Week 2 Summary

Sydney (ATP, 250)

All the young guns were there, but it was the 'old' man, who took it away from them. David Nalbandian captured his 10th title beating Jarkko Nieminen 6/3 6/7(9) 6/2.


Nalbandian one of the most dangerous players of those, who never won a Grand Slam, will be now looking to do some damage at the Australian Open.
"It was a very positive week, and I feel that I'm going to arrive to Melbourne with a lot of confidence. So that's good."

The Argentinian didn't lose a set coming into the final, having beaten such established names as Michael Llodra, Lleyton Hewitt and Richard Gasquet.

The story of the week was perhaps Novak Djokovic's chase for the number two ranking. In order to overtake Roger Federer in the standings, he had to advance to the final and after struggling last week, the Serb looked to have put that behind and seemed to be on his way to do so. Only a few believed that Nieminen could stop him, but the Fin likes playing down under and showed why you can never underestimate a lefty.

Meanwhile the French duo - No.2 seed Gilles Simon and No.3 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had their own struggles. Simon still can't match his last year's form and was taken out pretty handily by fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6/4 6/4.
Tsonga instead, looked allright in his first match, but a back problem forced him to withdraw from the tournament and left him in doubt for the upcoming Australian Open.

"I decided this afternoon that my back was too much and I cannot play. I will stay in my bed and I hope I will be better after." he said. Tsonga, who has had disc problems before, said he would take two days off before coming back to action.


Auckland (ATP, 250)

It was a fantastic weekend for Argentinian tennis as Juan Martin Del Potro once again proved he's on his way to join 'The Great Four" capturing already his fifth title by outlasting Sam Querrey 6/4 6/4.

Last year's shooting star - Del Potro - started the tournament by losing a set to Ernests Gulbis (the one who kicked out Nole last week), but after that he didn't lose another throughout the whole tourney.

"All titles are special and this one is my first of the season. This is good for my future and I will try to win more. It’s a great to start the season, but next week I have another important tournament. I will try to do my best there in Melbourne." he said

The beaten finalist Sam Querrey was made to work harder in order to get to the final. He looked shaky in his 1st round match against New Zealand's wildcard Daniel King Turner, then he lost a set to the qualifier Gilles Muller and in his semifinal match ha had to come from two match points down against the No.2 seed David Ferrer.


Sydney Premier (WTA, $600,000)

It seems like the WTA Tour is now reigned by Elena Dementieva who won three of the last four tournaments she entered. The world No.4 has beaten fellow Russian Dinara Safina in the final 6/3 2/6 6/1 to lift the title.


The Olympic Gold medalist from Beijing came to Sydney on fire after winning in Auckland a week earlier. She managed to keep an unblamished record this year and beat 3 top ten players in a row (with whom she had negative head to head records) - Agnieszka Radwańska, Serena Williams and the aformentioned Safina.

After such a magnificent start to the season Dementieva will head to Melbourne as one of the top favourites (along the Williams sisters) to lift the Australian Open crown. Although she was never able to get past the 4th round there, the Russian relishes the challenge of being of the main title contenders.

"This is great, to have all this pressure after winning two titles. Coming to [Melbourne] with the pressure, I love it, I really do."

The only player, that has been able to steal the headlines from Elena Dementieva was Serena Williams. The world No.2 came to Sydney hoping to get some preperation for the year's first Grand Slam. Williams faced a tough opposition already in her first round as she had to come from 4 match points down to beat the home crowd favourite Samantha Stosur. After an easy 2nd round, the American once again found herself in trouble. In her quarterfinal match against the Dannish shooting star Caroline Wozniacki she had to save three more match points, eventually winning 6/7 6/3 7/6. The former world No.1 seemed not to have anything left in the tank as she went down 3/6 1/6 to Dementieva in the semis.

It was also a good week for Ai Sugiyama, who made only her second semifinal in the last two years. The Japanese veteran got to that stage with a little help from Svetlana Kuznetsova, who had to withdraw from the tournament before their quarterfinal clash with an abdominal muscle strain. This leaves Kuzy doubtful for the Australian Open.


Hobart International (WTA, $220,000)

The 18 year old Petra Kvitova won her first title in an all Czech final in Hobart against Iveta Benesova 7/5 6/1.

Kvitova, who made a name for herself after beating Venus Williams in Memphis last year, enjoyed a rollercoaster road to final. After handling a double bagel to Sally Peers in her first round and cruising past the 7th seed Alona Bondarenko 6/3 6/1, the Czech teenager had to come from behind big time against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The Russian raced out to a comfortable 6/1 5/2 lead.

"It was very horrible for me, the first set and most of the second set. My legs weren't moving and she was playing well. But I didn't give up - I played every ball as well as I could, and I was able to come back. It was a very important match for me. But it wasn't the end, because of course I had two more matches, and I had to refocus."

After that she showed no mercy beating Virginie Razzano in the semis and her roommate Benesova in the final without losing a set.
"I'm very, very happy. I really like it here, so it's exciting for me to win my first title here."

Kvitova wasn't the only one making headlines this week. Hobart was shattered by seeds drop-out. There were none left in the quarterfinals.

Magdalena Rybarikova upset the top seed Flavia Pennetta in the 2nd round for a carrer best win. In her next round against Melinda Czink she had to save one matchpoint, eventually prevailing 6/0 1/6 7/6.
Tsvetana Pironkova took care of No.2 seed Patty Schnyder in the first round, Carla Suarez Navarro out-battled No.3 seed Anna Chakvetadze 7/6 1/6 7/5, while Gisela Dulko proved her good form she showed at the Hong Kong exhibition dispatching No.4 seed Jie Zheng 6/3 6/3.

The match of the tournament involved the No.5 seed Aleksandra Wozniak and Urszula Radwańska. The young Pole came through qualifications, where she surprisingly upset Francesca Schiavone (more on that HERE).
Radwańska, the Junior World Champion of 2007 saved 7 match points against the Canadian. In the third set she only lost two points behind her serve breaking last year's Stanford winner to win the encounter 3/6 7/6 7/5. In the next round Agnieszka's younger sister had to withdraw with back pain, although the real reason was she had to give it up, in order to make the Australian Open qualifications.
With the draw so wildly open Radwańska might soon regret she didn't stay in Hobart to fight for the title...

~jachal