Estoril Open 2011 - Verdasco Lives To Fight Another Day

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco lived to fight another day, but the second seed made life difficult for himself in his opening match at the Estoril Open.

The World No. 15 led Portuguese favourite Frederico Gil 6-1, 5-1 before last year's runner-up made a comeback.

Verdasco was two points from victory at 5-2, 30/30 and squandered one match points on the Gil serve at 5-3, 30/40. Gil broke Verdasco to love for 5-5 and won his fifth straight game for 6-5 to leave the 27-year-old Madrid resident sweating.

Verdasco took control of the tie-break to wrap up a 6-1, 7-6(5) win in one hour and 44 minutes and his 10th win of the season.

Verdasco will next meet seventh-seeded South African Kevin Anderson in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Big-serving Anderson won 70 per cent of service points and hit four aces to beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-4, 6-2 in 85 minutes.

The match went with serve until the 10th game, when Anderson converted his third break point opportunity to clinch the 42-minute first set.

Anderson, again, had the advantage of serving first in the second set and broke Hanescu twice in the sixth and eighth games.

In February, Anderson captured his first ATP World Tour title at Johannesburg (d. Devvarman). The World No. 34 has a 17-9 match record on the year.

Estoril Open - Barrois Keeps Her Nerve To Reach Final

German Kristina Barrois advanced to her second WTA final on Friday at the Estoril Open.

The 29-year-old German defeated Johanna Larsson of Sweden 7-6(2), 6-4 in one hour and 50 minutes.

Larsson squandered control of the first set, leading 2-0 and 4-2 only to see Barrois win 12 of 15 points for three straight games. Although Larsson broke Barrois to 30 at 5-4, her higher-ranked opponent seized control of the tie-break.

Service breaks were exchanged at the start of the second set, but Barrois won four of the next five games for a 5-2 lead. World No. 71 Barrois missed out on two match point opportunities on the Larsson serve at 2-5, 15/40 and was then broken to 30.

Larsson, serving at 4-5, took a 40/0 lead, but was pinned back. Both players were afflicted by nerves at this point. One further match point opportunity went begging, but Barrois finally sealed victory with a smash.

Barrois will play her first WTA final since May 2010 at Strasbourg (l. to Sharapova). She has a 13-10 match record on the season.

Larsson was appearing in her third WTA semi-final (or better), including 2010 Portoroz (l. to Chakvetadze in the final) and the Acapulco semi-finals (l. to Parra Santonja).

The 22 year old is protected to climb into the Top 70 of the WTA Rankings on Monday.

Estoril Open 2011 - Simon To Face Raonic After Straight Sets Wins

Fourth seed Gilles Simon cruised past Carlos Berlocq of Argentina at the Estoril Open on Thursday for a place in his fifth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year.

World No. 22 Simon, who started the year at No. 41 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, recorded a 6-2, 6-1 win in 84 minutes.

Berlocq was broken to 30 in sixth game of the 43-minute first set and went onto save three set points at 2-5.

Simon raced into a 5-0 lead in the second set, including a 16-point fifth game when he saved three break points. The Frenchman converted four of 10 break point opportunities in total for his third straight win over Berlocq. He has an 18-10 match record on the season.

Simon, who won his eighth ATP World Tour title at Sydney (d. Troicki) in January, goes onto meet Canadian Milos Raonic for the first time.

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Fifth seed Raonic won 70 per cent of service points and his six aces to beat Portuguese wildcard Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes.

Raonic moved into a 4-1 lead, breaking 22-year-old Sousa to 30 in the third game and to 15 in the fifth game. He clinched the 32-minute first-set with a third service break to 15.

This year's San Jose titlist (d. Verdasco) and Memphis runner-up (l. to Roddick), won five straight games to open up a 3-0 lead in the second set before Sousa regained his composure. Raonic was broken to 30 in the seventh game, but it was too little too late from Sousa, the World No. 254.

World No. 27 Raonic, the second-youngest player in the Top 100 at 20 years, 3 months (after No. 69 Grigor Dimitrov), improved to a 22-7 season record.

