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.

Eye on the Underdog

This is the first week since the Australian Open where many of the sport's top players are back in action, with six players in the ATP top ten taking the court one place or another. And while many of the favorites have survived and powered through their early opponents this week, it might be a couple of longshots who are scoring the more notable wins.

On the clay of Buenos Aires, David Ferrer made a winning return against qualifier Maximo Gonzalez while Viña Del Mar champion Fabio Fognini repeated Sunday's win over Leonardo Mayer to make the quarters. But perhaps the dark horse in this draw will be his next opponent Pablo Andujar, who really hasn't put up many big results over the last several months. But this week, back on his most successful surface -- his two career titles have come on the dirt -- he delivered a one-sided loss to fifth seed Marcel Granollers in their second round and could be poised to go farther. He lost his only Tour-level meeting with Fognini, though, on these courts in fact, but that was five years ago, and if he can take advantage of the Italian, who went over three hours against Mayer on Wednesday, he might be able to change that record.

There have been some surprises in Memphis too, even as world #17 Kei Nishikori advanced to the quarters with little drama. Still struggling Sam Querrey, champion here in 2010, lost his opener after winning a decisive first set and fifth seeded Marinko Matosevic dropped to 2013 Newcomer of the Year Jiri Vesely in straight sets. But the standouts in Tennessee might be a couple of old dogs with new tricks. Alex Bogomolov, one of the big comeback stories of 2011, but fell back down the rankings over the next several months. Now barely in the top hundred, he's come out on top of two three-set matches, beating Querrey in the first round and then taking down American Ryan Harrison yesterday. And Michael Russell, approaching thirty-five years of age, rallied past seventh seed Michael Przysiezny before handling Tim Smyczek to make the quarters. In his long career -- sixteen years as a pro -- he's never even made a singles final, but it sure would be nice to see him continue his fight this week.

But even more spoilers have emerged in Rotterdam, in a draw where top tier players like defending champion Juan Martin Del Potro and two-time Grand Slam titleist Andy Murray loom large as threats. Marin Cilic continued his comeback with a win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday and Jerzy Janowicz managed an upset of Zagreb finalist Tommy Haas earlier today. But maybe more threatening are barely unseeded Ernests Gulbis and Phillipp Kohlschreiber, neither of whom have lost a set on their way to the quarters. At #24 and #27 in the world, they promised to be spoilers from the start -- Gulbis has the tougher task ahead, facing DelPo next, while Kohlscreiber, who just wrapped up a fairly routine 4&4 win over Richard Gasquet will face either wildcard Igor Sijsling or qualifier Michael Berrer next, but either man could continue his streak.

With just a few weeks left before the next round of big tournaments, there might be no better time for all these guys to make these statements. And after their performances so far this week, you can't count any of them out, even against the most intimidating of foes.

Back in Form

It seems to have been a good weekend for players that had something to prove. A shade or two off their best rankings, a couple champions made their return to the winners' circle on Sunday, and may have just reminded us all they're still forces to be reckoned with.

Juan Martin Del Potro has been working his way back to the sport's top echelon for some time and took titles last year in Delray Beach and Estoril. But it's been a while since he's been a threat to the top guys. Remember when he practically owned Rafael Nadal? On the way to his 2009 U.S. Open crown, the big Argentine went 3-0 against the one-time #1. He's 0-3 since then. DelPo did notch a couple victories over an ailing Robin Soderling early last year, but was largely ineffective against top-ten players that season.

Things seemed to have turned a corner in 2012, though. After beating world #7 Tomas Berdych on the way to the Rotterdam final, Del Potro seemed to have a renewed confidence. The fourth seed in Marseille, he was dealt a tough draw from the start, splitting sets with a re-invigorated Nikolay Davydenko in his opener before advancing on his opponent's retirement. He survived a close call against Richard Gasquet a match later, but scored an even bigger victory against top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semis. In a match with forty-one aces -- the majority, somewhat surprisingly, coming from the Frenchman -- and a super-close second set tiebreak, things could have gone either way. But after nearly three hours, DelPo was able to close out the match and make his second straight final.

