Titles to French Pair

The first titles of 2018 have been sealed in Shenzhen, Doha, Brisbane (WTA) and Pune.

Simona Halep extended her lead as world number one with her tournament victory in Shenzhen, having no trouble dealing with sixth seed Katerina Siniakova in the opening set 6-1

However things became rather interesting in set two when Halep’s serve fell apart, only 38% of points won on first delivery and broken three times. One set apiece.

Recovery from this marginal situation was explosive to say the least by Halep.

In the decider the top seed won 75% of points on her serve and a remarkable 86% of points on her opponents serve.6-1 2-6 6-0

This return of serve exhibition was almost unprecedented and demonstrated why Halep is where she is in women’s tennis and also why she is a huge threat in majors this year.

In Doha the top seed was less fortunate, with Dominic Thiem forced to withdraw from his semi final with a fever.

The final was all unseeded as a result, wildcard Gaël Monfils the beneficiary of Thiem’s departure and Andrey Rublev defeating Guido Pella in the other (unseeded) semi final.

Monfils won the title 6-2 6-3 but the score was rather flattering since the final was much closer than that.

Perhaps the French entertainer returned serve a fraction better but not much else separated him from the Russian.

Break point conversion determined the result - Monfils 3 from 4 and Rublev 0 from 2.

Unseeded Gilles Simon celebrated another French victory in Pune, knocking over Kevin Anderson (2) in the final 7-6(4) 6-2.

Simon had previously beaten third seed Roberto Bautista Agut and top seed Marin Cilic in the semis (after dropping the opening set 1-6)

By eliminating the top 3 seeds en route to the Pune title, Simon has rocketed from a ranking of 89 back to the manageable 50s.

Elina Svitolina (3) dispensed with unseeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the Brisbane final in just over an hour 6-2 6-1.

Svitolina faced no break points and converted four of eleven that she created. Another woman out to win a debut major in Melbourne next week.

In Auckland, Caroline Wozniacki (1) and Julia Goerges (2) have stayed true to the seedings and will play in today’s final.

Wozniacki won her semi final against Sachia Vickery 6-4 6-4 and Goerges was successful in hers against Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1 6-4.

Nick Kyrgios is set to win his first title in Australia after a fine display in defeating top seed Grigor Dimitrov in one of the Brisbane semi finals.

Following a fast start from the Bulgarian, winning the opening set 6-3, Kyrgios was unstoppable, serving brilliantly and playing an all,court game too good for the defending champ to defend.

The 3-6 6-1 6-4 win sets up a final against Ryan Harrison.

The American, in the first semi, fought back valiantly to defeat Alex de Minaur 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4 and avoid an all Aussie final.