Halep Reigns in Dubai, Ferrer in Rio

After a poor ending to the Aussie Open and a loss in Fed Cup, Simona Halep got back to winning at the WTA's first "Tier I" event of 2015.  It was sort of title defense for the Romanian, who won in Doha last year when that was the bigger of the two Middle Eastern tournaments.  She beat up-and-comer Pliskova in the Dubai final, who herself defeated Muguruza in the semis in a battle of young guns.  Halep went through her Aussie Open conqueror Makarova and Wozniacki to reach the final.  In the other WTA event, Sara Errani is back to winning small clay events, this time as the top seed in Rio as she defeated first time finalist Schmiedlova in the final.

In men's action, defending champion Nadal fell to Fognini on an absolutely brilliant shot in the Rio semis, but it was David Ferrer who won the title over the Italian.  Ferrer went 3-10 in finals the last 2 years (after 7-1 in '12) but he is 2-for-2 so far in '15. After a big bounce-back year last year but one in which he never won title despite reaching several finals, Ivo Karlovic remedied that last fact but winning in Delray Beach, defeating a resurgent Young in the final.  And returning to place where he won his 1st ATP title 8 years ago, Gilles Simon made it a dozen wins with a triumph over compatriot Monfils in the 3rd set tiebreak of the final.

Tournament Finals
Dubai (WTA): 1) Simona Halep (ROU) def. 17) Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 6-4 7-6
Rio de Janeiro (ATP): 2) David Ferrer (ESP) def. 4) Fabio Fognini (ITA) 6-2 6-3
Delray Beach (ATP): 4) Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Donald Young (USA) 6-4 6-4
Marseille (ATP): 5) Gilles Simon (FRA) def. 7) Gael Monfils (FRA) 6-4 1-6 7-6(4)
Rio de Janeiro (WTA): 1) Sara Errani (ITA) def. 6) Anna Schmiedlova (SVK) 7-6 6-1

Halep: 10th career title, 2nd of 2015, last '15 Shenzhen
Ferrer: 23rd career title, 2nd of 2015, last '15 Doha
Karlovic: 6th career title, last '13 Bogota
Simon: 12th career title, last '13 Metz, 2nd win in Marseille ('07)
Errani: 8th career title, last '13 Acapulco

Defending Champions
Dubai: Venus Williams (USA), R3 l. to Safarova
Rio de Janeiro (ATP): Rafael Nadal (ESP), SF l. to Fognini
Delray Beach: Marin Cilic (CRO), did not play
Marseille: Ernests Gulbis (LAT), R2 l. to Chardy
Rio de Janeiro (WTA): Kurumi Nara (JPN), R1 l. to Wang (Dubai)

First ATP QF
-Q) Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN), 19-yr-old ranked #154 (Delray Beach)

First ATP win
-Andrey Rublev (RUS), 17-yr-old #370 (Delray Beach)
-Nishioka

First WTA Final
-6) Anna Schmiedlova (SVK), 20-yr-old ranked #75 (Rio de Janeiro)

First WTA SF
-Schmiedlova

First WTA QF
-Julia Glushko (ISR), 25-yr-old ranked #149 (Rio de Janeiro)
-Q) Veronica Cepede Royg (PAR), 23-yr-old ranked #168 (Rio de Janeiro)
-Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA), 18-yr-old ranked #234 (Rio de Janeiro)
-Schmiedlova

First WTA win
-Gabriela Ce (BRA), 21-yr-old ranked #261 (Rio de Janeiro)

Americans Results (men 8-8, women 4-4)
-8-Venus l. to 11-Safarova, Dubai R3; def. Bencic, Dubai R2
-Young l. to 4-Karlovic, Delray Beach F; def. Tomic, SF; def. 3-Dolgopolov, QF; def. A.Gonzalez, R2; def. Dodig, Delray Beach R1
-7-Johnson l. to 4-Karlovic, Delray Beach QF; def. Rublev, R2; Kukushkin, R1
-Smyczek l. to 3-Dolgopolov, Delray Beach R2; def. Kozlov, R1
-Kudla l. to 5-Mannarino, Delray Beach R2; def. Lacko, R1
-2-Isner l. to Matosevic, Delray Beach R1
-6-Querrey l. ret. vs A.Gonzalez, Delray Beach R1
-Kozlov l. to Smyczek, Delray Beach R1
-q-Quigley l. to 5-Mannarino, Delray Beach R1
-4-Brengle l. to Pfizenmaier, Rio de Janeiro R2; def. q-Bogdan, R1
-Mattek-Sands l. to 2-Begu, Rio de Janeiro R2; def. Kovinic, R1
-Min l. to Glushko, Rio de Janeiro R2; def. 8-Scheepers, R1

Notable results
-Eric Quigley, 26-yr-old American qualifier ranked #463, made his ATP main draw debut in Delray Beach
-Paraguay's Fed Cup team, Cepede Royg and Gonzalez, both qualified in Rio de Janeiro, with Cepede Royg winning a match.
-After his fairy tale run to the final in Sao Paulo, Vanni flew across the ocean to Marseille, where he was immediately knocked out by his compatriot Bolelli in straight sets.
-Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT) reached his first ATP semifinal in well over 4 years ('10 Vienna) in Rio de Janeiro
-Venus Williams had a 16-match winning streak in Dubai snapped by Safarova in the 3rd round.
-Karolina Pliskova (CZE) reached her 1st "Tier I" quarterfinal in Dubai, then proceeded to reach the final

3rd set Tiebreaks
Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) def. Q) Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 7-1, Marseille R1
Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) def. 16) Shuai Peng (CHN) 7-5, Dubai R2
Simone Bolleli (ITA) def. 1) Milos Raonic (CAN) 7-3, Marseille R2
4) Fabio Fognini (ITA) def. Federico Delbonis (ARG) 11-9, Rio de Janeiro QF
5) Gilles Simon (FRA) def. 7) Gael Monfils (FRA) 7-4, Marseille F

Long Tiebreaks
Monfils def. Zverev 14-12, Marseille R1
Delbonis def. Fognini 12-10, Rio de Janeiro QF
Kerber def. Kuznetsova 11-9, Dubai R2