Day One in UAE, Mexico and Brazil

6 of the worlds top ranked men are competing in Acapulco this week and four of the first round matches were completed on Day One.

Six of the women’s round one battles were also played with the two top twenty players in the draw due to appear tomorrow.

All the men’s results were decided in straight sets:

Jared Donaldson defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2 3-2 (retired)

Kevin Anderson (5) defeated Radu Albot 6-4 6-3

David Ferrer defeated Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-3

Ryan Harrison defeated John Isner (8) 6-3 7-6(5)

Four of the women’s matches ended in the third set:

Monica Puig defeated qualifier Dayana Yastremska 2-6 6-4 5-0 (retired)

Irina-Camelia Begu (5) defeated Christina McHale 3-6 6-2 6-4

Veronica Cepede Royg defeated Belinda Bencic 4-6 7-6(1) 6-3

Wildcard Dasha Gavrilova (3) defeated Madison Brengle 4-6 6-3 6-3

Lesia Tsurenko (7) defeated Lauren Davis 6-4 6-1

Arina Rodionova defeated Kateryna Kozlova 6-2 1-0 (retired)

Dubai has Grigor Dimitrov as top seed and Marseille finalist Lucas Pouille second seed.

First round results from Day One in Dubai:

Robin Haase defeated qualifier Quentin Halys 7-5 2-6 6-4

Wildcard Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3

Philipp Kohlschreiber (6) defeated qualifier Gleb Sakharov 6-4 6-2

Roberto Bautista Agut (3) defeated Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4

Benoit Paire defeated Yoshihito Nishioka 5-7 6-4 6-1

Wildcard Marcos Baghdatis defeated Viktor Troicki 7-5 6-2

São Paulo:

Top 4 seeds have first round byes

First round results from Day One:

Leonardo Mayer (5) defeated Gastao Elias 5-7 7-6(10) 7-6(5)

Carlos Berlocq defeated wildcard Thiago Seyboth Wild 3-6 6-3 6-2

Federico Delbonis (8) defeated Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4 6-4

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Gerald Melzer 6-4 3-6 6-3

Qualifier Joao Domíngues defeated fellow qualifier Renzo Olivo 2-6 7-6(6) 7-5

Tiafoe wins first title at Delray Beach

Karen Khachanov (9) upset Lucas Pouille 7-5 3-6 7-5 in the final of the Open 13 Provence held in Marseille.

Once as high as 29 in the world, the Russian began the tournament ranked 47.

However wins over the fourth seed Tomas Berdych and Pouille boosted him to 41.

In Rio de Janeiro, Diego Schwartzman (6) defeated Fernando Verdasco (8) 6-2 6-3 to capture the Rio Open Presented by Claro, his second career title.

Schwartzman now is 19 in the world, a jump of four places from his previous career high ranking.

Delray Beach hosted the Delray Beach Open, and in an all unseeded final it was 20 year old wildcard Frances Tiafoe who triumphed, defeating Peter Gojowczyk 6-1 6-4.

It was the young Americans first title, and took his career earnings over the million USD mark.

Additionally his ranking jumped 30 spots to 61, just one off his career high.

Gojowczyk moved up 13 places to his new career high of 51.

Budapest saw another unseeded success, with Dominika Cibulkova (1) falling to Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3 3-6 7-5 in the final of the Hungarian Ladies Open.

This was Alison’s second title, following her win in Canada last September.

Her ranking improved by 30 places to 50 in the world, 9 short of her career high.

This week, the men will compete in:

Dubai: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (ATP 500)

Acapulco: Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presentado por HSBC (ATP 500)

São Paulo: Brasil Open (ATP 250)

The women have one tournament:

Acapulco: Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presentado por HSBC (WTA International)

Svitolina successfully defends Dubai title

Elina Svitolina successfully defended her Dubai Duty Free Championship (last year Premier 5 category and this year recategorised to Premier) by defeating Daria Kasatkina easily 6-4 6-0 in a final which saw the young Russian tire badly, due probably to the hard grind required to come back and win terrifically against both Johanna Konta and Garbine Muguruza.

Svitolina has now made 13 WTA finals and has won 11.

Her first five wins came at International level, but impressively Elina has in her last six successes claimed 3 at Premier 5 level (all in 2017) and two at Premier level (both this year).

Outstanding statistics but at Grand Slam level Svitolina has yet to make a statement.

Until this years quarter final appearance at the Australian Open, she had made only two quarter finals (both at Roland Garros) and three fourth rounds (1 each at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open).

In all other majors competed, no better than the last 32.

For a player once ranked as high as three in the world (currently four) Elina needs to prove herself at the biggest tournaments, and 2018 gives her a real chance.

The players above her have, between them, won three majors, been finalists on six other occasions, and semi finalists also on six occasions.

I’m sure Elina will break through those barriers and maybe it will be at Roland Garros this year.

Rio de Janeiro:

Semi finals

Diego Schwartzman (6) defeated Nicolas Jarry 7-5 6-2

Fernando Verdasco (8) defeated Fabio Fognini (5) 6-1 7-5

Marseille:

Semi finals:

Karen Khachanov (9) defeated Tomas Berdych (4) 6-3 6-2

Lucas Pouille (3) defeated qualifier Ilya Ivashka 6-3 7-6(6)

Delray Beach:

Quarter final to be completed:

Wildcard Frances Tiafoe defeated Hyeon Chung (8) 5-7 6-4 6-4

Semi finals:

Peter Gojowczyk defeated Steve Johnson 7-6(3) 6-3

Wildcard Frances Tiafoe defeated Denis Shapovalov 7-5 6-4

Unseeded final

Budapest:

Semi finals:

Dominika Cibulková (1) defeated Mona Barthel 6-3 6-2

Alison Van Uytvanck defeated lucky loser in qualifying Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4 6-2

Kasatkina saves 3 match points to beat Muguruza

Day Five in Dubai was semi final time, and first up was second seed Garbine Muguruza, aiming to keep Daria Kasatkina at bay.

No one was surprised that the young Russian contributed a competitive first set, only broken the once in losing 3-6 to Muguruza.

Kasatkina had four break points but could not convert any.

The Spanish backhand was particularly damaging.

Set two was looking good for the second seed after she broke the Kasatkina serve in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead.

This led to three more successive service breaks, including that of Muguruza trying to serve it out at 5-4.

The tie break came when both players finally held and an amazing tie break it was.

Three match points came the Spanish way, at 8-7, 9-8 and 10-9.

However the fighting spirit of Kasatkina prevailed and she won 13-11 and the match was level at a set all 3-6 7-6(11).

Set three was a disaster for Muguruza, dropping serve in her first two attempts. Kasatkina broke for a third time, taking the match 3-6 7-6(11) 6-1.

This was the first win by Kasatkina over the world number three and now she will meet top seed and defending champion Elina Svitolina in the final.

Svitolina defeated sixth seed Angie Kerber 6-3 6-3, to improve the head to head record to 5-0.

Rio de Janeiro:

Quarter finals 

Diego Schwartzman (6) defeated Gael Monfils 6-3 6-4

He will play Nicolas Jarry in the semis

Nicolas Jarry defeated Pablo Cuevas (7) 7-5 6-3

Fabio Fognini (5) defeated Aljaz Bedene 6-7(3) 6-3 6-1

He will play Fernando Verdasco in the semis

Fernando Verdasco (8) defeated Dominic Thiem (2) 6-4 6-0

Marseille:

Quarter finals 

Karen Khachanov (9) defeated Julien Benneteau 6-4 6-4

He will play Tomas Berdych in the semis

Tomas Berdych (4) defeated Damir Dzumhur (7) 7-6(4) 0-0 (retired)

Lucas Pouille (3) defeated Filip Krajinovic (8) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-4

He will play Ilya Ivashka in the semis

Qualifier Ilya Ivashka defeated Nicolas Mahut 4-6 6-3 7-5

Delray Beach:

Quarter finals 

Peter Gojowczyk defeated wildcard Reilly Opelka 7-6(5) 6-3

He will play Steve Johnson in the semis

Steve Johnson defeated Evgeny Donskoy 6-1 6-4

Denis Shapovalov defeated Taylor Fritz 7-5 6-4

He will play the winner of Frances Tiafoe and Hyeon Chung in the semis

Frances Tiafoe leads Hyeon Chung 5-7 6-4 5-3 (40-40) (Chung serving) with rain preventing the end of the match until tomorrow

Budapest:

Quarter finals 

Dominika Cibulková (1) defeated Johanna Larsson 6-3 6-2

She will play Mona Barthel in the semis

Mona Barthel defeated qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure 6-3 6-4

Lucky loser in qualifying Viktoria Kuzmova defeated Petra Martic 6-4 6-2

She will play Alison Van Uytvanck in the semis

Alison Van Uytvanck defeated Shuai Zhang (2) 6-2 6-4

Top 2 seeds through to Dubai semis

The two top seeds have managed their way through the draw in Dubai to reach the semi finals.

Top seed Elina Svitolina proved too strong for wildcard Naomi Osaka, who nevertheless can add another good result to her 2018 season.

Svitolina won this encounter 6-2 6-4.

Garbine Muguruza, the second seed, had a good battle with fifth seed Caroline Garcia in set one, but too many unforced errors in set two made the Spaniard’s task relatively simple.

Muguruza through to the final four 7-5 6-2, following her Doha finals appearance last week.

The other Dubai quarter finals:

Angie Kerber (6) defeated Karolina Pliskova (3) 6-4 6-3

Will play Svitolina in the semis

Daria Kasatkina defeated Elena Vesnina 7-6(5) 6-1

Will play Muguruza in the semis

Rio de Janeiro:

The incomplete second round match lasted just four more points before Gael Monfils dismissed top seed Marin Cilic 6-3 7-6(8)

The other match held over from the night before saw Pablo Cuevas (7) defeat lucky loser in qualifying Gastao Elias 7-5 6-1

The completion of second round matches:

Fabio Fognini (5) defeated Tennys Sandgren 4-6 6-4 7-6(6)

Aljaz Bedene defeated Pablo Carreno Busta (3) 6-2 5-7 6-2

Dominic Thiem (2) defeated Pablo Andujar 4-2 (retired)

Fernando Verdasco (8) defeated Nicolas Kicker 6-7(3) 6-2 6-0

Three of the top four seeds failed to make it to the final eight

Marseille:

The completion of second round matches:

Karen Khachanov (9) defeated Mischa Zverev 6-2 6-1

Tomas Berdych (4) defeated qualifier Stefano Travaglia 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3

Filip Krajinovic (8) defeated Gilles Simon 6-3 6-3

Nicolas Mahut defeated Gilles Muller (6) 3-6 6-2 6-4

Qualifier Ilya Ivashka defeated Stan Wawrinka (2) 6-4 1-1 (retired)

Five seeds survived to the quarter finals - but there will be one all unseeded final, featuring Mahut ranked 100 and Ivashka ranked 193.