There he met a similarly resurgent Michael Llodra. Nearly in the top twenty less than a year ago, the Frenchman won no ATP-level matches after the U.S. Open in 2011. He pulled off an upset over Alexandr Dolgopolov in his Marseille second round and pulled off a major win against Janko Tipsarevic in the semis to make his first final in almost two years. His comeback ended quickly on Sunday, though as the Argentine won a more-than-solid ninety percent of his first serves and never allowed Llodra a chance to break. In his shortest match of the event, DelPo earned his tenth career title and reasserted himself as a powerful force against even the big guns.



Austrian Jurgen Melzer is less temporally removed from his career-high ranking, having peaked at #8 in the world just about a year ago. But after failing to defend points at Roland Garros or his trophy in Vienna, he started out 2012 outside the top thirty. A first round loss in Australia and an upset at the hands of Michael Berrer in Zagreb pushed him even further out of the spotlight.

Melzer was unseeded by the time he came to Memphis and found himself under the gun from the start. Down a set in his first two rounds, he needed third-set tiebreaks in both to advance. He scored the biggest on-paper upset of the tournament when he ousted big-serving American John Isner in the quarters, but upped his game even further Sunday when he met Milos Raonic, fresh off a win at the SAP Open in San Jose. The six-foot-five Canadian was playing his second straight final here, after losing last year on one of the most spectacular shots ever seen, and despite a middling fourth seed may have been the favorite even when Isner was still in contention.

But Melzer was on point in the championship match this year. After staying close to start, the veteran thirty year old broke in the eleventh game of the contest and served out the first set. Raonic wouldn't back down, though, and climbed to a 4-1 lead in the second before the Austrian fought back to even. The two battled to a tiebreak, but Melzer got the better of his opponent there too and, despite twenty-two aces and an eighty-plus first serve percentage from the world #32, closed out the match in less than two hours. The win halved the winner's ranking as of Monday's stats, bringing him back to #19 and reminding us he's a threat on more than just a doubles court.



Both these guys scored some milestone wins over the past week, and while there's still a ways to go before they regain their topmost form, their back-to-back upsets and victories should surely get them noticed again. And now that they're back on the radar, there are not many who will be able to rest easy.

The Haves and the Have-Nots

This past week of tennis seems to highlight two things: players on a roll and players trying to get back on one.

At the Copa Claro in Buenos Aires, the field was fraught with local stars and past champions with Nicolas Almagro leading the pack, fresh off a title in Costa do Sauipe. The Spaniard is probably one of the most under-rated guys in the game, outshone by compatriots Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco. Still he's been in and around the top thirty for almost four years and has racked up at least one title a year for the past six -- incidentally, all on clay. On the way to the quarters in Argentina, he's put together a solid 11-2 record on the year, and if he continues to play like he has, I wouldn't be surprised to see him improve it even further.

The 2009 champ here, Tommy Robredo is also trying to keep his momentum going. After a disappointing season last year, he finally seems to be turning things around. He defeated Mardy Fish in Melbourne and took a set from Roger Federer in the fourth round before winning the championship in Santiago. Back in seeding territory for the Majors, he hasn't lost a set yet in Buenos Aires. But with a third round date with David Nalbandian, things are only getting harder from here.

Less successful in recent months has been Albert Montanes. After scoring wins over Juan Carlos Ferrero, Nikolay Davydenko and Roger Federer last year, he'd gone just 1-3 before the Copa. He struggled through his second round versus a tough Fabio Fognini, but if he keeps his cool against Juan Ignacio Chela today, he could recapture his momentum.

The Marseille draw is headlined by Robin Soderling, ranked at a career high #4 in the world and having just successfully defended his title in Rotterdam. Though he was forced into two tiebreaks against marathon-man Nicolas Mahut in his opener, he's been flawless since and earlier today dismissed Dmitry Tursunov, himself a stunning comeback story, 6-1 in the second set, to make his second final in a row.

