Young Americans Keys and Vandeweghe Breakthrough, So Too Bautista Agut

The young American women have been showing themselves to the tour over past year or two with a number of them rising up the rankings and being a steady force in the top 100.  But only did one (and actually two, on the same day) win their first career title.  Madison Keys got it done in Eastbourne, surviving Kerber in 3 sets.  And Coco Vandeweghe, who once reached a Tier I quarterfinal in Tokyo, worked her way through qualifying in 's-Hertogenbosch before reeling off 5 main draw victories, in the end defeating the veteran Zheng in the final.  And on the men's side, the rising Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut, who was seeded at a major for the first time at the French Open, won his first career title, shockingly on grass, in 's-Hertogenbosch with a win over surprise finalist Becker.  Another Spaniard, but this one certainly more comfortable on grass than most, Feliciano Lopez, who lost in the final of Queen's last week, defended his Eastbourne title, defeating Gasquet in the final.

ATP 250: Eastbourne, United Kingdom
3) Feliciano Lopez (ESP) def. 1) Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-3 6-7(5)7-5
-Lopez wins 4th career title, last '13 Eastbourne
-Americans: 4-2, Querrey had his best result in a long time, reaching the semis before losing to Lopez.  Young beat Ward and lost to Klizan.
-Gasquet and Lopez were the only seeds to reach the quarters, though 2-Dolgopolov pulled out late.  The other 5 seeds went 1-5 with 6-Simon the only winner.
-Aussie Davis Cup doubles star Guccione qualified for the main draw in singles
-Plenty of tiebreaks but not a single 3rd set tiebreak
-Lopez successfully defended his title

ATP 250: 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
3) Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) def. Benjamin Becker (GER) 2-6 7-6(2) 6-4
-Bautist Agut wins 1st career title!
-He reached one other final ('13 Chennai)
-Americans: 1-2, Klahn lost to 5-Tursunov, Johnson beat de Schepper then lost to 7-Mahut
-The Dutch got first round wins from their two wildcards, wins for Huta Galung and de Bakker.  The former Wimbledon boys champ (de Bakker) would then get a walkover from Tursunov to reach the quarters.
-20-yr-old Belgian former boys French Open champ Coppejans made good use of the other wildcard in taking a set off Mahut (a former Wimbledon boys champ).  It was his ATP main draw debut.
-Pospisil, after his long losing streak, won 2 matches in a row to reach the quarters
-The young Croat Pavic, who I talked about a few weeks ago, qualified and then won another main draw match.
-8-Melzer def 2-Verdasco in the quarters by the amazing scoreline 7-6(3) 6-7(6) 7-6(9).  The next round Melzer would be eliminated by Bautista Agut in a 3rd tiebreak
-Top seed Ferrer withdrew early
-Mahut was the defending champion and lost to Bautista Agut in the quarters

WTA Premier: Eastbourne, United Kingdom
Madison Keys (USA) def. 5) Angelique Kerber (GER) 6-3 3-6 7-5
-Keys wins 1st career title!
-It was her first WTA final as well
-Americans: 9-4, besides Keys (who eliminated Jankovic in R1), Davis qualified and reached the semis, losing to Keys.  Lepchenko (Zhang) and Stephens (Garcia) each notched a win before losing to Kvitova and Wozniacki.  Riske was a first round loser with a tough draw to Kerber.
-Azarenka returned from injury but only to lose 7-5 in the 3rd to Giorgi
-Wozniacki had an encouraging result, reaching the quarters before falling to Kerber
-The British got good mileage from their wildcards.  Konta won one match but Watson went all the way to the semis, losing to Keys
-The top 2 seeds each got involved in a 3rd set tiebreak in R1.  Radwanska lost to Pavlyuchenkova but Kvitova survived her compatriot Safarova.  Kerber also won a 3rd set tiebreak vs Cornet in R2
-Vesnina was the defending champion but fell to Keys in R2

WTA International: 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Q) Coco Vandeweghe (USA) def. Jie Zheng (CHN) 6-2 6-4
-Keys wins 1st career title!
-It was her 2nd WTA final ('12 Stanford)
-Americans: 6-1, Vandeweghe beat seeds Muguruza and Koukalova on her way to the title while King upset Bouchard before losing to Vandeweghe.
-Retirements were a bit of a problem here with Halep, Suarez Navarro, and King all pulling out in the second round.  Also Kvitova pulled out in Eastbourne.
-Vandeweghe was very nearly beaten by Erakovic in the first round, surviving a 3rd set tiebreak, the only one of the tournament
-Halep was the defending champion but pulled out up a set in her R2 match vs Beck

Bring on Wimbledon!