Delray Beach:

The completion of second round matches:

Denis Shapovalov defeated Jared Donaldson 6-7(6) 6-4 6-4

Taylor Fritz defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-1 4-6 6-3

Hyeon Chung (8) defeated qualifier Franko Skugor 6-4 7-6(4)

Wildcard Frances Tiafoe defeated Juan Martin del Potro (2) 7-6(6) 4-6 7-5

Chung is the only seed left in the final eight.

Budapest:

The completion of second round matches:

Dominika Cibulková (1) defeated Kirsten Flipkens 6-4 6-2

Johanna Larsson defeated Aleksandra Krunic (7) 6-3 6-1

Mona Barthel defeated Timea Babos (3) 6-4 4-6 6-3

Qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure defeated Donna Vekic (8) 6-4 6-1

Shuai Zhang (2) defeated qualifier Jana Cepelova 2-6 7-6(4) 6-3

Cibulková and Zhang are the top two seeds, and are the only seeds left in the quarter finals 

Day Three and some carnage at the top

Things seemed to be rattling along pleasantly for the bulk of top ranked players this week but Day Three tripped up a number of them.

Wildcard and fourth seed Jelena Ostapenko confirmed her horror start to 2018 with yet another loss after a first round bye - this one to Elena Vesnina 6-1 7-6(6).

The reigning Roland Garros champion lost her first two matches this year to players outside the top thirty, and bowed out of the last two tournaments - Premier class - also in her opening hit.

In between she only made the third round at the Aus Open, and her sole St Petersburg success was a win over 197th ranked Vera Zvonareva, before being assassinated by Petra Kvitova, posting just two games.

Still sitting at 6 in the world rankings, Ostapenko needs to start proving her 2017 wasn’t just a flash in the pan, otherwise her hope of defending Paris in May/June will be fanciful.

Another seed to fall by the wayside in Dubai was wildcard seventh seed Johanna Konta, losing to Daria Kasatkina of Russia. After taking the second set in a tight tie break, Daria triumphed 4-6 7-6(6) 6-2.

Other Dubai second round matches:

Elina Svitolina (1) defeated lucky loser in qualifying Qiang Wang 6-1 5-7 6-2

Wildcard Naomi Osaka defeated Anett Kontaveit 6-2 7-6(5)

Karolina Pliskova (3) defeated Carla Suárez Navarro 5-7 6-2 6-4

Angie Kerber (6) defeated qualifier Sara Errani 6-4 6-2

Caroline Garcia (5) defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6-4 6-2

Garbine Muguruza (2) defeated wildcard CiCi Bellis 6-3 7-5

Rio de Janeiro has seen the exit of fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, with victory to Nicolas Jarry of Chile, ranked 94, 7-5 6-3.

Other Rio de Janeiro second round matches:

Diego Schwartzman (6) defeated Federico Delbonis 6-2 6-3

Rain suspended play with Gael Monfils leading top seed Marin Cilic 6-3 6-6 and 7-7 in the tie break, Cilic a serve to come.

The final match originally scheduled was lucky loser in qualifying Gastao Elias v seventh seed Pablo Cuevas.

Those matches will be completed/started tomorrow.

Wildcard and sixth seed John Isner was sent packing from Delray Beach by 64th ranked Peter Gojowczyk in three tie break sets 7-6(3) 6-7(4). 7-6(5)

Ninth seed Milos Raonic exited the same tournament thanks to Steve Johnson, a former top twenty player who has slipped out of the top 50.

Johnson prevailed in a match where he won 25 of 29 points on his first serve, and he held serve for the entire match which ended 6-2 6-4.

Those upsets paled into insignificance to the defeat of top seed Jack Sock by 20 year old compatriot, wildcard Reilly Opelka, ranked 228.

6’11” Opelka served down 17 aces in his 4-6 7-5 6-3 shock win.

Sock is yet to register a win in 2018, losing both in Auckland and the Aus Open to players ranked 65 and 41 respectively, and now Delray Beach where he was defending champion.

Other Delray Beach second round matches:

Evgeny Donskoy defeated Donald Young 7-6(6) 6-3

Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, was bounced out of the Marseille tournament after a first round bye, to the delight of the crowd, by 56th ranked Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6(2) 7-6(5)

Other Marseille results:

First round completion

Mischa Zverev defeated Blaz Kavcic 6-4 6-4

Gilles Muller (6) defeated lucky loser in qualifying Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-5 6-3

Nicolás Mahut defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5 7-6(4)

Second round 

Damir Dzumhur (7) defeated Thomas Fabbiano 6-7(5) 7-6(7) 7-6(5) in almost three hours of tennis

Lucas Pouille (3) defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4

Budapest was not to be denied its surprises and one was the defeat of sixth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich by Petra Martic 3-6 6-4 6-4

Perhaps not a real upset as they are separated in the rankings by only nine spots.

Martic has now achieved a 3-1 head to head record over Sasnovich, but we can’t read too much into that as the first three battles were fought in 2014/15.

The other unexpected loss was suffered by fifth seed Mihaela Buzarnescu. 80th ranked Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck defeated the Romanian 6-1 6-0, converting 6 of 13 break points created, and winning 33 of 47 points in the “match”.

Other Budapest results:

First round completion

Dominika Cibulková (1) defeated wildcard Fanny Stollar 6-3 6-3

Kirsten Flipkens defeated Monica Niculescu 6-3 7-5

Tímea Babos (3) defeated Tatjana Maria 6-1 6-0

Qualifier Jana Cepelova defeated Carina Witthoeft 6-2 6-2

Shuai Zhang (2) defeated Arina Rodionova 6-3 6-2

Second round 

Lucky loser in qualifying Viktoria Kuzmova defeated Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-4

Day Two safe for top seeds everywhere

No major upsets in Dubai as the remaining first round matches were completed.

The only three setter was that between Anett Kontaveit and qualifier Samantha Stosur which opened surprisingly with the Australian completely thrashing Anett in set one, winning twice as many points to lead 6-1.

Roles were reversed in set two with all seven break points created for Kontaveit, two of which were converted, and the match evened up.

The decider was closer but Stosur struggled to win a point on the Estonian serve, and as such could manage just the one break, compared to two for Kontaveit, who advanced 1-6 6-2 6-4.

The other first round matches:

Lucky Loser from qualifying Qiang Wang defeated Kiki Bertens 6-3 6-0

Carla Suárez Navarro defeated qualifier Sofya Zhuk 6-2 6-2

Qualifier Sara Errani defeated fellow qualifier Lesia Tsurenko 6-4 6-3

Angie Kerber (6) defeated Barbora Strýcová 6-2 6-1

Caroline Garcia (5) defeated Lucie Safarova 6-3 7-5

Wildcard CiCi Bellis defeated Elise Mertens 6-3 6-3

Rio de Janeiro:

Remaining first round matches:

Federico Delbonis defeated Jiri Vesely 6-2 3-2 (retired)

Diego Schwartzman (6) defeated wildcard Casper Ruud 4-1 (retired)

Pablo Cuevas (7) defeated wildcard Thiago Monteiro 6-7(5) 7-6(10) 6-3

Aljaz Bedene defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-5 6-0

Nicolás Kicker defeated Victor Estrella Burgos 6-3 6-3

Pablo Andujar defeated Gerald Melzer 7-5 6-2

Pablo Carreno Busta (3) defeated qualifier Marco Cecchinato 6-4 6-1

Gaël Monfils defeated Horacio Zeballos 7-5 3-6 7-5

Dominic Thiem (2) defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-2 7-5

Marseille:

With still three first round matches to be played tomorrow these were decided on Day Two:

Karen Khachanov (9) defeated qualifier Ruben Bemelmans 6-3 7-6(2)

Qualifier Stefano Travaglia defeated wildcard Hugo Gaston 6-2 6-2

Filip Krajinovic (8) defeated João Sousa 3-6 6-4 6-4

Gilles Simon defeated Maximilian Marterer 7-6(3) 7-6(4)

Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated qualifier Norbert Gombos 6-2 7-6(3)

Qualifier Ilya Ivashka defeated Laslo Djere 6-3 6-1

Dominic Thiem (2) defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-2 7-5

Delray Beach:

First round was completed with:

Wildcard Reilly Opelka defeated Ryan Harrison 7-6(5) 7-6(6)

Peter Gojowczyk defeated Lukas Lacko 3-6 7-5 6-1

Wildcard John Isner (6) defeated Radu Albot 5-7 6-3 6-4

Evgeny Donskoy defeated lucky loser in qualifying Darian King 6-4 6-2

Steve Johnson defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3 6-4

Milos Raonic (9) defeated Taro Daniel 6-1 7-5

Jared Donaldson defeated lucky loser in qualifying Peter Polansky 7-6(6) 6-1

Denis Shapovalov defeated Ivo Karlovic 7-5 7-6(4)

Mikhail Youzhny defeated Dudi Sela 7-5 6-4

Qualifier Franko Skugor defeated fellow qualifier Alexander Bublik 6-2 7-5

Taylor Fritz defeated Sam Querrey (4) 2-6 6-3 7-6(4)

Juan Martin del Potro (2) defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-2 6-4  

Budapest:

With still five first round matches to be played tomorrow these were decided on Day Two:

Johanna Larsson defeated qualifier Magdalena Frech 6-1 7-6(5)

Aleksandra Krunic (7) defeated qualifier Georgina Garcia Perez 6-2 6-4

Qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0 6-0

Donna Vekic (8) defeated wildcard Panna Udvardy 6-3 6-3

Aliaksandra Sasnovich (6) defeated qualifier Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-3

Lucky loser from qualifying Viktoria Kuzmova defeated Sorana Cirstea (4) 6-4 6-2

Mihaela Buzarnescu (5) defeated Lara Arruabarrena 7-6(5) 6-1

Big week of tennis on 4 continents

Super busy week in world tennis with five tournaments up for grabs.

Three ATP events:

Rio Open presented by Claro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (ATP 500)

Open 13 Provence in Marseille, France (ATP 250)

Delray Beach Open in Delray Beach, USA (ATP 250)

Two WTA events:

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, UAE (WTA Premier)

Hungarian Ladies Open in Budapest, Hungary (WTA International)

The biggest of the lot is clearly the Dubai tournament with seven of the world top ten competing.

Petra Kvitova, the hottest player on tour, was ranked outside the top twenty when seedings were allocated, and so is the most dangerous unseeded floating player in the draw.

The top four seeds have first round byes, a blessing for second seed Garbine Muguruza after her exhausting final on Sunday in Doha.

