WTA Stuttgart - Women's Final
1 Maria Sharapova d 2 Li Na - 64 63
Title #29 represents a defense of her win at Stuttgart last year.
This is her 7th clay title and 4th of the last 2 clay seasons.
Suddenly she is the default 'queen of clay' - can she keeps this up?
She had a tough week being pushed to 3 3-setters but came thru.
Post match: No matter how difficult those other matches were or
how tired I was, I stepped it up today.
This is shaping up to be a fun road to Roland Garros.
WTA Stuttgart - Women's Quarterfinal
1 Maria Sharapova d Ana Ivanovic - 75 46 64
The queen of clay (well she was las year) is still on course to defend.
Remember: last year she won clay titles at Stuttgart, Rome & the French.
That's a lot of points to protect in the coming 6 weeks.
But Masha is playing some awesome ball in the last year so...
Will she finally win a 2nd title at a single Slam?
It would be freaky for that to happen on clay at Roland Garros.
But hey, freaky happens.
Good week for top seeds as 5 of 6 tournies were won by the top dog.
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Umag ATP 250: 2 Marin Cilic d 4 Marcel Granollers - 64 62
The 23 year-old Croat won his 8th title and 2nd on the season.
He went one further this year as he was the runner-up last year.
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Bastad ATP 250: 1 David Ferrer d 2 Nicolas Almagro - 62 62
David picked up his 16th title, 2nd at Bastad & 5th on the season.
All this and he's still stuck at #5 in the rankings.
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Newport ATP 250: 1 John Isner d W/C Lleyton Hewitt - 76(1) 64
This is John's 4th title and 1st of the season.
This is the 1st time he has ever defended a title.
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Stuttgart ATP 250: 1 Janko Tipsarevic d 2 Juan Monaco - 64 57 63
Janko earned his 3rd career ATP crown and 1st of the season.
He is now 3-6 in finals.
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Stanford WTA: 1 Serena Williams d LL Coco Vandeweghe - 75 63
Serena won her 43rd WTA title, 4th on the year and 2nd at Stanford.
This is also the 2nd straight Sunday with a title following Wimbldeon.
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Palermo WTA: 1 Sara Errani d 8 Barbora Zahlavova Strycov - 61 63
Sara won her 6th WTA title and 4th of the year.
She is the 1st Italian to win 4 titles in a single season.
ATP 250 Stuttgart - Quarterfinals
2 Juan Monaco d Q Pavol Cervenak - 61 75
Juan posted this photo from Stuttgart to his Facebook page captioned:
Taking a little rest at the players room after my today victory!
Juan is in the hunt for his 3rd title this year: Vina del Mar & Houston.
Juan is currently ranked a career high of #14...
And inching ever closer to the top 10 - a major goal of all players.
Those 4 ranking spots are going to be crazy tough to make up...
Nearly 500 points separate him from #10 Almagro.
That's a lot of distance but not impossible - he's a decent summer away.
We're pulling for him.
WTA Stuttgart - Final
2 Maria Sharapova d 1 Victoria Azarenka - 61 64
Hey, she got a new car. And a new bruise after that shoulder bump.
She wins her first title since Cincy last August.
She's had 3 tough final round losses this year: Aussie Open, IW & Miami.
Maria beat 3 of the 4 reigning Slam champs this week: Vika, Petra & Sam.
Well done.
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ATP 250 Bucharest - Final
1 Gilles Simon d Fabio Fognini - 64 63
Gilles enters double-digits in titles with 10 - his first of the season.
This is also the 3rd time he's hoisted the trophy in Bucharest.
The win probably won't be enough to bump him up from #12.
Allez: But with little to defend in Madrid/Rome - 'up' could be in the offing.
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WTA Fes - Final
Q Kiki Bertens d Laura Pous-To - 75 60
Never heard of either of these girls AND I'm a tennis junkie.
Loving her name tho - Kiki. Awesome.
***
Photos: Maria: Reuters; Gilles: Getty Images
WTA Stuttgart - Semifinal Results & Final Preview
1 Victoria Azarenka d Agnieszka Radwanska -61 63
2 Maria Sharapova d 3 Petra Kvitova -64 76(3)
1 Victoria Azarenka vs 2 Maria Sharapova - H2H: 5-3/VA
No time to post a real story.
