TennisToday

John Isner Wins ATP Title at Houston and Then Promptly Loses 1st Round at Monte-Carlo Two Days Later

ATP 250 Houston - Men's Final

5 John Isner d 1 Nicolas Almagro - 63 75

John won his 6 title and has now won an ATP title 4 years running.

Post match: I've always known I could play well on clay.

Then two days later he's across the Atlantic playing at M-C.

***

ATP Masters Series 1000 Monte-Carlo - First Round

Ernests Gulbis d w/c John Isner - 46 62 63

I'm thinking he should have pulled from this tournament.

But he asked for a wild-card and I suppose he didn't want to waffle.

Almagro (Houston runner-up) barely got out of the first round himself.

This has to be one of the toughest turn-arounds in tennis.

Rest up. This is just the start of the long European swing.

Weekend Winners for April 15, 2012

ATP 250 Houston - Final

4 Juan Monaco d 2 John Isner - 62 36 63

Juan wins his 5th career title and 2nd of the 2012 season.

In the effort he has matched his ranking high of #14.

He is a clay court specialist with very few points to defend this clay swing.

If Juan plays his balls right he could quite well be a top 10 player by June.

That quest will begin this week at Monte-Carlo.

ATP 250 Casablanca - Final

3 Pablo Andujar d 7 Albert Ramos - 61 76(5)

Pablo wins his 2nd ATP title - both coming at Casablanca ('11).

The win propels him 19 spots to a ranking of #39 - one short of his high.

He will pop-over to Monte-Carlo this week where he's never played before.

He also has no matches to defend in Madrid and Rome.

If Pablo plays his balls right he could find himself seeded at Roland Garros.

WTA Copenhagen - Final

2 Angelique Kerber d 1 Caroline Wozniacki - 64 64

Ang wins her second WTA title - both coming this season.

She enjoys a rankings bump up to #14.

Ang prevented Caro from a hat-trick of titles at Copenhagen.

Caro seems to be, well... slipping.

She was #1 just a few months ago - she's currnetly ranked #6.

WTA Barcelona - Final

7 Sara Errani d 3 Dominika Cibulkova - 62 62

Sara wins her 4th WTA title and 2nd on the 2012 season.

As a result of her efforts she enjoys her highest ranking of #28.

She also took the doubles title yesterday with Roberta Vinci.

Michael Russell & Flavio Cipolla Reach First Ever ATP Event Semifinals

Michael Russell (above) has been out there banging balls since 1998.

Houston '12 marks his first trip to an ATP level tournament - 14 years later!

Major props man.

The qualifier will face the 4th seed Juan Monaco who leads their H2H 1-0.

***

And over at Casablanca Flavio Cipolla is thru to his 1st ATP Sf as well.

Flavio (below) has also been out there for awhile - he turned pro in 2003.

Major props man.

He will face the tournament's 3rd seed Pablo Andujar for the first time.

Currently ranked #85 Flavio has been a resident in the top 100 since Sept.

***

Both are literally little guys on the tour as both are listed at 5'8".

And as someone who also stands 5'8" I say: GO LITTLE GUYS!

***

Update: Both lost. But they'll get decents bumps in the rankings on Monday.

Ryan Harrison Wins First Match at Houston

ATP 250 Houston - First Round

Ryan Harrison d 7 Alex Bogomolov - 46 63 64

Jet lag be damned.

He moves his W/L for the year to 10/10.

Ryan will next face Igor Kunitsyn - they've never played.

He's currently ranked at a career high of #65 - with a bullet.

ATP & WTA Weekend Winners for April 10, 2011

The ATP saw Pablo Andujar & Ryan Sweeting win their 1st tour titles today.

***

Marbella WTA: 1 Victoria Azarenka d Q Irina-Camelia Gebu - 63 62

Vika makes it 2-in-a-row after winning at Miami last week.

Welcome to the top 5 girl!

Casablanca: Pablo Andujar d 5 Potito Starace - 61 62

Pablo is currently ranked #69. He is the 12th ranked Spaniard.

After today's win he should be up to #9 in Spain.

Charleston: 1 Caroline Wozniacki d Elena Vesnina - 62 63

This is Caro's 3rd title of 2011. And, yes, solidifies her #1 ranking.