Opening round matches played so far:

Wildcard Naomi Osaka defeated Kiki Mladenovic (8) 6-2 6-2

Wildcard Johanna Konta (7) defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(2) 6-2

Daria Kasatkina defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5 6-4

Elena Vesnina defeated Shuai Peng 6-4 7-5

Ekaterina Makarova defeated Anastasija Sevastova 3-6 7-6(9) 6-3

Rio de Janeiro opening round matches:

Marin Cilic (1) defeated qualifier Carlos Berlocq 6-3 6-2

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (4) defeated Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3 3-6 6-4

Nicolas Jarry defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3 7-6(3)

Lucky Loser in qualifying Gastao Elias defeated Guido Pella 6-4 5-7 7-5

Fabio Fognini (5) defeated wildcard Thomaz Bellucci 6-7(5) 7-5 6-2

Tennys Sandgren defeated qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena 4-6 6-1 4-3 (retired)

Fernando Verdasco (8) defeated Leonardo Mayer 6-2 3-6 6-3

Marseille opening round matches:

Julien Benneteau defeated Malek Jaziri 6-4 6-3

Thomas Fabbiano defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-4

Damir Dzumhur (7) defeated Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7(6) 7-6(3) 6-1

The top 4 seeds have first round byes

Delray Beach opening round matches:

Jack Sock (1) defeated John-Patrick Smith 6-4 6-4

Donald Young defeated qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-1 6-2

Hyeon Chung (8) defeated lucky loser in qualifying Cameron Norrie 3-6 6-3 6-1

Wildcard Frances Tiafoe defeated Matthew Ebden 6-2 2-6 6-2

Budapest opening round matches:

Mona Barthel defeated Kateryna Kozlova 7-6(3) 5-7 6-0

Petra Martic defeated wildcard Antonia Lottner 6-4 6-2

Sabine Lisicki defeated Pauline Parmentier 0-6 6-4 6-2

Alison Van Uytvanck defeated Oceane Dodin 6-3 6-2

Kvitova d Muguruza to win Doha thriller

The final of the Qatar Total Open was a wonderful exhibition of women’s tennis, and a fitting end to the first Premier 5 event of 2018, which has been full of highlights from Day One.

Garbine Muguruza (4) was the fast starter, breaking the Petra Kvitova serve twice and maintaining an attacking but tidy all court game.

Petra, to be candid, was generous with her multiple double faults and unforced errors off the ground, and her false start reflected 0-5 on the scoreboard.

Similar to her semi final against Wozniacki, Kvitova slipped into the match with a three game streak, including a break of the Spanish serve when Garbine served for the set.

Muguruza was not going to waste her brilliant beginning though, and on her second attempt to take the opener she prevailed 6-3.

Serving first in set two, Kvitova had the advantage of being able to put pressure on Muguruza to play catch up when serving.

However, there were chances for the fourth seed to break the Czech serve in the third and fifth games, each of which were competently saved.

Wasting the chances eventually caught up with Muguruza, and Kvitova was the one who gained the edge, breaking with a backhand winner for a 4-2 lead.

Muguruza created two further break points to be back on serve, but the solid delivery of Kvitova snuffed out any thought of that happening.

Both players then held serve, and Kvitova’s hold meant the set was hers.

A set apiece.

First serve percentage for Muguruza in set one 75% and set two 62%

First serve percentage for Kvitova in set one 48% and set two 68%

Set one for Kvitová winners 4 unforced errors 15

Set two for Kvitova winners 16 unforced errors 16

The decider began with Muguruza 1-0, after double faulting at 30-30, and needing to save a break point.

Kvitova saved two break points at 1-2, with a backhand winner and ace.

Then Kvitova attained the all important break to lead 3-2 and Muguruza called a medical time out for attention to her knee which she hurt during that game.

Yet another break point saved by Kvitova and the lead was extended to 4-2.

Muguruza saved two break points to hold for 3-4, and a love game from Kvitová drew her to within a game from the title.

Garbine held and forced Petra to serve for it, which she did purposely.

3-6 6-3 6-4 - the 13th straight victory and 2nd successive tournament win for Kvitova who jumps back into the top ten after starting 2018 at 29.

Amazingly Kvitova is unseeded for next weeks Dubai Premier tournament.

That will strike fears into the seeded players in her part of the draw - eighth seed Kiki Mladenovic likely second round, top seed Elina Svitolina possible quarter final, and possible semi final third seed Karolina Pliskova.

It could be another final between Kvitova and Muguruza depending on fitness and recovery.

This tournament alone Kvitova knocked off Agnieszka Radwanska, Elina Svitolina (3), Julia Goerges (9), Caroline Wozniacki (1) and Garbine Muguruza (4).

A great tournament for Muguruza after a tough season beginning in Australia.

She moves up to three in the world.

The final of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam saw top seed Roger Federer go on his winning way, recording a second title for 2018, defeating Grigor Dimitrov (2) 6-2 6-2

Kevin Anderson (1) defeated Sam Querrey (2) to capture the New York Open 4-6 6-3 7-6(1)

In Buenos Aires, Dominic Thiem (1) defeated Aljaz Bedene 6-2 6-4 and is the Argentina Open champion for 2018.

Kvitova beats Wozniacki to make Doha final

The final of the Qatar Total Open will be fought between Garbine Muguruza (4) and Petra Kvitova (16) after Petra defeated top seed Caroline Wozniacki in their semi final - yet another wonderful match in Doha.

It completed the 12th successive match win for Kvitova, coming on top of her title triumph in St Petersburg and two Fed Cup singles wins.

It wasn’t the ideal start for Petra, her first serve percentage poor, and Wozniacki taking advantage, winning her fair share of points on it.

At 2-3 Kvitova was broken but she immediately did likewise.

Wozniacki still was the cooler player in the opening set, proved by her finish, winning the closing games to assert control 6-3.

Kvitová found herself in trouble in set two, down a break 0-2. She hadn’t held serve in her last three attempts.

At 3-1 Wozniacki must have had some confidence that she could win through, having held serve the last three tries.

The sixth game was the turning point of the match, with Kvitova breaking back for 3-3.

After an exchange of games there were four breaks of serve, Caroline serving for the match twice, at 5-4 and 6-5, but failing each time.

Kvitova won the tie break handily seven points to three, and her consistent determination had prevented Wozniacki from taking her chances of winning the match, instead levelling at a set all 3-6 7-6(3)

The final set was another struggle, with top level tennis from both.

The booming left handed serve and heavy ground strokes from the Czech player seemed to be slightly more damaging, even with the first eight games on serve 4-4.

Finally Kvitová managed to break the Aus Open champion’s serve and had the chance to serve for the match.

Never an easy task to serve a match out, whoever you are, or whatever the situation, and Petra fell foul of the moment, Wozniacki drawing level once again at 5-5.

Petra wasn’t to be denied, playing a great game to easily break the Danish serve again.

This time, decisive serving was too much for Wozniacki to handle and the match was over - 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5 to Petra Kvitová in just over two and a half hours.

The final between Muguruza and Kvitova promises to be a blockbuster, with both players running into top form.

Favourite should be Petra - she has won their last three contests, after losing the first at the 2015 WTA Championships.

The most recent win was at last years US Open in the round of sixteen.

Rotterdam has completed its ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament semi finals:

Wildcard Roger Federer (1) defeated lucky loser in qualifying Andreas Seppi 6-3 7-6(3)

Like in Melbourne, Roger had seeds fall aside for him (Wawrinka and Zverev) to eventually be able to face a much lower ranked, unseeded player in the semis.

Grigor Dimitrov (2) defeated David Goffin (4) 6-3 0-1 (retired)

Final will be: Roger Federer (1) v Grigor Dimitrov (2)

New York has completed its New York Open semi finals:

Sam Querrey (2) defeated Adrian Mannarino (4) 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3

Kevin Anderson (1) defeated Kei Nishikori (5) 6-1 3-6 7-6(4)

Final will be Kevin Anderson (1) v Sam Querrey (2)

Buenos Aires has also completed its Argentina Open semi finals:

Dominic Thiem (1) defeated Gael Monfils 6-2 6-1

Aljaz Bedene defeated Federico Delbonis 6-4 2-6 6-1

Final will be Dominic Thiem (1) v Aljaz Bedene

Federer returns to number 1

Two of the four quarter finals contested in the Qatar Total Open in Doha were quality three setters and worthy of this stage of a Premier level tournament.

Caroline Wozniacki (1) and Angie Kerber (8) played a tight first set and it couldn’t be decided without a tie break.

Each player achieved a service break from the six opportunities given both.

Kerber had displayed a brilliant first serve percentage, and broke Wozniacki in the third game.

At 5-3, the top seed hit back and even gained a set point at 6-5, but it was denied by Kerber.

Wozniacki played a better tie break and led 7-6(4).

Kerber levelled with a dominant second set.

Winning 16 of 19 points on serve, compared with Wozniacki’s 8 from 18, was a stark indication of the one sided nature of the set.

Kerber broke twice for a 6-1 result, then broke again to begin the deciding set.

Wozniacki awoke from her nightmare and proceeded to break back immediately, and a further break was too much for a tiring Kerber, and Wozniacki took the chocolates 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3.

This was a terrific match - Kerber, in losing only her second match for 2018, hit 37 winners against 30 unforced errors.

Wozniacki 46 winners and 29 unforced errors.

Garbine Muguruza (4) was in danger of missing out on reaching her first Doha semi final when Caroline Garcia (7) out performed her in the opening set.

The match was being played on the French player’s terms, for instance Garcia winning all five points on the Muguruza second serve.

The set belonged to Caroline 6-3.

After that the crowd was witness to a Spanish masterclass, with reminders of how Muguruza can take control of all the court against any opponent.

She has, of course, beaten each of the Williams sisters to take home Grand Slam titles.

Here she took the attack to Garcia, winning twice as many points, breaking serve twice, and squaring the match 3-6 6-1.

More of the same in the decider, although the seventh seed put up more resistance, especially when Muguruza was serving at 4-3 to maintain her break advantage.

Still, the victory was Garbine’s 3-6 6-1 6-4

The other quarter finals:

Simona Halep (2) defeated qualifier CiCi Bellis 6-0 6-4

Unfortunately Halep did more damage to her foot which was injured during the Australian Open last month and the second seed announced later that she would be withdrawing from the tournament.

Petra Kvitová (16) defeated Julia Goerges (9) 6-4 2-1 (retired)

So the the one semi final to be played is that between Caroline Wozniacki (1) and Petra Kvitová (16).

Garbine Muguruza (4) has been given a free pass to the final with the withdrawal of Simona Halep (2), who would have been her semi final opponent.

Rotterdam: ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament 

Quarter finals

Roger Federer had to come back from a set down against Robin Haase before putting the foot to the metal and winning 4-6 6-1 6-1.

As well as making the semi final against Andreas Seppi, Federer ensured that he would return to number one in the world rankings for the first time since November 2012.

He is the oldest player, at 36, to sit atop the world - previously it was Andre Agassi (33 in 2003)

He now holds the record for longest time between stints at the top - five years and 106 days.

For good measure, he now has displaced Rafa Nadal for longest time between debuting as number one (2004) and the latest duration there.

