Back from the Dead

We should know by now that in tennis, no one should ever be counted out. With some of the best players still thriving well into their thirties -- and a couple even first breaking through when they hit that ripe "old" age -- even those who seem like their best days are behind them, somehow find a way to make a statement late in their careers. And this weekend a couple veterans proved that, while they may have been a little quiet in recent months and years, they're certainly not yet ready to be forgotten quite yet.

There's still one match left to be played in Shenzhen but it might surprise you to learn which of the thirty-plus year old contenders is looking for his first title of the year -- Tomas Berdych has reached final in Monte Carlo, Rotterdam and Doha, but hasn't yet picked up that all-important crown. Still he's looking about as strong as he has all season, rebounding from an opening round exit in St. Petersburg to roll through his early matches in China, pulling off solid wins over the likes of Jiri Vesely and always strong Tommy Robredo. In this week's rain-delayed final championship match, he'll take on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez who, despite a lower #29 ranking, has managed wins in Zagreb and Bucharest in 2015, and is actually pretty evenly matched with Berdych at 3-3 all-time. While the top-ten Czech does still boast better results on the big stages, he may have his work cut out for him in this match and he'll want to show he can still close out a win when it really matters.

David Ferrer may have done just that in Kuala Lumpur. The one-time French Open runner-up had a really strong start to the year, picking up a trio of titles in the first two months of the season and even reaching the quarters at Roland Garros. But injury forced him out of Wimbledon and he didn't play a hardcourt match through the summer before the U.S. Open, challenged there too by unknown Moldovian Radu Albot before losing in the third round to unseeded Jeremy Chardy. He seems to have gotten his game back on track though -- the top seed at Malaysian Open, he quickly dispatched early opponents, dropping just one set to always tricky Benjamin Becker in the semis. Meanwhile second seed Feliciano Lopez seemed primed to continue his resurgence this fall -- after a run to the quarterfinals in New York, the thirty-four year old Spaniard finally ended Nick Kyrgios's comeback on Saturday. But Ferrer proved too much for him in the final -- he was able to create eleven break opportunities, and though he just converted on three, it was enough to clinch the win and his unexpected fourth trophy of the year. Still in more-than-good shape to qualify for the year-end championships, the Spaniard has now won six games in a row since New York, and may have made his best case to date that he's still part of the sport's elite.

Over in Wuhan, Venus Williams certainly showed she's still part of that group. The former world-#1 has remained relevant during the latter stages of her career, running to the trophy in Auckland at the start of this season and making it all the way to the U.S. Open quarterfinals last month. This week the thirty-five year old took the courts among a crowded field which included seven top-ten players, but didn't seem daunted by that fact. While many of the favorites were ousted early -- Maria Sharapova retired from her first match since Wimbledon and Simona Halep was stunned by Johanna Konta in the third round -- Williams battled her way past Tokyo champ Aga Radwanska in their opener and then stopped short Roberta Vinci, the woman who'd stunned her sister in New York. In Saturday's final against Garbiñe Muguruza, who'd also scored a win over Serena not that long ago, the veteran American came out the stronger too, taking the first set and getting a break in the second before her opponent retired. It was one of Williams' biggest titles in years, but at this point in her career, may be her most valuable.

Of course this weekend wasn't all about the vets -- in Tashkent, twenty-year-old Nao Hibino, who's picked up a couple of ITF titles during her short career but had never done much to speak of on the WTA Tour, worked her way through the draw and finally ousted Donna Vekic in Saturday's final. Whether that's enough to propel the now-#117 ranked player into greater fortunes is yet to be seen. But if her fellow winners this weekend are any indication, she's got plenty of time left to do it.

Trying to Shake It Off

Tennis is a tough sport -- when you're out on the court by yourself, there's a lot of pressure on individual players to deliver and even the very best can feel the toll. After all Serena Williams announced today she would end her season early, pulling out of next week's China Open and saying she'd skip the season ending championships in Singapore. She mentioned a couple injuries that had been nagging her game this year, but perhaps more tellingly, acknowledged her heart was a little broken after that shocking semifinal loss in New York. And if she needs time to recover, then everybody does.

