Recap of ATP Rio and Delray Beach Finals including video highlights

Rafael Nadal def Alexandr Dolgopolov 63 76 (7-3)

Rafael Nadal claimed him 62^nd title yesterday in Rio against an inspired Alexandr Dolgopolov. The Ukrainian had a great tournament with wins over David Ferrer and Fabio Fognini in his previous matches. On the other hand Nadal nearly didn't make it to the final after his epic semi final match against Pablo Andújar which lasted nearly three hours! In the final Nadal took control in the match early in the first set by breaking Dolgopolov to take a 3-1 lead. This then lead to Nadal taking the first set comfortably 63 in only 39 minuets. The second set was following the similar pattern of the first with Nadal breaking early. The world number 1 was cursing to a victory and was serving for the title at 5-3 up. This was however not to be so straight forward for him due to Dolgopolov producing some fantastic shots and defence to break Nadal for the first time in his career to level it 5-5. Dolgopolov then surprised everybody to take a 6-5 lead but Nadal fought back to force it in to a tie-break. Unfortunately for Dolgopolov fans he could not maintain the form with a couple of errors to enable Nadal to have a 5-2 lead. Nadal was then able to take the tie-break 7-3 to get yet another title of clay.

Marin Cilic def Kevin Anderson 76 (8-6) 67 (7-9) 64

Marin Cilic's excellent form continued after his marathon win over South African Kevin Anderson at the Delray Beach Championships. In the two previous tournaments Cilic has won in Zagreb and reached the final in Rotterdam (where he beat Andy Murray in straight sets in the quarter finals). The three hours and 13 minuets match saw two extremely close tie-breaks with Cilic taking the first (8-6) and Anderson the second after saving match point (9-7). Cilic took the first mini lead in the final set by breaking Anderson's serve in the very first game which eventually lead to him generating a 2-0 lead. The South African number 1 fought back by immediately breaking back to level the match 2-2. Despite Anderson’s valiant effort. It was still not enough to disrupt Cilic's momentum with yet another break of serve but this time the break was the most significant in the third set. Being 4-2 up Cilic battled to finally hold his serve to take the title on his forth match point. Cilic produced 9 aces and won 89% his of first serves during the match.

I am still trying to find highlights online of the entire match but no luck so far. So below is a video of the first three games of the match.Once i find the full highlights i will post it.

Disclaimer - I do not own these videos 

Williams outclasses Cornet in Dubai

Alize Cornet's dream week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships came to a abrupt end after being outplayed by a dominant Venus Williams in the final. Cornet caused a huge shock yesterday after her unexpected 64 64 win over world number 1 Serena Williams. Going in to the match Cornet was aiming to be only the 8^th tennis player in history to beat the Williams sisters in the same tournament but Venus had other ideas.

In the first set it was Cornet who was the first to strike by breaking Williams in her second service game. Throughout the set both players was producing stunning tennis but the former world number 1 was too strong. After being broken Williams immediately broke back to level the set before charging to a 5-2 lead. It was clear how much it meant to Cornet when she had a mini emotional break down during one change of ends while she was talking with her coach. Williams on the other hand used her 9 extra years of experience compared to Cornet to remain composed and take the first set 63. Williams winners-losers ratio was 12-11 compared to Cornet's 4-15.

In the second set it was all about the seven times Grand Slam champion. Despite the glimmers of tennis brilliance from Cornet it was no match against Williams solid game in which she didn't drop a single game. This was one of the best performances that Venus Williams has shown on court for a while and a reminder to the tour about how much of a threat to the top players she can be. Despite the 63 60 scoreline the match did at times seemed a lot closer than that with Cornet matching Williams games throughout but lacked the consistency. 

Williams was only able to compete in the tournament thanks to a wildcard as her current ranking isn't high enough to give her direct entry into the main draw. This is now Williams third title in Dubai and 45th singles title. The match summary is below (source BT Sport) :-

Williams sets up semi final showdown against Wozniacki

Venus Williams had to overcome late nerves in her two sets win over Flavia Pennetta. Williams has been in impressive form so far in the tournament with straight sets wins over Elena Vesnina and Ana Ivanovic. The first set got off to an uneasy start for both players with three consecutive breaks of serves. Pennetta finally held her serve to move 3-1 up. Sensing the danger Williams broke back immediately and in doing so took the next five games to take the first set 63. The second set was going the former world number ones way with Williams serving for the match at 5-3 up and even had a match point. The Italian was however putting up resistance with great shots and manage to break back on her fifth attempt. Despite the late resurgence from Pennetta it wasn't to be as Williams broke again to take the match on her second match point. The final scoreline was 75 63.

Awaiting Williams in the semis will be 8^th seed Caroline Wozniacki after her 63 minuet dismissal of Sorana Cirstea (61 62). Wozniacki was broken only once in the match and produced 62% of first serves in. Her winner-error ratio was 9-9 and she won 5/8 break points. This is a big confidence boost for Wozniacki after her dissapointing 46 57 loss to Yanina Wickmayer last week in Doha.

Going in to the next match it will be the first time they have played each other since Miami in 2008! Williams currently leads the head to head 4-0 but considering how long it has been since they have played each other. The head to head seems meaningless.

The second semi final will be decided later on today. Top seed Sarena Williams faces Jelena Jankovic while Carla Suarez Navarro plays Alize Cornet.

