Never Give Up

It's so common in tennis that we spend time focusing on the young phenoms who break through the ranks in their teens or the powerhouses that dominate the sport year after year. With Coco Gauff stealing the spotlight with big upsets or the Big Three winning one Slam after another, it can be difficult to spot those players who come into their own a little big later in life.

And that's what makes some of this week results so remarkable -- it wasn't just the shiny favorites seeing the most success, but a couple workhorses who've been building up to their big wins finally getting a chance at glory.

The moment @AsKaratsev became an ATP Tour CHAMPION 🏆#DDFTennispic.twitter.com/poN9kpMO8H

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 20, 2021

I'll start in Dubai where, I think it's safe to say, few could have predicted the outcome we got. Wildcard Aslan Karatsev, the undisputed Cinderella of the Australian Open, showed no signs of losing that momentum, dispatching four seeds, including 2020's breakthrough teen Jannik Sinner and nearly-unstoppable countryman Andrey Rublev, on his way to the final. Meanwhile qualifier Lloyd Harris, who'd peaked at a career high #72 last year, came out the gate swining too, notching his first top ten win over #1 seed Dominic Thiem in the second round and then besting Denis Shapovalov in the semis.

But ultimately it was the 27-year-old Russian who walked away with the title. The feat particularly notable, as Karatesev, having spent most of his career on the Challenger and ITF circuits, never played an ATP final before this week. The win will rocket him to the top thirty in the world, not bad for someone who was at a high of #112 at the start of the year. And after all the work he's put in to get here, it sure would be nice to see him stick around.

Over in Monterrey, we have a chance to see something similar. Viktorija Golubic may not have had the splashy success at a Slam that Karatsev did, and she actually has some experience in the winners' circle, with a title in Gstaad back in 2016. But the 28-year-old Swiss has nevertheless been languishing in the triple digits for the last few years and spending a lot of time qualifying for events. She had to do that earlier this month in Lyon, but made her way to the final anyway, and she had to do it again in Mexico. And so far she's taken out sixth seeded Anna Blinkova and eighth seed Ann Li to make her second straight championship match.

In the final tonight, she'll face wünderkind Leylah Fernandez, who ended Guadalajara champion Sara Sorribes Tormo's run in the semis. The 18-year-old Canadian is the favorite here, but Golubic should be able to hold her own -- and, after losing to one teenager in France, she's going to want to flip the script a bit. Either way, having made two straight finals should do a lot to boost her confidence, and might just help her get back to and better than her previous high.

If these guys' performances show us anything, it's that it's never too late to achieve success. And with so much more opportunity to thrive this year, something tells me we haven't yet seen the best they have to offer.

Golden Swing Glory

Admittedly I've been a little remiss in covering the action going on in Latin America over the last few weeks, but there have certainly been a lot of performances there worthy of some shoutouts.

From Sara Sorribes Tormo winning her maiden title over a resurgent Genie Bouchard last week in Guadalajara, to Cristian Garin ending his 2021 losing streak with a title in his hometown of Santiago, to -- who can ignore -- the standout runs from the Cerundolo brothers, the younger of whom made history by winning a title as a qualifier at his very first tour-level event in Córdoba.

REMEMBER THE NAME: Juan Manuel Cerundolo

The #NextGenATP 🇦🇷 defeats Ramos-Vinolas 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 to win the @CordobaOpen in his ATP Tour main draw debut! 👏 pic.twitter.com/cp2QB0t7Ti

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 1, 2021

And this week's results in Mexico have been just as noteworthy.

I'll start in Monterrey, where a wide open field, not to mention early losses from top seeds Sloane Stephens and Nadia Podoroska, has allowed a couple of up-and-comers and under-the-radar stars to really shine. Unlike so many players who quickly lose their momentum after a big breakthrough, Sorribes has kept her winning ways going, opening with a defeat of Lesia Tsurenko and then getting a pass when Kaja Juvan pulled out of their second round. She'll next face sub-hundred-ranked Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who stunned Victoria Azarenka last year at Roland Garros and is looking for her first title since 2018. Either stands a good chance of making a nice run here.