Of course not everyone had as much riding on their shoulders as Serena did at the U.S. Open, and some might be much more used to notching a loss here and there. But that doesn't make their need to rebound any less important, and this week a couple are hoping they can dust themselves off and get back on track.

At this time last year Marin Cilic was riding high off his first ever Grand Slam title, but he had a tough time reliving that glory in 2015. After a lackluster season for the most part, though, he actually put up an admirable showing in the City, getting all the way to the semis, albeit without having to face anyone in the top fifteen. But he was absolutely drubbed by eventual champion Novak Djokovic in his final four match, winning just three games and not even a third of the total points over the ninety minutes they played. In his first match since that loss this week in Shenzhen, the Croat was tested by Australian John Millman but was able to survive. Next up he'll face little-known Hyeon Chung, who's been climbing up the rankings through the Challengers' Tour and is coming off a title last week in Taiwan. He may be a tougher test for Cilic than the Croat realizes, but if he can get through it, it could put him in a position to end the year on a higher note.

Nick Kyrgios is also looking to regain momentum, though his might have been lost for a different reason. The talented Aussie, who's got wins over Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer under his belt, has made headlines more recently for his behavior rather than his performance. Once ranked twenty-fifth in the world, since that on-court run-in with Stan Wawrinka in Montreal a few months ago, he's fallen out of the top forty, was dropped from the Davis Cup semis tie, and lost three straight matches. He got back on court this week in Kuala Lumpur, though, and has already taken out Santiago Giraldo by retirement and a strong Tatsuma Ito earlier today. In Friday's quarterfinal he'll take on big-serving Ivo Karlovic, who he's beaten in their only previous meeting. But the match will be about more than just the final score -- Kyrgios needs to prove he's about more than just flare and bluster and that he can handle the stress of not only high expectations but of a high profile. And if he can get through these next few matches he might be able to put a rough summer well behind him.

Donna Vekic was unwittingly caught up in the drama that engulfed Kyrgios too, and at a time when the teen was trying to revive her career. With wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dominika Cibulkova and Garbiñe Muguruza last year, she seemed primed to take off, but injury plagued her later in the season and after failing to defend her Kuala Lumpur crown this year, fell well out of the top hundred. Though she did score a nice win over Francesca Schiavone in Baku, she fell in qualifying at both the French and U.S. Opens and struggled too even on the ITF circuit. But this week in Tashkent she seems to have gotten a little spring in her step back -- she came back after dropping the first set to second seed Carina Witthoeft and has survived three deciding sets to make the semis. She'll face off against Evgenia Rodina in the next round, but at an event where no seeds are left in contention, the door may be wide open for the young Croat. And if she can take the opportunity she'll be happy to see her name in the headlines for all the right reasons.

Roberta Vinci certainly knows how a big win can put your name in the spotlight already. The surprise vanquisher of Serena Williams in New York became a household name seemingly out of nowhere, after months middling results on Tour and a drop out of the top forty. But perhaps the win took a little too much out of her -- she fell to compatriot Flavia Pennetta a match later, when even more was on the line. That hiccup doesn't seem to have had a lasting effect, though -- this week in Wuhan, among a field that included seven top ten players, the Italian picked up right where she left off, taking out Seoul champion Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round and earlier today stunning third-seed Petra Kvitova in straight sets. There are still plenty of threats left in the draw, of course, and even the unseeded players like Venus Williams and Anna Schmiedlova pose a risk. Vinci did absolutely dismantle her next opponent Karolina Pliskova the last time they met, dropping just one game to the now-#12 Czech back in 2013, so she could keep her streak going even longer. And after pulling off the biggest win of the year, there's might not be anything she can't do.

The Also-Rans

Of course the ultimate goal of any tennis tournament is to walk away with the title. But for a vast majority of entrants who don't make it quite that far there's also plenty to gain. And this week the ladies who fell a bit short still walked away with a lot more than many would have expected.