Soderling announced as the new director of the Stockholm Open but still hopes to stage a comeback

Robin Soderling has been announced as the new tournament director of the Stockholm Open. The former world number 4 who most memorable moment was his win against Rafael Nadal at the 2009 French Open hasn't played since Bastad 2011 due to illness (source - ITF). Soderling has been hit badly with mononucleosis (aka Gladular fever) which had led to him developing extreme fatigue leading to the Swede at times only being able to play tennis for no longer than 15 minuets. He did empathise that despite his new role, he still hopes to return to the tour one day. Below is a translated statement by Soderling which was published on stockholmopen.se :-

“I exercise gently to come back. Meanwhile, I find it stimulating to still get to be involved in tennis and then get to work with Hult and Wallen who really has raised the status of the races both in Bastad and Stockholm. It will be fun to scout new stars for the competition and work with the competition's partners and media”

mononucleosis is a unfortunately very common illness that tennis players experience with other players affected by the illness included in the past Roger Federer, Justine Henin, Andy Roddick, Mario Ancic (who retired due to the recurrence of the disease), John Isner, Sam Stosur and Heather Watson.

Del Potro criticises the Argentinian tennis association

 The gap between Juan Martin Del Potro and the Argentinian Tennis Association (AAT) widened today after Del Potro stated that he will not participate in the Davis Cup this year. Del Potro has openly expressed in the past that he is unhappy about how the AAT treats him. He released the following statement quoting the Buenos Aires Herald:-

"In November I made public a letter in which I showed my disappointment with the doublespeak and hypocrisy that reigns with regards to the Davis Cup. From that point nothing has changed, it has only got worse,"
“in order to justify resignations that only serve as a cover," and assured that he had never requested a captain and always respected "other people's decisions."
"Out of respect for those who follow me, who enjoy tennis, who have memories and know what I have done in the Davis Cup and Olympics, out of respect for the silent majority that enjoy the sport and are far from those who insult rivals or punish someone from their country, I will not play the Davis Cup in 2014,"

There will be a response from the AAT tomorrow is a press conference scheduled around 14:00 local time however ole.com.ar have quoted Arturo Grimaldi in a interview this evening with TYCsports Argentina. The entire text is hard to translate to English but below is some of the key quotes from Grimaldi. 

"We will respect and support his decision was " pulled. He also admitted his surprise at the player's clubs against the Association : "I would like to know what you mean ."

" He never asked for money or a change of captain , beyond any award."
"I'm surprised with what he said. Believe that anger is not with us ," he said . And , to avoid keep adding new problems , he was open to dialogue : " I would talk to him to see terms and to tell me their problems never told me anything I'm willing to test a formula to find solutions The . . . talk must be with us, not with Lendl . "
"The team is one with Juan Martin and one without ." But apparently that's something that just few cares. Widespread anger peaked in the series against Italy with Davis cries against Del Potro . Following that, the pope of the AAT did not fail to answer and defended . "People will forget what he did for Argentina ," closed .

SOURCE - http://www.ole.com.ar/tenis/creo-vuelta_0_1086491581.html

 This is a slap in the AAT's face especially with Grimaldi admitting just two weeks ago that changes will need to be made to the association. Del Potro's Davis Cup record is currently at a 12-4 win-loss ratio with him last playing in September 2012.

Navarro, Safarova and Makarova progress to round 2 in Dubai

Carla Suarez Navarro looked in impressive form in her 63 62 win over Nadia Petrova. Petrova wasn't at her best during the match with a series of errors as well as still recovering from injury. Navarro was producing stunning shots and angels throughout the match to give her 16 winners. Meanwhile Petrova produce a shocking 40 unforced errors which and only won 1/6 break points. This outcome was a complete turnaround from last years matches between them both where Navarro only got one game in the entire match! Up next for Navarro is Petra Kvitova who has a first round bye.

Elsewhere there was another disappointing first round loss for young American Sloane Stephens after her 36 57 defeat to Lucie Safarova. Stephens have been criticised recently about her performance on the tour by tennis pundits Claire wood and Jason Goodall with Wood saying:-

“Sometimes I look at Sloane Stephens and I think, ‘Is she really enjoying being out there?'" Wood said. "Is she loving the challenge? Does she want to be playing at this level? It just isn’t always obvious that she’s enjoying it.”

In today’s match Stephens produced 11 winners against 29 unforced errors. After losing the first set Stephens had the chance to serve for the second set when she broke Safarova to lead 5-4. It was unfortunately not to be with the Czech player breaking immediate back to make it 5-5. The last two games was a whitewash with Safarova taking them without losing a single point leaving Stephens with a lot to think about.

The only other main draw game to finish so far was a all Russian marathon encounter between Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova. The match lasted a lengthily 2 hours and 52 minuets. Makarova just manage to edge past her Russian compatriot 64 67 64. The match was filed with break of serves (14 games to be exact). Makarova will need to recover from this match quickly as she face late wild card Serena Williams in round two.

Matches still to come on day 1 include Venus Williams against Elena Vesnina and Sorana Cirstea against Roberta Vinci.

Video Highlights of all four tour finals yesterday

So yesterday saw a series of great achievements. Simona Halep pick up her first title of 2014 with the Romanian impressive only losing one set during the entire week. Thomas Berdych finally won his first title since October 2012. David Ferrer enjoyed a straight forward two sets win over clay court specialist Fabio Fognini. Finally Kei Nishikori defended his title in Memphis. Yesterday was certainly an extremely busy day for tennis fan's and it would have been very hard to watch all of these match. Therefore below is highlights of all four finals (I do not own any of these videos) :-

WTA Doha final - Simona Halep def Angelique Kerber 62 63 (Italian commentary)

ATP 500 Rotterdam – Tomas Berdych def Marin Cilic 64 62

ATP Copa Claro - David Ferrer def Fabio Fognini 64 63 (French? commentary)

 ATP 250 Memphis - Kei Nishikori def Ivo Karlovic 64 76 (First video is for the first set and second is the last game of the match).