Andujar Defends His Title, Wozniacki Can't Defend Hers

In this transitional week on tour, four small tournaments took place on two surfaces over three continents, and we very nearly had two successful title defenses.  But rising German Kerber overcame hometown favorite Wozniacki in Copenhagen while Pablo Andujar completed perhaps an unlikely defense in Casablanca.  Another near happening was an American running his clay court win streak to 9, but he was stopped one set away by an Argentine.  Finally, Italian women's tennis has perhaps never been higher as their no. 4 claimed her second title of the year.

ATP 250: Casablanca, Morocco
3) Pablo Andujar (ESP) def. 7) Albert Ramos (ESP) 6-1 7-6(5)


-Andujar wins 2nd career title, last '11 Casablanca
-Other QF:  Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP), Jeremy Chardy (FRA), Igor Andreev (RUS)-SF, Flavio Cipolla (ITA)-SF, Benoit Paire (FRA), Q) Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol (ESP)
-Other seeds:  1) Mayer (R2 l. to Chardy), 2) Dolgopolov (R2 l. to Cipolla), 4) Istomin (R2 l. to Andreev), 5) Young (R1 l. to Paire), 6) Haase (R1 l. to Ouahab), 8) Fognini (R1 l. to Garcia-Lopez)
-Andujar successful in title defense.
-He was the only return quarterfinalist from last year.
-Andujar and Ramos the only two seeds to win a match.
-Gutierrez-Ferrol is a 23-year-old Spaniard who came in ranked no. 544 in the world.  His career high is no. 250 in 2010 and he will be ranked inside the top 400.
-Also worth mentioning is Algerian wildcard Ouahab who was ranked no. 752 in the world, though he was ranked inside the top 150 in 2009.  He ousted Haase in straight sets.
-Seven lower ranked Spaniards entered, four reached the quarters, and two the final.
-Jaziri's African homecoming was ruined by dizziness in the first round and he had to retire.

ATP 250: Houston, TX, USA

4) Juan Monaco (ARG) def. 2) John Isner (USA) 6-2 3-6 6-3

-Monaco wins 5th career title, 2nd of 2012, last '12 Viña del Mar

-He won 2 titles this year and 3 in 2007, all on clay

-He will reach a career high of no. 14 in tomorrow's rankings

-Other QF:  3) Feliciano Lopez (ESP)-SF, 5) Kevin Anderson (RSA), 6) Carlos Berlocq (ARG), Ryan Harrison (USA), Ryan Sweeting (USA), Q) Michael Russell (USA)-SF

-Other seeds:  1) Fish (R2 l. to Russell), 7) Bogomolov (R1 l. to Harrison), 8) Karlovic (R1 l. to Reynolds)

-Sweeting's title defense ended with a QF loss to Isner

-Sweeting and Isner were both in the quarterfinals here in 2011, along with Garcia-Lopez who reached that round in Casablanca this week

-I believe the semis here was Russell's best ever run at an ATP level tournament.  

-There were 9 Americans in the draw, and they faired quite well given the clay surface.  Only 3 lost their first match (Blake, Fish, Odesnik), four reached the quarters, two the semis, and Isner the final.

WTA International: Barcelona, Spain

7) Sara Errani (ITA) def. 3) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 6-2 6-2

-Errani wins 4th career title, 2nd of 2012, last '12 Acapulco
-She won 2 titles this year and 3 in 2008

-Other QF:  2) Julia Goerges (GER), Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)-SF, Simona Halep (ROU), Sorana Cirstea (ROU)-SF, Olga Govortsova (BLR), Q) Yuliya Beygelzimer (UKR)

-Other seeds:  1) Schiavone (R1 l. to Govortsova), 4) Vinci (R2 l. to Halep), 5) Pennetta (R2 l. to Beygelzimer), 6) Cetkovska (R2 l. to Suarez Navarro), 8) Hercog (R1 l. to Cirstea)

-Vinci failing in title defense but her doubles partner won
-This tournament was played a couple weeks later last year, but took the place of Marbella this year (Azarenka def. Begu)
-Errani the only player to make the quarters here this year and last

-Young Spaniard Muguruza Blanco, who made the 4th round at Miami, won a match here
-Ukrainian qualifier Beygelzimer, a 28-year-old veteran, is now just inside the top 200 and is 16-6 on the year across all levels with a challenger win.

WTA International: Copenhagen, Denmark

2) Angelique Kerber (GER) def. 1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 6-4 6-4 

-Kerber wins 2nd career title, last '12 Paris

-Other QF:  3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB)-SF, 5) Kaia Kanepi (EST), 6) Mona Barthel (GER), Petra Matric (CRO)-SF, Alize Cornet (FRA), Bojana Jovanovski (SRB)

-Other seeds:  4) Niculescu (R2 l. to Jovanovski), 7) Pervak (R1 ret. to Konta), 8) Ardvisson (R1 l. to Mayr-Achleitner)

-Wozniacki reached the final in her title defense, but the 3 seeds that lost were all on her side of the bracket.

-Wozniacki and Barthel were the two returning quarterfinalists from last year, though then the tournament was played in between the French Open and Wimbledon.  That was when Barthel first caught my eye.

-This was a decent result for Jankovic after a slew of bad results.

-Young players Babos and Putintseva in won one match.

I will preview the women's Fed Cup week(end) tomorrow or Tuesday.