Lucky Loser from qualifying Andreas Seppi defeated qualifier Daniil Medvedev 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3 

David Goffin defeated Tomas Berdych (6) via a walkover 

Grigor Dimitrov (2) defeated Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-4

The second semi final will feature David Goffin (4) v Grigor Dimitrov (2)

New York: New York Open

Quarter finals 

Adrian Mannarino (4) defeated qualifier Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 7-5 2-6 6-3 

Sam Querrey defeated Ivo Karlovic 7-6(5) 7-6(4)

Kei Nishikori (5) defeated Radu Albot 4-6 6-3 6-1

Kevin Anderson (1) defeated Frances Tiafoe 6-3 5-7 6-4

Semi finals will be:

Kevin Anderson (1) v Kei Nishikori (5)

Adrian Mannarino (4) v Sam Querrey (2)

Buenos Aires: Argentina Open

Quarter finals 

Gaël Monfils defeated Leonardo Mayer 6-4 3-6 6-3

Aljaz Bedene defeated Diego Schwartzman (5) 6-4 6-4

Federico Delbonis defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3 7-5

Dominic Thiem (1) defeated Guido Pella 7-6(7) 6-4

Semi finals will be:

Dominic Thiem (1) v Gaël Monfils 

Aljaz Bedene v Federico Delbonis

CC Bellis ousts Doha defending champ

The third round matches were played on Day Four in Doha and one of the strangest was that between Angie Kerber (8) and Johanna Konta (10).

Konta began with a blast in the opening set, winning over half of the points on Kerber’s serve and not having her own serve broken.

Three breaks of the German serve was the basis for a 6-1 lead.

Angie was not laying down, and set two was hers, winning 14 of 15 points on her first serve, breaking Johanna twice, and winning 27 points to 15, levelling things at 1-6 6-1.

The third set confirmed the sensational year which Kerber has had, winning the lion’s share of points on Konta’s serve (18 to 13) and breaking serve 3 times compared with 1 for the Brit.

The 1-6 6-1 6-3 victory carried Kerbers 2018 match record to 12-1 and her quarter final opponent will be number one seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Other third round results:

Caroline Wozniacki (1) defeated qualifier Monica Niculescu 7-5 6-1

Petra Kvitová (16) defeated Elina Svitolina (3) 6-4 7-5

Julia Goerges (9) defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2 6-2

Caroline Garcia (7) defeated qualifier Anna Blinkova 7-6(3) 7-5

Garbiñe Muguruza (4) defeated Sorana Cîrstea 6-0 6-4

Qualifier CC Bellis defeated Karolina Pliskova (5) 7-6(4) 6-3

18 year old Bellis has now beaten Madison Keys (12) and defending champion Pliskova in successive matches, defying her ranking in the forties. Her latest win was the first over a top five player.

Simona Halep (2) defeated Anastasija Sevastova (13) 6-4 6-3

Quarter final match ups

Caroline Wozniacki (1) v Angie Kerber (8)

Petra Kvitová (16) v Julia Goerges (9)

Caroline Garcia (7) v Garbine Muguruza (4)

Qualifier CC Bellis v Simona Halep (2)

Rotterdam:

Remaining second round

Wildcard Roger Federer (1) defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(8) 7-5

Robin Haase defeated wildcard Tallon Griekspoor 6-4 6-0

Qualifier Daniil Medvedev defeated qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6 7-6(2) 6-4

Andrey Rublev defeated Damir Dzumhur 6-4 7-6(4)

Grigor Dimitrov (2) defeated Filip Krajinovic 7-6(4) 7-5

New York:

Remaining second round 

Kevin Anderson (1) defeated qualifier Ernesto Escobedo 3-6 6-4 7-6(5)

Frances Tiafoe defeated Dudi Sela 6-4 3-6 6-0

Ivo Karlovic defeated Ryan Harrison (6) 6-4 6-4

Sam Querrey (2) defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-3

Buenos Aires:

Remaining second round 

Leonardo Mayer defeated Fabio Fognini (4) 6-3 6-3

Gaël Monfils defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-4 6-3

Federico Delbonis defeated lucky loser from qualifying Gastao Elias 7-6(5) 7-6(6)

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Pablo Carreno Busta (2) 7-6(5) 1-6 7-6(6)

5 Seeds fall in Doha 2nd round

Doha on Day Three completed the second round and had the first number of upsets and the most significant was in the all American match between twelfth seed Madison Keys and 18 year old qualifier Catherine Bellis.

Keys had looked terrific in her first round match and was expected to be to strong for the inexperienced but talented Bellis.

Bellis had beaten Kasatkina and was in good form, but Keys took her apart in the opening set, winning just 57% of points on her serve, but 64% on her opponents serve.

This led to three service breaks and a 6-2 lead.

Bellis dominated set two, winning 75% of points on her serve and 59 points of the 100 points for the set.

She faced no break points on her serve and levelled the match at 2-6 6-3.

Set three was a disaster for Keys, the less said the better.

Bellis won one of the best matches of her career 2-6 6-3 6-0, and reaches the third round where she will play defending champion Karolina Pliskova (5).

Other second round results:

Caroline Wozniacki (1) defeated Carina Witthoeft 6-2 6-0

Qualifier Monica Niculescu defeated Magdalena Rybarikova (14) 6-7(6) 6-2 3-0 (retired)

Johanna Konta (10) defeated Carla Suárez Navarro 6-2 6-2

Angie Kerber (8) defeated Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-1

Elina Svitolina (3) defeated qualifier Marketa Vondrousova 6-2 6-4

Petra Kvitova (16) defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4

Julia Goerges (9) defeated Barbora Strycova 6-2 3-6 6-1

Mihaela Buzarnescu defeated Jelena Ostapenko (6) 6-1 6-3

Qualifier Anna Blinkova defeated Kiki Mladenovic (11) 6-3 6-3

Sorana Cirstea defeated Elise Mertens (15) 7-5 6-4

Karolina Pliskova (5) defeated Alize Cornet 6-2 6-3

Anastasija Sevastova (13) defeated qualifier Naomi Osaka 6-4 6-1

Simona Halep (2) defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6-3 6-0

Rotterdam:

Final first round matches:

Wildcard Roger Federer (1) defeated qualifier Ruben Bemelmans 6-1 6-2

Robin Haase defeated wildcard Thiemo de Bakker 6-2 6-2

Qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Richard Gasquet 3-1 (retired)

Andrey Rublev defeated Lucas Pouille (7) 7-5 6-4

Damir Dzumhur defeated Marius Copil 6-4 6-4

Grigor Dimitrov (2) defeated Yuichi Sugita 6-4 7-6(5)

Second round:

Lucky Loser from qualifying Andreas Seppi defeated Sascha Zverev (3) 6-4 6-3

Tomas Berdych (6) defeated Viktor Troicki 6-1 6-2

David Goffin (4) defeated Feliciano López 6-1 6-

New York:

Second round:

Radu Albot defeated John Isner (3) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3

Kei Nishikori (5) defeated Evgeny Donskoy 6-2 6-4

Qualifier Adrian Menendez-Maceiras defeated Jeremy Chardy 7-5 7-6(5)

Adrian Mannarino (4) defeated Peter Gojowczyk 6-7(5) 7-5 4-1 (retired)

Buenos Aires:

Second round:

Dominic Thiem (1) defeated Horacio Zeballos 6-4 6-3

Guido Pella defeated Fernando Verdasco (8) 6-2 6-4

Diego Schwartzman (5) defeated qualifier Thomaz Bellucci 3-6 6-3 6-2

Aljaz Bedene defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas (3) 3-6 7-5 6-1

Wawrinka falls to 259th ranked Griekspoor

Day Two in Doha included the completion of first round matches and saw two second round clashes occur.

A very busy schedule:

First round:

Carina Witthoeft defeated Tatjana Maria 6-3 6-0 in an all German meeting

Magdalena Rybarikova (14) defeated wildcard Fatma Al Nabhani, ranked 520 from Oman, 6-3 6-1

Johanna Konta (10) defeated qualifier Bernarda Pera 7-6(5) 6-1

Carla Suárez Navarro defeated qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 3-6 6-3 6-3

Samantha Stosur defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4 6-2

Qualifier Marketa Vondrousova defeated Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-1

Petra Kvitová (16) defeated wildcard Caglq Buyukakcay 6-0 6-3

Julia Goerges (9) defeated Lucie Safarova 6-1 7-5

Barbora Strycova defeated Aleksandra Krunic 6-4 6-4

Kiki Mladenovic (11) defeated Shuai Peng 6-2 6-4

Elise Mertens (15) defeated Timea Babos 2-6 6-1 6-1

Sorana Cirstea defeated Maria Sakkari 6-2 6-3

Alizé Cornet defeated Anett Kontaveit 6-2 6-1

Madison Keys (12) defeated Qiang Wang 6-1 6-4

Anastasija Sevastova (13) defeated Donna Vekic 6-3 6-4

Second round:

Caroline Garcia (7) defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-7(3) 6-0

Garbine Muguruza (4) defeated qualifier Ying-Ying Duan 6-3 6-4

Rotterdam:

A further six first round matches were played with one major upset.

Fifth seed Stan Wawrinka was knocked out by 259th ranked Tallon Griekspoor from the Netherlands 4-6 6-3 6-2.

11 years his junior, Tallon faced just one break point for the match, and Stan used it to win the first set, but the young Dutch player converted three of eight for the match in a huge shock for the tournament organisers who were hoping for a Federer v Wawrinka clash in the quarter final.

The other results:

Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Karen Khachanov 3-6 7-6(1) 7-6(5)

Qualifier Daniil Medvedev defeated Gilles Muller (9) 6-4 7-6(9)

Viktor Troicki defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 1-6 7-6(5) 6-2

David Goffin (4) defeated Lucky Loser in qualifying Nicolas Mahut 6-1 6-3

Filip Krajinovic defeated wildcard Canadian 17yo Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2 3-6 7-5

New York:

The remaining first round matches were completed with one seed falling of the two appearing.

Qualifier Ernesto Escobedo defeated wildcard Mackenzie McDonald 4-6 6-3 7-6(5)

Radu Albot defeated qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo 6-4 6-3

Evgeny Donskoy defeated Victor Estrella Burgos 7-5 6-1

Kei Nishikori (5) defeated wildcard Noah Rubin 7-5 6-3

Qualifier Adrian Menendez-Maceiras defeated Steve Johnson (7) 1-6 6-3 7-6(7)

Jeremy Chardy defeated qualifier Stefano Travaglia 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4

Peter Gojowczyk defeated Blaz Kavcic 6-4 6-2

Mikhail Youzhny defeated Matthew Ebden 3-6 6-3 6-4

Buenos Aires:

All first round matches were finalised on Day Two, with just one seed exiting.