But they're not the only ones. My perennial favorite Leylah Fernandez still hasn't had her big breakthrough, but with Sorribes the first seeded player she'd face at this event, she could rack up a good amount of confidence to make her move now. And of course there's Aussie standout Ann Li, the Cinderella finalist for the Grampians Trophy who reached the third round at the Open. The only other seed in her half of the draw is world #52 Saisai Zheng -- not someone that should be taken for granted, but certainly an opponent she's capable of beating.

The stakes might be a little higher in Acapulco, where three top ten and seven top twenty players are contesting the title. And while top seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev are still both alive and well, here too there could be some surprises. Cameron Norrie, who stunned Dan Evans in the first round of the Australian Open this year, got a solid straight-set win over a back-on-the-rise Fabio Fognini in the second round, while Dominik Koepfer, a surprise quarterfinalist in Rome last year, is making some headway on the hardcourts after taking out Milos Raonic last night. One of those two will earn a spot in the semis and could make good on the opportunity.

And of course there's young Lorenzo Musetti, still ranked in the triple digits but still high on everyone's radar. Another standout in Rome -- he beat Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori before losing to Koepfer -- he got a win over his first ever top-ten opponent, ousting Buenos Aires champ Diego Schwartzman in the first round. He backed up the victory with another three-setter against Frances Tiafoe and will meet Grigor Dimitrov for a spot in the final four. And while the one-time world #3 may be a formidable challenge, he's not quite playing his best ball and could give the teenaged Italian an opportunity to advance.

It's always encouraging to see players start to make moves during this part of the season. Of course the question is whether success south of the border will translate into big wins on the bigger courts. But we've seen some promising signs over the last few weeks, and any of these guys could surprise us down the road.

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.

A Door Creaks Open

It's been a good couple weeks for some of the stars of the WTA. Flavia Pennetta cemented her comeback with a win in Indian Wells, her biggest title to date, and Serena Williams closed out trophy #7 in Miami last weekend in dominating form. But the efforts got to both of them this week, and each lady bowed out of the first real clay court tournaments of the season earlier than expected. And that might have opened the door for other players looking to turn around a spate of bad luck in their own corners.

Uber-veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm took out Pennetta in their Monterrey Open first round, and followed the victory with a three-set win over Timea Babos. A couple other largely unknown names have also thrived south of the border -- qualifier Julia Boserup, ranked #302 in the world, took out Kirsten Flipkens on her way to the quarters and Jovana Jaksic, a winner of fourteen ITF titles and only one match win in a WTA main draw before this week, will face off today for an unlikely spot in the semis. But the bigger opportunity in Mexico lies with Caroline Wozniacki, seeded third and just off her lowest ranking in almost six years. She did reach the semis in Dubai and the quarters in Miami, so maybe she's been pulling her game together a bit over the last few months. She's handled challenges from American upstart Coco Vandeweghe and doubles champion Kristina Mladenovic already this week and should be the favorite today against Karolina Pliskova, though the Czech has put in some inspiring performances herself. If Caro can stay strong, she might just get back the confidence she needs to relaunch herself back in the elite

Up in Charleston, an exhausted and injured Serena lost her opening round to little-known Jana Cepelova who, to her credit, backed up the win by taking out another seed in Elena Vesnina. And as strong as the world #78 has been, the glaring hole in the draw has created opportunities for a slew of players who haven't tasted big victory in quite some time. Sara Errani, just hanging onto a spot in the top ten, has barely won more matches than she's lost this year, while former #1 Jelena Jankovic has only won one title since 2010. They're both still alive, but it's the lower seeds who could most surprise us. Quickly recovering Andrea Petkovic drubbed Sabine Lisicki in the third round and Daniela Hantuchova may not face a seed through the semis. But I'll keep an eye on Lucie Safarova, runner-up at the Family Circle Cup in 2012 -- she was the only player to take a set off eventual champion Na Li in Melbourne, even holding match point, and last night pulled off a stunning victory over Sam Stosur, bringing her record against the one-time Grand Slam champion to an impressive 9-2. She has a less impressive record against Petkovic, who she'll face in today's quarter, but could just have the momentum to push her a few matches more.

Of course the early exits of the very favorites at this week's tournaments should signal that nothing is certain -- and we've already seen several surprises in both draws, so there could very well be more in store. Whether these players take advantage of these opportunities remains to be seen, but the way they're playing there may never be a better chance to do so. And for some of them, a win could put them on a much brighter path for the rest of the year.

