Serena Starts Season On Fire

The season began with several top seeds and favorites taking care of business at a variety of tournaments around the world, including Serena Williams blowing through the competition in Brisbane while Andy Murray struggled some but defended his title in the same city.  Other high ranked players made it through their tournament as Williams was the lowest seeded player (3) to win.  Richard Gasquet, Janko Tipsarevic, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Na Li were the other winners.  We will now see what affect an early win can have on a player's Aussie Open and the rest of the season.  My gut feeling is that Gasquet could be in for a good year and Li's home win could be a harbinger of success in Melbourne.

Before I get further along I wanted to mention a few changes to my format for 2013.  My tournament recaps will be similar but I am going to include a summary of some of what I think were the good and bad stories of the prior week.  These most likely won't include who won the title and what some of the top stars did, but more of who improved among the rank and file of the tours and what up and coming players made strides.  You can read about the tournament champions and top 5 players anywhere but there is less written about who is slowly moving up the rankings at the smaller tournaments.

Good Stories
-Lesia Tsurenko (UKR), ranked #116, reaching the semis of Brisbane as a lucky loser after Sharapova pulled out.
-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS), after an awful 2012 campaign, making the final in Brisbane.
-Annika Beck (GER), ranked #2 among players born in '94, reached her first WTA QF in Shenzhen.
-Grigor Dimitrov (BUL), reaching his first ATP final in Brisbane.
-Roberto Bautista-Agut (ESP), 24-yr-old ranked #80, reaching his first ATP final in Chennai.
-Aljaz Bedene (SLO), after a steady rise throughout 2012, making his first ATP semi in Chennai, with wins over Haase and Wawrinka.
-Nikolay Davydenko (RUS), after a poor 2012, making the final in Doha.  It was his first final since he won Munich in '11.
-Gael Monfils (FRA), was back in action after missing significant time in 2012, and made the quarters in Doha.

Bad Stories
-Victoria Azarenka (BLR) pulling out of her potential semifinal match with Serena.
-Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) crashing and burning against a qualifier in her first round in Brisbane.
-Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) losing her first round match to Bertens in Auckland.
-Tomas Berdych (CZE) losing in the quarters of Chennai to Bautista-Agut.

WTA Premier: Brisbane, Australia
3) Serena Williams (USA) def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-1
-Williams wins 47th career title, last '12 Year End Championships
Defending champion: Kaia Kanepi (EST) - did not play (injured)
Quarterfinalists: 1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR)-SF, 4) Angelique Kerber (GER), Daniela Hantuchova (SVK), Sloane Stephens (USA), Q) Ksenia Pervak (KAZ), L) Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)
Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Hantuchova, Serena
Locals performance: 1-4, win for Gajdosova, losses for Stosur, Rogowska, q-Bobusic
Americans performance: 5-2, Lepchenko lost to Serena
Other notable winners: Q) Monica Puig (PUR), one win, #8 of players born in '93
Third set tiebreaks: Pervak def. Wozniacki (R1), Kerber def. Puig (R2)

ATP 250: Brisbane, Australia
1) Andy Murray (GBR) def. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 7-6(0) 6-4
-Murray wins 25th career title, last '12 US Open, 2nd win in Brisbane
Defending champion: Murray - defended title
Quarterfinalists: 3) Gilles Simon (FRA), 4) Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR), 5) Kei Nishikori (JPN)-SF, 7) Jurgen Melzer (AUT), Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)-SF, Denis Istomin (UZB)
Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Murray, Dolgopolov, Baghdatis, Istomin
Locals performance: 2-5, wins for Millman and Hewitt, losses for Mitchell, Matosevic, and Ebden
Americans performance: 0-3 with losses for Baker, q-Harrison, and q-Kudla
Third set tiebreaks: Dimitrov def. Baghdatis (SF)

ATP 250: Chennai, India
2) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) def. Roberto Bautista-Agut (ESP) 3-6 6-1 6-3
-Tipsarevic wins 4th career title, last '12 Stuttgart
Defending champion: Milos Raonic (CAN) - R2 l. to Dimitrov in Brisbane
Quarterfinalists: 1) Tomas Berdych (CZE), 3) Marin Cilic (CRO), 4) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI), 5) Benoit Paire (FRA)-SF, 8) Go Soeda (JPN), Aljaz Bedene (SLO)-SF
Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Tipsarevic, Soeda, Wawrinka
Locals performance: 2-3, wins for Devvarman and q-Amritaj, loss for Bhambri
American performance: 0-1, q-Ram

ATP 250: Doha, Qatar
2) Richard Gasquet (FRA) def. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3
-Gasquet wins 8th career title, last '12 Bangkok
Defending champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) - played in the Hopman Cup
Quarterfinalists: 1) David Ferrer (ESP)-SF, Simone Bolleli (ITA), Paolo Lorenzi (ITA), Gael Monfils (FRA), Lukas Lacko (SVK), Q) Daniel Brands (GER)-SF
Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Monfils
Locals performance: 0-2
American performance: none

WTA International: Auckland, New Zealand
1) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) def. 3) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 6-4 6-4
-Radwanska wins 11th career title, last '12 Brussels
Defending champion: Jie Zheng (CHN) - R1 l. to Hampton
Quarterfinalists: 8) Mona Barthel (GER)-SF, Elena Vesnina (RUS), Kirsten Flipkens (BEL), Johanna Larsson (SWE), Kiki Bertens (NED), Jamie Hampton (USA)-SF
Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Vesnina
Local performance: Erakovic, 1-1
Americans performance: 3-4, with first round losses for 7) McHale, Vandeweghe, and q-Min
Third set tiebreaks: Wickmayer def. Barthel (SF)

WTA International: Shenzhen, China
1) Na Li (CHN) def. 5) Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 6-3 1-6 7-5
-Li wins 7th career title, last '12 Cincinnati
Defending champion: none, first year of tournament
Quarterfinalists: 2) Marion Bartoli (FRA), 6) Shuai Peng (CHN)-SF, 8) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB), Monica Niculescu (ROU)-SF, Annika Beck (GER), L) Yi-Miao Zhou (CHN)
Local performance: 11-4, besides Li, Peng, and Zhou; Duan went 1-1 and Zheng lost in R1.
Americans performance: 1-2, Cohen won, q-Pegula lost
Other notable winners: Beck is ranked #2 of players born in '94. Zhou is a 21-yr-old Chinese now up to #169.  Svitolina, ranked #3 in '94, won her first round match over Peer.
Third set tiebreaks: Wickmayer def. Barthel (SF), Zhou def. Chang (R2)