There he'll face one-time top-ten player Marin Cilic, once my favorite to take this sport by storm. After failing to three-peat titles in Chennai and Zagreb earlier this year, he dropped precipitously in the rankings and lost the seeding in France. But with wins over #7 Tomas Berdych in the quarters and third-seed Mikhail Youzhny in the semis, the Croat has reached his first final in almost a year. He's lost his only previous meeting with Soderling at last year's French Open, but he sure looks like he's playing back at the top of his game.

Things are a little backwards in Memphis, where the hot player is not the top seed, but the wildcard. Milos Raonic began the year ranked #250, but a fourth round run in Melbourne and his first career title in San Jose have vaulted him to #59. The twenty-year-old backed up his win over Fernando Verdasco in the SAP finals with a three-set victory in the first round this week and somewhat easily clawed his way to the semis where today he faces fourth seed Mardy Fish.

In the other Memphis semi it's a former Major champion trying to come back. Juan Martin Del Potro missed most of 2010 recovering from wrist surgery and failed to make a dent in any tournament when he returned last September. Now ranked back in the top three hundred -- his semifinal showing in San Jose boosted him 186 spots -- he's starting to show his stuff again. He's not quite the big server he was in the past, firing off just seven aces in his quarter against Michael Russell, but he is winning again, and if he can get past Andy Roddick today, it could make for a very interesting final.

Of course it's still early in the year, and we certainly don't know yet whether any of these guys will be able to continue their performances thus far in 2011. But things so far are looking promising for both the consistent players and the comebacks. And if they keep it up, those at the very top of the sport might have something to look out for.

Memphis Belles

There's an interesting phenomenon that occurs at tournaments where the top seed is ranked outside the top fifty -- with even the most favored players so spotty in their day-to-day performances, virtually anyone can turn her run into a Cinderella story.

And that's exactly what's been happening this week at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, where neither of the two top seeds, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova or Sofia Arvidsson, made it out of the first round. That leaves one-time U.S. Open darling Melanie Oudin as the top-ranked player and while it certainly does give her a monster opportunity to shine, the bigger imact might be felt by those even more under-the-radar.

Qualifier Alexa Glatch has a handful of ITF titles to her name, but has only made a minor dent on Tour. She made the quarters in Quebec City last year, but maybe more impressively defeated both Iveta Benesova and a just-emerging Petra Kvitova in Fed Cup back in 2009. But this week she barreled through Beatrice Capra in her opener, and survived a close call against Michaella Krajicek. With no seeds left in her half of the draw, it might be smooth sailing for the twenty-one year old to finally break through.

Another player to watch is former Junior champ Coco Vandeweghe, one of the ladies I had my eye on back at her first U.S. Open in 2008. She's played well against in the big leagues before, beating Vera Zvonareva last year in San Diego, but now just a smidge off a double-digit ranking, this could be her best chance. Coco notched a solid win over Alexandra Stevenson on Wednesday, avenging a first round loss to the one-time Wimbledon semifinalist from just last week. With some streaky players in her path, she could make a good case for changing the meaning of "Team Coco".

Of course no one can rise to the top of the sport without consistently beating the best players out there. But with the path in Memphis relatively clear for these potential Cinderellas, it looks like they have a good chance to dance at the ball when all is done.

Between Friends and Teammates

Strangely, for two men who came of tennis age in the same era, cracking into the sport's elite around the same time, facing challenges from the same players, Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey have never played each other on a singles court.

That's not to say they're strangers, by any means. They'll be leading the U.S. Davis Cup team this year and have paired together for more than a few doubles matches -- in fact, they're playing on the same side of the net for the championship in Memphis as I type. But one-on-one, their record was clear until this afternoon.

From the start the Regions Morgan Keegan final promised to be a great match-up. Isner, the sixth seed and now the second best player in the country behind Andy Roddick, had gotten past another big server in Ivo Karlovic and overcame a challenge presented by Philipp Petzschner in the semifinals. Querrey, for his part, avenged his loss to Roddick last week in San Jose on his way to his seventh career final.



