Kohlschreiber Wins at Home, Bouchard and Puig are first time champions

It is the week before a major so there were few top players in action, but there were still 4 tournaments and we saw intriguing results in several and new steps forward for younger players.  The WTA saw 2 first time champions, both from North America.  Eugenie Bouchard, the promising Canadian who made the semis at the Aussie Open, won her first title in Nurnberg, besting Ka.Pliskova in the final.  And Monica Puig, who rose up the rankings last year but had done little this year, knocked off qualifier Soler Espinosa in the final in Strasbourg.  In men's action, Philipp Kohlschreiber won in his home country for the 4th time by defeating Karlovic in the Dusseldorf final.  And Ernests Gulbis continued his strong 2014 with a win in Nice, beating Delbonis in the final.

As you'll read below, it was also a nice week for American women in Strasbourg.

ATP 250: Dusseldorf, Germany
1) Philipp Kohlschreiber def. 7) Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-2 7-6(4)
-Kohlschreiber wins 5th career title, last '12 Munich (2-yr drought)
-All but one of his titles have been in Germany
-Americans: none
-An 18-yr-old Serb ranked no. 591, Nikola Milojevic, won his ATP main draw debut, defeating Bosnian qualifier Basic, but then he lost to Karlovic.
-Kubler, a 21-yr-old Aussie ranked no. 352, got his first ATP main draw win over Italian qualifier Giannessi, but then he lost to Istomin
-Vesely, the 20-yr-old Czech, reached his first ATP semifinal
-Croatian tennis has a bright future.  Besides young Coric, 21-yr-old Delic, got his first two ATP main draw wins to reach his first quarterfinal and get his ranking inside the top 200
-The only 3rd set tiebreak was Karlovic over Kamke in R1
-Monaco was the defending champion and managed to reach the quarters, falling to Karlovic

ATP 250: Nice, France
2) Ernests Gulbis (LAT) def. 7) Federico Delbonis (ARG) 6-1 7-6(5)
-Gulbis wins 6th career title, 2nd of 2014, last '14 Marseille
-This is his first clay title and he rises to a career high no. 17
-Americans: 2-4, not particularly good, 1-Isner beat Sock then lost to Delbonis in a 3rd set tiebreak; Sock beat de Schepper; Johnson lost to Thiem and Querrey (a lucky loser) to Montanes)
-Vaisse, a Frenchman, qualified to make his ATP main draw debut at age 26, but lost to Mahut
-I mentioned Coric above, he got a wildcard into Nice but lost to a qualifier, L.Mayer
-Two quarterfinals went to 3rd set tiebreaks, Delbonis saved a match point against Isner, and Gulbis held off Tursunov
-Montanes was the defending champion and he made the semis but lost to Gulbis

WTA International: Nurnberg, Germany
2) Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) def. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 6-2 4-6 6-3
-Bouchard wins 1st career title!
-Americans: none
-A pair of 19-yr-olds, one a name you may know from Fed Cup, Montserrat Gonzalez (PAR), and Tereza Martincova (CZE), made the main draw debut as lucky losers, but fell to Pfizenmaier and An.Rodianova.  Neither has a main draw victory (yet).
-I am fairly confident it was a main draw debut for Nina Zander at age 24; she is ranked no. 316 and qualified
-Another German made a main draw debut, 17-yr-old Antonia Lottner, but she lost to van Uytvanck.
-Since there's not much else to say about this tournament, Svitolina and Knapp lost in the semis while Kerber, Garcia, Shvedova, and Barthel made the quarters.  That is a nice result for Barthel after she had been in free fall.
-Vesnina defeated Jovanovski in an epic 3rd set tiebreak 9-7 on her way to the semis
-Halep was the defending champion but did not play.  This event was held the week after the French Open last year, but replaces the now defunct Brussels tournament in this slot.

WTA International: Strasbourg, France
Monica Puig (PUR) def. Q) Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 6-4 6-3
-Puig wins 1st career title!
-Americans: 9-6, a very good tournament, only top seed Stephens didn't a match.  Keys and McHale each reached the semis, though they did disappoint there against players ranked below them.  8-Riske, Davis, and King each had one win.  They lost to Keys, Goerges, and 4-Petkovic so no shame there
-Soler-Espinosa was playing her first WTA final
-Only one seeded player (4-Petkovic) reached the quarters and none made the semis
-Five seeds were knocked in the first round: 1-Stephens, 2-Cornet, 3-Flipkens, 5-Vesnina, and 6-Jovanovski
-Diyas and Giorgi were the other quarterfinalists not previously mentioned
-Cornet was the defending champion but she lost to Giorgi in the first round