Caroline Wozniacki was the top seed in Kuala Lumpur and certainly did not disappoint, picking up her first title of the year and marking her best start to a season since 2011. But during her run she met up with a couple player who may have been even more impressive this week. Young Carina Witthoeft -- she just turned nineteen last month -- first made a name for herself in Melbourne by beating world #17 Carla Suarez Navarro on her way to the third round. This week she opened with a win over Misaki Doi and then took out former top-twenty player Klara Koukalova to make her first Tour-level quarterfinal. She lost to Wozniacki in straight sets on Friday, but still made real strides against the Big Girls and is poised to make a big jump from her current sub-eighty ranking. Alexandra Dulgheru could rise even higher -- the former world #26 has struggled with knee and wrist injuries over the last several years and had dropped out of the top three hundred just two years ago. But she's had bursts of brilliance, nearly beating Maria Sharapova at the 2014 U.S. Open and taking out Alizé Cornet just last week in Doha. She started her campaign in Malaysia with an upset over one-time Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki and followed up by beating Julia Goerges and rebounding from a huge deficit versus Jarmila Gajdosova to reach the final -- her first since 2010. In a rematch of her Qatar Open second round -- she'd retired down 1-6, 0-3 to Wozniacki -- this time she did manage to win the first set before finally falling in the nearly two-hour match. It may not have been the result she hoped for, but it seems to cement the comeback she's been launching for months. And she might just be able to go one better the next time she gets here.

Timea Bacsinszky certainly has made good on her comeback plans this season -- ranked all the way down at #176 in the world just a year ago, the Swiss Miss has staged some big wins over the past couple months and has made her way all the way into Grand Slam seeding territory for the first time. Last weekend she won her first title since 2009 in Acapulco, and later today she'll get a chance to repeat that victory when she meets Caroline Garcia again in the Monterrey championship. And there's no reason to believe she won't get the win again -- despite some challenges early during her run, she stayed tough against former New York semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer and came back against Lesia Tsurenko in the second round. Last night she bagelled Sara Errani in their first set and toughed through an almost three hour semi before scoring the win. But she's not the only one who's re-proven herself this week -- Urszula Radwanska had also fallen well off her career best ranking -- the one-time Den Bosch finalist also had to deal with injury and didn't win a main draw match on the WTA Tour until July last season. She started to pull things together at the start of 2015 though, beating Francesca Schiavone and Daneila Hantuchova on the way to the Auckland quarters. A qualifier again this week in Mexico, she beat the Pattaya City champ before losing to Bacsinszky on Friday. The twenty-four year old is still a ways away from recapturing her best form, but if she can keep momentum on her side it may not be long before she does get back there.

Caught Off Guard

It seems funny, doesn't it, when we're getting this late into the week and the top seeds are only just starting to see action on the tennis courts? And the lack of match play seems to have taken a couple favorites by surprise, opening the door for a few underdogs on this leg of the Asian tour.

In Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, second-seeded Ernests Gulbis survived his opening round by the skin of his teeth. The recent top ten player, who beat Roger Federer on the way to his first Grand Slam semi in Paris, was pushed to three sets in his return to play -- he'd last squandered a two-set lead at the U.S. Open to hitting partner and 2014 upstart Dominic Thiem. Other seeds, including New York runner-up Kei Nishikori, have had an easier time so far, but that doesn't mean it's all smooth sailing ahead. Marinko Matosevic kicked off his run with an upset of compatriot Nick Kyrgios, which may have given him confidence to put up a fight against Nishikori next -- he currently has a less-than-impressive 0-4 record against the man from Japan. But the real sleeper in this draw might be Pablo Cuevas, the fifth-seeded Argentine who quietly picked up his first two career titles in consecutive weeks this summer. Set to face Julien Benneteau next and likely Gulbis a round later, he has a more than manageable path to the title match, and might just round out what's been his most successful season to date.

