First, some congrats to the weekend’s winners:
– John Isner defended his grass-title at Newport on Hall of Fame Weekend, defeating Lleyton Hewitt in the final 7-6 (1), 6-4. That is John’s fourth career ATP title.
– On clay at the Croatia Open, Marin Cilic became the first Croatian since 1990 to win the title, beating Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
– Serb Janko Tipsarevic won on the clay at Stuttgart Sunday, earning himself a new luxury Mercedes. That’s Janko’s third career ATP title, and came at the expense of Juan Monaco 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
– On clay in Sweden, David Ferrer captured his fifth title of the season, taking-down fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 6-2.
– The Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series is now a week old, with Wimbledon Champion Serena Williams winning the title at Stanford, 7-5, 6-3 over fellow American Coco Vandeweghe. Serena won the title in Stanford last year, as well – and this was Coco’s first WTA final.
– Italy’s Sara Errani won on clay at the Palermo Open, beating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the final 6-1, 6-3. Sara becomes the first Italian ever to win four WTA titles in a season.
Hall of Fame Weekend:
Some congrats, as well to Jennifer Capriati who was enshrined at the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport on Saturday. Jennifer burst onto the scene at 14-years-old, reaching the semifinals of the 1990 French Open, her first Grand Slam event. She went on to win three Grand Slams and an Olympic Gold Medal, despite leaving the sport in the mid-90’s to deal with addiction and a variety of other personal problems. She returned to tennis in 1996, and in 2001 won both the Australian and French Open…then went on to win the Australian Open again in 2002.
The 2012 class also included Brazil’s Gustavo Keurten, Manuel Orantes, tennis executive Mike Davies and wheelchair champion Randy Snow, who passed away in 2009.
Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series continues…
This week, the guys are in Atlanta at the BB&T Atlanta Open. For the past two years, Mardy Fish and John Isner have met in the final (Mardy’s the two-time defending champ). Other names in the field include Andy Roddick, Ryan Harrison, James Blake, Jack Sock, Kevin Anderson, Xavier Malisse and Kei Nishikori.
The ladies are in Carlsbad, California at the Mercury Insurance Open. Agnieszka Radwanska is the defending champion; though she’s not in the draw this year (watch out for her sister Urszula!) Coco Vandeweghe earned a wild-card into the tournament with her finals appearance in Stanford. Other big names in Carlsbad include Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova, Jelena Jankovic, Nadia Petrova, Yanina Wickmeyer and Christina McHale.
With her win at Stanford, Serena Williams leads the U.S. Open Series standings right now with 70-points, followed by Coco with 45. Should Serena finish on top of the standings – which is highly unlikely considering she’ll be representing the U.S. in the London Games – she would win an additional $1-million if she went on to win the U.S. Open. (No standings yet for the guys – Atlanta is their first tournament in the U.S. Open Series)
Another milestone for Roger Federer
This week marks Roger Federer’s 287th week as world number one, surpassing Pete Sampras’ record of 286-weeks during his career. Pete won 14 career Grand Slam titles, Roger is now at 17. Here’s the quote from Pete: “The hardest thing to do in sports is the ability to stay on top…Roger has been able to do so by great play and durability.”
World Team Tennis
The eight-team league WTT season continues…in the Western Conference, the Sacramento Capitals hold the lead at 3-2 on the season. The Kansas City Explorers are 2-3, Orange County Breakers 2-2 and the Springfield Lasers 0-6. In the Eastern Conference, the Washington Kastles (who went undefeated last year) still haven’t lost a match. They’re 5-0, while the New York Sportimes are 3-1, the Boston Lobsters are 2-2 and the Philadelphia Freedoms are 2-3.
Tonight, the Kansas City Explorers are in Philadelphia with Bob andd Mike Bryan on the KC-squad. Trevor Kroneman and the Orange County Breakers return to Springfield to play the win-less Lasers. Lindsay Davenport will be the marquee player for the Breakers tonight. She returns to the court where she helped the U.S. Fed Cup Team defeat Israel in 2002, returning to the U.S. to the Fed Cup World Group in 2003.
Don West and I will have the call tonight at 7:00p on Mediacom – hope you have a chance to tune-in and check out the match live from Springfield!
