Monday Net Post

Last Week's Tournaments

Austrian Open (ATP - Clay - Kitzbühel, Austria)

- Singles Final: Juan Monaco def. Potito Starace 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Juan Monaco def. Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Potito Starace def. Agustin Calleri 6-4, 7-5.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Luis Horna/Potito Starace def. Tomas Behrend/Christopher Kas 7-6, 7-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Luis Horna/Potito Starace def. Simon Aspelin/Julian Knowle 7-6, 6-3.
- Doubles Semifinal: Tomas Behrend/Christopher Kas def. Nicolas Almagro/Ivan Navarro Pastor 6-1, 6-3.
- Doubles Bracket

Croatia Open (ATP - Clay - Umag, Croatia)

- Singles Final: Carlos Moya def. Andrei Pavel 6-4, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Andrei Pavel def. Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Carlos Moya def. Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-2.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Lukas Dlouhy/Michal Mertinak def. Jaroslav Levinsky/David Skoch 6-1, 6-1.
- Doubles Semifinal: Jaroslav Levinsky/David Skoch def. Victor Hanescu/Jean-Claude Scherrer 5-7, 7-5, 13-11.
- Doubles Semifinal: Lukas Dlouhy/Michal Mertinak def. Marin Cilic/Lovro Zovko 6-3, 6-2.
- Doubles Bracket

Indianapolis Tennis Championships (ATP - Hard - Indianapolis, United States)

- Singles Final: Dmitry Tursunov def. Frank Dancevic 6-4, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Frank Dancevic def. Andy Roddick 6-4, 7-6.
- Singles Semifinal: Dmitry Tursunov def. Sam Querrey 7-6, 6-2.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Juan Martin Del Potro/Travis Parrott def. Teimuraz Gabashvili/Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 6-2, 10-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Teimuraz Gabashvili/Ivo Karlovic def. Amer Delic/Justin Gimelstob 6-3, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Juan Martin Del Potro/Travis Parrott def. Scott Lipsky/David Martin 6-3, 6-3.
- Doubles Bracket

Bank of the West Classic (WTA - Hard - Stanford, United States)

- Singles Final: Anna Chakvetadze def. Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Anna Chakvetadze def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Sania Mirza def. Sybille Bammer 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

- Doubles Final: Sania Mirza/Shahar Peer def. Victoria Azarenka/Anna Chakvetadze 6-4, 7-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Victoria Azarenka/Anna Chakvetadze def. Katarina Srebotnik/Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 5-7, 10-7.
- Doubles Semifinal: Sania Mirza/Shahar Peer def. Su-Wei Hsieh/Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-4.

• Singles & Doubles Brackets

Gastien Ladies (WTA - Clay - Bad Gastien, Austria)

- Singles Final: Francesca Schiavone def. Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Francesca Schiavone def. Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Yvonne Meusburger def. Karin Knapp 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

- Doubles Final: Lucie Hradecka/Renata Voracova def. Agnes Szavay/Vladimira Uhlirova 6-3, 7-5.
- Doubles Semifinal: Agnes Szavay/Vladimira Uhlirova def. Eva Birnerova/Eva Hrdinova 7-5, 7-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Lucie Hradecka/Renata Voracova def. Emmanuelle Gagliardi/Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-3.