The drama was even higher in Shenzhen where David Ferrer, upset in the first week of his Big Apple campaign, was stunned in his first round today by former world #12 Viktor Troicki. The Serb, suspended for a year for not submitting to a blood test, has spent most of his time back on the Challengers' circuit. But he has picked up two titles since July and cut his ranking from way down in the eight hundreds to a more modest #174. He's got a couple more seeds to deal with in his section, but having already dispatched the biggest threat, his chances to continue look good. There's room for fireworks in the bottom half too, where Andy Murray is playing ranked outside the top ten for the first time in more than six years. While that might not be enough to make him vulnerable, per se, it could give potential opponents a little boost -- Juan Monaco, for example, a former top ten player himself, may have fallen in the first round of the U.S. Open, but did reach the semis in Kitzbühel and the final in Gstaad this summer. He's already scored wins over Nice finalist Federico Delbonis and DC runner up Vasek Pospisil, and though he's surprisingly never met next opponent Richard Gasquet before, he could have the momentum to carry him through. And with a 2-2 record against Murray, he might just be able to cause an upset in the semis too.

After all, the 2014 tennis season may be getting ready to wind down, but there's still plenty of opportunity for the underdogs to make a statement. And for those that can take advantage of weaknesses among the favorites, there's no reason they can't finish off the year with a bang.

A Changing of the Guard

Well I'm not sure anyone was expecting the results we got at this weekend's tournaments. With a Master summarily dethroned and a newbie finally seeing through her potential, the two champions crowned on Sunday might not have been the ones we'd expected, but they could be a signal of just how much things have changed.

With many of the ladies on Tour occupied with Fed Cup action this weekend, the draw in Kuala Lumpur was a little sparse. Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova, the only top-forty player in the field, should have been the clear favorite, and she began her campaign like she was on a mission. She struggled a bit in later rounds, though, coming back against Zarina Diyas and Karolina Pliskova, but eventually reached the final, her third of the year.

Meanwhile in the other half of the draw, wide open with the four seeds averaging a #83 ranking, young Donna Vekic seemed to turn around her luck a bit. The seventeen year old who'd reached the final in Birmingham in 2013 and in Tashkent the year before, had lost her first four matches of the season and, despite causing a nice upset of Svetlana Kuznetsova in Miami, nevertheless lost easily a round later. She was granted the seventh seed in Malaysia, but was tested from the start and dropped opening sets to her first two opponents. In the topsy-turvy final she was trailing too, down a set and 4-5 before rattling off seven straight games for a 4-0 lead in the decider.

But things are never easy on the ladies' Tour, and after missing three match points, the Croat found herself in a tiebreak for the trophy. Ultimately she was able to hold tougher, eking out the match in a nearly three-hour battle, scoring just one more point than her opponent, but decidedly an important one. The win marked Vekic's first career win over a top-ten player and made her the youngest champion in almost seven years*, quite a milestone for the rising star. Now up at #65 in the world and having finally followed up one win with another, she could prove to be quite a factor in the big events in the months to come. She's certainly still in the early stages of her career, but she might just be ready to take the reins.

There was a little more experience on the court in Monte Carlo, and the stakes were understandably higher at the first Masters event of the clay court season. Some of the favorites bowed out early -- Mikhail Youzhny dropped his opener to Andreas Seppi while fifth seed Tomas Berdych succumbed to red-hot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in his third round. But the surprise exit of eight-time champion Rafael Nadal in the quarters really tilted the apple cart, and the subsequent semifinal loss of injury-addled Novak Djokovic, the first man to beat Rafa in Morocco since 2003, only added to tumult.

Ultimately two Swiss stars were left standing -- Roger Federer, three times a loser to Nadal in the final here, and recently baptized Stanislas Wawrinka, playing in just the third Masters 1000 final of his career. It was the pair's fifteenth meeting, and while the less-experienced Wawrinka held the slightly higher ranking -- #3 versus #4 -- he'd won only one of their previous matches, on these courts actually, but way back in 2009. He started out in a deficit this time too, losing the first set in Roger's attempt to win his twenty-second Masters crown, but came back with a vengeance, taking a tiebreak to force a third and closing out the match in just over two hours.

