The Small Clay Events Before The Big One

It is the week before the French Open begins, so few names are in action this week, even Brussels seems to have a weaker field than usual as the top women often play the week before majors.  But this allowed lower ranked players to steal some of the spotlight, go deep in tournaments, and add ranking points.  Gael Monfils took his comeback to another level, reaching the final in Nice, but was upset by the Spanish journeyman Albert Montanes.  Alize Cornet ended a lengthy title drought is giving the French some depth behind Bartoli by winning in Strasbourg.  Kaia Kanepi beat the weather and her opponents, winning two matches today and the biggest title of week in rain drenched Brussels.  And finally, after an awful first few months of the year, Juan Monaco has rebounded with a title at the first single competition in Dusseldorf.  Will these players be able to parlay this form into a nice tournament in Paris, or have they overplayed?

Good Stories
-American presence in Brussels.  Four women were in the main draw, two qualified and Vandeweghe got in as a lucky loser.  In the tournament, Hampton made the semis while Stephens and Lepchenko made the quarters.  Maybe that means their slumps are history.
-Chinese resurgence.  A year or two ago, the Chinese seemed on the verge of overrunning the tour but then majorly fell back.  They had a nice week with Peng and Zheng reaching the quarters in Brussels, and Zhang won a match there too.
-Eugenie Bouchard (CAN), ranked #4 among players born in '94, reached the semis in Strasbourg (her first WTA semi), and this result will get her inside the top 100.
-Flavia Pennetta (ITA) after injuries have ruined her last several months, she qualified and reached the final in Strasbourg.
-Guido Pella (ARG), 23-yr-old qualifier, reached his first ATP semifinal in Dusseldorf.  He will now be ranked inside the top 100.

Bad Stories
-The weather was awful in Brussels and Strasbourg, causing postponements throughout the week and forcing players to play two matches in one day on several occasions.
-Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) lost very early in Madrid and Rome, and now dropped her opening match in Brussels to Zheng.
-Marion Bartoli (FRA) has been struggling of late, and now dropped her opening match in Strasbourg to Giorgi.
-John Isner (USA) after winning the title in Houston, has struggled on European clay, and loses in Nice to Haase.
-Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) continues to struggle, dropping his opening match in Dusseldorf to Pella

WTA Premier: Brussels, Belgium

Kaia Kanepi (EST) def. 8) Shuai Peng (CHN) 6-2 7-5

-Kanepi wins 4th career title, last '12 Estoril

Defending champion: Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) - did not play this week

Quarterfinalists: 2) Roberta Vinci (ITA), 4) Sloane Stephens (USA), 7) Varvara Lepchenko (USA), Jamie Hampton (USA)-SF, Jie Zheng (CHN), Romina Oprandi (SUI)-SF

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Kanepi

Locals performance: 1-3, Flipkens beat Keys but then choked against Hampton losing from 5-1 up in the 3rd, Wickmayer and van Uytvanck lost opening matches

Americans performance: 7-7, 3 reached the quarters but Keys, q-Oudin, q-Burdette, and l-Vandeweghe lost opening round matches
Other notable winners: Yulia Putintseva (KAZ), ranked #2 of those born in '95, beat van Uytvanck, ranked #9 of those born in '94 with the loss of one game, and this after qualifying

Third set tiebreaks: Peng def. Govortsova (R2), Kanepi def. Lepchenko (QF)

ATP 250: Dusseldorf, Germany

3) Juan Monaco (ARG) def. 6) Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 6-4 6-3

-Monaco wins 8th career title (last '12 Kuala Lumpur)

-It is 7th clay title

Defending champion: none - this was a team competition last year

Quarterfinalists: 2) Tommy Haas (GER), 7) Viktor Troicki (SRB), Igor Sijsling (NED)-SF, Jan Hajek (CZE), Tobias Kamke (GER), Q) Guido Pella (ARG)-SF

Locals performance: 4-5, Kamke reached the quarters, Brands won a match as did 2) Haas before pulling out, 4) Kohlschreiber, Brands, and Becker lost their first match

Americans performance: 0-1, Russell l. to Troicki

Third set tiebreaks: none

ATP 250: Nice, France

Albert Montanes (ESP) def. Gael Monfils (FRA) 6-0 7-6(3)

-Montanes wins 6th career title, last '10 Stuttgart (nearly 3-yr drought)

-All of his titles have now come on clay

Defending champion: Nicolas Almagro (ESP) - did not play this week

Quarterfinalists: 2) Gilles Simon (FRA), 3) Sam Querrey (USA), Robin Haase (NED), Pablo Andujar (ESP)-SF, Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)-SF, Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Simon

Locals performance: 11-5, which is tremendous, besides the quarterfinalists, q-Rufin won a match before losing to Simon
Americans performance: 1-3, a win for 3-Querrey but losses for 4-Isner and l-Harrison

Third set tiebreaks: none

WTA International: Strasbourg, France

3) Alize Cornet (FRA) def. Lucie Hradecka (CZE)

-Cornet wins 3rd career title, last '12 Bad Gastein

Defending champion: Francesca Schiavone (ITA) - did not play this week

Quarterfinalists: 7) Chanelle Scheepers (RSA), Johanna Larsson (SWE), Misaki Doi (JPN), Anna Tatishvili (GEO), Eugenie Bouchard (CAN)-SF, Q) Flavia Pennetta (ITA)-SF

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Cornet and Larsson, though Stephens made the SF here in '12 and played Brussels this year, reaching the QF

Locals performance: 6-5, Cornet won the tournament but other than that the French were miserable with only Razzano winning a match, upsetting 2) Paszek.  1) Bartoli, Garcia, Johansson, and Feuerstein lost their opening matches.

Americans performance: 2-3, Davis and q-Rogers won one match each, and 6-McHale's loss was to Davis.
Other notable winners: Magda Linette (POL), 21-yr-old world no. 241, qualified and won a match

Third set tiebreaks: Niculescu def. Erakovic (R1), Torro-Flor def. Hantuchova (R1), Doi def. Hsieh (R2)

And oh yes, we have some Group III Davis and Fed Cup ties to report, that have happened over the past 3 weeks.

Davis Cup Africa Zonal Group III
Group Finals:  Morocco def. Madagascar, Egypt def. Zimbabwe
Morocco and Egypt both make immediate returns to Group II while Madagascar was not quite as fortunate as 3 African teams were relegated last year but only two get promoted.
Other participants:  Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Botswana, Nigeria, Zambia

Davis Cup Europe Zonal Group III
Group Finals:  Greece def. Macedonia, Norway def. Georgia
Greece returns to Group II after last playing there in 2011 while it was 2010 for Norway.  The country relegated last year was Turkey, but they failed to get out their group (won by Macedonia)
Other participants:  Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Iceland, Malta, Armenia, San Marino, Albania, Azerbaijan, Turkey

Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zonal Group III
Group Finals:  Egypt def. Moldova, Liechtenstein def. Denmark
Egypt hasn't competed in Group II since 2004 while Liechtenstein was there in 2010 but then didn't field a team the next two years.  The two teams relegated last year were Denmark and Norway.
Other participants:  Armenia, Malta, Morocco, Namibia, Ireland, Kenya, Cyprus, Madagascar, Norway