• Singles & Doubles Brackets

By the Letter

T...wenty championship trophies presently occupy space in Carlos Moya's home -  fully five of them - or  a whopping 25 per cent - collected at Umag.  Moya has won the Croatian Open in 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003 - and again this year, following yesterday's win over Andrei Pavel.
E...xact same match-up:  Anna Chakvetadze and Sania Mirza played two finals against each other in Stanford, the singles an doubles. Chakvetadze won the singles match, while Mirza (with partner Shahar Peer) took the doubles title.
N...o breaks of serve occurred in the Indianapolis quarterfinal between James Blake and Sam Querrey (Querrey won, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6).  The difference? Perhaps it was the 10 consecutive aces served by Querrey. This is thought to be an Open-era record.
N...ews: Pete kindly alluded to this in an earlier post last week, so I won't leave you hanging (in case you were wondering).  I recently found out that I will be covering the U.S. Open for the USTA in a media reporting role during the two weeks of the tournament.  Needless to say, I am overjoyed by this amazing opportunity, and am currently counting down the days until August 27.  A huge "thank you" goes out to everyone who's helped me along the way - especially Pete for his mentoring and assistance, as well as the chance to do the MNP each week.  I'll let you know more as the Open draws near, but my reports probably will run at  www.usopen.org.
I...talian tennis fans had much to rejoice about this week - Fed Cup star Francesca Schiavone won her first career WTA Tour title in Bad Gastien (she was previously 0-8 in finals), while Potito Starace reached the finals of Kitzbühel.
S...ame prize money and ranking points as are offered at other Masters Series events will be available at Monte Carlo when the ATP tweaks the schedule in 2009, but Monte Carlo will not be a required stop for the ATP players anymore.
W...imbledon enjoyed a rare, return visit from Bjorn Borg this year. Now, after a five year hiatus, Borg will make his return to the senior tour in August at Vale de Lobo.
O...lympics, ITF, and the WTA Tour have come to an agreement on ranking points at the upcoming Olympic Games, solving a thorny, divisive issue for the game's bureaucrats.
R...oger Federer takes usually an extended break after Wimbledon before coming over to North America.  This year, he took it one step further: he brought American tennis to his vacation home in Dubai in the form of Jesse Levine . The lucky ambassador will be Federer's hitting partner a he prepare for the North American swing..
L...engthy absence from the ATP Tour continues for Andy Murray, who pulled out of Washington due to a persistent wrist injury.  Fernando Gonzalez has also withdrawn from the event, due to a sore back.
D...espite a rank of 9,999th in the world, once mighty Australian Jelena Dokic has declined repeated assistance from Tennis Australia, instead opting to remain with her current team.

McGrogan's Heroes

ATP - Andy Roddick's woes against players with one-handed backhands continues.  First it was Roger Federer, then Richard Gasquet, and now it's Frank Dancevic.  Who?  Well, if you don't know yet, you should have a pretty good idea by the time AMS Montreal rolls around in a few weeks. Tennis Canada is sure to showcase its top native singles player.

Dancevic, whose backhand resembles Federer's (both the slice and the regular version), has been dancing around the qualifier and Challenger tournaments, his ranking hovering around the 100 mark.  This week, he was the last direct acceptance into the Indianapolis draw. When he heard the news, he jumped in his car and drovem all the way to Indy from his home, Niagara Falls.  Dancevic more than made up for all the money he spent on gas, earning $42,800 for his runner-up finish to Dmitry Tursunov.  It was not just his biggest payday yet, it was also his first ATP Tour final.

Although Dancevic fell to Tursunov, he played the match of his life against Roddick in the semifinals, winning 6-4, 7-6 (1).  The two had played earlier in the year at the SAP Open, with Andy winning the first-rounder, 7-5, 6-1. This time, the stakes were much higher, and the Canadian took out the crowd favorite. He saved four break points in the first set, and lost just a point in sweeping the second set-set tiebreaker.  Tursunov and Dancevic had played once before (Tursunov won - oddy enough by the same five-and-one score by which Roddick had beaten Dancevic at the SAP). But any superstitious hope that might have generated for Dancevic was soon crushed by Tursunov. Never mind - Dancevic had a great tournament.

WTA - Francesca Schiavone ended her finals curse this week (see letter "I" above).  It was a tremendous display of fortitude by the 27-year old. Kudos! But oddly enough, the anti-Schiavone  narrowly beats out the real one for our heroine award. Entering this week, Anna Chakvetadze had not lost a final in five attempts. On Sunday, she ran that streak to 6-0.

