Sunday, February 20, 2011

Soderling and Almagro Can't Lose, Roddick Stops Raonic

On the ATP tour, all three champions from a week ago were through to the final this week in Soderling, Almagro, and Raonic.  Two of them continued their winning ways.

In Marseille (ATP 250), Robin Soderling beat Marin Cilic 6-7(10), 6-3, 6-3 for his 3rd title of the year and 9th of his career.  The Swede has lost only once this season.

In Buenos Aires (ATP 250), Nicolas Almagro continued his winning ways by knocking off Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.  The Spanish #3 yet to lose on Latin American soil in 2011.

In Memphis (ATP 500), Andy Roddick bested prodigy Milos Raonic in an absolute thriller of a match, 7-6(7), 6-7(11), 7-5.  They combined to hit 52 aces (20 for Roddick, 32 for Raonic) and the Canadian saved several match points in the 2nd set tiebreak and more in the 3rd set but Roddick finally came through.  The American wins his 30th career title but 1st of 2011.  He has now won at least one title in every year since 2001.  Raonic will become the highest ranked Canadian ever in Monday's rankings.

On the WTA side, Caroline Wozniacki has reclaimed the no. 1 ranking from Kim Clijsters after just one week.  She wins her 4th consecutive Premier Mandatory/5 event (Rogers Cup, Tokyo, Beijing, and now Dubai) by impressively beating down Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3 for her 13th career title and first of 2011.  However, this is an impressive result for Kuznetsova to make the final and shows she is definitely back on an upward swing.

Also, in Bogota, Lourdes Dominguez Lino won her 2nd career title by defeating Mathilde Johansson 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, due to the Saturday final, Magdalena Rybarikova won the title in Memphis after Rebecca Marino withdrew after losing the first set.  It is her 2nd career title.  But wow things are looking up for Canadian tennis!

1 comment:

  1. I'm enjoying reading your blog for the first time.

    Very impressive that Roddick has won so many titles, over so many years, but I'm even more impressed with Raonic. What a year he's having!

    Hate to see Kuznetsova lose, but losing to Wozniacki isn't too bad.

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