Three Times a Charm

It's about that time of year when we make the switch in earnest from hard courts to clay, but while the change of season can take some players by surprise, for others it can be a chance to either continue a good (okay, great) run or to wash out the bad taste of a thus-far disappointing year. And this past weekend a couple ladies, each winning their third trophies at their respective tournaments, might have done just that.

The draw in Charleston was full of not just top-notch talent, but also a few rising stars that were out to prove they too could hit with the big girls. And while a couple succeeded for a time -- college star Mallory Burdette upset 2009 champ Sabine Lisicki and eighteen-year-old Madison Keys worked her way to the quarterfinals -- it was ultimately a couple veterans left standing to contest the title. Last year's winner Serena Williams had progressed without much drama, even easily dispatching older sister Venus in the semis, to make her fourth final of the year. Meanwhile former world #1 Jelena Jankovic, rebuilding her game with a title in Bogota and an impressive run to the final four in Miami, endured a few more hiccups during her campaign -- though she didn't meet a seed in her first five matches, she nonetheless needed three sets to beat Melanie Oudin, Caroline Garcia and Stefanie Voegele.

Despite these challenges JJ came out swinging in Sunday's final -- she saved five early break chances before pouncing on Serena's serve early in the first. She broke again to grab the opener, firing off aces, catching Williams flat-footed, and guessing right on almost every ball -- it was quickly evident why the Serb had been able to compile a commendable 4-5 record against the top-ranked champion. But things took a turn early in the second set -- after a heated exchange at 40-15 in the first game, Serena eventually broke and went on to bagel JJ, forcing a decider. She took an early lead in that one too, and never looked back -- the "war" of words may have, to some degree, shifted momentum to the American's favor, but her comeback shouldn't have been unexpected, given Serena's recent indomitable level of play. Still, with her third title at the Family Circle Cup, on a surface that is far from her best, she's certainly put her name in real contention for the ultimate clay court crown -- if it wasn't there already.

The field may not have been as star-studded down in Monterrey, but that doesn't mean the stakes weren't as high. Here, too, was an opportunity for resurrections -- Monica Niculescu, down markedly from her career-high ranking achieved a little more than a year ago, made her way to the semis with wins over uber-veteran Kimiko Date Krumm and sixth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer -- and for breakthroughs -- young American Coco Vandeweghe scored a big win over world #11 Marion Bartoli before being ousted herself by nineteen-year-old Lauren Davis. But finally top seed Angelique Kerber, looking for her first title of the year, worked her way through the draw, needing three sets to get past both Alla Kudryavtseva and Maria Kirilenko in the semis. In the other half of the draw, two-time champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, having put together a middling 7-7 record on the year -- including five first round losses -- found a way to regroup. She didn't face a seed until the final, but won her first six sets of the event, facing a challenge only from Niculescu to make her second final of the year.

Kerber seemed to get the edge early in the pair's second meeting -- having lost in the Brisbane quarterfinals in two tiebreaks, the German broke in the first game of this final and held on to take the set. But Pavs regrouped in the second, winning nine games in a row to go ahead 5-0 in the decider. Kerber very nearly pulled off the comeback of the tournament, though, winning the next four games and drawing within a stone's throw of evening the match. But the Russian held tough again, winning the next game and, with it the match. Her record in Mexico now stands at 15-0, with three of her four trophies coming South of the Border. And while her success here hasn't yet translated into much for the rest of the clay court season, her performance this past week could set the stage for bigger things this time around.

Three-peats are big accomplishments in this sport, whether they come in sequential years or not, and both of these ladies made some big statements when they got their third trophies this week. If they can keep up their game, it seems they could find continued success on court throughout the spring, and those who thought they might be able to rest easy on clay might just have to sit up and take notice.

A Chance for the Vets

The Latin American stretch of the tennis season always catches me a little off guard -- a (mostly) clay court teaser before the players really make the switch to dirt post-Indian Wells and Miami. The events don't always attract the top players, but that doesn't mean there aren't a ton of challenges out there. And the players who show up really have the opportunity to shine -- and this time, it's not just the youngsters making an impact.

