Estrella Burgos a 1st Time Titlist at Age 34

The women are scattered all over the world playing Fed Cup but the men have regular tour action.  The story of the week is certainly the 34-yr-old journeyman Victor Estrella Burgos, far and away the best player ever to come from the Dominican Republic, winning his 1st career title.  He is the oldest player to win a 1st title and really is a tremendous story.  I've been following the last couple years after seeing be a Davis Cup in Americas Zonal Group II and then on to Group I before seeing his name show up in grand slam qualifying and then eventually to tour level events.  Finally he reach an ATP semi in Bogota, made the top 100, and now has an ATP title, in Quito, defeating top 20 player Lopez in the final.  It is quite the rags to riches story.  Elsewhere, Richard Gasquet broke an over 1-year title drought in an anticlimactic final (Janowicz retired) to win in Montpellier.  And Guillermo Garcia-Lopez has quietly been putting up solid results for a few months and he wins in Zagreb over Seppi, who has validated his win over Federer by reaching the final.

Tournament Finals
Montpellier (ATP): 4) Richard Gasquet (FRA) def. 5) Jerzy Janowicz (POL) 3-0 ret.
Quito (ATP): 8) Victor Estrella Burgos (DOM) def. 1) Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-2 6-7 7-6(5)
Zagreb (ATP): 3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) def. 5) Andreas Seppi (ITA) 7-6 6-3

Gasquet: 11th career title, last '13 Moscow, 2nd win in Montpellier ('13)
Estrella Burgos: 1st career title at age 34
Garcia-Lopez: 4th career title, last '14 Casablanca

Defending Champions
Montpellier: Monfils, SF l. to Gasquet
Vina del Mar (now Quito): Fognini, not playing after Aussie Open doubles championship
Zagreb: Cilic, withdrew due to injury

First ATP Final
-Estrella Burgos

First ATP win
-Q) Nicolas Jarry (CHI), 19-yr-old ranked #219 (Quito)
-Q) Gerald Melzer (AUT), 24-yr-old ranked #154 (Quito), younger brother of Jurgen, was 0-7 in ATP matches

Americans Results (men 0-1)
-Krajicek l. to Zeballos, Quito R1

Notable results
-Seven of eight seeds made the quarters in both Montpellier (missing 8-Struff) and Quito (missing 2-Giraldo)
-Baghdatis saw a resurgence in Melbourne and that continues with a run to the semis in Zagreb with wins over Karlovic and Youzhny
-Belgian veteran Steve Darcis (who of course beat Nadal at Wimbledon a couple years ago) reached his 1st QF since 2012 in Montpellier

3rd set Tiebreaks
-Q) Gerald Melzer (AUT) def. Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT) 8-6, Quito R1
-5) Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) def. Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) 7-1, Quito R1
-6) Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) def. Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 8-6, Quito R2
-7) Viktor Troicki (SRB) def. Q) Illya Marchenko (UKR) 7-3, Zagreb R1
-Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) def. 1) Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 9-7, Zagreb R2
-5) Andreas Seppi (ITA) def. Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 8-6, Zagreb QF
-8) Victor Estrella Burgos (DOM) def. 1) Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-5, Quito F

Long Tiebreaks
Granollers def. Dodig 10-8, Quito R2 - that's the longest for this week

Fed Cup report coming shortly