How It's Done

I'm not sure many people didn't expect today's result at the Family Circle Cup. The 2008 champion here, Serena Williams, coasted through the draw without dropping a set, winning her first trophy of the year and the milestone fortieth of her career. But the manner in which she did it proved she's still the one everyone else must answer to.

Williams' performance in Miami helped her back into the top ten, but she was still the fifth seed when she came to Charleston. But her performance, even in the early rounds, showed she was ready to outplay her position. She fired off eleven aces against Elena Vesnina in her opener and, despite suffering her only broken service game of the week in that match, eventually advanced with little drama. As she progressed through the event, as is her style, she seemed to clean up her game further -- in her semifinal against Sam Stosur, the woman who stunned her in last year's U.S. Open final, she made just fifteen errors to nearly twenty-nine winners and dropped just two points on her first serve. After just under an hour, she'd made her way back to the final, the clear favorite for the title.

In the other half of the draw, Lucie Safarova had been similarly impressive, though arguably against less formidable players. The ninth-seeded Czech was pushed to a third set by on-the-rise Aleksandra Wozniak, but passed the test without dropping serve. Against Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals, a woman to whom she'd lost a tight two-setter last year in Melbourne, she stayed strong and polished off the former world #2 in just under ninety minutes. Safarova raised her game in the semis, rolling past Polona Hercog -- who'd incidentally beaten Nadia Petrova in the quarters after outlasting a likely exhausted Marion Bartoli a round earlier -- with a double bagel.

But her luck ran out in Sunday's final. Serena ran off with the first nine games of the match, and though Safarova was able to hold at love in the tenth game, Williams quickly put the championship back on her track and polished off her opponent in just fifty-eight minutes.

Her win should bring her back to #9 in the world as of Monday's rankings. But more importantly, it reminds all potential challengers she's still out there to win. Sure it's been a few months since her last title and a couple other stars have taken the opportunity to shine in her absence. But Serena's return to the winner's circle this weekend shows she can still dominate, and do so without any drama. And if she's truly healthy again, it might just change how the rest of the year plays out.

An End to the Dry Spell

We're just about ready to make the full shift to the summer hardcourt season, and as the dust from the soon-to-be abandoned clay settles, a couple players brushed the cobwebs off themselves as they made the return to the winner's circle this weekend.

Two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling has been a little quiet on Tour since the early part of the year, when he captured three titles in four events. And though he was the top seed in Bastad, he had a tough road with players like Potito Starace and Tomas Berdych in his path. Still he was able to advance to the final without dropping a set and made surprisingly quick work of David Ferrer in Sunday's championship. Only dropping three points on his first serve and limiting his opponent to less than thirty percent on the return, he was able to lift the trophy in his homeland for the second time and claim his first title since February -- not exactly a drought, but a bit of a relief given how absent he was from the winner's podium during his best part of the year.

Anabel Medina Garrigues had been mired in a slightly longer dry spell, losing a slew of first round matches over the last eighteen months, but she finally won her first title in almost two years this past April in Estoril. She's climbed her way back into the top forty since then and earned the fifth seed in Palermo, where she avenged a semifinal loss to Irina-Camelia Begu in the third round. With many of the higher-ranked players eliminated for her, she marched to the final without much drama and summarily ended Bastad champion Polona Hercog's nine-match win streak in about eighty minutes. The victory -- her fifth in Palermo -- made Anabel the winning-est clay court player still active on Tour, surpassing Venus Williams with her tenth title on the dirt. Not a bad way to remind us all she's still a force to be reckoned with.

The same can be said for the action in Stuttgart last week, where uber-veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero was trying to make his latest career comeback. Since knee and wrist surgery late last year, he's only played a handful of matches in 2011, making a nice run in Barcelona, but skipping the Majors, and has seen his ranking fall back out of the top eighty. JCF is not a man to be ignored, however, and though he was unseeded in Germany, he handled his biggest challenge in world #17 Mikhail Youzhny and never looked back. Against quickly rising Pablo Andujar in the final, Ferrero took advantage of weak serving and seven double faults, blanking his countryman in the second set. It was his first crown since last July and, at thirty-one years of age, the latest announcement that the Spaniard is still relevant.

A little further east in Bad Gastein, the draw had been opened early, but it was really some seasoned talent that made its way through the week. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who reached a career high rank of #19 in the world after a title in Rome last year, had struggled to rebound from a knee injury and didn't progress past a second round this year until Wimbledon. In Austria she battled through a close first round against qualifier Paula Ormaechea, but saw largely smooth sailing after that. In Sunday's final against Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, she fired off nine aces and, though she missed a bunch of first serves herself, she broke her opponent six times in nine return games, securing her first championship in over a year.