For the first two sets neither man was able to break the other's serve -- not surprising when Sam, at six-foot-six, is the short one of the two. They split the tiebreaks and fittingly forced a third set with more than the scoreboard showing how even things were. They'd both scored seventy-three points, fired off fifteen aces, won an incredible percentage on first serves. It wasn't until early in the third that Querrey converted his first break point and, just for emphasis, broke one more time for a 6-3 score in the decider.

It was certainly a great result for Sam -- after a strong start to last summer, he struggled when playing for the title, only winning once in four attempts. Isner, who won his first title in Auckland this year, was certainly on more of a roll, racking up a nice 8-1 record before this tournament. But it was a better result for a country that has been struggling to find its next generation of stars. Clearly both John and Sam proved that there is plenty of talent still to come out of the U.S.

Meanwhile in Buenos Aires two other Davis Cup teammates were battling for the Copa Telmex title. David Ferrer and former world #1 Juan Carlos Ferrer hadn't met since the 2008 Australian Open, but with JCF clearly on the comeback trail while Ferrer continues to falter, you had to give the second seed the advantage, despite David's higher ranking and better head-to-head record.

Ferrer did in fact take the first set, but Ferrero came back to take the second set and ultimately broke his compatriot in the final game of the third to take his second title of the year -- he'd won the Brazil Open just last week. It was a solid victory for a man who, a year ago, had fallen out of the top hundred. You certainly can't count him out as a threat going forward.



What's great about today's title matches is that, results aside, before long all these guys are going to find themselves on the same side -- some sooner than others -- fighting for the same cause. It's nice to see that kind of camaraderie in a sport, especially when you're talking about some of the most talented athletes in the field.

And it certainly makes for great games to watch!

Gimme a Break!

Only six weeks into the 2010 tennis season, it's no surprise that Ivo Karlovic sits atop the ace-count leaderboard. In the eleven matches he's played this year, he's already fired off 217 bombs, two more than Andy Roddick, who's played five more matches. In his first round match in Memphis today alone, the Croat shot thirty-two serves that his opponent couldn't return -- it's a figure I'd love to boast for myself. So what's the problem?

For some reason, the six-foot-ten Dr. Ivo hasn't really been able to capitalize on that otherwise imposing statistic. Even winning eighty-four percent of his first serves today (only seventeen points did not result from an ace), he wasn't able to break Germany's Benjamin Becker. He made it through, eventually, in a little less than a hundred minutes, but this was not the first time this has happened -- a few weeks back in his hometown of Zagreb, Karlovic got by Alexandre Sidorenko in two tight tiebreaks, unable to convert on any of his nine break chances.

That's a frustrating result, and one Ivo is going to have to reverse if he's ever going to be a real force in tennis -- and at thirty years old, he doesn't have a lot of time left. He's only won four titles, none since 2008, and his best ever result at a Major was a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon last year. His five-set record is even more dismal than James Blake's used to be -- according to my latest count, he's only won twice in thirteen tries when going the distance. Sure he's beaten his fair share of top-ten players over the years, but when even his monster serve isn't enough to guarantee an easy (okay, easier) win, and when he can't convert on his opponents' (relative) weakness, it might be time to regroup.

Next up in Memphis, Karlovic will face either Tommy Haas or Xavier Malisse, either of whom would be a formidable foe. And if Ivo is going to advance further -- at this tournament or at all this year -- he's going to have to figure out a way to do what he was unable to today.

He just needs to get a break!

Roll Out the Red Carpet

The stars are out in Hollywood tonight as big names battle to take home their shiny gold Oscars. But elsewhere other trophies are being contested as well.

Earlier this week Andy Roddick made a political statement, withdrawing from next week's ATP World Tour 500 event in Dubai to protest the tournament's refusal of a visa to Shahar Peer. And today he made another statement on the tennis court, taking home the prize for Best Action Sequence -- or something like that.