But, going into tomorrow's final Vika has destroyed Maria twice this year.
And in 2 big finals: Australian Open and at Indian Wells.
Their 1 meeting on clay came last year - Maria won it by retirement.
Screamfest 2012 part 3 tomorrow - adjust TV volume accordingly.
Photos: Getty Images
WTA Stuttgart - Quarterfinal
1 Victoria Azarenka d WC Mona Barthel - 64 67(3) 75
Hard fought and won. Nicely done Vika.
This is her 1st tourny since losing her only match of '12 in the Qf's at Miami.
She is now 28-1 and looking for her 5th title on the year.
And will face 4 Agnieszka Radwanska - H2H: 9-3/VA.
This is the 5th time they've played this season Vika has won them all.
In fact, Aga has only managed 8 games in their last 2 matches.
To make things even more interesting - their friendship has gone frosty.
This one will me good.
Photo: Getty Images
Caroline has suffered another early loss. This time at Stuttgart.
At the hands of up-and-comer Angelique Kerber 61 62 in the 2nd round.
Made all the more shocking by that dismal scoreline.
Remember Caro was #1 in January - she's tumbled all the way down to #6.
She is 18-8 on the year. No titles yet and only one final.
In 5 of those 8 tournaments she failed to get to the semifinals.
Not the Caro that finished #1 the last two years.
In fact, you have to go all the way beck to New Haven in August for a title.
What has changed in her life for her to suddenly crumble?
The only thing that comes to mind... is Rory.
I'm not begrudging her a love life but she clearly needs to manage it better.
She's very young - she'll sort it out.
Photo: Getty Images
WTA Stuttgart - First Round
Andrea Petkovic d WC Kristina Barrois - 61 64
Andrea's last match was a Qf loss at Brisbaine before the Aussie Open.
She snuck into the top 10 but she's dipped to #12 this week.
We will next face top seed Victoria Azarenka - H2H: 1-0/VA.
Welcome back girl!
Photo: Getty Images
Bastad ATP 250 - Men's Final
1 Robin Soderling d 2 David Ferrer - 62 62
This is Robin's 4th ATP title on the year & the 10th of his career.
He is now 10-10 in finals.
This is the 3rd time Robin's become a 2-time champ: Lyon & Rotterdam.
The win did nothing for his ranking... He's stuck at #5 - way behind Murray.
Battle for #5: Ferrer is at Robin's heels with only 115 points separating them.
Neither of them had a good US swing last year so... It's on.
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Stuttgart ATP 250 - Men's Final
Juan Carlos Ferrero d Pablo Andujar - 64 60
This is JC's 1st ATP title on the year & the 16th of his career.
He is now 16-18 in finals.
The win moves JC up 21 ranking spots to #64.
Deep field: And that only makes in the #11 player from Spain.
Plum loco.
Stuttgart ATP 250 - Men's Doubles Final
2 Jurgen Melzer & Philipp Petzchner d 3 Granollers & Lopez - 63 64
I just posted this cuz I think they're way cute.
Photos from Petzschner's Facebook
Stuttgart WTA - Final
Julia Goerges d 1 Caroline Wozniacki - 76(3) 63
Well, that's a good way to spike your ranking up from #32.
Suddenly Germany: Could this be the start of something big for Julia?
She had a great tourney beating 3 top 10 players: Caro, Sam & Vika.
Julia: I had goosebumps at match point.
It was an unbelievable feeling playing a final with so many people watching.
This is Julia's 2nd tour title following Bastad last year.
As for Caro - her 1st red clay title will have to wait a little longer.
She will next play at Madrid - let's see what she brings to Spain.
Photo: Reuters
Stuttgart WTA - Quarterfinal
5 Samantha Stosur d 2 Vera Zvonareva - 26 63 76(3)
I am a huge fan of cars on the court - they make for hilarious pictures.
And lookie here, Sam is finally thru to her first Sf of the season.
Yea, she's been having a rough year: W/L 13-9.
Oy oy oy: Sam has dipped to #7 and has runner-up points to defend here.
She'll next face the surging German Julia Georges - H2H: 1-0/JG.
Photo: Of Vera from my TV.
Another Spanish weekend... they've collected 14 titles so far this year.
Bastad ATP 250
4 Nicolas Almagro (above) d 1 Robin Soderling - 75 36 62
This is Nico's 6th carerr ATP title. He has won at least one a year since '06.
