Melzer Ends Title Drought, Radwanska Survives in Dubai

Six tournaments were on the schedule for last week which is more than almost every other week of the season, in part due to the schedule tweaking for Davis Cup moving earlier.  It kept running through my mind that I would begin this post by telling how Radwanska had just won her third consecutive Tier I title but then I reminded myself that no, Dubai is not in the upper tier anymore but it switched places with Doha.  At any rate, this is another nice win for the Polish #1 and now the world no. 5 (passing Stosur).

In other news, Ferrer invades Almagro's land (South America) and prevents the Spanish #3 from winning his 4th South American title in 2 years.  Melzer pulls a major upset in Memphis by knocking off Raonic.  Del Potro is back in the winner's circle, defeating surprise finalist Llodra.  For a second straight week in Latin America, a rising star wins, this time Timea Babos.  And finally, Sofia Arvidsson won the WTA edition of Memphis.

WTA Premier:  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

5) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) def. Julia Goerges (GER) 7-5 6-4

-Radwanska wins 8th career title, last '11 Beijing

-Other QF:  3) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)-SF, 4) Samantha Stosur (AUS), 8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB)-SF, 9) Sabine Lisicki (GER), Daniela Hantuchova (SVK), Ana Ivanovic (SRB)

-Other seeds:  1) Azarenka (w/d), 2) Kvitova (w/d), 6) Bartoli (R1 l. to Peng), 7) Schiavone (R1 l. to Ivanovic)

-Wozniacki was the defending champ, defeating Kuznetsova in the final

-Radwanska, Jankovic, and Wozniacki were all in the quarters here last year, though those points were defended last week

-Players off to rough starts this year include Schiavone (6-6), Pavlyuchenkova (2-5) and Cibulkova (3-7)
-Peer opened with a win over wildcard Fatma Al Nabhani (OMA) for a 2nd consecutive tournament


ATP 500:  Memphis, United States
Jurgen Melzer (AUT) def. 4) Milos Raonic (CAN) 7-5 7-6(4)


-Melzer wins 4th career title (3rd on hards), last '10 Vienna
-Raonic produced an identical February from last year:  San Jose W, Memphis F
-Other QF:  1) John Isner (USA), 3) Radek Stepanek (CZE)-SF, Olivier Rochus (BEL), Lukasz Kubot (POL), Sam Querrey (USA), Benjamin Becker (GER)-SF
-Other seeds:  2) Roddick (R1 l. to Malisse), 5) Bogomolov (R1 l. to Rochus), 6) Benneteau (R1 l. to Petzschner), 7) Anderson (R2 l. to Querrey), 8) Tomic (R1 l. to Dodig)
-Roddick's tweaked ankle (and poor form) prevented him doing much to defend his title here
-Querrey and Raonic repeated as quarterfinalists, though Del Potro reached that stage in Marseille this year (QF here in '11).
-Not a great tournament for Americans, though they were well represented with 12 players in the main draw.  Only 2 reached the QF, while Harrison and Sock battled it out as wildcards in R1, Isner beat Young in R2, and Sweeting took down Blake in R1 in all-American contests.
-R1 saw four 3rd-set tiebreaks, with Dodig beating Tomic 10-8 and Young beating Dimitrov 8-6.

ATP 250:  Buenos Aires, Argentina

1) David Ferrer (ESP) def. 2) Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 4-6 6-3 6-2

-Ferrer wins 13th career title (2nd of 2012), last '12 Auckland

-Other QF:  4) Kei Nishikori (JPN), 6) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)-SF, Carlos Berlocq (ARG), David Nalbandian (ARG)-SF, Q) Igor Andreev (RUS), Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)

-Other seeds:  3) Simon (R2 l. to Berlocq), 5) Monaco (R2 l. to Nalbandian), 7) Verdasco (R2 l. to Andreev), 8) Chela (R1 l. to Ramos)

-Almagro was within a set of defending his title.

-Almagro, Nalbandian, and Wawrinka were all repeat quarterfinalists.
-QF loss to Ferrer a nice result for Gonzalez in one of his last tournaments.
-Berlocq has had a nice Latin American swing (F/QF/QF), we'll see if this means anything for the future.

ATP 250:  Marseille, France

4) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) def. Michael Llodra (FRA) 6-4 6-4

-Del Potro wins 10th career title, last '11 Estoril

-Other QF:  1) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)-SF, 3) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)-SF, 5) Richard Gasquet (FRA), 7) Ivan Ljubicic (CRO), Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA), Q) Albano Olivetti (FRA)

-Other seeds:  2) Fish (R2 l. to Olivetti), 6) Dolgopolov (R2 l. to Llodra), 8) Seppi (R1 l. to Cipolla)

-Soderling was the defending champion, but is still out injured.  Llodra won the title in '10.

-Tsonga and Llodra repeated as quarterfinalists, though Melzer reached that stage in Memphis this year (QF here in '11).

-There were 10 Frenchmen in the draw, producing 5 QF, 2 SF, and 1 F.
-Olivetti in a 20-yr-old Frenchman who served up 23 aces against Fish, who we may be seeing more of in the future.

WTA International:  Memphis, United States

Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) def. 4) Marina Erakovic (NZL) 6-3 6-4

-Arvidsson wins 2nd career title, last '06 Memphis (6 year drought)

-Other QF:  Vera Dushevina (RUS)-SF, Alberta Brianti (ITA)-SF, Varvara Lepchenko (USA), Lesia Tsurenko (UKR), Michaella Krajicek (NED), Stephanie Foretz Gacon (FRA)

-Other seeds:  1) Petrova (R1 l. to Giorgi), 2) Pervak (R2 l. to Brianti), 3) Hradecka (R2 l. to Tsurenko), 5) Parmentier (R2 l. to Arvidsson), 6) Baltacha (R1 l. to Krajicek), 7) Larsson (R2 l. to Lepchenko), 8) Rybarikova (R1 l. to Hampton)

-Rybarikova was the defending champion, and no quarterfinalists from last year made it there again.

-Seeds have really suffered in the Western Hemisphere this year, with only 4 quarterfinal appearances out of 24 seeds.

-Eight Americans in the draw, but they posted just 3 wins (one for Hampton (Q) and two for Lepchenko).  Young hopes Keys and Davis received wildcards.
-Qualifier Camila Giorgi, who upset Petrova in R1, is a 20-yr-old Italian ranked #167

WTA International:  Monterrey, Mexico

Timea Babos (HUN) def. Alexandra Cadantu (ROU) 6-4 6-4

-Babos wins 1st career WTA title at the age of 18 and will break into the top 100 tomorrow.

-Other QF:  2) Sara Errani (ITA)-SF, 6) Greta Arn (HUN)-SF, 8) Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP), Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (AUT), Nina Bratchikova (RUS), Mandy Minella (LUX)

-Other seeds:  1) Vinci (R2 l. to Bratchikova), 3) Cirstea (R2 l. to Babos), 4) Dulgheru (R1 l. to Soler-Espinosa), 5) Dulko (R2 l. to Mayr-Achleitner), 7) Johansson (R1 l. to Minella)

-This tournament suffered from being moved back a week and conflicting with Dubai.  Both 2-time defending champ Pavlyuchenkova and '11 runner-up Jankovic played Dubai.

-It is also strange to see a hard court between two clay events in the same "mini-tour".

-Arn was the only player to reach the quarters here in both '11 and '12.