While things went to plan for Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Juan Carlos Ferrero in the weekend’s finals, there were some surprises in Memphis, Marseille and Bogota.
Williams defended her Dubai title, defeating Victoria Azarenka in a tightly contested final. The 6-3, 7-5 victory brought up Venus’ 42nd career title – one more than Justine Henin and six more than sister Serena, although Serena has tasted much more Grand Slam glory of late.
In the USA, Sharapova won the women’s title in Memphis, in a tournament that played out in accordance with the triple Grand Slam champion’s script. The Russian made short work of 2006 titlist Sofia Arvidsson in the final, winning the match 6-2, 6-1 to add title number 21 to her CV and 280 ranking points to her total, although her ranking remains steady at world No. 16.
The Memphis men’s final was played out between two big-serving Americans, and that did not include Andy Roddick. Instead it was the new generation in Sam Querrey and John Isner who battled it out for the silverware.
Isner, who already had one title to his name for 2010, was hunting his second in Memphis, but it was Querrey who prevailed against his friend 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-3 to clinch his third ATP title. It’s also the first title Querrey has won since he badly cut his right forearm when he fell through a glass table after practice for a tournament in Bangkok in the 2009 autumn. The injury ended his season.
The American pair were also on court in the Memphis doubles final, this time on the same side of the net, where Querrey won his second title for the tournament and Isner went one better than in the singles final.
The locals also held court in the final in Marseille, and it was again a case of some of the more fancied chances falling before the deciding match of the tournament. Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the semis, but lost that one to eighth seed Julien Benneteau.
Benneteau, however, wasn’t able to go that one step further and win the title, losing out to another Frenchman in Michael Llodra in the final. The world No. 79 went one better than in 2009, when he had been runner-up to Tsonga to defeat Benneteau 6-4, 6-3 in the final.
It was the fourth time Benneteau had reached the final of an ATP tournament, but the 28-year-old again fell just one victory shy of being named a titlist. However, he gains three ranking points to move up to world No. 36 as a result of his performance in Marseille.
It was the fourth singles title Llodra has claimed in his career, and first since 2008. He’s jumped an impressive 14 places in the rankings to world No. 65 in Monday’s rankings.
Llodra and Benneteau were back on court together in the doubles final, where they defeated top seeds Julian Knowle and Robert Lindstedt to cap a successful tournament for both.
In the third tournament of the Latin American swing, Juan Carlos Ferrero proved too strong for top seed David Ferrer at the Copa Telmex final in Buenos Aires. It’s the second title for Ferrero in as many tournaments, and he took it by coming back from a set down against his Spanish compatriot, eventually winning the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
And in the women’s clay court swing, Colombia’s Mariana Duque Marino gave the home crowd reason to celebrate when she won the first WTA title of her career in Bogota. Marino defeated fifth seed Angelique Kerber in the final to place herself in the running for a place in the end-of-season Bali Tournament of Champions, along with Maria Sharapova as a result of her Memphis victory.
The victory also promoted Marino to a career-high ranking of world No. 94.
This week’s action will see both the men’s and women’s clay court swing move to Acapulco, with the only other women’s tournament taking place in Kuala Lumpur. Many of the big guns of the men’s tour will take to the courts in Dubai, while this week’s American tournament will take place in Delray Beach.
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