It was Wawrinka's third title of the year, making 2014 his most prolific season to date, and maybe more importantly cements his standing as one of the sport's top players. After years of hanging out in the second tier, he's somehow managed a 6-0 record against top ten players this year, and is now firmly atop the leaderboard in the race to London. He may have struggled a bit after his breakthrough in Melbourne -- he fell to Alexandr Dolgopolov and Kevin Anderson during the spring Masters season -- but with his triumph in Monte Carlo, he's shown he can up his game against the very best. And with bigger tournaments on the horizon, he might just be able to go on a run no one saw coming.

To varying degrees, both of this weekend's champions proved they can deliver when it counts, and if they can keep their momentum going over the next few weeks and months, there's really no telling what they can accomplish. Of course Wawrinka has the experience to really take it to the big guys, while Vekic, still younger than so many in the field, is still just getting her footing. But both have the talent to cause some big surprises. And at a time of year when anything can happen, there may be no better chance for them to shine.

Vania King was about two months younger when she won in Bangkok in 2006.

Looking for the Turnaround

As is often the case at some smaller tournaments during the tennis season, this week's events give some players who've been a bit out of the spotlight recently a chance to remind us of their relevance. Some have been grinding their way back onto the scene for weeks and months, while others have had such a stroke of bad luck they've become more known for their losing streaks. But with their performances this week, they all have a chance to put their years back on track.

Alejandro Falla is one of those players who can put up a good fight here and there, threaten the big stars from time to time, but eventually doesn't make much of a mark. In 2010, remember, he had a two-set lead on Roger Federer in his Wimbledon first round, but eventually fell in a bagel in the fifth. This year he beat John Isner at the All England Club, but was winless in Tour main draws after that. He came to Kuala Lumpur unseeded, having dropped eleven ranking spots in the past week, but after his opening round win over Rajeev Ram, he might have brought some confidence back to his game. He'll next meet Alexandr Dolgopolov, seeded fourth but admittedly spotty all year, so the Colombian has a chance to pull off an upset, and possibly put him on a more consistent upswing.

Albert Ramos has arguably made a bigger statement at various moments this year. He has yet to win a title, but made the Casablanca final back in April. With wins this year over Feliciano Lopez, Richard Gasquet and Fernando Verdasco, you know he can hold his own, but he's barely won a handful of matches since Rome. He had an easy first round in Malaysia, needing just an hour to dispatch qualifier Julian Knowle, and will certainly have a tougher match against third seeded Kei Nishikori next. But if Ramos can raise his game and harness the strength we saw earlier in the season, he might just get the upset.

A little more is at stake for former world #3 Nikolay Davydenko. Possibly nearing the end of his career, the veteran Russian has struggled to come back from injury that ended a streak of huge wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal nearly three years ago. But he's not giving up quite yet -- he's made three semis this year, most recently last week in Metz and opened his Kuala Lumpur campaign with a straight-set win over lucky loser Sanam Singh. He escaped a meeting with a seed in his next round -- Denis Istomin took care of Pablo Andujar for him -- but if he's going to make a serious push to get back into the sport's elite, he'll have to take advantage of the the road that's opened up for him here.

Over in Bangkok some higher profile names are trying to get back in the conversation. Fernando Verdasco has made big strides already this year -- having fallen to #27 in the world on the heels of a weak 2011, he made his way to the final in Acapulco, put together a solid clay court season, and even stunned 2010 Madrid champ Rafael Nadal on the weird blue clay in Spain. He hasn't beaten anyone in the top twenty since then, though, and has slid a few spots back down the rankings. He was tested by Tatsuma Ito in his first round this week, dropping the opening set before rebounding for the win in three. A couple more wins in Asia could turn the dial squarely back in his favor.

