exits by top seeds in Houston could have allowed players like Jurgen Meltzer and Jeremy Chardy get into their own groove. Instead, it was even lesser-known players like Bjorn Phau and Wayne Odesnik who made it to the semifinals. The #100-ranked American triumphed over the German Phau in straight set to make his first ever ATP final.



There he'll face the winner of a match that pits twenty-one year old Evgeny Korolev against former #1 Lleyton Hewitt, who's trying to recapture his one-time success in Houston. So far, he seems to be on a roll and hasn't dropped a set on his way to the semis. A win later today would earn him his first final round match since Las Vegas in 2007.



A little further east in Marbella, Spain, where Serena Williams lost her #1 ranking and her #1 round in the same day, a struggling Jelena Jankovic was able to get back on track. She lost her first match at her last two tournaments and has been upset by players like Kaia Kanepi, Marion Bartoli and Amelie Mauresmo, all of whom she should be able to beat. With Serena gone, though, she might have been able to pull together the confidence she needed to make her first final this year.

There she'll face Carla Suárez Navarro, who famously defeated Venus Williams in the second round of this year's Australian Open. Since Melbourne she hasn't been able to put together back-to-back wins and has lost to players ranked #71, #134 and #136 in the world. But this week she gained entry to the first WTA final of her career with a win over Sorana Cirstea. A title in Spain could give either woman the momentum she needs to start the clay-court season off strongly.

But some of the biggest comebacks were in Casablanca, where 22nd-ranked Igor Andreev claimed the top seed. He was ousted this morning by former world #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero who, six years later, is now in the triple-digits. Ferrero pulled off upsets of Christophe Rochus, Victor Hanescu and Andreev all in straight sets. As a prize, he gets to meet France's Florent Serra, a man who hasn't won a title since Adelaide in 2006, but also hasn't dropped a set this week in Morocco.



So as one-time stars try to make another play for tennis's elite, current #1's might be getting a little nervous. The last few weeks have done nothing if not shown just how tenuous the grip on the top spot is.

Houston, We Have a Problem

I can't remember the last time when the top seeds were ousted in the very first round of a tournament. But at Houston's U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship, which kicked off the road to the French Open, that's exactly what happened.

American men have never really been a force on the slippery surface -- remember in Pete Sampras's record fourteen Grand Slam titles, the only one that eluded him was Roland Garros. Even still James Blake and Mardy Fish were given the #1 and #2 seeds respectively -- and it was apparently a lot to live up to.

Neither man has had the most success this year. A frustrated Blake hasn't won a title since New Haven in 2007 and, as he deals with an ankle injury, has seen his ranking steadily slip from #10 at the start of the year to #17 as of Monday. Fish, on the other hand, was able to pull out a victory in Delray Beach last month, but also suffered first-match exits in Miami and Indian Wells, not to mention two tournaments in Australia.



However the high billing in Houston should have given them some support, if only psychological. James, with the top spot, faced Argentina's Guillermo Canas while his friend took on Germany's Bjorn Phau. Mardy was able to capture the second set before falling in the third to the 77th-ranked Phau, while Blake was practically decimated by the former top-ten player, now ranked #113 -- Canas only ceded four of his first serves.

Of course the losses are rough. My personal bias toward my countrymen, and my particular love of Blake, aside, it's hard to see these guys lose time and again. The resurgence of Andy Roddick and wins this week by two younger players, John Isner and Scoville Jenkins, are reassuring, but far from the widespread success that brought home the titles and the Davis Cup in 2007. If these early results are any indication, this could be a rough year.

Thankfully it wasn't a total loss for the American men. Blake and Fish did team up in the doubles draw and did manage a win over wildcard entrants Amer Delic and Robert Kendrick.



Here's hoping they see more success in that bracket!