Kuznetsova Ends Lengthy Title Drought, Raonic Wins in DC

There are really a few good stories this weekend as the clay court season is finally concluded and we look ahead to the big American hard court events.  Last year's men's Rogers Cup runner-up will carry a winning streak into his home event as Milos Raonic won in Washington, defeating his compatriot Pospisil in the final (bringing back memories of '13 Montreal) in the first all-Canadian ATP final ever.  Also in Washington, Svetlana Kuznetsova ended a 4-year (wow, FOUR YEARS) title drought when she eliminated Nara in the final.  We'll see if she's able to turn that into more success or if it is just another peak in her roller coaster of a career.  Serena Williams broke a drought by her standards - almost 3 months - by winning Stanford, knocking off Kerber in the final.  And in Kitzbuhel, the final clay court tournament of the year was the first ever tournament won by David Goffin, who shot up on our radar screens a year or two ago only to disappoint.  He beat local favorite Thiem in a battle of first-time finalists.  Maybe this will give him confidence to renew his ascent.

WTA Premier: Stanford, CA, United States
1) Serena Williams (USA) def. 3) Angelique Kerber (GER) 7-6(1) 6-3
-Serena wins 61st career title, 4th of 2014, last '14 Rome
-It is her 3rd win in Stanford ('11,'12)
-Americans: 12-5 as they make up for a poor showing in DC.  Four Americans reached the quarters: Serena, Venus, Lepchenko, and q-Vickery.  Lepchenko eliminated 2-Radwanska then lost only 1 game to Vickery to make the semis.  Serena won the title, Venus made the quarters, defeating 4-Azarenka before falling to 8-Petkovic.  Vandeweghe won her first rounder over American wildcard Ahn, a Stanford grad.
-Vickery is a 19-yr-old ranked no. 7 among those born in '95 and she reached her first WTA quarterfinal.  (She won a match at the '13 US Open as a wildcard.)
-Carol Zhao, a Canadian qualifier ranked no. 421, got her first WTA main draw win, defeating Wickmayer before losing to 5-Ivanovic
-And in what had to be one of the upsets of the year, 16-yr-old Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka, ranked no. 406, stunned last year's Carlsbad champion Stosur, winning her first WTA main draw appearance.
-There were no 3rd set tiebreaks
-Cibulkova was the defending champion but she lost to Muguruza in her first match.

ATP 500: Washington, DC, United States
2) Milos Raonic (CAN) def. 13) Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 6-1 6-4
-Raonic wins 6th career title, last '13 Bangkok
-All his titles have come on hard courts
-Americans: 13-12, not bad but we would have liked better.  Plenty in the draw obviously.  Young got 4 of the wins, reaching his first semi in ages.  He beat 7-Anderson, 15-Istomin, and 17-Benneteau before losing to 2-Raonic.  Johnson picked up 3 wins including back-to-back 3rd set tiebreaks wins 8-6 over 5-Isner and 9-7 over 9-Karlovic before losing to 2-Raonic.  Smyczek won 2 matches including 12-Chardy.  Sock (l. to 2-Raonic in 2 tiebreaks), Querrey, q-Ram, and q-Ginepri were the other winners.  First round losers were q-Donaldson (l. to Ram), Russell (l. to Querrey), q-Kuznetsov (l. to Smyczek), Tiafoe, and the aforementioned 5-Isner (l. to Johnson).  Donaldson (17-yr-old) and Tiafoe (16-yr-old) were both making their ATP main draw debuts.
-Pospisil was contesting his first ATP final
-Jaziri won 2 matches including a win over 11-Stepanek as he got back to some winning ways
-Estrella, my Dominican boy, picked up 2 wins.
-Berdych was the top seed but lost to Pospisil after just one win
-Other 3rd set tiebreaks were Estrella def. Kamke 7-4 (R1) and 9-Karlovic def. Paire in 3 tiebreaks 7-6(5) 6-7(11) 7-6(2)
-Del Potro was the defending champion but is still out with his wrist injury

WTA International: Washington, DC, United States
6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) vs Kurumi Nara (JPN) 6-3 4-6 6-4
-Kuznetsova wins 14th career title, last '10 Stanford (4-yr drought)
-Americans: 6-9, altogether a poor showing by the young Americans.  King did reach the quarters but it was at the expense of McHale, who in turn had bounced 4-Stephens in R1.  7-Keys and Riske each lost their openers, the latter to q-Kuwata, who I'll get to later.  On the bright side, q-Black, a 16-yr-old  and '13 US Open girls runner-up, made her WTA main draw debut but lost to Diyas, winning 4 games.  q-Townsend won a match as did Rogers, who took 3-Cornet.  Davis also won one before falling to 2-Makarova.
-Hiroko Kuwata, a 23-yr-old Japanese qualifier ranked no. 200, picked up what I believe to be her first WTA win, defeating Riske.
-Japenese qualifier Misa Eguchi, a 22-yr-old ranked no. 183, recorded her first 2 WTA wins and reached her first quarterfinal.
-Flipkens defeated Watson in a first round 3rd set tiebreak
-The top seed Safarova was knocked out in her first match versus Mladenovic, who all of a sudden is on fire
-There were no 3rd set tiebreaks
-Rybarikova was the defending champion but won just 2 games against Makarova in R1.

ATP 250: Kitzbuhel, Austria
David Goffin (BEL) def. 5) Dominic Thiem (AUT) 4-6 6-1 6-3
-Goffin wins 1st career title!
-It was also his first ATP semi and final
-Americans: none
-Thiem, the top player 21-and-under on tour, ranked no. 50, reached his first ATP semi and final.  He adds to the growing list of young players making an impact on tour.
-Gonzalez (Maximo), a 31-yr-old Argentine, qualified and reached his 2nd ATP semi
-A 21-yr-old Argentine, Schwartzman, ranked no. 100, picked up his 3rd ATP win
-Galovic, a 23-yr-old Croat ranked outside the top 700, qualified to make his ATP main draw debut, but he lost to fellow qualifier Ramos
-Kohlschreiber is struggling a bit of late.  He was the top seed but lost his opening match to Goffin
-There were no 3rd set tiebreaks
-Granollers was the defending champion but lost to Thiem in the quarters