Isner Defends in Atlanta, Svitolina in Baku

Pablo Cuevas came from absolutely nowhere 2 weeks ago to win the title in Bastad.  And now, having to come through qualifying because of the 6-week lag time in direct entries, he did so and then went on win that title in Umag, Croatia, defeating Robredo in the final.  Pablo Andujar won the title in Gstaad over a resurgent Juan Monaco in the final.  And on the hard courts, we had two players successfully defend titles from last year.  For Elina Svitolina, last year and now this year in Baku are the only titles she's ever won, defeating Jovanovski this year.  And John Isner once again shows his love for American soil, especially Southern soil, winning in Atlanta for a second consecutive year in his 4th consecutive final there, defeating surprise finalist Sela.

ATP 250: Gstaad, Switzerland
Pablo Andujar (ESP) def. Juan Monaco (ARG) 6-3 7-5
-Andujar wins 3rd career title, last '12 Casablanca
-It is his first title not won in Casablanca
-Americans: none
-Troicki returned from his drug suspension and immediately made the quarters with wins over 8-Thiem and Golubev
-Swiss journeyman Marti, 2 weeks after getting his ATP win, got his second, beating Gimeno-Traver in a 3rd set tiebreak.  He is now on the cusp of the top 200 at no. 203.
-The man Marti beat for his first win, Laaksonen, won his first ATP match of the year after qualifying.
-4-Verdasco (def. Struff) and Golubev (def. q-Cervantes) also won 3rd set tiebreaks
-Youzhny was the defending champion but fell in the quarters to Haase

ATP 250: Umag, Croatia
Q) Pablo Cuevas (URU) def. 2) Tommy Robredo (ESP) 6-3 6-4
-Cuevas wins 2nd career title, 2nd of 2014, last '14 Bastad
-He will be up to no. 40 in the world after his nice summer clay-court run
-Americans: none
-This week's breakout teenager was the local Coric, whom we've discussed before, but the 17-yr-old reached his first ATP quarterfinal with wins over 7-Roger-Vasselin and q-Zeballos
-5-Rosol survived a 3rd set tiebreak against Schwartzmann, a young Argentine ranked no. 100.
-Zverev lost in the first round to Montanes after his Hamburg run
-Robredo was the defending champion but came up short in the final

ATP 250: Atlanta, GA, United States
1) John Isner (USA) def. Dudi Sela (ISR) 6-3 6-4
-Isner wins 9th career title, 2nd of 2014, last '14 Auckland
-All his titles have come in the USA or New Zealand, and everywhere he has won he has won twice except Houston (Auckland, Atlanta, Newport, Winston-Salem)
-Americans: 10-10, not great beside Isner (champion) and Sock (SF, l. to Isner).  9-Querrey won one match (def. Johnson), Ginepri (l. to Isner R2), and Smyczek (def. Harrison).  First round losers were Harrison, Pasha, l-Ram, Johnson, Young, and l-Kuznetsov
-Sela was contesting his 2nd ATP final and first in 6 years ('08 Beijing)
-The tournament suffered from withdrawals including seeds Monfils and Stepanek.  There were 3 lucky losers and also qualifier Venus (NZL), ranked outside the top 300, received a bye.  He lost to Sock and is still looking for his first ATP win.
-Becker reached another quarterfinal at age 33
-There were no 3rd set tiebreaks
-de Bakker retired against Diez in the final round of qualifying but then entered as a lucky loser and defeated the Canadian in the main draw the next day.  Some injury I guess!
-Isner successfully defended his title

WTA International: Baku, Azerbaijan
2) Elina Svitolina (UKR) def. 5) Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 6-1 7-6(2)
-Svitolina wins 2nd career title, last '13 Baku
-Americans: none
-Japenese qualifier Misa Eguchi, a 22-yr-old ranked no. 183, recorded her first 2 WTA wins and reached her first quarterfinal.
-K.Bondarenko, in her comeback after having a baby, qualified but lost to Glushko 7-5 in the 3rd.
-Mladenovic and Schiavone met in the quarters for the 2nd consecutive week, and this time Schiavone was victorious as she has put together a few wins of late after a miserable start to the season
-It was a poor tournament for qualifiers and wildcards as they combined to go just 3-9 with 2 wins for Eguchi and one for Dolonc
-Jovanovski's run to the final puts her at no. 36 and leaves her on the cusp of getting seeded at the US Open.  She was the '12 champion in Baku.
-There were no 3rd set tiebreaks
-Svitolina successfully defended her title