Jet lag: She is playing an exo in Monte-Carlo tomorrow at 3. Phew.

Houston: WC Ryan Sweeting d 6 Kei Nishikori - 64 76(3)

Title #1 was accompanied with a jump in the River Oaks pool.

Ryan will see his ranking jump to just outside the top 50.

Quallies are gonna be a thing of the past.

Photos: AP/Reuters

Bryan Bros Turn Mini-Slump Around with Title at Houston

Houston ATP 250 - Doubles Final

1 Bryan Bros d John Isner & Sam Querrey - 67(4) 62 10-5

The win represents their 69th tour title - and 4th at Houston.

After the win the twins jubilantly jumped into the River Oaks pool.

It had to be a very satisfying win...

Since winning at the Aussie Open the Bros have won 3 matches: 3-3.

They now head to Monte-Carlo where they are the top seeded team.

They won the M-C title in 2007.

And they had a great clay season last year winning at Rome and Madrid.

Mike: It feels good to win here in Houston and we kind of needed this.

It’s been a sparse last month and this will do wonders for our confidence.

We love it here in Houston.

The Bryan Brothers Win Title #59 in Houston

1 The Bryan Brothers d 3 Huss & Moody - 63 75

Mike & Bob need 3 more titles to claim the record of most by a doubles team.

They are 2 titles behind the Woodies: Mark Woodforde & Todd Woodbridge.

Bob said, "I think we can conceivably shoot that down in the next year if we keep playing well. But who knows? We'll cherish every title that we get."

After their win they celebrated with a leap in the River Oaks Club pool.

Photos: atp facebook

Querrey & Chela to Meet in Houston ATP 250 Final

Houston ATP 250 Final

3 Sam Querrey vs Juan Ignacio Chela - H2H: 0-0

This is Juan's 10th final and 1st in 2 years. He has 4 titles.

Sam is looking for his 4th career title and 2nd of 2010 after Memphis.

***

Semifinal Results:

3 Sam Querrey d Wayne Odesnik - 76(3) 16 75

Very heated match. Sam let the cheater know he was not welcome in Houston.

Juan Ignacio Chela d 6 Horacio Zeballos - 75 62

***

Photo: atp facebook

Defending Champ Lleyton Hewitt Leads Quarterfinalists in Houston ATP 250

Houston, Texas ATP 250

***

1 Fernando Gonzalez vs 6 Horacio Zeballos - H2H: 0-0

Long 3-setter last night for Fern and Zeballos will be unforgiving.

4 w/c Lleyton Hewitt (above) vs Juan Ignacio Chela - H2H: 5-2

How come I don't remember Hewitt winning this title last year at all?

***

3 Sam Querrey vs Nicolas Masu - H2H: 0-1

Interesting, their only meeting was here in Houston in '08.

Just gonna go on and say it: there will be a reversal of fortune today.

Xavier Malisse vs Wayne Odesnik - H2H: 0-0

Malisse took out John Isner last night 76 in the third.

And why is Odesnik even playing? You got caught - now go away.

Photo: atp facebook

The Men's ATP Tour is Heading to Houston and Casablanca this Week

Casablanca ATP 250

Top Seeds: Stanislas Wawrinka (above), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Victor Hanescu, Lukasz Kubot, Paul-Henri Mathieu ('07 champ) and Olivier Rochus. Also in the field is Richard Gasquet - remember when he was suppose to be the next big thing?

Houston ATP 250

Top Seeds: Fernando Gonzalez ('00 champ), John Isner, Sam Querrey, Lleyton Hewitt (defending champ), Evgeny Korolev. Other notable players include a motley slew of Americans: Donald Young, Taylor Dent, Mardy Fish, Michael Russell, Rajeev Ram, Wayne Odesnik and Jesse Levine.

***

It must suck hosting a tournament week after a Masters 1000 (or two) has been played as not a single top 10 player (only 1 in the top 20 actually) is in action this week.  Fernando Gonzalez is the highest ranked at #11 - playing in Houston. I suspect he's playing only because he skipped Indian Wells to tend to earthquake relief matters at home in Chile.

Photo: Wawrinka/Davis Cup March 2010 -Reuters