Even more in need of momentum, though, is his next opponent. Donald Young was on a clear upswing this time last year, making the fourth round at the U.S. Open and following it up with a run to the final here. The 2012 season doesn't look much like that -- having started the year at #40 in the world, on the verge of becoming the next great American in the sport, Young then famously put together a string of seventeen straight losses from February through August. Though he did finally end the streak in Winston-Salem, he's still 3-22 on the year and now holds a ranking of #124 -- with 150 of his 460 total ranking points on the line in Thailand. He did manage a win over Yen-Hsun Lu in his first round Tuesday, but he's going to need to step up his game further -- another early loss won't make it easy for him to regroup.

Gael Monfils has proven to be a bit more resilient. The Frenchman had climbed to a career high #7 ranking a little over a year ago, but when a knee injury forced him to miss much of the spring and summer on Tour, he dropped out of the top forty. But he made a successful, dreadlock-free return in Metz last week, defeating Phillipp Kohlschreiber in the quarters and taking Andreas Seppi to the limit in the semis. He needed all three sets today too to take out Kevin Anderson, and with the win earned a spot against sixth-seeded Victor Troicki in the second round. It would be an on-paper upset, but Monfils seems to be playing above his ranking and could just "surprise" us with another deep run here.

There's a lot on the line for all these guys -- a good showing during the Asian swing could give them a lot of momentum going into next year, but a bad run could be devastating, for some more than others. Hopefully these athletes can make a statement this week, but if not, they'll need to regroup quickly if they want to prove they've got more fire left in them.

Men vs. Boys

There is of course a difference in sports -- and tennis in particular -- between the athletes who prove to be flashes in the pan and those that can deliver year-in and year-out. Some players can have a great run one week and, overwhelmed by the effort, fall early and often in the tournaments that come. But others, the real powerhouses, come back week after week and dominate the field. And the thin line that separates them marks a real distinction between winners and champions.

Jurgen Melzer isn't exactly a slouch, but his victory in Memphis last week came after a string of disappointing results. He probably had the right to be exhausted when he came to Delray Beach this week, after battling through three seeded players to take the title, but his loss to Tim Smyczek in his opener was nevertheless a surprise. His exit, though, may have cleared the way for others in the draw -- John Isner lost to Melzer in the Memphis quarters, but now will face a dangerous, but slightly less intimidating Bernard Tomic later today. And while Andy Roddick, trying to make his own comeback in Florida, may be able to gain some traction knowing the field is slightly cleared out for him.

Sofia Arvidsson, the other titleist in Memphis last weekend, was no more successful than Melzer when she came to Acapulco. Still well off her career-high ranking at #55 in the world, she was in seeding territory for the Abierto Mexicano. But though she got up a set against two-time winner Flavia Pennetta in their second round and could have closed out the match in a tiebreak, she ultimately succumbed 6-1 in the deciding set. Her exit could give the Italian a clear road to at least the final, as she looks to win her first title in nearly two years. But top seeded Roberta Vinci, who's quarterfinal run so far marks only the second time in 2012 that she's won more than two matches at one event, may have even more to prove. She's been spotty of late, but a good run here might put her back on the track that won her three trophies last year.

The men's draw in Acapulco also features one of last week's victors. David Ferrer, twice a champion here before, came to Mexico fresh off a title in Buenos Aires, and looks to extend his success during this season's Golden Swing. He's only lost a handful of games in his first two matches, and with many of his contemporaries getting upset he'll face no seeds through at least the semis. If everything goes as planned, he'd likely face Nicolas Almagro for the title, a rematch of last Sunday's championship match, but with a 9-0 record against his compatriot, something tells me Ferrer's streak is good to go.

Like Ferrer, Aggie Radwanska began this week on her own winning streak. With her title in Dubai, she came to Kuala Lumpur with an impressive 15-3 record on the year -- all three of those losses coming at the hands of current world #1 Victoria Azarenka. Playing some of the best tennis of her career, the Pole didn't drop a set in her Thursday double-header, beating both Akgul Amanmuradova and Karolina Pliskova in straight sets. There are, of course, still obstacles in her way -- Jelena Jankovic, one of the few remaining seeds left in Malaysia, took her to three sets in last week's semi -- but as Radwanska's star continues to rise, she should be able to handle the challenges she's dealt.