Unbeaten Novak Djokovic beats Rafa Nadal in Miami final

By Piers Newbery BBC Sport

Novak Djokovic extended his unbeaten start to 2011 with a magnificent victory over world number one Rafael Nadal in the Sony Ericsson Open final. The Serbian, 23, came through 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to clinch his seventh Masters Series win, his fourth title of the year and take his 2011 record to 24-0. It is the best start to a year in men's tennis since Ivan Lendl began with 25 consecutive victories in 1986. An impressed Nadal said afterwards: "I think he'll be number one." The Spaniard continued: "He won two tournaments in a row right now, very big tournaments and one Grand Slam. "The normal thing is he will be number one in the next month, month and a half, two months. I don't know. It depends on my results on clay. "For sure, he will be there, no? I'm going to fight for me. If I am solid, if I play a very good clay-court season, we will see what's going on after." Djokovic said: "I know I've had the best start of the season, no question about it. It's the best four months in my life. "But it's only the start of the season. I think it's a bit early to talk about getting that top spot in the rankings. Rafa is definitely the best player in the world now. "If I want to have that shot at the number one ranking, I need to play consistently well throughout the whole year. "We all know that clay court is his favourite surface and obviously somewhere where he plays his best. "But this is going to give a lot of confidence boost for the upcoming clay-court season." Djokovic is more than 1,000 ranking points clear of third-ranked Roger Federer but still a further 3,000 points behind Nadal. However, the Spaniard has a huge number of ranking points to defend, having won all the major clay tournaments last year. Whether Djokovic is ready to surpass Nadal on clay remains open to question but after defeating his closest rival in back-to-back Masters Series finals over the last fortnight, there is no doubt he is the man to beat right now. Nadal had won the opening set of their Indian Wells final two weeks ago before Djokovic came storming back and Sunday's match in Miami followed a similar pattern. A blustery wind hampered both men in the opening stages, with Nadal coping marginally better and grabbing the first break in game three before seeing off three break points in the following game. When Djokovic slapped a forehand into the tramlines to fall a double break down the set was as good as done but from 5-1 down he began to find his range. His more aggressive style had Nadal on the run and although the Spaniard did seal the set, Djokovic reeled off six of seven games to move 3-0 clear in the second and serve out to force a decider. After two sets of uneven play, the final set showcased the very best of the world's top two players, with each man appearing to grab the momentum only for his opponent to wrestle it back. Nadal's backhand was unusually proving his more potent wing, while a couple of sublime lobs and numerous confident sorties to the net demonstrated how Djokovic's game has come on. Neither man could force a break point in a pulsating set and the resultant tie-break opened in equally dramatic fashion with five consecutive points against serve. Continue reading the main story How many other people could recover from losing five games in a row to the world number one in a best-of-three set match? Jonathan Overend's blog It was a double fault from Nadal that proved crucial as he fell 3-2 down before Djokovic finally held a service point and, after the Spaniard saved two match points on serve, the world number two sealed victory after three hours and 21 minutes with a big serve followed up by a crunching forehand into the corner. "It was such a close match," said Djokovic. "To win against the number one player of the world in a tie-break in the third set, it's just incredible. "This is one of the best matches I've played in a while. I was able to find my rhythm at the end of the first set, and then throughout the whole second and third set I played quite well, especially on my service games." Djokovic last suffered a singles defeat against Roger Federer in the ATP World Tour semi-finals in London last November and has now won 26 matches in a row, including 24 this year.

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Kim Clijsters Defeats Li Na In Australian Open 2011 Finals To Claim Second Straight Grand Slam Tournament Title

World No. 3 Kim Clijsters, the tennis equivalent of a grizzled veteran at 27, beat relative upstart No. 9 Li Na to claim her first Australian Open title and her second consecutive Grand Slam tournament win.

After an opening set in Rod Laver Arena that made it seem all but certain this one would go the other way, No. 3 Kim Clijsters rallied to defeat Li Na, 3-6 6-3 6-3, in the finals of the Australian Open 2011. Li is the first Chinese player, male or female, to reach the finals of a Grand Slam event. She will not be the last, and she may yet be the first player to win a tournament of this magnitude, but when Clijsters is having one of her night's, it's proven quite difficult for it to be anybody else's night.

Following a largely unremarkable first set in which Clijsters seemed more than a little discombobulated, the two women traded breaks to open the second set in a fit of mutual ineptitude, but trailing 3-4 in the second, it became uncomfortably apparent that Li was feeling the pressure.

From there, it was as good as over. Kim Clijsters is a player on a comeback tour, but she's never lost her afterburners, and she reeled off the final set with every bit of her vaunted fierce concentration on display.

Since turning pro in 1997, Clijsters has won three U.S. Open titles, reached the finals at Roland Garros in 2003 and the finals here in Melbourne in 2004. Her Waterloo seems to be Wimbledon, but after winning two consecutive Grand Slam events, who's to say she couldn't make a run at the gold at the All England Club this summer? If this is indeed the farewell leg of her tour before retirement, what a note to depart on.