Horacio Zeballos defeated qualifier Marco Cecchinato 6-1 6-4

Fernando Verdasco (8) defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-2 7-5

Leonardo Mayer defeated qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4

Gael Monfils defeated Pablo Cuevas (7) 6-1 6-4

Diego Schwartzman (5) defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4 6-3

Aljaz Bedene defeated Jiri Vesely 6-0 6-3

Lucky Loser from qualifying Gastao Elias defeated last weeks Quito title winner Roberto Carballes Baena 6-2 6-4

Doha attracts 9 of top 10 women

Busy week again with the women playing the Premier tournament in Doha, bringing together 9 of the worlds top ten and 15 of the top twenty.

The men are contesting three more ATP tournaments in three different continents- Rotterdam (ATP 500), New York (ATP 250) and Buenos Aires (ATP 250).

Both Australian Open champions from January are featured - Caroline Wozniacki in Doha and Roger Federer in Rotterdam.

Federer will take over the number one ranking from Nadal should he make the semi finals.

Because Wozniacki is defending a stack of points and Halep isn’t, the live rankings before a ball is hit by either player show the lead slashed to 144. So the number one spot is up for grabs this week.

Day One was not kind for Russia on the centre court in Doha.

First match was Dominika Cibulkova against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.  

The former top five Slovakian player dismissed Anastasia in a great match 7-6(8) 6-4.

Next, USA teenage qualifier Catherine Bellis removed Daria Kasatkina, the Russian retiring after trailing 5-7 1-4.

Luckily the third clash was all Russian and an upset with teenage qualifier Anna Blinkova, ranked 164, too strong for Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-3.

The fourth and final match on centre court featuring a Russian, was a disappointment for wildcard Maria Sharapova, losing to qualifier Monica Niculescu. The Romanian won a battle of the 30 year olds 4-6 6-4 6-3.

Other matches decided on Day One:

Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Mona Barthel 3-6 6-3 7-5

Mihaela Buzarnescu defeated Lesia Tsurenko 7-5 6-4

Qualifier Ying-Ying Duan defeated wildcard Ons Jabeur 6-2 6-3

Qualifier Naomi Osaka defeated Katerina Siniakova 6-4 6-0

Ekaterina Makarova defeated Shuai Zhang 7-5 6-0

Results from Rotterdam:

Sascha Zverev (3) defeated David Ferrer 6-4 6-3

Lucky Loser from qualifying Andreas Seppi defeated João Sousa 6-4 1-6 6-2

Tomas Berdych (6) defeated Mischa Zverev 7-5 6-3

Feliciano López defeated qualifier Martin Klizan 6-3 7-6(4)

Results from New York:

20 year old Frances Tiafoe defeated wildcard 17 year old Sébastian Korda in a battle of the young Americans 4-6 6-4 6-2

Dudi Sela defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili (8) 6-4 6-4

Ryan Harrison (6) defeated Donald Young 6-3 7-6(4)

Ivo Karlovic defeated Jared Donaldson 6-4 7-6(4)

Results from Buenos Aires:

Guido Pella defeated wildcard Nicolas Kicker 2-6 6-4 6-4

Dusan Lajovic defeated qualifier Facundo Bagnis 7-6(4) 6-1

Qualifier Thomaz Bellucci defeated wildcard Pedro Cachin 6-2 6-1

Federico Delbonis defeated Florian Mayer 7-6(4) 6-4

Guillermo García-López defeated wildcard Carlos Berlocq 6-3 6-3

Quito and Sofia titles to qualifiers

Three titles were given out on the ATP Tour at the weekend, and two of the winners would never have been talked of as possible victors.

In Quito, it was qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena, ranked 107 before the tournament, who prevailed, taking out three seeds in the process.

In the second round, it was fourth seed Paolo Lorenzi, in the quarter final eighth seed Nicolas Jarry and in the final second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

In the final, Roberto served down a storm in set one, as his fellow Spaniard was unable to find an answer - the young gun won 75% of points on his serve and 54% of points on his opponents serve.

6-3 and looking for the upset.

The more experienced Albert was up for the challenge and despite being out served and losing the battle on return of serve, he somehow saved all four break points he faced.

He squeezed out two break points of his own, one of which was converted, allowing the match to be squared.

The decider was on serve at 3-3, before Roberto stepped up and broke the second seed for a critical lead 4-3.

That was enough as serve was held for the rest of the final.

Roberto Carballes Baena defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3 4-6 6-4

He improved his ranking from 107 to 76, a career high.

From not winning a match on the ATP Tour for almost a year,to winning his first title is quite an accomplishment.

Not to be outdone, Mirza Basic has won the tournament in Sofia.

The qualifier from Bosnia-Herzegovina defeated Romanian Marius Copil in an exciting final 7-6(6) 6-7(4) 6-4

These two finalists were lowly ranked before the tournament - Basic 129 and Copil 93.

Basic defeated Kohlschreiber (4) in the second round and Wawrinka (1) in the semis.

The latest rankings have Basic jumping 52 spots to a career high of 77.

Copil has risen 19 places to 74, equaling his career high.

In the all French final in Montpellier, Lucas Pouille (2) defeated Richard Gasquet (5) 7-6(2) 6-4

Pouille did not face a break point in the entire match and after racing through the opening set tie break, converted one of three chances in the second set for a convincing victory.

A lucky semi final escape with Tsonga’s retirement but Pouille rode his luck to capture his second title on home soil, and fifth overall.

Fed Cup semi finals decided

The World Group of the Fed Cup completed its first round at the weekend and the results are as follows:

Belarus v Germany:

On Day Two

Tatjana Maria defeated Vera Lapko 6-4 5-7 6-0 to give Germany a 2-1 lead

Aryna Sabalenka defeated Antonia Lottner 6-3 5-7 6-2 and the tie was 2-2

The German doubles pair of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Tatjana Maria defeated Lidziya Marozava and Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4

Germany won the tie 3-2.

Czech Republic v Switzerland:

On Day Two

Petra Kvitova defeated Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-4 to win the tie for the Czech Republic 3-0

Switzerland won a doubles match played for entertainment value 

Czech Republic won the tie 3-1.

Belgium v France:

On Day Two

Kiki Mladenovic defeated Elise Mertens 6-4 6-4 to give France a 2-1 lead

Alison Van Uytvanck defeated Pauline Parmentier 6-1 6-3 to square the tie 2-2

Amandine Haase and Kiki Mladenovic defeated Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens and Elise Mertens 6-4 2-6 6-2

France won the tie 3-2.

Netherlands v USA:

On Day Two

Venus Williams defeated Richel Hogenkamp 7-5 6-1, giving the USA an unbeatable lead of 3-0

The Williams sisters lost a doubles match to Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs, played for entertainment value

The USA won the tie 3-1.

The semi finals will be:

Germany v Czech Republic in Germany 

France v USA in France

Fourth All French final in Montpellier

An all French final was achieved in Montpellier for the fourth time in eight stagings of the tournament.

There will be a sixth French champion in those eight years.

Richard Gasquet (5) had been the champion here three times and runner up twice before 2018, and he will have another shot at title number four after defeating top seed David Goffin in three enthralling sets of their semi final - well perhaps two of the three were worth the money.

Set one was all about the Gasquet serve, all but two points won on his first delivery, and a creditable 55% on his second.

He didn’t suffer the task of having to save break points, and converted one of the two granted him.

The set was won confidently 6-4.

Set two was a debacle for Gasquet - both men found it difficult winning points on their first serve, but Goffin did well on his second serve.

Gasquet could hardly find a point anywhere.

Goffin didn’t lose a game, winning 26 to 14 points for the set.

The decider brought the match back to sanity and Gasquet once again contributed to proceedings.

In fact he dominated, only losing one point on first serve, while stealing five points off Goffin’s primary attempts.

Once more facing no break danger, the Frenchman twice broke Goffin, who was playing below the standard he had been setting in matches before this.

Gasquet recovered brilliantly from the second set walkabout to win a place in the final 6-4 0-6 6-3.

He will play Lucky Lucas Pouille (2) who had booked his tickets out of here when down 1-6 3-5 against a superior opponent on the day - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (3).

However, Pouille saved two match points while serving at 3-5, and asked Tsonga to serve for the second final spot.

Tsonga appeared hampered somewhat as he struggled, ultimately broken when serving for the match, the first time even threatened in the match.

5-5, and at the conclusion of that game, Tsonga retired with a hamstring injury, Pouille escaping through to the final winning 1-6 5-5 (retired)

Hopefully only a slight strain for Jo-Wilfried with big tournaments ahead, including the first two Masters 1000 events of 2018 in Indian Wells and Miami, back to back in March.

Semi Finals in Quito:

Qualifier Roberto Carballés Baena defeated fellow qualifier Andrej Martin 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (2) defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-4 6-7(4) 6-4.

Left handed Monteiro gave the Spaniard more trouble than he would have hoped, but an early break in the final set saw Albert through to the final against qualifier Roberto Carballés Baena.

Semi Finals in Sofia:

Qualifier Mirza Basic caused a major upset, defeating top seed Stan Wawrinka 7-6(6) 6-4

Marius Copil defeated qualifier Jozef Kovalík 6-4 6-2

Day One of 2018 Fed Cup complete

The first day of Fed Cup 2018 has been conducted, with interesting results in the World Group.

Belarus v Germany:

The first match was an even contest with which to begin, Aryna Sabalenka unable to seize a break point on the Tatjana Maria serve, and equally difficult for the German to make inroads on the Sabalenka delivery.

The single chance in the opening set was, however, converted by Tatjana and she took the lead 6-4.

From there the winners flowed for Sabalenka as she turned the match on its head.

In set two, the Belarusian hit 13 winners to none and feasted on three break points from four chances while facing no break points on her own serve.

Another demolition in the final set, with a further 20 winners to 1, and Belarus was up 1-0.

Sabalenka won 4-6 6-1 6-2.

Germany evened the score in match two thanks to Antonia Lottner, ranked 149, who upset Aliaksandra Sasnovich, ranked over 100 places higher, 7-5 6-4.

Czech Republic v Switzerland:

Petra Kvitova eventually defeated Viktorija Golubic, but not before the Swiss player took the second set 6-1, forcing Kvitova to refocus.

The second serve of each player was important in the decider, Kvitova winning 38% of points on hers, and Golubic a mere 11% on hers.

Kvitova won 6-2 1-6 6-3.

Barbora Strycova was more ruthless in the second match, putting the Czech Republic up 2-0 with her 6-2 6-4 win over Belinda Bencic.

Belgium v France:

The opening matches went to the favourites.

Belgium’s Elise Mertens took little work to defeat Pauline Parmentier 6-2 6-1.

Then France made it 1-1 after Kiki Mladenovic won 6-2 6-4 over Kirsten Flipkens.

Netherlands v USA:

After Venus Williams met USA expectations, defeating 124th ranked Arantxa Rus 6-1 6-4, Coco Vandeweghe ran into trouble against Richel Hogenkamp, the number 108 player in the world.

Vandeweghe was down a set and a break before the revival came.