He'll add 205 ranking points which will move him up a few to #17, or so.
Nico will play the winner of Istomin/Rosol in the 2nd round in Hamburg.
He sits in top seeded Nikolay Davydenko's quarter.
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Stuttgart ATP 250
5 Albert Montanes d 3 Gael Monfils - 62 1-2
Monfils - injured again. This is the sad story of his once promising career.
Montanes wins his 2nd title of '10 and 5th of his career - all on clay, natch.
The win should move him up to #26/27.
He will face the winner of Riba/Mathieu in the 2nd round in Hamburg.
Lot's for dirty-ballers in his section - he may be too tired to advance far.
And we're not even talking about the 2 in the top 10 - Nadal & Verdasco.
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Bastad ATP 250
1 Robin Soderling vs 3 David Ferrer - H2H: 6-2
Remember Robin just won 7-5 in the 5th in the 4th Round at Wimbledon.
This is their 3rd meeting in Bastad: 1-1.
4 Nicolas Almagro vs 5 Tommy Robredo (above) - H2H: 1-0
Strange they've only met once - in Hamburg '07.
Tommy could use this win as he's having an awful year: 11-12.
Tommy did have a great win today beating Verdasco in the quarters.
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Stuttgart ATP 250
3 Gael Monfils vs Daniel Gimeno Traver - H2H: 0-0
#17 vs #88 - Monfils should have this but... maybe a Davis Cup hangover?
4 Juan Carlos Ferrero vs 5 Albert Montanes - H2H: 5-0
JC had a wonderful South American clay court swing - 2 titles in 3 finals.
Then he fell apart on Euro clay leading up to Roland Garros.
Now he's rocking the clay again... Where was this a couple months ago?
And a new Porsche.
WC Justine Henin d 7/WC Samantha Stosur - 64 26 61
Justine has played 5 tournaments so far in her return to competitive tennis.
In them she has reached 3 finals and today finally broke thru to win one.
This is her 42nd WTA title and first since Antwerp in February '08.
Justine can park that car next to the one she won as the '07 champ.
She's skipping Rome this week & just playing Madrid before heading to Paris.
At Roland Garros she will surely be seeded in the top 16.
Elena Dementieva can finally sigh in relief.
Photo: Getty Images
WC Justine Henin vs 7/WC Samantha Stosur - H2H: 0-0
Justine is looking for her 42nd title and her 1st since Antwerp in Feb '08.
Samantha is going for her 3rd career title and 2nd in '10.
Both gals certainly seem to be strong contenders at Roland Garros next month.
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Semifinal Results
7/WC Samantha Stosur d Q Anna Lapushchenkova - 75 63
WC Justine Henin d Shahar Peer - 63 62
Photos: Getty Images
Quarterfinal Results
Shahar Peer d Dinara Safin - 63 62
Not to worry Dina, it's gonna take a couple tourneys.
WC Justine Henin d 4 Jelena Jankovic - 36 76(4) 63
Is this the beginning of the journey to a 5th Roland Garros title?
7/WC Samanatha Stosur d Li Na - 63 63
Suddenly Stosur seems like a real threat Paris.
Q Anna Lapushchenkova d Lucie Safarova - 76(1) 16 61
I got nothin'.
Photo: Getty Images
Fabio Fognini & Calros Berloqc Win Maiden titles at Stuttgart & Bastad - Mahut Takes Title at Newport
Stuttgart ATP 250 - Men's Final
5 Fabio Fognini d 2 Philipp Kohlschreiber - 57 64 64
Post match: Finally, after two finals, I have won. I played great,
great tennis this week. I am really happy to have won the final.
Awww. I like this cat.
Bastad ATP 250 - Men's Final
Carlos Berloqc d 8 Fernando Verdasco - 75 61
Carlos becomes the 9th over-30 tourney winner this season.
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Newport ATP 250 - Men's Final
WC Nicolas Mahut d Lleyton Hewitt - 57 75 63
Post match: When you want to win a final, everything can happen.
I just can’t believe it’s true.
It's his 2nd career title - the 1st was last month at s'Hertogenbosch.
Nico partnered with Roger-Vasselin to take the doubles title.
And *surprise surprise* Nico's part of the over-30 crowd.
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