Haas Stuns Federer, Cornet Finds Form

Thirty-four year-old Tommy Haas is on an incredible run.  First he qualified for the French Open and reached the third round, and now he wins a grass court title, knocking on the defending champion and the great Federer in the process.  He is now ranked inside the top 50 and 10-1 over the past four weeks.  We had a strange circumstance in Queen's where Nalbandian was defaulted in the final after kicking a linesman, given Cilic the title.  In an oddly placed clay court event, Alize Cornet won the title, perhaps showing some of the form that once had her rankings no. 11 in the world, and she beat a former US Open semifinalist who has also fallen on some tough times recently, in the final.  And finally, rain has wreaked havoc on the women's event in Birmingham, but speaking of players who once enjoyed better results, Melanie Oudin and Jelena Jankovic will contest the final tomorrow and winning two matches today.  This is a rematch of '09 Wimbledon when Oudin first appeared on the scene by stunning Jankovic.

***EDIT:  Oudin defeats Jankovic for her first career title and makes me at least wonder if she's back to 2009 form.

ATP 250: London (Queen's Club), United Kingdom

6) Marin Cilic (CRO) def. 10) David Nalbandian (ARG) 6-7(3) 4-3 default

-Cilic wins 7th career title, last '11 St. Petersburg

-All his previous titles were on hard courts, this is now the 5th year in a row he has won at least one title

-Other QF:  9) Kevin Anderson (RSA), Ivan Dodig (CRO), Xavier Malisse (BEL), Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)-SF, Sam Querrey (USA)-SF, Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)

-Other seeds:  1) Murray (R2 l. to Mahut), 2) Tsonga (R3 l. to Dodig), 3) Tipsarevic (R3 l. to Lu), 4) Simon (R2 l. to Bolelli), 5) Lopez (R3 l. to Anderson), 7) Roddick (R2 l. to Roger-Vasselin), 8) Benneteau (R3 l. to Querrey), 11) Baghdatis (R2 l. to Rosol), 12) Istomin (R2 l. to Querrey), 13) Bogomolov (R2 l. to Malisse), 14) Muller (R2 l. to Dimitrov), 15) Soeda (R2 l. to Dodig), 16) Karlovic (R2 l. to Lu)

-Murray's title defense crashed and burned in his first match.

-Cilic was the only returning quarterfinalist from last year.

-Seeds went 8-0 in R1, but only 7-9 in R2 and 3-4 in R3.

-Another low point for British tennis as they posted a 1-5 record, the only win was Baker over his compatriot Golding.
-2010 champion Querrey showed life for the first time in a while, reaching the semis.

ATP 250: Halle, Germany

Tommy Haas (GER) def. 2) Roger Federer (SUI) 7-6(5) 6-4

-Haas wins 13th career title, last '09 Halle (3-year drought after several injuries)

-It is second Halle title, he has won 10 hard title, 2 grass, 1 clay.

-Other QF:  1) Rafael Nadal (ESP), 3) Tomas Berdych (CZE), 5) Milos Raonic (CAN), 8) Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)-SF, Radek Stepanek (CZE), Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)-SF

-Other seeds:  4) Dolgopolov (R2 l. to Youzhny), 6) Granollers (R2 l. to Haas), 7) Seppi (R1 l. to Stepanek)

-Kohlschreiber's title defense fell short against Haas in the semis, but after he beat Rafa for the first time in his career.

-Berdych, Kohlschreiber, and Raonic were all in the quarters here in '11 plus Nadal reached the quarters in London during the same week.

-The scoreline of Stepanek over Seppi was 7-6(6) 4-6 7-6(7) and Raonic battled Federer 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(3).

-Other players of note, my eye-man Stebe picked up a main draw win over Berlocq before losing to Stepanek.  Chinese qualifier Ze Zhang won a main draw match.  He is now ranked inside the top 200.

-The only American in this draw was qualifier Smyczek, who lost to Florian Mayer in R1.

WTA International: Bad Gastein, Austria

7) Alize Cornet (FRA) def. 2) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 7-5 7-6(1)

-Cornet wins 2nd career title, last '08 Budapest (nearly 4-yr drought)

-Other QF:  3) Ksenia Pervak (KAZ)-SF, 8) Johanna Larsson (SWE), Mandy Minella (LUX)-SF, Yvonne Meuseberger (AUT), Estrella Cabeza Candela (ESP), Q) Chichi Scholl (USA)

-Other seeds:  1) Goerges (R1 l. to Hogenkamp), 4) Suarez Navarro (R2 l. to Minella), 5) Martic (R1 l. to Meuseberger), 6) Begu (R2 l. to Scholl)

-Martinez Sanchez was the defending champion although the tournament was played in July last year, after Wimbledon.

-Pervak and Meuseberger were also quarterfinalists last year.
-This is one of the worst fields for a WTA tournament, with the last direct entrant was ranked 173.

-Scholl is a 19-yr-old American and it is her first tour quarterfinal ranked 190.  Hogenkamp is a 20-yr-old Dutchwoman ranked 211.  Other first round winners included Aussie Sacha Jones, German Sara Gronert, and Bulgarian Dia Evtimova.
-Austrians combined to go 3-4 with Mayr-Achleitner getting the other win.
-American Craybas was also in this draw and she won a first round match.

WTA International: Birmingham, United Kingdom

Q) Melanie Oudin (USA) def. 5) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 6-4 6-2

-Oudin wins 1st career title, and it's been a long time coming
-Other QF:  4) Roberta Vinci (ITA), 8) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)-SF, 13) Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE), Misaki Doi (JPN), Irina Falconi (USA), Q) Jie Zheng (CHN)

-Other seeds:  1) Schiavone (R2 l. to Doi), 2) Lisicki (R2 l. to U.Radwanska), 3) Hantuchova (R2 l. to Czink), 6) Barthel (R2 l. to Hlavackova), 7) McHale (R2 l. to Vesnina), 9) Erakovic (R3 l. to Makarova), 10) Cirstea (R1 l. to Oudin), 11) Benesova (R1 l. to Moore), 12) Paszek (R1 l. to Keothavong), 14) Babos (R2 l. to Falconi), 15) Baltacha (R2 l. to Watson), 16) Daniilidou (R1 l. to Foretz Gacon)

-Lisicki's title defense crashed and burned in the first round.

-The last eight this year were completely different from the last eight in '11.

-Lisicki and Barthel, rising Germans, are staring at losing streaks.  One wonders if they are playing hurt.

-Tara Moore, who beat Benesova in R1, is a 19-yr-old Brit ranked 320.

-It was a good tournament for the Brits, who went 7-7.  Only one (Samantha Murray) lost in the first round but Baltacha, Keothavong, Robson, Watson, Moore, and Melanie South all won one match or more.