Venus Williams has struggled with health problems and injury issues over the past several years, so her title in Dubai, with a win over Cornet in the final, must have been sweet. It breaks a 16-month title drought but is only her 2nd title since winning in Dubai 4 years ago. At the inaugural event in Rio de Janeiro, Kurumi Nara won her first career title at age 22, defeating top seed Zakopalova in the final.
On the ATP, Rafael Nadal bounced back from his Aussie Open final loss to Wawrinka by winning the title in the first edition of the Rio de Janeiro tournament, defeating Dolgopolov in the final. But his toughest match was against his compatriot Andujar in the semis, which he survived 12-10 in the 3rd set tiebreak. Marin Cilic missed the second half of last year due to a doping suspension but may be playing the best tennis of his life in 2014. He now has an 18-3 record with 2 titles after outlasting Anderson in the Delray Beach final. And finally, in Marseille, Ernests Gulbis upset Tsonga to win his 5th title and 3rd in 52 weeks.
WTA Premier: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Venus Williams (USA) def. Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-3 6-0
-Venus wins 45th career title, last '12 Luxembourg
-It is her 3rd win in Dubai ('09,'10)
-Americans: 7-2, Venus wins, Serena to the semis, Stephens l. to Safarova in R1
-For the second consecutive Premier tournament, all of the matches from the quarters onward were finished in straight sets
-Last week in Doha, 6 of the top 8 seeds made the quarters. This week, their fortunes were reversed with only 3 of the top 8 winning a match
-Cornet topped Serena in the semis in straight sets, likely the biggest win in her career
-Wozniacki bounced back to reach the semis with wins over Lisicki, Beck, and Cirstea. It was her first quarterfinal of '14, let alone semi.
-Ivanovic bested Kerber 8-6 in a 3rd set tiebreak
-Kvitova was the defending champion but lost her opening match to Suarez Navarro in a 3rd set tiebreak
WTA International: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
5) Kurumi Nara (JPN) def. 1) Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 6-1 4-6 6-1
-Nara wins first career title in first WTA final
-Americans: 0-2, 8-King l. to q-Begu, q-Gibbs l. to 3-Ormaechea
-Burnett, 22-yr-old Italian ranked no. 122, reached her first WTA semifinal
-Cepede Royg, 22-yr-old from Paraguay who often features in Fed Cup zone play, won her first WTA main draw match after qualifying, and is now ranked no. 165
-The Brazilian no. 1 Pereira made a nice run to the semis (2nd career) and beat 4-Cadantu in R1
-Schiavone was the second seed but still lost her opening match, making her 0-6 in '14
ATP 500: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1) Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 6-3 7-6(3)
-Nadal wins 62nd career title, 2nd of 2014, last '14 Doha
-Americans: none
-Dolgopolov defeated Almagro, Fognini, and Ferrer to reach the final but also barely survived Bagnis in a 3rd set tiebreak.
-Another 3rd set tiebreak was q-Klizan over Garcia-Lopez
-Bellucci reached his first quarterfinal after returning from injury
ATP 250: Delray Beach, FL, United States
7) Marin Cilic (CRO) def. 4) Kevin Anderson (RSA) 7-6(6) 6-7(7) 6-4
-Cilic wins 11th career title, 2nd of 2014, last '14 Zagreb
-Americans: 9-10, which was a bit discouraging after last week. 2-Isner and q-Johnson (def. 1-Haas) reached the semis. Williams beat Falla and Baghdatis before losing to Isner in the quarters and Harrison beat Lu then lost to Cilic. Querrey, Sock, Russell, Klahn, and q-Odesnik were first round losers as the slide continues for Querrey (l. to 6-Lopez).
-Johnson, a 24-yr-old former collegiate player, reached his first ATP semi and will be ranked no. 120
-Gulbis was the defending champion but stayed in Europe this year and won in Marseille
ATP 250: Marseille, France
3) Ernests Gulbis (LAT) def. 2) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 7-6(5) 6-4
-Gulbis wins 3rd career title, last '13 St Petersburg
-Americans: none
-23-yr-old German qualifier Struff reached his first ATP quarterfinal and his first ATP semifinal, defeating Benneteau and Llodra before losing to Tsonga
-Five Frenchmen made the quarters (1-Gasquet, 2-Tsonga, 6-Roger-Vasselin (who is having a fine year), 8-Mahut, and Llodra)
-Tsonga was the defending champion and came up short in the final
And to tie up some loose ends from Davis Cup Asia/Pacific Zonal Group II, where two ties were postponed because of the Chinese new year:
PAK 3 VIE 2 - Pakistan got 3 points from veteran Khan. He partnered the well known Qureshi in the doubles.
THA 4 HKG 1 - Hong Kong struck first and won the opening rubber but Thailand won the next 9 sets to clinch the tie.
Group semis: Philippines at Pakistan, Kuwait at Thailand
Relegation ties: Sri Lanka at Vietnam, Hong Kong at Indonesia
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