All that's not to say, of course, that sometimes spotty players won't be able to turn around their streaks -- Azarenka, after all, was only of the most inconsistent champions on Tour just last year -- or that the current stars won't see their successes come to a sharp end. But early performances this week certainly draw a line between players with staying power and those who might need some time to recover.

And that difference has the opportunity to make a big impact on the top ranks of the sport this year.

Avoiding the Meltdown

The sports pages in the U.S. today are all a-twitter over the stunning results of the last few hours -- minutes, even -- of the 2011 baseball season. A couple amazing rallies and a few unprecedented burnouts turned the year on its head, and what had been such a promising start for some ended with more than a few heads hanging in defeat.

Tennis players are more than capable of staging their own flame-outs. Sam Querrey raced into the elite, peaking at #17 in the world this past January, but went through a six-month period in which he won only one match -- dogged by injury most of this year, he's now ranked out of the top hundred. And Aravane Rezai, who climbed into the top fifteen less than a year ago, hadn't won more than two matches at a tournament all year until making the Dallas finals in August -- she's now just out of double-digit territory. But a couple players are trying to avoid similar fates this week in Asia -- after all, the last thing they want is to collapse fizzle out like the sad boys in Boston and Atlanta.

Andy Murray is probably the least likely to suffer a monstrous breakdown -- at #4 in the world, I have to begrudgingly admit he's probably the most talented player without a Major title. But he has periods of weakness -- he didn't win a match for more than two months after the Australian Open -- and he routinely allows opponents to walk all over him on the biggest stages. As the stronger hardcourt player, he probably should have won his U.S. Open semifinal against Rafael Nadal, but instead he was barely able to put a chink in the armor.

The Scot begins his Asia tour as the top seed in Bangkok, and really should seize the opportunity to make a statement -- especially with both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer pulling out of the China Open. Earlier today he thumped veteran Michael Berrer in straight sets, setting up a meeting with up-and-comer Grigor Dimitrov. The young Bulgarian has certainly shown he's got talent, and if he's able to get under Murray's skin it could get tough for the favorite. Still, as long as Andy keeps his cool -- something he is want to lose now and again -- it could bode well for his tournament.

A problem may arise, though, if he has another run-in with U.S. Open standout Donald Young. The surprise vanquisher of both Stanislas Wawrinka and Juan Ignacio Chela in New York has already notched wins over Murray and Jurgen Melzer this year and climbed to within a stone's throw of the top fifty. It may have taken a little longer than most pundits expected, but he certainly looks ready now to carry the mantle of next-gen American tennis stars.

Of course, he shouldn't rest on his laurels. Another one prone to letting emotions get the better of his game -- and his off-court behavior -- he still has a lot of work to do in Bangkok. Though he was impressive in his dismissal of fourth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Thursday, he still potentially faces a challenge from world #9 Gael Monfils if he's going to make his first Tour final. It's not out of his reach, but something he'll need to keep his focus in order to achieve.

Unlike these guys, Marcos Baghdatis isn't one susceptible to throwing tantrums -- the friendly Cypriot is one of the calmest guys on Tour -- but his game is certainly one with ups and downs. Once ranked in the top ten, he failed to defend most of his points from last summer and has since fallen out of the top fifty. This year he's beaten Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Murray, but also lost eleven opening rounds.

He took a wildcard entry into Kuala Lumpur, though, and opened with a solid victory over quick-rising Alex Bogomolov, Jr. He followed it up with a win over Somdev Devvarman, a man with whom he's split his last two meetings. He'll face doubles start Jurgen Melzer next, but the Austrian has been a little spotty himself recently and hasn't made a third round since July. If Baghdatis is at his best, I wouldn't be surprised to see an upset here too.

