Kvitova Takes Advantage In Tokyo and Who Is Joao Sousa?

I talked about the opportunity in Tokyo with Serena and Sharapova not playing and Azarenka losing early, and the win is one has often taken advantage of opportunities in her career.  Petra Kvitova defeated Kerber in the final, overcoming a bagel set, and these results go a very long way for both players to get into the year end championships.  In fact, it was Kerber I thought that would be plummeting in the rankings since she had so many points to defend in Tokyo and Beijing.

7) Petra Kvitova (CZE) def. 5) Angelique Kerber (GER) 6-2 0-6 6-3

-Kvitova wins 11th career title, 2nd of 2013, last '13 Dubai
-It is her 3rd Tier I title ('11 Madrid, '12 Montreal)
-She is now barely behind Errani for no. 6 in the year to date rankings and they both over 800 points ahead of no. 8, so with only one big tournament left it is hard to envision a scenario where they miss the year end championships
-Kerber has moved up to no. 8 in the race and leads Jankovic by 46 with Vinci, Stephens, and Wozniacki within striking distance.
-Kvitova defeated Venus in the semis in a 3rd set tiebreak.

And we now revert to our usual format for the men's regular tour events.  A week ago, Joao Sousa, now the Portuguese no. 1, reach his first ATP quarterfinal of the year, and a week later, the 24-yr-old won his first ATP title in his first final in Kuala Lumpur.  He beat Benneteau in the final, who has now lost 9 finals over 6 years without winning one.  He also upset Ferrer and Melzer in earlier rounds.  In Bangkok, the top four seeds made the semis but it was Milos Raonic who emerged to end a title drought, defeating Berdych in the final, who himself has not won a title this year.

ATP 250: Bangkok, Thailand

3) Milos Raonic (CAN) def. 1) Tomas Berdych (CZE) 7-6(4) 6-3

-Raonic wins 5th career title, 2nd of 2013, last '13 San Jose
-It is only his 2nd title not won in San Jose

Defending champion: Richard Gasquet (FRA) - SF l. to Raonic

Quarterfinalists: 2) Richard Gasquet (FRA)-SF, 4) Gilles Simon (FRA)-SF, 5) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS), 6) Feliciano Lopez (ESP), Igor Sijsling (NED), Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Gasquet and Simon (last year's finalists), Raonic
Locals performance: 0-1, Trongcharoenchailkul, and 18-yr-old ranked outside the top 1000 won 2 games against Matosevic

Americans performance: none

Third set tiebreaks: 8-Rosol def. Kubot (R1), Sijsling def. Haase (R2)

ATP 250: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Joao Sousa (POR) def. 5) Julien Benneteau (FRA) 2-6 7-5 6-4

-Sousa wins 1st career title!

Defending champion: Juan Monaco (ARG) - did not play

Quarterfinalists: 1) David Ferrer (ESP), 2) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)-SF, 4) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)-SF, 6) Dmitry Tursunov (RUS), Adrian Mannarino (FRA), Federico Delbonis (ARG)

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Ferrer and Benneteau (he lost final last year too)

Locals performance: none, wildcards went to Harrison, Carreno Busta (won one match), and a young Korean
Americans performance: 0-1, Harrison lost to Sousa in R1
Other notable winners: Pablo Cuevas (URU) is ranked no. 457 because of missing time with injuries but he took out Davydenko before falling to Sousa

Third set tiebreaks: Wawrinka def. Tursunov (QF)