Venus Ends Lengthy Title Drought, Wozniacki Ends Frustrating Year On High Note

The most notably stories this week came from the WTA, which concluding the "regular season" of the tour with two indoor events.  Venus Williams ended an over 2-1/2 year title drought by conquering Luxembourg and after very frustrating year and finish outside the top 10, Caroline Wozniacki at least ended the season on a high not with a win at the week's biggest tournament in Moscow.  The men completed their final week of 250s indoors in Europe.  Two top seeds won, helping to solidify their spot at the World Tour Finals.  Those were Tomas Berdych, with a win over Tsonga in Stockholm and Juan Martin Del Potro in Vienna.  And finally, Andreas Seppi has had a very good year under the radar and he won his 2nd title of 2012 in Moscow.

WTA Premier: Moscow, Russia

3) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) def. 1) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 6-2 4-6 7-5

-Wozniacki wins 20th career title, 2nd of 2012, last '12 Seoul
-She ends a 14-month drought in Premier tournaments
-Other QF:  4) Ana Ivanovic (SRB)-SF, 5) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK), 7) Maria Kirilenko (RUS), Klara Zakopalova (CZE), Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)-SF, Q) Vesna Dolonc (SRB)
-Other seeds:  2) Bartoli (R2 l. to Arvidsson), 6) Petrova (R1 l. to Halep), 8) Safarova (R2 l. to Zakopalova)

-Cibulkova's title defense ended the quarters with a 3 set loss to Wozniacki
-Cibulkova was the only returning quarterfinalist from last year.

-There were only 7 Russians in the draw and the performed poorly.  Only a 3-7 record with Kirilenko getting two wins and qualifier Solovieva getting a win over a fellow qualifier.
-Solovieva is a 19-yr-old Russian now ranked no. 184 in the world.
-Lepchenko was the only American in the draw; she lost her opening match to Pironkova.
-The best scoreline may have been Wozniacki's semi win of Arvidsson 6-3 6-7(4) 6-4.

WTA International: Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Venus Williams (USA) def. Monica Niculescu (ROU) 6-2 6-3

-Venus wins 44th career title, last '10 Acapulco (2.5-yr drought)

-Other QF:  1) Roberta Vinci (ITA), Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)-SF, Andrea Petkovic (GER)-SF, Ksenia Pervak (KAZ), Lucie Hradecka (CZE), Loudes Dominguez Lino (ESP)

-Other seeds:  2) Goerges (R2 l. to Niculescu), 3) Jankovic (R2 l. to Petkovic), 4) Wickmayer (w/d), 5) Lisicki (R1 l. to Flipkens), 6) Cirstea (R2 l. to Pervak), 7) Paszek (R1 l. to Hradecka), 8) Suarez Navarro (R1 l. to Rybarikova), 9) Barthel (R2 l. to Williams)

-Azarenka was the defending champion but decided to give herself a week off prior to year end championships this year.
-Niculescu made the final for the second straight year.

-Niculescu and Hradecka made the QF here in '11 and '12.
-Seeds managed to go only 6-8 with only Vinci reaching the QF.

-Minella was the only Luxembourgher and she lost her opening match to Barthel.

-Venus was the only American in the draw.

-Qualifier Annika Beck beat Zahlavova Strycova in the first round.  She is 2nd-ranked player born in 1994, behind Robson.

-Petkovic had her best result since her back injury with a SF appearance.  That loss to Venus may have the best scoreline, 5-7 6-4 6-4.

ATP 250: Moscow, Russia
2) Andreas Seppi (ITA) def. 4) Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) 3-6 7-6(3) 6-3

-Seppi wins 3rd career title, 2nd of 2012, last '12 Belgrade
-His titles have now come of 3 different surfaces
-Other QF:  8) Tatsuma Ito (JPN), Ivo Karlovic (CRO)-SF, Lukas Rosol (CZE), Malek Jaziri (TUN)-SF, Jerzy Janowicz (POL), Q) Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
-Other seeds:  1) Dolgopolov (R2 l. to Roger-Vasselin), 3) Troicki (R2 l. to Jaziri), 5) Davydenko (R1 l. to Bogomolov), 6) Istomin (R2 l. to Rosol), 7) Berlocq (R2 l. to Janowicz)
-Tipsarevic was the defending champion, but he played Vienna this year.