Not too surprisingly, the upsets began early in Monterrey, with Roberta Vinci, Alexandra Dulgheru and Gisela Dulko all failing to make it past the second round. And while Australian Open standout Sara Errani and recently resurgent Sorana Cirstea are still alive, for the time being, there are again some underdogs out there ready to bite.

Patricia Mayr-Achleitner has been around for what seems like ages, but hasn't ever made a big dent on Tour. An ITF titleist fourteen times during her career, the best she's ever done on the WTA was a runner-up showing last year in Bad Gastein. But after her defeat of Dulko and a smashing of Eva Birnerova earlier today, her draw is opening up. She'll next face either Cirstea or Timea Babos, having her own coming out party these days, but at an event where anything really can happen, she has a real shot going even further.

Ranked just outside the top hundred -- a few spots behind Mayr -- twenty-six year old Nina Bratchikova is responsible for the bigger upset in Monterrey, taking out #1 seed Vinci in their second round. Though she's been around for over a decade, she's never made a big crack into the double digits, but this was her second top twenty-five win of the year, having beaten Flavia Pennetta in her Melbourne opener, and could help her move to a new all-time high in her career, whatever happens next. And with a quarterfinal date with super-veteran Greta Arn, a woman who she's only played once -- in 2005 -- there's a good chances she might really break through in Mexico.

The big upsets didn't start until today in Buenos Aires. After seven of the eight seeds made it through early rounds, Gilles Simon, Juan Monaco and Fernando Verdasco all lost Thursday, each in straight sets. While Nicolas Almagro still has a shot at winning his second title of the Golden Swing, the door swung open for some others to sneak through too.

Qualifier Igor Andreev hasn't won a title since 2005, but his first main draw matches here have been reminiscent of the play that helped him nearly beat John Isner last year in Miami. After beating Verdasco today, dropping just three points on his first serve, he should be able to give even defending champion Almagro -- against whom he has a solid 4-3 record, two of those wins coming on clay -- a run for his money.

But fellow veteran David Nalbandian might have something to say about that. The one-time #3 in the world has struggled with injuries over the last few seasons, but comes to Argentina after a tough five-setter versus Isner in Australia and an upset of Gilles Simon in Brazil. Facing his countryman, up-and-comer Carlos Berlocq, in the quarters, he has a much less intimidating road through the draw now. And if he keeps it up, he might be able to give a couple of elite a fight for the rest of the year.

With so many new stars coming onto the scene, the ones with the most experience can often be overshadowed. But this week there's plenty of veteran power shining through among the youngsters. And as the fields get narrowed, the opportunity for even bigger success may never look better.

Youth in Revolution

The pressure to defend a title can sometimes be a lot for an up-and-coming player to handle, especially when it's the very first professional trophy she's ever won. But this week in Monterrey, teen sensation Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova proved that her championship run in Mexico last year was no fluke, and that maybe she's got the talent to ruffle some feathers among the top ranks of the sport.

Currently the youngest player in the top fifty, the nineteen-year-old Russian is coming off her best year ever, following up her maiden title with another in Istanbul and reaching a career high ranking of #14 in the world at the start of 2011. But she fell relatively early in Melbourne and got dealt a tough -- and losing -- draw in Dubai, where she faced fifteenth seed Alisa Kleybanova in the first round.

Back in the stadium where she experienced her first breakthrough, Pavlyuchenkova struggled at the start, needing three sets to get through qualifier Eleni Daniilidou in her opener and was pushed to tiebreaks against both Melanie Oudin and veteran Greta Arn. She was much cleaner against last week's Acapulco champ Gisela Dulko in the semis, but given the amount of time she spent on court this week I worried she might be a little tired by the time she reached the finals.

On the opposite side of the court today was a resurgent Jelena Jankovic, a woman whose recent troubles have been no secret, but just days away from defending the biggest trophy she's won recently, she was finally putting together impressive wins over much more consistent players. As the top seed in Monterrey she dumped serve just a handful of times and didn't drop a set on her way to Sunday's match. I admit I was starting to have my faith in the former #1 restored.