Andy has re-emerged this year, stronger and fitter than he's been in quite some time. He made it to the finals in Doha and the semis at the Australian Open, upsetting Novak Djokovic. In Memphis he defeated 2008 champion Steve Darcis, compatriots Robby Ginepri and Sam Querrey, and former #1 Lleyton Hewitt for his right to play in the finals.

On the bottom half of the draw a surging Radek Stepanek was trying to maintain the momentum that's already won him two titles this year. On his path he hadn't lost a single set, even taking out second-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro with just one tight tiebreak. The final would be an almost-immediate rematch of the San Jose semis played barely a week ago, where Stepanek notched his first and only win over the world #6 after four straight losses.

But this week Andy was out for redemption.

He saved three break points late in the second set and finally broke Stepanek in the twelfth game, taking his first championship of the year, 7-5, 7-5. He didn't dominate in any major statistic, really only holding an advantage in first serve percentage, but that was apparently enough. And with such strong performances in every tournament he's played in 2009, Roddick is certainly -- and single-handedly -- making a case for the resurgence of U.S. men's tennis.



Also in Memphis, Victoria Azarenka won her second title of the short year, trouncing fellow teenager Caroline Wozniacki in the women's final, 6-1, 6-3. Tommy Robredo and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also won trophy number two in Buenos Aires and Marseille respectively.

And if these results are any indication, it looks like 2009 could be the year for a few new faces to shine. Can't wait to watch!

In the Home of Elvis

The political maelstrom continues to swirl in Dubai, but elsewhere this week tennis matches are being contended without the same shroud of controversy.

In Memphis, the land of grace -- or at least Graceland -- some of the best names on the men's tour are in action this week. Andy Roddick, Juan Martin Del Potro and James Blake led the draw for the ATP World 500 tournament where a purse of $300k awaits the winner. Radek Stepanek has a relatively paltry fifth seed, but he seems to be on a roll, having already won two tournaments this year.

There were some surprises early in the week. Most upsetting for me was Lleyton Hewitt's defeat of Blake, only his third match win in a year when he's lost in the first round in his last two tournaments. And Kei Nishikori, who stunned the world last year with his meteoric rise, failed to convert again and lost in straight sets to Marcos Baghdatis. Mardy Fish, who'd made it to the finals in San Jose last week, got through his first match but faltered against 72nd-ranked Christophe Rochus.

At this early stage, if I had to put my money on a final showdown, I'd have to say we could see a rematch of the San Jose semis with Roddick and Radek taking center stage this weekend. Sure Stepanek still has to get past Del Potro, but the Argentine hasn't really been showing his best stuff this year. And Andy's biggest threat in his half of the draw is probably Sam Querrey, who he could face in the quarters -- though I'm sure Lleyton will want to make his own stab at his first final since 2007. Ultimately I hope Andy will be able to win his first title since Beijing last year and help bring American tennis back to the forefront, but I admit I am a bit worried that the momentum is with Stepanek.

It's not just the men playing their hearts out in Memphis this week. But with the very top players wrapped up in the political and climactic heat of Dubai, Caroline Wozniacki took the top seed in the women's draw, followed by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who's already won one title so far this year -- not to mention a set from Serena Williams in Melbourne.

Early round action was more predictable here -- only one seed, 62nd-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva, didn't make it to the quarterfinals. The biggest shock, I feel, was Lucie Safarova losing her third round match to Germany's Sabine Lisicki. Less than two years ago Lucie was ranked 22nd in the world and already this year she's notched victories over Sybille Bammer and Samantha Stosur. Her exit will, I feel, clear the way for Azarenka to make it to her sixth career WTA final.

On the top half, Wozniacki is in good form. She avenged her loss to Jelena Dokic in the third round of the Australian Open with a straight set win in Memphis. If she can make it through two more matches she'll set up only the second meeting with Victoria -- the Danish teenager won their only previous contest at last year's U.S. Open -- and be fighting for her fourth WTA title.

So there's a lot at stake in the home of Elvis this week. And you can be sure everyone's gonna be shaking their stuff as fast as they can to capture the prize.

Good luck to all!