Isner Wins in Auckland, Pironkova Pulls Several Upsets to Win Sydney

It was the calm before the storm, just 4 tournaments this week leading up to the Australian Open.  Juan Martin Del Potro got his season off a winning start in Sydney while John Isner bounced back after his ankle injury in the Hopman Cup to win in Auckland, a tournament where the seeds were falling out left and right and Americans shone.  Tsvetana Pironkova, twice a Wimbledon quarterfinalist but who has done little for a couple years, qualified in Sydney, then beat 3 top 10 players to win her first career title!  In Hobart, it was another qualifier who won her first career title, as Garbine Muguruza knocked off Zakopalova in the final.

ATP 250: Sydney, Australia
1) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) def. Bernard Tomic (AUS) 6-3 6-1
-Del Potro wins 18th career title, last '13 Basel
-Americans: 0-2, Querrey l. to Ramos, q-Harrison l. to Mahut
-Not much else to say here, usual suspects doing usual.  Losing semifinalists were 4-Tursunov and q-Stakhovsky.  2-Janowicz and 3-Seppi lost opening round matches.
-Tomic came within one win of defending his title.

ATP 250: Auckland, New Zealand
3) John Isner (USA) def. Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) 7-6(4) 7-6(7)
-Isner wins 8th career title, last '13 Atlanta.  '10 Auckland was his first career title.
-Americans: 10-4 despite only Isner was a direct entry.  Sock (wildcard), and l-Johnson reached the QF while q-Klahn and q-Young each won one match.  They lost to Bautista Agut, Lu, Lu, and 1-Ferrer, respectively.
-The match of the tournament was 3-Isner def. 5-Kohlschreiber 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6(5)
-Isner went 6-1 in tiebreaks during the week.
-Ferrer was the defending champion but lost to Lu in the SF.  He now only holds one title (Buenos Aires).

WTA Premier: Sydney, Australia
Q) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) def. 5) Angelique Kerber (GER) 6-4 6-4
-Pironkova wins first career title, also her first WTA final
-Americans: 8-6 and 5 of the entrants had wins.  Keys reached the SF and beat Halep in the first round.  Mattek-Sands beat Bouchard and A.Radwanska before losing to Keys.  l-Lepchenko upset Kuzetsova before falling to Pironkova.  Davis beat Gadjosova then lost to Errani.  q-McHale beat Cornet then lost to Kvitova.  Only q-Duval didn't win a match, falling to Kanepi.
-Seeds really struggled in this tournament with 3 top 11 players losing their opening match (Radwanska, Jankovic, and Halep) and Wozniacki losing after one win.
-Aga Radwanska was the defending champion but lost her first match to Mattek-Sands.

WTA International: Hobart, Australia
Q) Garbine Muguruza (ESP) def. 7) Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 6-4 6-0
-Muguruza wins first career title, also her first WTA final
-Americans: 2-2, q-Brengle l. to 1-Stosur but Riske reached QF def. Pavlyuchenkova, Dellacqua, l. to Zakopalova
-Stosur won 2 matches in 3rd tie tiebreaks, 7-5 over Brengle and 9-7 over Mladenovic.  She then beat Bojanovski in the QF before losing to Zakopalova, her most productive event on home soil.
-Storm Sanders, a 19-yr-old Aussie, won her first WTA main draw match, def. Peng.  She then lost to 2-Flipkens in a 3rd set tiebreak.
-Vesnina was the defending champion, but went out in the second to Cabeza Candela

I didn't have time to put together a complete Australian Open preview, so here's a few quick notes.  It would be a surprise if on the final weekend we don't see Nadal/Djokovic and Serena/Azarenka finals. The no. 1 ranking is not up in the air at all on either tour.  I am currently tipping Nadal and Serena to win the championships.

Americans participants (12 men, 12 women), from top to bottom of draw:
-Sock, Harrison, Young, Klahn, Smyczek, q-Williams, q-Odesnik, 13-Isner, q-Kudla, w-Johnson, Querrey, and Russell
-1-Serena, Keys, w-Vickery, Davis, Venus, l-Falconi, Riske, Lepchenko, King, Mattek-Sands, McHale, 13-Stephens.  Unfortunately Hampton had to pull out.

Big points defenders:
Men
Djokovic def. Murray
SF - Federer, Ferrer
QF - Almagro (w/d), Berdych, Chardy, Tsonga
Women
Azarenka def. Li
SF - Sharapova, Stephens
QF - Kuznetsova, Makarova, Radwanska, Serena

Former mens champs in the draw: Federer, Djokovic, Nadal
Former womens champs in the draw: Serena, Sharapova, Azarenka
Former boys champs in the draw: Baghdatis, Monfils, Young, Tomic, Vesely, Kyrgios
Former girls champs in the draw: Lucic-Baroni, Razzano, Jankovic, Zahlavova Strycova, Peer, Azarenka, Pavlyuchenkova, Ka.Pliskova, Konjuh