-There were no returning quarterfinalists from last year.
-Jaziri reached his first ATP quarter and semi.
-Janowicz, a 21-yr-old Pole, reach his first ATP quarterfinal.
-There was just one American in the draw, Ram, who lost in R1 to Jaziri.
-Russians went only 2-6 with Bogomolov beating Davydenko and 27-yr-old qualifier Kravchuk beating a fellow qualifier.  Overall in the Kremlin Cup (ATP and WTA), Russians - certainly with much tennis tradition even recently - went 5-13.
-The best scoreline was Roger-Vasselin's upset of Dolgopolov 6-3 5-7 7-6(6) though there was 13-11 tiebreak in the first set of Karlovic's win over Bogomolov.

ATP 250: Stockholm, Sweden

2) Tomas Berdych (CZE) def. 1) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 4-6 6-4 6-4

-Berdych wins 8th career title, 2nd of 2012, last '12 Montpellier
-It is first year of his career Berdych has won more than 1 title
-He has won titles on 4 different surfaces

-Other QF:  3) Nicolas Almagaro (ESP)-SF, 6) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS), 7) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)-SF, Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR), Ricardas Berankis (LTU), Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)

-Other seeds:  4) Mayer (R2 l. to Berankis), 5) Lopez (R2 l. to Stakhovsky), 8) Nieminen (R2 l. to Hewitt)

-Monfils was the defending champion but lost in the first round to a Swedish wildcard, Patrik Rosenholm, a 24-yr-old ranked no. 394.

-There were no returning quarterfinalists from last year.

-Rosenholm was the only Swede in the draw.

-There was just one American in the draw, Baker, who promptly lost to Youzhny.

-With this result (just his 2nd ATP QF of '12) Hewitt is back into the top 100.
-A couple of semis (Tokyo and Stockholm) recently could earn Baghdatis a seed for the Aussie Open.

-Best scoreline was in the first round where Falla def. Hajek 6-3 3-6 7-6(7)

ATP 250: Vienna, Austria

1) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) def. Q) Grega Zemlja (SLO) 7-5 6-3

-Del Potro wins 12th career title, 3rd of 2012, last '12 Estoril

-Other QF:  2) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)-SF, 3) Tommy Haas (GER), Gilles Muller (LUX)-SF, Marinko Matosevic (AUS), Paolo Lorenzi (ITA), Aljaz Bedene (SLO)

-Other seeds:  4) Melzer (R2 l. to Muller), 5) Fognini (R1 l. to Young), 6) Haase (R1 l. to Matosevic), 7) Paire (R1 l. to Lorenzi), 8) Malisse (R1 l. to Zemlja)

-Tsonga was the defending champion, but played in Stockholm instead.
-Del Potro was the finalist last year.
-Del Potro and Haas were returning quarterfinalists from last year, though Tipsarevic made the quarters last year in Moscow.
-This tournament was moved up a week from last year so the season could end 2 weeks sooner.

-Austrians went a disappointing 1-3 but their win came from 19-yr-old boys French Open finalist in '11 Dominic Thiem, ranked barely inside the top 400.

-There was two Americans in the draw: Levine and Young who each won one match.

-Had to research this but it has got to be the first ATP event with 2 Slovenes in the quarters.
-Del Potro played 6 tiebreaks in the tournament, winning 4 including 2 in an all-tiebreak match 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 7-6(6) over Brands in R2.  He beat Muller in the semis in 2 tiebreaks to 4 & 5.

Davis Cup Zonal Group I relegation ties:

Asia/Pacific:  Taiwan def. New Zealand 3-1
Europe:  Denmark def. Finland 3-1 (Nieminen played in Stockholm instead of Davis Cup).

I may get a Davis Cup wrap type post up later this week.
I will get a WTA YEC preview up, hopefully tomorrow.