Azarenka Wins in Doha, Federer in Rotterdam

After the slaughter of seeds early in Doha, four of the five women made the semifinals.  But it was world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka who emerged victorious, defeating Samantha Stosur in the final 6-1 6-2 to win the first (what I'm now going to call) Tier I tournament (referring to the top 9 women's tournaments) of the year.  Azarenka did not drop a set all week and 4 games was the most she lost in a single set.  A truly dominant performance by the new world no. 1, who is 17-0 on the season.

Azarenka won her 3rd title of the season and the 11th of her career.  It is her 3rd career Tier I title with the previous two coming in Miami.  Here is a list of the Tier I winners from 2011:

-Dubai: Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
-Indian Wells: Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
-Miami: Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
-Madrid: Petra Kvitova (CZE)
-Rome: Maria Sharapova (RUS)
-Toronto: Serena Williams (USA)
-Cincinnati: Maria Sharapova (RUS)
-Tokyo: Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
-Beijing: Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)

On the men's side, Roger Federer continued his indoor dominance while at the smaller tournaments, two players successfully defended their titles of 2011.

ATP 500:  Rotterdam, Netherlands
1) Roger Federer (SUI) def. 3) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) 6-1 6-4


-Federer wins 71st career title, last '11 World Tour Finals
-The last match he lost on indoor hards was to Monfils at '10 Paris in 3 tiebreaks, winning streak at 25 matches by my count.
-Other QF:  2) Tomas Berdych (CZE)-SF, 5) Richard Gasquet (FRA), 7) Viktor Troicki (SRB), Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)-SF, Andreas Seppi (ITA), Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
-Other seeds:  4) Lopez (R1 l. to Mathieu), 6) Dolgopolov (R1 l. to Kubot), 8) Granollers (R1 l. to Kohlschreiber)
-Soderling still out injuried, was the 2-time defending champ
-Troicki and Berdych were repeat quarterfinalists from last year
-Davydenko only player to take a set off Federer (SF)

ATP 250:  São Paulo, Brazil

1) Nicolas Almagro (ESP) def. Filippo Volandri (ITA) 6-3 4-6 6-4

-Almgro wins 11th career title (all on clay), last '11 Nice

-Other QF:  3) Fernando Verdasco (ESP), 4) Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)-SF, 5) Carlos Berlocq (ARG), 8) Albert Ramos (ESP)

-Other seeds:  2) Simon (R2 l. to Nalbandian), 6) Ferrero (R1 l. L.Mayer), 7) Montanes (R1 l. to Volandri)

-Almagro successfully defends title, though event was played in Costa do Saiupe last year

-Almagro and Bellucci the two repeat quarterfinalists.
-Four of finalist Volandri's five matches were 5-setters.
-"Eye-man" Souza bowed out in R1 to Hanescu
-Verdasco's QF l. to Ramos a head-stratcher

ATP 250:  San Jose, United States

3) Milos Raonic (CAN) def. Denis Istomin (UZB) 7-6(3) 6-2

-Raonic wins 3rd career title, last '12 Chennai
-He is the first player to win 2 titles in 2012

-Other QF:  2) Andy Roddick (USA), 5) Julien Benneteau (FRA)-SF, 6) Kevin Anderson (RSA), Steve Darcis (BEL), Ryan Harrison (USA)-SF, Q) Dimitar Kutrovsky (BUL)

-Other seeds:  1) Monfils (w/d), 4) Stepanek (R2 l. to Darcis), 7) Young (R1 l. to Russell), 8) Rochus (R1 l. to Harrison)

-Raonic successfully defends title, he must enjoy the "Shark Tank"

-The two finalists are the only quarterfinalists from 2011 who again reached that stage

-As expected plenty of Americans here, 13 in total, 6 reached R2, but only 2 reached QF.
-Querrey lost R1 to Istomin, Sock lost R1 to qualifier Kudla (rematch of '10 US Open boys final) who in turn lost to Roddick, though in 3 sets)
-24-yr-old quarterfinalist Kutrovsky ranked 438 in the world coming will rise to a career high 313 on Monday.

WTA International:  Bogotá, Colombia

Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino (ESP) def. Alexandra Panova (RUS) 6-2 7-5

-"LAV" wins 1st career WTA title at the age of 19.

-She was playing just her 3rd main tour event and came in ranked #174

-Other QF:  Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU)-SF, Mariana Duque-Marino (COL), Paula Ormaechea (ARG), Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ), Timea Babos (HUN)-SF, Karin Knapp (ITA)

-Seeds:  1) Erakovic (R2 l. to Gallovits-Hall), 2) Dulgheru (R1 l. to Knapp), 3) Oprandi (R2 l. to Babos), 4) Dokic (R1 l. to Ormaechea), 5) Dulko (R2 l. to Panova), 6) Johansson (R1 l. to Savinykh), 7) Dominguez-Lino (R2 l. to Duque-Marino), 8) Mayr-Achleitner (R1 l. Arruabarrena-Vecino)

-Dominguez-Lino was the defending champion, knocked out in R2.  Duque-Marino won here in '10.

-All the returning quarterfinalists were knocked out before that stage this year.

-It was a horrible tournament for seeds, they went 4-8 and none reached the QF.

-A draw like this give opportunities for younger players (probably the weakest WTA event) and they took advantage here:  Arruabarrena-Vecino was ranked #5 among players born in 1992 in my 2011 year end rankings by year (behind McHale, Watson, and others).  Similarly, Babos was ranked #5 among players born in 1993.  She also won three girls doubles slams in '10 (with American Sloane Stephens).