A tie break was managed following two breaks of serve each in set two, and the American prevailed eight points to six.

The decider saw the Dutch player fade after a great effort, and Coco won 4-6 7-6(6) 6-3

The USA 2-0.

Australia, on home soil against the Ukraine in World Group Ii, have struggled on Day One.

Ash Barty lost her first set against Lyudmyla Kichenok, ranked 883 in the world, before winning in three sets.

Dasha Gavrilova, however, was sent packing by 15 year old Marta Kostyuk.

The Aussie number two will need to improve quickly before the Day Two reverse singles are here.

2 qualifiers in both Quito and Sofia semis

The quarter finals have been played and won in Montpellier, Quito and Sofia.

French fans will be overjoyed with the fact that three of the semi finalists in Montpellier are French.

All quarter finals were won in straight sets with the match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (3) and Andrey Rublev (6) the closest of the four.

In set one both players won a generous number of points on their first serves - Rublev 76% and Tsonga 72%.

Tsonga was marginally better on return, and converted one of his three break chances, while Rublev, having the same number of opportunities, could not take any.

This was the the difference and Tsonga led 6-4.

In set two, although Tsonga’s first serve percentage dropped to 49%, he still maintained a good rate of points won on both first and second serves.

Rublev couldn’t match points won on second serve and subsequently found himself having to save five break points.

This he did, but a sixth he couldn’t and he was broken.

Tsonga also has his serve broken once, from the two chances offered Rublev, and a tie break eventuated.

No contest here as Tsonga tore away 7-1, booking a semi final spot with a 6-4 7-6(1) victory.

The other quarter finals finished this way:

David Goffin (1) defeated Karen Khachanov 6-4 6-4, not facing a break point throughout, and converting two of eleven chances presented to him.

His semi final opponent will be Richard Gasquet

Richard Gasquet (5) defeated Damir Dzumhur (4) 6-4 6-2

Wildcard Lucas Pouille (2) defeated Benoit Paire 6-1 6-4

Pouille will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the other semi final

Quito quarter final results:

Qualifier Andrej Martin defeated Corentin Moutet 6-3 6-4

Qualifier Roberto Carballés Baena defeated Nicolas Jarry (8) 3-6 6-2 7-6(5)

He will play Andrej Martin in an all qualifier semi final and so a qualifier will be one of the finalists

Thiago Monteiro defeated Gael Monfils (3) 6-4 2-6 6-4

He will play Albert Ramos-Viñolas in the other semi final 

Albert Ramos-Viñolas (2) defeated Gerald Melzer 6-2 6-4

Sofia quarter final results:

Stan Wawrinka (1) defeated Viktor Troicki (6) 6-1 7-6(3)

He will play qualifier Mirza Basic in the semi finals

Qualifier Mirza Basic defeated Maximilian Marterer 6-4 4-6 6-3

Marius Copil defeated Gilles Muller (3) 6-4 6-4

He will play qualifier Jozef Kovalik in the semi finals

Qualifier Jozef Kovalik defeated Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2) 6-4

4 from France in Montpellier quarters

Quarter finals are set in Montpellier, Quito and Sofia.

The top six seeds made it through in France, but seeds were less successful in Ecuador and Bulgaria.

Matches decided on Day Four in Montpellier:

Karen Khachanov defeated Ricardas Berankis 6-2 7-6(11)

He will play David Goffin (1)

Damir Dzumhur (4) defeated Ruben Bemelmans 7-5 6-4

He will play Richard Gasquet (5)

Richard Gasquet (5) defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6(3) 5-7 6-3

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (3) defeated Nicolas Mahut in three tie breakers 7-6(3) 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 

There were no service breaks in the match which lasted almost two and a half hours. Tsonga had four break points and Mahut three, but all seven were saved.

Two other stats which show how close the match was - Tsonga won 77% of points on his serve, and Mahut 75% on his, for the match.

Tsonga won 112 points and Mahut 108 for the match.

Jo-Wilfried will play Andrey Rublev (6) in the quarters.

Benoit Paire became the third Frenchman through to the quarters, defeating John Millman 6-4 7-6(4)

He will play Lucas Pouille (2)

Lucas Pouille (2) completed a quadrella of French players in the quarter finals by defeating qualifier Carlos Taberner 6-1 6-2 in just 49 minutes.

Pouille lost only one point out of 23 first serves from his racquet during the match, faced no break points, but converted four of six chances he gained.

Quito:

Qualifier Andrej Martin upset Pablo Carreno Busta (1) 6-4 6-2

He will play Corentin Moutet 

Wildcard Corentin Moutet defeated big serving Ivo Karlovic (7) 7-5 6-7(3) 7-6(6)

Qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena defeated Paolo Lorenzi (4) 7-6(4) 7-5

He will play Nicolas Jarry (8)

Nicolas Jarry (8) defeated Stefano Travaglia 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3

Thiago Monteiro defeated lucky loser in qualifying Alessandro Giannessi 7-6(4) 4-6 7-5

He will play Gael Monfils (3)

Gael Monfils (3) defeated Casper Ruud 6-4 3-6 6-4

Gerald Melzer defeated Victor Estrella Burgos (6) 4-6 6-1 6-4

So endeth the run of Victor at this tournament- he doesn’t win four titles here in succession, but this record will be hard to equal.

Melzer will play Albert Ramos-Viñolas (2)

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (2) defeated wildcard Roberto Quiroz 6-3 3-6 6-3

Sofia:

Stan Wawrinka (1) defeated qualifier Martin Klizan 4-6 6-2 6-3

He will play Viktor Troicki

Viktor Troicki (6) defeated Denis Istomin 7-6(4) 1-6 7-6(5)

Maximlian Marterer defeated Joao Sousa (7) 7-5 7-6(6)

He will play qualifier Mirza Basic

Marius Copil defeated Blaz Kavcic 6-2 6-2

He will play Gilles Muller (3)

Gilles Muller (3) defeated Andreas Seppi 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(2)

Marcos Baghdatis defeated Adrian Mannarino (2) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-1 

He will play qualifier Jozef Kovalik

Brown forced out 3 points from win

The first round is complete in all tournaments in Montpellier, Quito and Sofia.

Second round matches have even commenced.

The final opening round results were as follows:

Montpellier:

Ruben Bemelmans defeated wildcard Calvin Hemery 6-1 6-2

Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated qualifier Kenny De Schepper 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 6-4, in an all French battle

Richard Gasquet (5) defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-0 6-3

Nicolas Mahut defeated Dustin Brown 6-7(2) 2-5 (retired)

Brown was leading 15-0 on Mahut’s serve in the eighth game of set two after winning the point of the match. However, in the process, he injured his lower back and couldn’t continue.

Heartbreak just three points from the second round.

John Millman defeated Yuichi Sugita (8) 5-7 6-3 6-4

Quito:

Ivo Karlovic (7) defeated Ernesto Escobedo 6-4 6=7(6) 7-6(4) in a match with 40 aces between the two

Nicolas Jarry (8) defeated qualifier Facundo Bagnis 6-7(4) 6-2 7-6(5)

Lucky loser in qualifying Alessandro Giannessi defeated Peter Polansky 6-3 6-4

Gerald Melzer defeated Marco Cecchinato 6-4 6-2

Wildcard Roberto Quiroz defeated Yannick Hanfmann 7-6(5) 6-3

Sofia:

Maximilian Marterer defeated Malek Jaziri 7-6(3) 6-4

Marius Copil defeated Robin Haase (5) 7-6(5) 6-4

Blaz Kavcic defeated Lasio Djere 6-4 6-4

Andreas Seppi defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-4

Marcos Baghdatis defeated lucky loser in qualifying Salvatore Caruso 7-6(4) 6-3

Second round results:

Montpellier:

David Goffin (1) defeated Gilles Simon 6-4 6-2

Andrey Rublev (6) defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-2 6-1

Although these results were both disappointing for the French crowd, tomorrow’s remaining second round matches include two all French affairs and two others each with a French player featured.

So at least two quarter finalists will be French.

Sofia:

Qualifier Mirza Basic defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber (4) 7-5 7-6(5)

Qualifier Jozef Kovalík defeated Lukas Lacko 4-6 6-2 7-5

Estrella Burgos aims for 4th Quito title

More first round results from ATP tournaments on Day Two have seen a few upsets and a number of qualifiers make it through to the second round.

In Montpellier, the French crowd enjoyed two home nation wins from three matches.

Gilles Simon drew on all his experience in his more than two hour battle with 142nd ranked Yannick Maden.

He began in style in set one, winning 71% of points on his serve and 52% of points on his opponent’s serve.

Simon broke twice from five chances, and held all of his 4 service games.

He led 6-1.

Maden turned it round in set two, converting his only break point, while Simon wasted all of his three.

Other than that, the set was won at the margins, and the German levelled at 1-6 6-4.

Set three was appearing dire for Simon, down 2-4. Breaking back, Simon took Maden to a tie break, both players having converted two breaks from two chances.

Simon proved the steadier, successful seven points to three and victorious 6-1 4-6 7-6(3).

Others through to round two were:

Ricardas Berankis defeating wildcard Julien Benneteau 6-3 7-6(6)

Karen Khachanov defeating David Ferrer (7) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4

Jeremy Chardy defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6 7-5 7-5

Qualifier Carlos Taberner defeating fellow qualifier Norbert Gombos 7-6(5) 7-6(1)

Quito first round:

(Day One) Victor Estrella Burgos (6) defeated Thomaz Bellucci 4-6 6-4 6-2

Victor has now extended his winning streak at this tournament to 16, having won the previous 3 successive titles in Quito.

Next up for him is the winner of Gerald Melzer and Marco Cecchinato.

Qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena defeated fellow qualifier Federico Gaio 7-6(5) 6-3

Thiago Monteiro defeated Horacio Zeballos (5) 6-4 7-6(8)

Sofia first round:

Qualifier Martin Klizan defeated wildcard Alexander Donski 7-5 6-1

Denis Istomin defeated wildcard 16 year old Adrian Andreev 6-3 6-4

Andreev was unranked before this tournament and was as high as 1747 in June 2016 when he was 15.

He has only played the two events prior to Sofia this year - he received a wildcard to the Moselle Open qualifying in 2016, where he lost in the first round.

He played in the qualifying rounds at the Sofia tournament last year, losing in the opening round there too.

In 2018: Andreev, with his first main draw appearance, had a chance to mix it with the top tier crowd.

Bulgaria is hoping for a bright future from the teenager, maybe one day following in the footsteps of its current star Grigor Dimitrov.

Viktor Troicki (6) defeated qualifier Earnests Gulbis 6-3 6-7(2) 6-3

Qualifier Mirza Basic defeated lucky loser in qualifying Florian Mayer 6-4 6-1

Qualifier Jozef Kovalik defeated Radu Albot 6-3 6-3

Fed Cup first round this week

The draw for the first round of Fed Cup 2018 is out and here it is:

World Group:

Belarus (1) v Germany in Minsk, Belarus 

Belarus is the 2017 finalist, losing to the USA, and has included in its team Aliaksandra Sasnovich ranked 46 and Aryna Sabalenka ranked 63.

