On the WTA tour, France was the country making headlines. Alize Cornet has had a great year so far, and added to that by winning in Katowice, defeating first time finalist Giorgi in a 3+ hour final. And a few years ago we first heard of Caroline Garcia when she nearly took out Sharapova in the French Open. But only in the last few weeks has she really emerged and now she wins her first title in Bogota, defeating defending champion Jankovic in the final.
ATP 250: Houston, TX, United States
4) Fernando Verdasco (ESP) def. 3) Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 6-3 7-6(4)
-Verdasco wins 6th career title, last '10 Barcelona (4-yr drought)
-Americans: Finally a decent tournament for the American men despite a poor effort from Isner. They all went 9-10 but had 3 quarterfinalists. Querrey, Sock, and Young all made the quarters with Querrey beating Brown (who beat Isner) to reach the semis only to pull out. Sock and Young beat Karlovic and Monaco respectively. Johnson and Russell also won matches. 1-Isner, Williams, Kudla, q-Harrison, and q-Ginepri each lost their first match.
-The rising Colombian, 25-yr-old Gonzalez, reached his first ATP quarterfinal with wins over Baghdatis and Lopez
-The only 3rd set tiebreak was Brown over Isner in round 2.
-Isner was the defending champion but lost his first match. Almagro has been the runner-up in back-to-back years.
ATP 250: Casablanca, Morocco
8) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) def. 4) Marcel Granollers (ESP)
-Garcia-Lopez wins 3rd career title, last '10 Bangkok (3.5-yr drought)
-Americans: none
-20-yr-old Canadian qualifier Peliwo, ranked no. 266 and a former Wimbledon junior champ, picked up just the 2nd ATP win of his career, defeating Volandri
-Nedovyesov, a journeyman Kazakh now ranked no. 77 with challenger success this year won his first career ATP main draw win, defeating Haase.
-Carreno Busta, a young Spaniard who emerged last year in the clay season but struggled through the rest of the year, is emerging again on clay this year with a quarterfinal appearance.
-A younger Spaniard, 21-yr-old Carballes Baena, made his first tour mark here, qualifying and getting his first ATP main draw win, but then went on to reach the semis.
-The only 3rd set tiebreak win went to Carreno Busta over Nedovyesov in round 2
-Paire returned from injury to reach the quarterfinals
-Robredo was the defending champion but lost his first match in Houston.
WTA International: Katowice, Poland
4) Alize Cornet (FRA) def. Camila Giorgi (ITA) 7-6(3) 5-7 7-5
-Cornet wins 4th career title, last '13 Strasbourg
-She went 3 sets in 4 of her 5 wins
-Americans: none
-Giorgi reached her first WTA quarterfinal, semifinal, and final all at the same tournament
-K.Kucova, a qualifier, won her first WTA main draw in 3 years
-6 of the 8 seeds reached the quarters, only Vinci and Pironkova did not (replaced by Giorgi and Peer).
-Zakopalova has returned to her maiden name Koukalova. She reached the quarters to continue her nice 2014.
-Vinci was the defending champion but lost in the second round to her compatriot Giorgi
WTA International: Bogota, Colombia
5) Caroline Garcia (FRA) def. 1) Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-4
-Garcia wins first career title!
-It was also her first WTA final
-Americans: 3-4, 6-King made the semis before falling to Garcia. 2-Stephens, q-Gibbs, and q-Vickery all lost in the first round, Stephens to Duque-Marino
-Two lucky losers picked up their main draw wins: 25-yr-old Georgian Shapatava ranked no. 215 (I believe her first WTA win) and 18-yr-old Russian Khromacheva (her 2nd WTA win)
-A Colombian wildcard Lizarazo, a 20-yr-old ranked outside the top 700, beat Vickery for presumably her first WTA main draw win.
-Also a first WTA main draw win for Irigoyen, a 26-yr-old Argentine ranked no. 156. She often plays on their Fed Cup team.
-Jankovic's title defense came up just short.
I'll preview Fed Cup in a couple days, where the Czechs, Italians, Germans, and Aussies will contest the semis and the Americans without the Williams sisters will have their hands full with the French.
In Monte Carlo, the men will play their 3rd Masters of the season. Novak Djokovic is the defending champion, having ended Rafael Nadal's 8-year reign last year. Fognini and Tsonga were the semifinalists, and Wawrinka, Gasquet, Dimitrov, and Nieminen made the quarters. I don't see any reason why those two wouldn't battle it out in the final next Sunday. Murray is skipping the event while Federer has accepted a late wild card. This should be a chance for some second tier players to move up the rankings as the top 10 (save Nadal and Djokovic and Ferrer) aren't quite as dominant on clay.
With the poor play of Querrey, the runs of Johnson and Young, here are the Americans in the top 100:
-Isner (11)
-Klahn (65)
-Johnson (68)
-Querrey (71)
-Young (81)
-Sock (88)
-Russell (93)
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