Nadal's Barcelona Win Streak is History, Sharapova Back to Winning on Clay

You know it is the clay season when a week goes by with no American in action on either tour.  They was the case this week with tournaments in Barcelona, Bucharest, Stuttgart, and Marrakech.

The big news this week was Nadal failing again to get out of the quarterfinals of an event that he owned, again falling to another Spaniard.  This time it was Almagro, who was previously 0-10 against Nadal, and who went on to lose to Giraldo in the semis.  The tournament, though, would be won by Kei Nishikori, who beat Giraldo in the Barcelona final, for his first clay title.  Another early 20s player had success this week, Grigor Dimitrov won his 2nd title of the year, defeating defending champion Rosol in the Bucharest final.  On the women's tour, Maria Sharapova has been largely unimpressive over the past many months.  But now she is back on her best post-surgery surface, clay, and she won the title in Stuttgart for the 3rd consecutive year, defeating Ivanovic in the final of a "take me back to 2008" matchup.  And in Marrakech, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor won her first career title in her first final, knocking off another first time finalist Oprandi in the final.

ATP 500: Barcelona, Spain
4) Kei Nishikori (JPN) def. Santiago Giraldo (COL) 6-2 6-2
-Nishikori wins 5th career title, 2nd of 2014, last '14 Memphis
-Americans: none
-Not only did Nadal lose, Ferrer was knocked out of his first match by Gabashvili.  Also Cilic survived 3rd set tiebreak against Robredo.
-Thiem's good results continued here, he qualified and Stepanek and Granollers before falling to Giraldo
-A journeyman Spaniard, Inigo Cervantes, a 24-yr-old ranked no. 824 in part because of injuries, qualified for the main draw then beat Nedovyesov and Tursunov.
-Half the 16 seeds lost their opening matches: 2-Ferrer, 3-Fognini, 7-Janowicz, 8-Dolgopolov, 13-Lopez, 14-Granollers, 15-Tursunov, and 16-pairs
-Nadal of course was the defending champion

WTA Premier: Stuttgart, Germany
6) Maria Sharapova (RUS) def. 9) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 3-6 6-4 6-1
-Sharapova wins 30th career title, last '13 Stuttgart (1-yr drought)
-It is her 3rd consecutive win in Stuttgart
-6 of her last 8 titles have come on clay
-Americans: none
-It was a nightmare tournament for the Germans, who traditionally play well here.  Only Goerges won a match with the likes of Kerber, Lisicki, Petkovic, q-Beck, and l-Barthel losing their opening match.
-The Russians experienced a bit of a resurgence with Sharapova, Kleybanova, and Kuznetsova all making the quarters
-The top 4 seeds - Radwanska, Halep, Kvitova, Kerber - were awful going just 1-4 (Radwanska def. Vinci the only win)
-But the other seeds - Jankovic, Sharapova, (Cibulkova w/d), Errani, and Ivanovic - reached the semis
-Champion Sharapova only barely made it out the first round, getting past Safarova in 3 tiebreaks.

ATP 250: Bucharest, Romania
1) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) def. Lukas Rosol (CZE) 7-6(2) 6-1
-Dimitrov wins 3rd career title, 2nd of 2014, last '14 Acapulco
-Americans: none
-Romania got one win each from Hanescu, Copil, and Ungur, plus a spirited effort from 17-yr-old (#589) Ciorcola, who took a set off Stakhovsky
-Youzhny continues to struggle in 2014, losing his first match here to Haase (who would go on to reach the semis)
-Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO), a 22-yr-old ranked no. 310, qualified for his first ATP main draw.
-There were 3rd set tiebreaks, Berlocq def. Seppi (R1), Nieminen def. L.Mayer (R1)
-Rosol came within just one win of defending his title

WTA International: Marrakech, Morocco
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (ESP) def. Romina Oprandi (SUI) 6-3 3-6 6-3
-Torro-Flor wins 1st career title! in first final
-Americans: none
-Oprandi was contesting her first WTA final
-There was only one 3rd set tiebreak, Peer def. Mayr Achleitner in R2.
-Schiavone was the defending champion but her struggles continued.  She was seeded 8th and lost to a Spanish veteran ranked no. 246, Garcia Vidagany.

Also in Davis Cup action, Indonesia relegated Hong Kong 3-1 in Asia/Pacific Zonal Group II, a tie that was postponed from 3 weeks ago. Rungkat won 3 points for Indonesia, including 5 setters in doubles and the clinching rubber over King.  Hong Kong makes an immediate return to Group III