First time winners abound!! Golubev,Goerges triumph, Fish sinks Isner to clinch 2nd title in a row
26 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in Gstaad, Istanbul WTA, Los Angeles, Round Up, Stanford WTA, Umag
In recent weeks as the chaotic tennis calendar continues, first time winners continue to have their time in the limelight, new stars emerge in an ever global sport.
Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan created yet more history in Hamburg yesterday, clinching his first ever Tour title, and the first title ever won by a male player representing that country. He celebrated his 23rd birthday earlier in the week, by defeating the top seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the 3rd round, his first top 10 win!! There was no stopping Andrey, he marched on through the draw, toppling friend Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, local surprise of the week the unorthodox Florian Mayer, and finally 3rd seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer, in straight sets 6-3 7-5. 500 ranking points were accumulated by Andrey, he broke into the top 40, having begun Hamburg ranked 82.
In Atlanta, Mardy Fish continues to reap the rewards for a recent tough regime, losing weight in order to gain better fitness and ease the pressure on previous injuries. He won his 2nd title in a row by defeating fellow Americans Taylor Dent, Andy Roddick, and in the title match John Isner.
The heat in Georgia was brutal, on court temperatures in the semi-finals reached over 60c!! Thankfully the temperature didn’t stay at that level through the whole match, unbearably difficult for the players to be out there in such conditions. Alas the heat returned for the final, somehow the players coped, Mardy outlasted Isner 4-6 6-4 7-6(4). Mardy collects a further 250 ranking points and is back in the top 35.
On the womens tour Julia Goerges of Germany clinched her 1st Tour level title in Bad Gastein Austria. She had to work doubly hard on finals day she had to complete her semi-final against French opposition in Alize Cornet, triumphing 6-1 6-4, and repeating that score in the final over Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.
Julia had previously reached four semi-final stages on the main tour. In clinching her 1st tour title, she advanced 23 places in the WTA Tour rankings to 42, and earned a winners cheque for $37,000.
The WTA event in Potoroz, Slovenia saw a welcome return to form for Anna Chakvetadze of Russia. These days Anna has to compete unseeded, as her ranking had plummeted to outside the top 100, she was almost the last direct acceptance(the cut off was 122).
Anna toughed it out particularly in her quarter-final and semi-final matches dropping the 1st set both occasions, to beat seeded opposition in fellow Russian Vera Dushevina(6) and Slovenian Polona Hercog, recovering from a 0-6 opening set loss!!
The Final was a much easier affair, facing Swede Johanna Larsson who was appearing in her very first WTA Tour final. Chakvetadze overwhelmed her opponent 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour, winning her first title in almost 2 and a half years, her reward for winning is a comfortable place inside the worlds top 100(74).
This weeks tournaments on the WTA Tour take place in Stanford, California, part of the U.S. Open Series, top seed is Australian Samantha Stosur, Elena Dementieva returns to competitive action in this event, she is the 2nd seed. There is also a tour stop in Istanbul. French Open champion Francesca Schiavone is the leading seed there, Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova is the leading seed in the bottom half of the draw.
On the ATP Tour main draw action began in Gstaad yesterday(Sunday). There were wins in the opening round for Igor Andreev of Russia, a former finalist in the event,he is making his return to action this week. He advanced in 3 sets over Frenchman Florent Serra, 4th seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes had an even tighter 3 setter against countryman Pere Riba, 4-6 6-3 7-6(5). The event is headed by two top 20 players Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, and Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.
Umag in Croatia is the 2nd clay court event taking place this week, it features three of the worlds top 20, top seed Davydenko, 2nd seed Hamburg runner-up Jurgen Melzer and home hope Ivan Ljubicic.
The U.S. Open Series events continue in Los Angeles. The entrants are headed by Andy Murray of Great Britain, the top 4 seeds all receive byes into round 2.