Serbian star Janko Tipsarevic is similarly likely to see his game break down. Last year after stunning Andy Roddick in the second round of the U.S. Open he promptly dropped in four sets to Gael Monfils. And back in February he was in total control versus Del Potro in the Delray Beach final before he broke down and ceded victory to the Argentine. But though he squandered his chance in another final in Eastbourne, he finally seemed to gain ground late in the summer -- he made the semifinals in Montreal and broke into the top fifteen after reaching the quarters in New York.

That record was enough to get him a third seed in Kuala Lumpur, where today he made the final eight with a win over Flavio Cipolla. The road only gets harder from her, as he next faces one-time world #3 Nikolay Davydenko, who's in the process of getting himself back together after his own injury sabbatical. The Russian has won their previous two meetings, but the last one was more than three years ago. If Tipsarevic is able to play as consistently has he had the last few months, he should make good on his favored position.

It's important for all these guys to keep momentum on their side. We've still got a few weeks to go before the end of their season, but this is certainly not the time to start slacking off. After all, none of us want to see another set of slumps that rival what's already happened in September -- especially the players themselves.

On the Verge

It's been a while since either of the two ladies contesting the title in Kuala Lumpur Sunday had such a legitimate chance at winning a trophy. And though both have already caused their share of upsets over the course of the past week, I have a feeling we might be in for one more.

Lucie Safarova has been around for some time and has made a couple of valiant efforts to break into the elite. During her breakout year in 2007, after having won some small titles in Estoril and Forest Hills, she beat Amelie Mauresmo at the Australian and French Opens and Justine Henin at the Paris Indoors.She reached a career high of #22 in the world that year, but has been up and down since. Last year, even when she finally seemed to be stabilizing, she dropped the first round of an ITF tournament in Poitiers at the end of the season.

You might not think that such a spotty player would be as hard-hitting as Safarova is, but if you watched her courageous performance against Vera Zvonareva in the Melbourne third round, you know how talented she is. But it wasn't until this week in Malaysia when she really hit her stride. She survived a struggle against former #1 Dinara Safina in the first round and rolled over second-seeded Marion Bartoli in the next round. By the time she reached the semis, you almost had to consider her the favorite.

That's especially true when you consider all the seeds had been eliminated in the top half of the draw, but that doesn't make the other remaining player any less intimidating. When twenty-seven year old Jelena Dokic first burst on the scene over a decade ago, she was touted as a real star to watch. As a qualifier at Wimbledon, she destroyed top seed Martina Hingis in the first round, and rode that momentum all the way to the quarters -- a year later she made the semis. We all know the story after that -- injuries and family troubles forced her out of the elite and out of the sport. We didn't see her again until several years later when, again the underdog, she made the quarters in Melbourne in 2009.

Dokic has hung around since then, winning a few titles on the ITF circuit and winning a couple matches here and there on Tour. But this week at the BMW Open she came out swinging hard, rebounding after losing the first set to Francesca Schiavone to cause the upset of the top seed. A few days later she took out up-and-comer Bojana Jovanovski and, in her first semifinal in seven years, handily beat Michaella Krajicek to make the finals.

The two ladies have split their last two meetings, with Dokic outlasting Lucie in a long three sets in Paris. But something tells me not to underestimate this girl -- she seems to do best when she's not expected to win, and the way she's playing recently she may very well have her second breakthrough a full dozen years after her first one.

And something tells me a win now would be so much sweeter than the ones that came before.

First Time's a Charm

For some this was a week of defending titles -- both Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams repeated as champions in Dubai and Acapulco, respectively -- but for others it was a week of firsts.

In Kuala Lumpur the story was all Russia's Alisa Kleybanova. The twenty-year-old had climbed into the top thirty last year with wins over player like Jelena Jankovic and Venus and even took a set from Justine Henin at the Australian Open.

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.

This year, though, he's been on his own roll, beating two higher-ranked players in Melbourne and making the semis last week in Memphis. And today in Florida Ernests withstood fourteen aces from the more-experienced veteran and still managed to break him four times. And after two sets the twenty-one-year-old was also the victor in his first career final.

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!