Many Russian tennis players define themselves by diligently playing week-in and week-out on tour.  The ATP has two fine examples in Nikolay Davydenko and Dmitry Tursunov; on the women's side, Chakvetadze shares their distinction.  Since losing to Michaella Krajicek at Wimbledon, Chakvetadze has played for Russia in Fed Cup competition (going 1-1), then she won the following week at Cincinnati, and won again this week at Stanford (where she also reached the double final). Fatigue obviously isn't an issue for her, demonstrating that Anna's fitness is superior to that of her peers.

Chakvetadze's game is impressive. I witnessed it up close during the Russia/United States Fed Cup tie a few weeks ago. One of the first things that jumped out at me was the economy of her game.  I was amazed by how quickly - almost effortlessly - she gets into position, which makes her shots far more effective.  Take a look at this video (of one of her backhands) to see what I mean.  I never thought Chakvetadze would be an imposing figure, but she really has become a force on tour this year - especially in recent weeks.  Oh, and by the way, she's playing again this week in San Diego.

Next Week's Tournaments

Legg Mason Tennis Classic (ATP - Hard - Washington D.C., United States)

• Website
• Singles Bracket
• Doubles Bracket

TV:

Friday: 12:00 - 2:00 pm (TTC), 7:00 - 9:00 pm (ESPN2)
Saturday: 12:00 - 4:00 pm (TTC), 9:00 - 11:00 pm (ESPN2)
Sunday: 3:00 - 5:00 pm (ESPN2), 8:00 - 10:00 pm (TTC)

Orange Prokom Open (ATP - Clay - Sopot, Poland)

• Website
• Singles Bracket
• Doubles Bracket

TV:

Monday: 12:30 pm (TVP Sport)
Tuesday: 12:30 pm (TVP Sport)
Wednesday: 12:30 pm (TVP Sport)
Thursday: 12:30 pm (TVP Sport)
Friday: 12:30 pm (TVP Sport)
Saturday: 1:00 pm (TVP Sport)
Sunday: 1:00 pm (TVP Sport)

Acura Classic (WTA - Hard - San Diego, United States)

• Website
• Singles & Doubles Brackets

TV:

Friday: 2:00 - 6:00 pm (TTC), 11:00 pm - 1:00 am (ESPN2)
Saturday: 4:00 - 8:00 pm (TTC), 11:00 pm - 1:00 am (ESPN2)
Sunday: 5:00 - 7:00 pm (ESPN2), 10:00 pm - 12:00 am (TTC)

Nordea Nordic Light Open (WTA - Hard - Stockholm, Sweden)

• Website
• Singles & Doubles Brackets

TV:

None*

* If you have any additional information regarding television broadcasts for tournaments, please email me - comments and suggestions are welcome.

Beyond the Bracket

"Roadmap 2010" has been the subject of debate ever since the WTA  press release  introduced it.  One of the hotspots - or is it sore spots? -  right off the bat was San Diego, home of the Acura Classic. The tournament had a great little tradition as a regular summer-circuit, but apparently being in the game since 1984, and featuring loads of great champions, is not enough to ensure a secure place on the WTA  calendar.  San Diego is a Tier I event, but even that will not be enough to save the event, although there's hope that tennis will soon return to San Diego.

The Acura Classic of today has gone through many different names, as Virginia Slims, Mazda, Toshiba, and TIG have all sponsored the event in the past. The tournament has been played at a number of venues, starting with Balboa Park. Since 1991, it has been hosted at La Costa Resort and Spa.

The players who helped make San Diego a formidable, blue-chip even include four-time champion Steffi Graf (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994) and Jennifer Capriati, who won the title in 1991 and 1992.  Martina Hingis won here twice (1997 and 1999), as did Lindsay Davenport, who has the longest gap between her victories (1998 and 2004).  Venus Williams is the only woman to have won here in three consecutive years (2000-2002).  Other noteworthy champions include Conchita Martinez (1995), Justine Henin (2003), and the defending champion, Maria Sharapova.

- Ed McGrogan