Sunday, October 2, 2011

Radwanska A Surprise Winner, Tipsarevic Finally Takes 1st Title

A surprise winner emerged from the field in Tokyo, with 9th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeating Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 in final.  Six of the top 9 seeds made the quarters and the semis had all big names despite the absence of Wozniacki and Sharapova, but the Pole came through with the biggest win of her career for title #6 and her second this year.  She got her year off to a strong start with a QF in the Aussie Open after missing much of last week with an injury, but then disappeared for a bit before reappearing in Carlsbad and now she wins Tokyo.  She has excellent chance now to finish the year in the top 10 though making the year end championships is unlikely after strong showings by Bartoli (QF) and Zvonareva (F).

Janko Tipsarevic finally won his first career title, taking the championship in Kuala Lumpur, defeating Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 7-5 in the final.  This really has been a career year for the Serb, who with strong showings in Shanghai and Paris could break into the top 10.  He has also moved past Troicki to be the Serbian #2.  Baghdatis also deserves credit for this result after really struggling for a few months now.

And in Bangkok, Andy won his 3rd title of 2011 and his 19th career after blasting surprise finalist Donald Young 6-2 6-0.  His toughest test came from Simon in the semis.  Young breaks into the top 50 for the first time and knocked off Monfils and defending champion Garcia-Lopez at this tournament.

Tokyo and Beijing have nice fields for the men this week in ATP 500 action.  Nadal and Djokovic are the defending champions.  The women will be in Beijing too for a Mandatory event, their final "Tier 1" tussle of the season.

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