Roddick on a Roll, Monaco Makes Top 10, Cibulkova Conquers Carlsbad

Over the next few weeks, the tournament schedule will be tweaked and fields will be much weaker than usual, but this affords the players that do play a greater opportunity for reaching the later rounds, garnishing ranking points, and playing their way into form for the Olympics and/or US Open.  Dominika Cibulkova has been a solid player for the last several years but has upped her level over the past few months as she has won 2 titles since last October as well as a French Open QF.  Now we'll see if she can sustain that level over another few months as she has endured some slumps over past years as well.  Polona Hercog defended her title in Bastad (her only previous title), and did so by overcoming a first set bagel.  Juan Monaco has won the once proud event in Hamburg to reach the top 10 for the first time is career as his ankle injury in Monte Carlo did not impede his upward momentum.  Haas reached the final and continues to be on fire in his own injury comeback.  Thomaz Bellucci, who after a nice year a couple years, has struggled since but back on top the podium, as he upset Tipsarevic to win in Gstaad.  Tipsarevic was going for titles in back-to-back weeks.

WTA Premier: Carlsbad, CA, United States

2) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) def. 1) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 6-1 7-5

-Cibulkova wins 2nd career title, last '11 Moscow
-Other QF:  3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB), 4) Nadia Petrova (RUS)-SF, 5) Christina McHale (USA), Varvara Lepchenko (USA), Urszula Radwanska (POL), Q) Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)-SF
-Other seeds:  6) Hantuchova (R1 l. to U.Radwanska), 7) Wickmayer (R1 ret. to Chan), 8) Scheepers (R2 l. to Lepchenko)
-A.Radwanska elected not to defend her title, likely preparing for the Olympics instead.

-There were no returning quarterfinalists from last year.

-Likely due to the Olympics, this tournaments was played 3 weeks earlier than last year.
-The stock continues to rise for Lepchenko and Radwanska the younger.
-There were 9 Americans in the draw and they went 7-9 with 3 first round matches against each other (Oudin def. Stephens, Lepchenko def. Gibbs, Glatch def. Davis). King lost to Bartoli in R2.

ATP 500: Hamburg, Germany

3) Juan Monaco (ARG) def. Tommy Haas (GER) 7-5 6-4

-Monaco wins 6th career title, 3rd of 2012, last '12 Houston

-All his titles have come on clay, and he won his other 3 in '07

-Other QF:  1) Nicolas Almagro (ESP)-SF, 4) Marin Cilic (CRO)-SF, 6) Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER), 7) Florian Mayer (GER), Albert Ramos (ESP), Jeremy Chardy (FRA)

-Other seeds:  2) Simon (R2 l. to Haas), 5) Verdasco (R1 l. to Reister), 8) Troicki (R1 l. to Rosol)

-Simon was the defending champion, but lost to Haas in R2.

-Almagro, Cilic, and Mayer were the repeat quarterfinalist from '11.

-This tournament, like many others in July this year, is being played one week early.

-Ramos has been a nice story this year, showing off Spain's depth, having now reached 6 tour quarterfinals.

-Germans had a nice tournament, going 9-8 with three reaching the quarters (second straight home tournament where 3 locals reached the QF).

ATP 250: Atlanta, GA, United States

4) Andy Roddick (USA) def. Gilles Muller (LUX) 1-6 7-6(2) 6-2

-Roddick wins 32nd career title, 2nd of 2012, last '12 Eastbourne

-The first title of his career was in Atlanta, but that tournament was on clay

-Other QF:  1) John Isner (USA)-SF, 3) Kei Nishikori (JPN), 8) Go Soeda (JPN)-SF, Matthew Ebden (AUS), Michael Russell (USA), Jack Sock (USA)

-Other seeds:  2) Fish (R2 ret. to Muller), 5) Anderson (R2 l. to Russell), 6) Harrison (R1 l. to Blake), 7) Bogomolov (R1 l. to Sock)

-Fish's title defense ended with an ankle injury in R2.

-Isner and Muller were returning quarterfinalists from last year.

-Young and Bogomolov continue to have abysmal 2012 campaigns.  Remember early in '11 those two each beat Murray at a hard court Masters.  **say it again**
-As expected, the draw was teeming with Americans, 12 of them.  They made of the entire top half of quarterfinalists and they went 14-11 overall.
-Sock reached his first ATP quarterfinal.  Wildcard Steve Johnson (2 time NCAA champ) beat Young.
-There are now 2 Japanese in the top 50 after the run by Soeda, who is about to become the second highest ranked Japanese ever.

ATP 250: Gstaad, Switzerland

Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) def. 1) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-7(6) 6-4 6-2

-Tipsarevic wins 3rd career title, last '10 Santiago
-It is his 2nd win in Gstaad, also '09
-Other QF:  5) Feliciano Lopez (ESP), Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)-SF, Lukasz Kubot (POL), Ernests Gulbis (LAT), Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)-SF, Q) Jan Hernych (CZE)

-Other seeds:  2) Granollers (R2 l. to Kubot), 3) Wawrinka (R2 l. to Mathieu), 4) Youzhny (R2 l. to Bellucci), 6) Benneteau (R1 l. to Dimitrov), 7) Giraldo (R2 l. to Hernych), 8) Tomic (R1 l. to Paire)

-Granollers was the defending champion but lost his first match.

-Lopez was the quarters in '11 as was Almagro who played Hamburg this week.
-This tournament was played two weeks earlier than usual.
-Seeds not named Tipsarevic went 3-7 with Lopez getting two of the wins.

-Qualifiers went 3-1 (Fischer, Hernych, Brown winning) in R1 with Viola losing to Hernych.

-Hernych is a 33-yr-old veteran with a career high of 59 in '09.  He will be back in the top 200 with his QF here.

-Swiss players were a total failure, going 0-3.

WTA International: Bastad, Sweden

Polona Hercog (SLO) def. Malthide Johannson (FRA) 0-6 6-4 7-5

-Hercog wins 2nd career title, last '11 Bastad

-Other QF:  5) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS), 6) Klara Zakopalova (CZE), 7) Mona Barthel (GER)-SF, Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL), Sofia Arvidsson (SWE), Johanna Larsson (SWE)

-Other seeds:  1) Errani (w/d), 2) Goerges (R2 l. to Hercog), 3) Medina Garrigues (R2 l. to Larsson), 4) Vinci (R1 l. to Arvidsson), 8) Suarez Navarro (R1 l. to Tsurenko)

-Hercog successfully defended her only previous title.

-Hercog and the Swedes, Arvidsson and Larsson, were in the quarters here in '11.

-This tournament is being played one week later than last year, actually switching spots with Palermo.

-Barthel rebounded from a long losing streak to reach the QF, Pavyluchenkova also seems to have dug out of her slump with another QF

-Swedish Fed Cup stalwarts Arvidsson and Larsson went 5-2, but the two Swedish wildcards went 0-2.

-Italians not named Errani went just 2-5.  Errani is having a better, but somewhat similar to the year Vinci had last year when she won 3 titles on 3 surfaces.