And it's far from over for Li, if she can rebound mentally for this. She beat Clijsters at the last tournament in Sydney before the first Grand Slam event of the season, and she has the support of a massive nation behind her. And as of right now, she's been here before.

2010 Players Of The Year - Djokovic, Murray, Soderling

by ATP Staff
09.12.2010

ATPWorldTour.com reviews the best players of the year, beginning with the World No. 3 to No. 5.

Novak Djokovic

For the fourth straight year, Novak Djokovic finished as the world’s No. 3 player. But in contrast to the previous seasons, 2010 was crowned not by his individual achievements, but by the collective effort of the Davis Cup team.

Djokovic was the backbone of the Serbian squad, going 7-0 in singles rubbers to lead the nation past the United States, Croatia, the Czech Republic and France. In the final, he kept the country’s hopes afloat after it’d fallen behind 0-1 and 1-2, drawing Serbia level with France each time and giving countryman Viktor Troicki the chance to become the hero with victory in the Cup-clinching fifth rubber.

Showing their solidarity, the 2008 Australian Open champion and teammates followed through on their promise of shaving their heads if they won the Davis Cup, each taking turns to complete the ritual on centre court at Belgrade Arena. Djokovic stated afterwards, “This is by far, individually and for the team, the best achievement in our career by far… Definitely the best feeling that we have experienced on a tennis court, ever."

In 2010, Djokovic also managed to break – albeit temporarily – the stronghold of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the top two spots in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, holding down the No. 2 position for 26 weeks during the season and entering Roland Garros in a three-way battle for the No. 1 ranking.

At the US Open, Djokovic took part in one of the most memorable matches of the season when he saved two match points to defeat Federer in a five-set semi-final. Though he lost to Nadal in his third appearance in a Grand Slam final, Djokovic collected titles No. 17 and 18 during the season as he successfully defended his crowns at Dubai and Beijing.

But he finished the year with two question marks going into 2011. Can he finally push higher than No. 3 in the year-end rankings next season, and will he go a third year without adding to his first Grand Slam title won at the 2008 Australian Open?

Andy Murray

The weight of a nation’s expectations was never more evident than at this year’s Australian Open. Andy Murray had fueled Great Britain’s hopes of its first Grand Slam champion since 1934, getting his 2010 campaign off to a stellar start as he made his way into the championship match without losing a set. But in a repeat of the 2008 US Open final, the Scot came up short to Roger Federer and said during a tearful trophy presentation, “Sorry I couldn't do it for you tonight. I can cry like Roger, it's just a shame I can't play like him.”

But Murray showed that he could indeed play like Federer; his best results of the 2010 season would come against the Swiss, whom he would meet on the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 stages at Toronto and Shanghai. He defeated Federer in straight sets on both occasions to claim the titles, with his triumph at Toronto made sweeter by his victory over Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. Murray, who became the fifth different player to defeat Federer and Nadal in the same tournament, said, “Winning a tournament is always great, but it's the first time I beat Roger and Rafa in the same tournament, which is probably the most pleasing thing, and then didn't drop a set against either of them.”

Murray also posted solid results in the U.K. capital, reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals for a second straight year – with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in attendance – and the semi-finals at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, where he lost to Nadal in one of the best matches of the year. Murray reclaimed the No. 4 ranking with his showing at the season-ending finale, marking the first time in 25 years that the same quartet of players finished among the Top 4 for three straight years.

Robin Soderling

Robin Soderling’s 2010 season started off with surprising first round exits at Chennai and the Australian Open, leaving some observers to wonder if his stunning 2009 breakthrough was a one-off.

But the Swede brushed aside memories of the rocky start by winning the ATP World Tour 500 title in February at Rotterdam and continued his climb in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings with semi-final showings at the hard-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami and a runner-up finish on clay in Barcelona.

One year removed from his breakout performance at Roland Garros, the Swede proved that his run was no fluke. He played the role of giant killer for a second straight year, ousting defending champion Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, and finished the week second to only Rafael Nadal. He continued to prove his status as one of the circuit’s best as he reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time and at the US Open for a second straight year.

Soderling’s consistency following the year’s final major helped him attain a career-high No. 4 ranking, as he reached the quarter-finals or better in all six of his tournament appearances to conclude the regular ATP World Tour season, capped by his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Masters.

“I feel like I’m improving and I like being a top player," said Soderling, who finished the year at No. 5. "It is what I have worked hard for. This is where I want to be.”