Delpo defends Stockholm

Winners of five titles over the weekend are available and significantly Juan Martin del Potro has broken through for only his second crown since Sydney 2014. The other one was here last year. Defending his Stockholm Open was another step in a full comeback to where he wants to and should be - a returning top ten player.

Already Delpo has reached number 19 and barring another injury stretch he is set to charge through in 2018.

His final win as fourth seed over another top achiever in number one seed Grigor Dimitrov was comprehensive, and no doubt a little disappointing for the crowd who should have expected something closer. However the Argentine cut the Bulgarian to shreds. The opening set was the beginning of a horror story, although Grigor wasn’t playing too badly.

But you can’t argue with 85 % points won on first serve or just one break point to save (dutifully done). Set two saw two more breaks of the top seed’s serve while del Potro saved the single break point he faced.

6-4 6-2 and the Argentine won easing up.

Damir Dzumhur has had his best season by far, capturing his first ATP title in St Petersburg and making his best efforts so far in smashing his ranking - he has for years hung around mid sixties to mid nineties while never threatening the top fifty.

This year he began at 77 and jumped to 36 a couple of weeks ago, his career high. He celebrated with a second title for 2017 in Moscow - a love affair of Russia continuing.

He, as sixth seed, defeated unseeded Ricardas Berankis in the final.

Jo-Wilfrid Tsonga snagged a fourth title for 2017 in Antwerp, sneaking past one of the years biggest improvers Diego Schwartzman 6-3 7-5. Diego had stopped the surprising run of Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi final.  Tsitsipos jumps 27 spots to 95, his entry to the top hundred a career high.

Moscow also found another winner who has renewed her game in 2017. Former top twenty player Julia Goerges, seventh seed, won the final against Daria Kasatkina, not dropping a set, in fact something she hadn’t throughout the tournament.

Finishing 2016 ranked 54, Julia was still sitting at 54 half way through 2017. Then she began a serious run:

Finalist at Bucharest and Washington, quarter finalist at Cincinnati and fourth round at US Open. The USA was a terrific stretch. And now with the Moscow title, 28 year old Goerges sees her ranking at 18, just three shy of her career high of 15, achieved over five years ago.

The other successful female came from the Luxembourg final, and it was German improver Carina Witthoeft. Her title win in the Luxembourg Open was at the expense of Monica Puig 6-3 7-5 in all unseeded final.

Carina’s win shoots her 22 places up the rankings to 51, just two spots below her career high.

This weeks light shines brightest on Singapore, where the top eight performed ladies of 2017 battle it out in the WTA finals. Last years final eight included the winner and runner up Dominika Cibulkova and Angie Kerber, neither who have qualified this year.

Semi finalists Aga Radwanska and Sveta Kuznetsova also are missing this year.

From last year we have Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina. Joining them are Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko and surprise packet Caroline Garcia.