Germany has included amongst its ranks Tatjana Maria ranked 58 and highly rated Anna-Lena Groenefeld, ranked 21 in doubles.

Czech Republic (3) v Switzerland in Prague, Czech Republic 

The Czech Republic has won the Fed Cup multiple times over the past decade (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016) and has assembled another top group to contest the first round.

It includes Karolina Pliskova ranked 6, Petra Kvitova ranked 21 and fresh from her title victory in Russia, Barbora Strycova ranked 25, and Lucie Safarova, ranked 31.

Switzerland has Timea Bacsinszky and Belinda Bencic at its disposal, and their respective rankings of 42 and 73 are not truly reflective of their potential, given previous career highs in the top bracket.

Belgium v France (4) in La-Roche-sur-Yon, France

France is headed by Kiki Mladenovic, ranked 13, and Belgium’s singles hopes rest primarily with Elise Mertens, ranked 20.

Netherlands v USA (2) in Asheville, USA

The USA, defending champion, is again strong, leading with Venus Williams, ranked 8, and Coco Vandeweghe, ranked 17.

Serena Williams has also been named in the squad, although it is not known to what extent she will participate.

Singles success looks remote for the Netherlands, but the doubles combination could provide stern competition, Demi Schuurs ranked 32 and Lesley Kerkhove ranked 65 in doubles, the pair selected.

World Group Ii:

This promises to be exciting too, as the countries competing in the draw are desperate to win and grab a spot in the World Group in 2019.

Players representing their nations include:

Simona Halep, ranked 2

Ash Barty, ranked 16

Magdalena Rybarikova, ranked 18

Dasha Gavrilova, ranked 26

Carla Suarez Navarro, ranked 29

ATP Tour back in 3 tournaments

With the first round of the 2018 Fed Cup being contested this week, the women have been given a rest from The WTA Tour.

The men, however, come back from Davis Cup duties, and the ATP Tour resumes:

- in Montpellier, France for the Open Sud de France

- in Quito, Ecuador for the Ecuador Open

- in Sofia, Bulgaria for the Diema Xtra Sofía Open

Montpellier boasts a field including three top twenty players and all eight seeds bar one ranked in the top forty.

David Goffin, the world number 7, is the top seed.

The top four seeds receive first round byes.

Quito has four of its seeds in the top 50 and the rest in the top 100.

It also has a top ten player, Pablo Carreno Busta (10), as its top seed.

The top four seeds receive first round byes.

Sofía unfortunately doesn’t have its main man, Bulgarian world number four Grigor Dimitrov, in its draw.

However it does have three time Grand Slam title winner Stan Wawrinka, now ranked 15, as top seed.

Four other seeds are in the top 50, the other three in the top 100.

The top four seeds receive first round byes.

The qualifying has finished and a few first round matches from the main draw have been completed on Day One of each tournament.

In Montpellier:

Andrey Rublev (6) defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-4

Benoit Paire defeated Mischa Zverev 6-4 6-4

In Quito:

Qualifier Andrej Martin defeated Rogerio Dutra Silva 7-5 6-4

Wildcard Corentin Moutet defeated Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2

Stefano Travaglia defeated Pablo Andujar 6-4 5-7 7-5

Casper Ruud defeated Carlos Berlocq 7-5 6-0

Victor Estrella Burgos (6) is scheduled to play Thomaz Bellucci in an evening match on Day One.

In Sofia:

Joao Sousa (7) defeated wildcard Dimitar Kuzmanov 7-6(6) 6-1

Lukas Lacko defeated Evgeny Donskoy (8) 6-4 6-4

Davis Cup first round finished

The first round Davis Cup ties are over and the results are:

France defeated the Netherlands 3-1:

Adrian Mannarino defeated Robin Haase 4-6 7-6(5) 7-5 6-7(2) 7-5 in the reverse singles to decide the tie.

France will play Italy next

Italy defeated Japan 3-1:

Fabio Fognini defeated Yuichi Sugita 6-3 1-6 6-3 6-7(6) 7-5 in the reverse singles to decide the tie.

Spain defeated Great Britain 3-1:

Albert Ramos-Vinolas defeated Cameron Norrie 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2 in the reverse singles to decide the tie.

Spain will play Germany next

Germany defeated Australia 3-1

Sascha Zverev defeated Nick Kyrgios 6-2 7-6(3) 6-2 in the reverse singles to decide the tie.

Kazakhstan defeated Switzerland 4-1

The tie had already been won 3-0 and the final two matches were only played for entertainment.

Kazakhstan will play Croatia next

Croatia defeated Canada 3-1

Borna Coric defeated Denis Shapovalov 6-4 6-4 6-4 in the reverse singles to decide the tie.

USA defeated Serbia 3-1

The tie had already been won 3-0 and the final match was only played for entertainment.

USA will play Belgium next

Belgium defeated Hungary 3-2

David Goffin defeated Marton Fucsovics 7-5 6-4 3-6 6-2 in the reverse singles to decide the tie.

The final match was only played for entertainment.

Kvitova and Babos win titles

Petra Kvitova received a wildcard to enter the St Petersburg tournament, and at the conclusion of the event, she stands as its champion.

Kiki Mladenovic (4) defended her title terrifically all week, but had no answers in the final, where Kvitova virtually Petrafied her.

In the opening set, Petra put 80% of first serves into play, and won 88% of points when done.

While serve was particularly strong, the Czech return was also significant, with Mladenovic losing 75% of points on her second serve, which she had to use 43% of the time.

Kvitova didn’t face a break point, but broke the French serve three times from five chances, taking the set 6-1.

Set two saw a continued charge by Kvitova, perhaps slightly less dominant, Mladenovic participating in more of the points, but still never threatening at any point.

Breaking twice, the second time to lead 4-1 and serve to come, Kvitova had yet to worry about saving a break point.

Serving for the match, that changed, suddenly down 0-40.

The booming left hand serve solved the minor problem, and the match was finalised 6-1 6-2.

A fantastic win for Kvitova, 30 winners included, becoming the first left hander to win this event.

It continues a run of at least one tournament win each year for Petra since 2011.

Taipei City had an Hungarian win in its final where Timea Babos (4) took the Taiwan Open title, her third WTA success.

Babos defeated Kateryna Kozlova from the Ukraine.

She began slowly, dropping her opening serve, and despite breaking back immediately, double faulting for 2-3.

Kozlova held to lead 4-2 but Babos finished the set strongly, winning five of the next six games and leading 7-5.

Set two was completely different, Babos in absolute control.

Winning 76% of points on her serve, and 64% of points on the Kozlova serve, Babos broke twice and won 7-5 6-1.

Kozlova, despite her loss, has moved up 20 spots to a career high ranking of 65.

Babos has jumped 10 spots to 35, closing in on her career high of 25.

With her semi final appearance in St Petersburg, Julia Goerges has moved to number 10 in the world, her best career ranking.

Petra Kvitova, with her win, has moved up eight rungs to 21, and watch out top ten, Petra is coming back soon.

USA and Kazakhstan win Davis Cup ties

The doubles played on Day Two of Davis Cup action proved decisive in some cases and pivotal in others.

The four set battle in the France v Netherlands tie included three tie breaks, indicating how tight the match was.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeated Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer 7-6(6) 6-3 6-7(3) 7-6(2).

France lead 2-1.

Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini defeated Ben McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 7-5 to give Italy a 2-1 lead over Japan.

Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano López defeated Dominic Inglot and Jamie Murray 6-4 6-4 7-6(4) to give Spain a 2-1 lead over Great Britain.

Germany’s Tim Puetz and Jan-Lennard Struff defeated Matthew Ebden and John Peers 6-4 6-7(1) 6-2 6-7(4) 6-4.

The Australians played catch up and in the decider even had two break points for a 4-2 lead. These were saved and Germany levelled at 3-3 breaking itself for 4-3.

Australia had two more break points to even things, but Germany once again saved them and proceeded to hold serve for the remainder of the match.

Germany took a 2-1 lead in the tie.

Needing to win, Switzerland’s pair of Marc-Andrea Huesler and Luca Margaroli came back from two sets down against Kazakhstan’s Timur Khabibulin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov, only to fall short.

Kazakhstan won 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-7(5) 6-3.

Kazakhstan won the tie 3-0, although remaining matches will be played.

The next country for battle will be the winner of Canada and Croatia.

Croatian pair Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig defeated Canadians Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 2-6 3-6 6-4 7-5 6-2.

Croatia leads 2-1.

The USA defeated Serbia 3-0.

Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson won the doubles rubber over Nikola Milojevic and Miljan Zekic 6-7(3) 6-2 7-5 6-4.

The USA next meets the winner of Belgium and Hungary.

Down 0-2, Hungary came back in the doubles.

Attila Balazs and Marton Fucsovics defeated Ruben Bemelmans and Joris de Loore 6-3 6-4 6-7(2) 4-6 7-5.

Belgium still lead 2-1 and have David Goffin to come in the reverse singles.

Kvitova downs Goerges to make final

The standout semi final in St Petersburg was that between wildcard Petra Kvitova and Julia Goerges (5).

The two exhibited the finest tennis of the tournament over three sets and either could have been a finalist at some stage of the match. However, the final set proved slightly too much for one.

In the opening set, despite only winning 54% of points on her first serve, Goerges made up for it on second serves and broke Kvitova.

Serving for the set at 5-4, the fifth seed felt the power of the dual Wimbledon champ as Kvitova broke back to begin a three game streak.

This sealed the set for the Czech player 7-5.

The second set was a serving clinic, but for the fifth game where Goerges snuck in a break of the Kvitova serve (converting the single break point of the set), which she defended until the set concluded 6-4 in the Germans favour.

The match decider began with Kvitova at the line and she won the first three games, the break important as Petra was serving brilliantly.

Facing no break points and savaging the Goerges second serve, Kvitova held a 5-2 lead as both players held serve beyond the break at 2-0.

Kvitova piled on the pressure to break again to take the match 7-5 4-6 6-2.

Petra will face Kristina Mladenovic (4), the defending champion, in the final, after the French player defeated Daria Kasatkina (8) in the second semi final 3-6 6-3 6-2

Mladenovic had second serve problems in the opening set which she managed to rectify.

Kasatkina’s first serve percentage in the second and third sets was ok but she could hardly win a point when she served anything.

Mladenovic won 66 points to 46 in the final two sets.

In Taipei City, the final will be played between:

Timea Babos (4) - who defeated Yafan Wang 6-3 6-4 in their semi final

and

Kateryna Kozlova - who defeated Sabine Lisicki 7-5 6-4 in their semi final

Gorrie stuns on Davis Cup debut

The opening day of Davis Cup 2018 gave us some great matches in the first lot of singles.