Jankovic got off to a solid start against her young opponent, handily outserving Pavlyuchenkova in the first set and only allowing three points on her own serve. But the Russian rebounded in the second as the more experienced Jelena began to lose control on her service games. By the time the set score was evened, you had to think momentum had shifted to the teen. Though they stayed close to start the third, Anastasia rattled off four games in a row, eventually winning the match in just over two hours, and keeping her record in finals a perfect 3-0.



It's not often you see someone so young and relatively under-the-radar prove she has the strength and courage to fight her way through some big opponents time and again. And though she's just a hair off her career high ranking, something tells me Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova may find a way to make this year even better than the last.

And heading into some of the biggest tournaments of the season, there's no better time to show us all just what she's got.

A Double Header

With the baseball preseason just getting underway it seems appropriate that the Monterrey Open held this week culminated in a two-for-one situation. When the second semifinal was postponed on Saturday, third seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was forced to start her day early, and after getting past Anastasija Sevastova in the morning, she found herself contesting her first Tour final just a few hours later.

The eighteen-year-old may be new to the sport's elite, but Pavlyuchenkova has amassed quite a resume over the last few months. She made her first semi last year at Indian Wells and capped off 2009 with back-to-back wins over Venus Williams in Tokyo and Beijing. In Monterrey this week, she hadn't dropped a set until this morning, spending barely three hours on court in her first three rounds.

For her efforts she met Daniela Hantuchova for the title. The more experienced Slovak has been mounting a comeback story of her own, of late -- having dropped out of the top forty last year, she hasn't won a championship since Indian Wells in 2007. But she's been on the rebound and made the finals in Mexico on the heels of two decisive come-from-behind victories over American Vania King and compatriot Dominika Cibulkova.

The match started off looking as though Pavlyuchenkova was spent -- in a quick first set she was broken twice and won less than thirty percent of her second serves. But the one-time top-ranked junior player was relentless -- after losing the first set 1-6, she came back to mirror that score in the second and tied it up with a 6-1 set of her own where she won every one of her first serves. The third set was another quick one, and the Russian only allowed Daniela two points in her service games. She held her opponent at love and in less than two hours, Anastasia had won her first title.



Apparently the three sets she played early on Sunday were just a warm-up -- after a small hiccup in the evening Pavlyuchenkova seldom looked back in her first championship match. And at eighteen she's already showing signs that she could be one to watch in the coming years. She certainly knows how to perform against the top players, and with just a little more time, something tells me she'll become a force at the Majors as well.

And I look forward to watching her succeed!

The New Mexico

This year ushered in a brand new tournament in Monterrey, Mexico, and while many of the top women athletes took the week off to prepare for Indian Wells, some bright stars were still showcasing their stuff.

Polish teenager Aggie Radwanska claimed the top seed, but she continued to struggle, losing in the first round of her third contest this year -- fifty-third ranked Na Li swept the third set 6-0, for the right to advance.

Other seeds saw better luck in Monterrey, though -- #2 Marion Bartoli continued her comeback, flying over qualifier Michaella Krajicek in straight sets, while last week's runner-up in Acapulco, Flavia Pennetta, only dropped one game to the U.S.'s Jill Craybas.

But there were some new standouts on display in Mexico as well. Argentine Gisela Dulko isn't exactly new to the tennis scene, and actually had been ranked as high as #26 in 2005 -- but she made her splash at this year's Australian Open, when Serena Williams gave herself a "D-" score in her match against Gisela. Since then Gisela posted wins in both of her Fed Cup matches against the U.S. and made it to the finals at the Colsanitas Cup in Bogota. In Monterrey Dulko was given the seventh seed, and won her first round match against veteran Natalie Dechy. We'll see if she's able to follow through and win her first title of the year.

On the other side of the draw, sixth-seeded Iveta Benesova is having her best year ever, climbing to a career-high #31 ranking. The Czech star did lose her one Fed Cup match even as her team advanced to the semifinals, but she did make it to the finals in Hobart -- where she eliminated Dulko in the quarters -- and the semis in Acapulco. In her first round in Mexico this week she faced Shahar Peer, who's recently been in the news more for her country's politics than for her tennis prowess. Iveta took out the former top-twenty player in straight sets and next faces Italy's Roberta Vinci for the third round.

These new tournaments could prove to be a great opportunity for young stars to make their names known in the tennis world -- and I hope to see a lot more success for these girls in the weeks and months to come!

¡Olé!