As these ladies and gentlemen next move to U.S. Open prep, it's encouraging to see them each show they can still make an impact. Whether that translates into more titles this year is yet to be seen. But a return to the spotlight for each at least ensures that no one will take them lightly.

The Return of Anna?

It's easy to forget that back in the day, Anna Chakvetadze was the number-five player in the world. In 2007 she'd earned herself four titles -- including two big ones in Cincinnati and Stanford -- beating the likes of Daniela Hantuchova, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams in the process. But if you happened to blink during that run, you might have missed her.

After making the finals in New Haven in 2008, Anna hasn't really been able to make a dent at another tournament. Last year she never won more than three matches at any event, and this year she's missed out on even qualifying for a number of others. She suffered a first round loss in Miami in March and subsequently fell out of the top hundred, her lowest ranking in nearly six years. At only twenty-three years of age, it looked like she was already well past the prime of her career.

But then came this week's action in Portoroz, Slovenia, a small tournament which nonetheless attracted top talent like Jankovic and feisty teenager Anatastia Pavlyuchenkova. Chakvetadze, now ranked #103 in the world, was not seeded and so was faced with the prospect of one opponent after another ranked higher than her. In the first round she made surprisingly quick work of Ekaterina Makarova, a fellow Russian who won her first career title in Eastbourne this year. She was similarly impressive against fourth-seeded Sara Errani, taking advantage of the Italian's pathetic service game -- she won barely one in three of her first attempts and one in five of her second -- for another straight-set win.

In the quarterfinals, Anna faced stiffer competition. She'd beaten Vera Dushevina in their only previous meeting, but that was four years ago, and she found herself down early when her compatriot took the first set 6-2. But Anna was able to steady herself and came back to take the next two, making her first semifinal since that run at the Pilot Pen. There she faced Polona Hercog, one of my favorite newcomers this year, who got off too a quick start, bagelling Anna to take the first set in twenty-four minutes. But again, signs of the Russian's champion self began to shine through, and she broke her opponent twice to even the score and got off to a quick lead in the decider.

On Sunday Anna never had to look back -- against Sweden's Johanna Larsson, the seven-time titleist never let herself get behind. Larsson didn't get a break opportunity in the first set and couldn't convert on any of her three chances in the second. After just over an hour Chakvetadze had won her first title in more than two years, beating five better-ranked players in a row to do it.

Does this mean we can expect Anna to continue her momentum in the weeks leading up to the U.S. Open? It's probably too early to tell, but now on her strongest surface, it sure looks like she's back in form. Considering the amount of success she's had before during the American road trip, she's certainly capable of making an impact, but it'll take more than one title win to do it. I've always had a soft spot for Chakvetadze, so I'd love to see her making another run for the top-ten.

And now that she knows she still has it, she just needs to keep it going!

The Pending Rise of Polona Hercog

I think I've found a new favorite player on the WTA Tour.

The nineteen-year-old (her birthday if four days before mine, so I like her even more) from Slovenia is really beginning to hit her stride. Though she's won a handful of ITF Circuit titles over the past few years, she's only now making a splash in the big leagues, reaching the finals in Acapulco where she took a set from champion Venus Williams, and on Thursday getting past seeded Aleksandra Wozniak to make the third round in Miami.

Just about a year ago Hercog won her first match in the main draw of a Tour event, defeating Stephanie Cohen-Aloro in the first round of Marbella after making it through three qualifying rounds. Later that month she made the quarters in Fes by taking out seventh seeded Roberta Vinci. Then her first round win over Alisa Kleybanova at Roland Garros helped bring her into the top hundred.

A 13-7 record this year has propelled her to number fifty-one in the world, a position in which she keeps some good company -- Patty Schnyder is only a few steps ahead of her and Birmingham champ Magdalena Rybarikova is a spot below. Also close by is Polona's next opponent in Miami, Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky, another youngster who pulled off an upset of eighth seeded Na Li to make the third round. Polona lost their only prior meeting last year in Istanbul, but she's clearly on the upswing -- there's no reason to believe she shouldn't get the win.



There is plenty to support Hercog's becoming a force in the women's sport. At six foot, 154 pounds, she's tall and svelte -- her height and strength make her fully capable of firing off a couple of rocket aces in a match. She's also developing a solid net game, rebounding from her Acapulco title loss to take the doubles championship with Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. By the time we get to the summer Slam season, she could shoot right up the rankings.

Polona takes the court today against Bacsinszky. If she wins she'll earn a fourth round spot against either Yanina Wickmayer or Petra Martic -- yet another pair of largely uninitiated -- or at least young -- talent. Advancing this far in a Premier event like Miami would easily be the highlight of her short career, but I feel she'll soon be a staple at these Tier 1 tournaments.

And with another win or two here, hopefully everyone will know it.