In the France v Netherlands tie, Lucas Pouille didn’t play the first match, instead Adrian Mannarino taking up the challenge.

The 25th ranked Frenchman was expected to win, without many problems against Thiemo De Bakker, currently ranked 369.

Surprises happen in Davis Cup and here was one - De Bakker ran through Mannarino in straight sets 7-6(4) 6-3 6-3 in just over two hours, serving 15 aces and breaking the French serve six times.

Richard Gasquet evened things for France, with his four set victory over Robin Haase 6-4 7-6(3) 3-6 7-5.

Daniel Toro, ranked 100 for Japan, took 22nd ranked Italian Fabio Fognini to five sets before Fabio finally gave Italy the start it wanted 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 after a fright.

Japan equalised following a victory from Yuichi Sugita over Andreas Seppi, also in five sets, 4-6 6-2 6-4 4-6 7-6(1).

The fans certainly received their money’s worth on Day One in Japan.

Spain was expected to roll over the Brits easily with a strong team and Great Britain without Murray and Edmund.

The script was followed when Albert Ramos-Vinolas defeated Liam Broady 6-3 6-4 7-6(6).

Things were heading in the same direction for Cameron Norrie when down 4-6 3-6 against Roberto Bautista Agut.

A remarkable turnabout saw the 114th ranked Brit take the final three sets from the favoured top 30 Spaniard and square the tie 4-6 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2. This was Soufh African born Norrie’s Davis Cup debut, and what a brilliant one.

Australian Teenager Alex de Minaur, in his Davis Cup debut, almost knocked over Sascha Zverev (5) but eventually fell agonisingly short, Zverev winning 7-5 4-6 4-6 6-3 7-6(4).

Nick Kyrgios evened things with a clinical win over Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Dmitry Popko and Mikhail Kukushkin gave Kazakhstan a flying start over Switzerland, defeating Henri Laaksonen and Adrian Bodmer respectively.

Canada and Croatia are level - Borna Coric defeated Vasek Pospisil, but Canada fought back with Denis Shapovalov in fine touch winning over Viktor Galovic.

The USA are in a commanding position in their tie against Serbia.

Sam Querrey won in four sets against Laslo Djere.

John Isner, however, had a difficult match against Dusan Lajovic before emerging victorious 6-4 6-7(7) 6-3 3-6 7-6(4).

Belgium is just one win away from securing a tie win, with two successes on Day One.

Ruben Bemelmans defeated Marton Fucsovics in the opening match and David Goffin took only and hour and a half to dispense with Attila Balazs 6-4 6-4 6-0.

Wozniacki shocked by Kasatkina

In just her second match since claiming the Australian Open, Caroline Wozniacki (1) has suffered a defeat to Daria Kasatkina in the quarter finals in St Petersburg.

In the opening set, Wozniacki won only 51% of points on her serve, whereas Kasatkina won 70% on hers.

The Russian won 42 points and the top seed 30 in the set.

However, despite the differential in these figures, both players achieved two service breaks and a tie break occurred.

Kasatkina dominated, winning the tie break 7-2 and deservedly the set 7-6(2).

Set two once again saw Wozniacki struggle, winning only half the points on her first serve.

Again her serve was broken twice, from three opportunities, and Kasatkina was broken once from two chances.

Daria shocked the top seed 7-6(2) 6-3 and earned a semi final spot.

The other quarter final results:

Kristina Mladenovic (4) defeated Katerina Siniakova 6-4 6-3 and will play Daria Kasatkina in the semi finals 

Julia Goerges (5) defeated qualifier Elena Rybakina 6-3 6-3 and will play wildcard Petra Kvitova in the semi finals

Petra Kvitova defeated Jelena Ostapenko (2) 6-0 6-2

Quarter final results in Taipei City:

Yafan Wang defeated wildcard Eugenie Bouchard 6-4 6-0 and will play Timea Babos (4) in the semi finals

Timea Babos (4) defeated Magda Linette (7) 6-1 6-3

Sabine Lisicki defeated Monica Niculescu 4-6 6-4 6-4 after trailing 4-6 0-3, and will play Kateryna Kozlova in the semi finals

Kateryna Kozlova defeated Yulia Putintseva (5) 7-5 6-3

Davis Cup starts tonight Aus time

The ATP Tour has taken a rest this week, because of the Davis Cup opening round.

Today will see the initial singles matches and the draw sees:

France (1) v Netherlands in Albertville, France.

Italy (8) v Japan in Morioka, Japan

Great Britain (3) v Spain in Marbella, Spain

Australia (6) v Germany in Brisbane, Australia 

Kazakhstan v Switzerland (5) in Astana, Kazakhstan 

Canada v Croatia (4) in Osijek, Croatia 

USA v Serbia (7) in Nis, Serbia 

Hungary v Belgium (2) in Liege, Belgium 

High profile players listed for action in the various ties include:

David Goffin ranked 7 representing Belgium 

Sam Querrey ranked 12 representing USA 

John Isner ranked 18 representing USA 

Denis Shapovalov ranked 48 representing Canada

Borna Coric ranked 47 representing Croatia 

Sascha Zverev ranked 5 representing Germany

Nick Kyrgios ranked 14 representing Australia 

Albert Ramos-Vinolas ranked 21 representing Spain

Roberto Bautista Agut ranked 23 representing Spain 

Pablo Carreno Busta ranked 10 representing Spain 

Fabio Fognini ranked 22 representing Italy

Paolo Lorenzi ranked 46 representing Italy

Yuichi Sugita ranked 41 representing Japan

Lucas Pouille ranked 17 representing France

Richard Gasquet ranked 33 representing France

Robin Haase ranked 42 representing Netherlands 

No Federer, Nadal (injury a good excuse), Cilic (although named in the squad), Sock, Djokovic (same excuse as Nadal), or Wawrinka (not enough match fitness probably).

Still three top ten players and four more in the top twenty are featuring across the eight ties, and another nine from the top 50, so exciting tennis is expected today and over the weekend.

Wozniacki teaches 16yo a lesson

All quarter finalists are decided in both Taipei City and St Petersburg.

Caroline Wozniacki (1), after her first round bye in St Petersburg, played a second round match against 16 year old Russian Anastasia Potapova.

The teenager, ranked 235, had a win against top 50 player Tatjana Maria, which rocketed her to 199 in the live rankings.

Naturally it would be a tough ask facing up to the recently crowned Australian Open champion, but a fantastic opportunity nevertheless.

It was an easy win for Wozniacki on the scoreboard, but Potapova won 9 points from the 20 serves that the top seed delivered, which is a stat with which she can be pleased.

However Wozniacki created 21 break points in the match - she only needed to convert 7 - and this was how the score line was finalised at 6-0 6-1.

Potapova never held serve for the entire match, and her only game won was with a break of the Wozniacki serve.

A great experience for the promising young Russian and a predictable start for the top seed.

Quarter finals are:

Caroline Wozniacki (1) v Daria Kasatkina (8)

Kasatkina defeated Alize Cornet 6-2 6-1 in the second round

Kristina Mladenovic (4) v Katerina Siniakova 

Mladenovic defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 6-4 in the second round

Siniakova defeated Ekaterina Makarova 7-6(7) 7-5 in the second round

Julia Goerges (5) v qualifier Elena Rybakina 

Goerges defeated qualifier Roberta Vinci 7-5 6-0 in the second round

Rybakina defeated Caroline Garcia (3) 4-6 7-6(6) 7-5(5) in the second round

Wildcard Petra Kvitova v Jelena Ostapenko (2)

Kvitová defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3 1-6 6-1 in the second round

Ostapenko defeated wildcard Vera Zvonareva 7-6(6) 7-3 in the second round

In Taipei City the quarter finals are:

Wildcard Eugenie Bouchard v Yafan Wang

Bouchard defeated Ana Bogdan 7-5 7-5 in the second round

Wang defeated Pauline Parmentier (8) 6-3 6-3 in the second round 

Timea Babos (4) v Magda Linette (7)

Babos defeated Dalila Jakupovic 6-3 4-6 6-2 in the second round 

Linette defeated Johanna Larsson 6-1 6-7(4) 7-6(3) in the second round 

Monica Niculescu v Sabine Lisicki 

Niculescu defeated Zarina Diyas (6) 6-0 1-6 6-4 in the second round 

Lisicki defeated Nao Hibino 6-4 6-1 in the second round 

Yulia Putintseva (5) v Kateryna Kozlova

Putintseva defeated wildcard Kai-Chen Chang 6-3 7-6(3) in the second round 

Kozlova defeated Ying-Ying Duan 3-6 6-2 7-6(4) in the second round

Rybakina ranked 450 beats Garcia

In Taipei City four quarter finalists have been determined and another seed has fallen in the process.

In a see-sawing affair, Monica Niculescu finally had the better of Zarina Diyas (6).

Monica began the match in dominant fashion, winning all but two points on her serve, and 62% of points on her opponents serve as well. 6-0.

Zarina quickly reversed the momentum in set two, breaking the Romanian twice, on the back of winning half the points on Monica’s serve.0-6 6-1.

The deciding set was tight on the scoreboard, despite Niculescu winning the points battle clearly, both on her serve, and returning.

Break opportunities came frequently- 6 for Niculescu, 4 of which were converted, and 5 for Diyas, 3 converted.

The match score 6-0 1-6 6-4.

Other quarter finalists:

Sabine Lisicki - who beat Nao Hibino 6-4 6-1

She will play Monica Niculescu in the quarter finals.

Yulia Putintseva (5) - who beat Kai-Chen Chang 6-3 7-6(3)

She will play Kateryna Kozlova in the quarter finals.

Kateryna Kozlova - who beat Ying-Ying Duan 3-6 6-2 7-6(4)

Three second round matches were completed in St Petersburg after the two remaining first round encounters had been decided.

Those latter clashes were:

Ekaterina Makarova defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (6) 6-4 6-4

Makarova will play Katerina Siniakova in the second round.

Wildcard Petra Kvitova defeating Elena Vesnina (7) 6-2 6-0

Kvitová will play Irina-Camellia Begu in the second round.

Quarter finalists:

Daria Kasatkina (8) - who beat Alize Cornet 6-2 6-1.

She will play the winner of Caroline Wozniacki (1) and wildcard Anastasia Potapova.

Qualifier Elena Rybakina - who beat Caroline Garcia (3) 4-6 7-6(6) 7-6(5).

Rybakina, a Russian 18 year old, ranked 450 before this tournament, has come through qualifying and beaten a top 50 opponent and now a top 10 member (after dropping the first set).

She has moved to a live ranking of 268 because of her efforts here.

Elena will play the winner of Julia Goerges (5) and qualifier Roberta Vinci.

Jelena Ostapenko (2) - who beat wildcard Vera Zvonareva 7-6(6) 6-3

She will play the winner of wildcard Petra Kvitova and Irina-Camellia Begu.