Serena Williams took home her first singles title since 2017, defeating Jessica Pegula, 6-3, 6-4, to win the rinky dink event in Auckland, New Zealand. The 38-year-old mother appeared vulnerable in the first set against the sturdy young American, nearly going down two breaks. But once she found her game she looked like a force to be reckoned with moving into the first Slam of the year.
For the second straight season, Karolina Pliskova has opened her season with a title at the Brisbane International. The No.2 seed secured a third career title at the Premier-level event win a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over No.8 seed Madison Keys, in their first-ever matchup.
And Ekaterina Alexandrova became the first WTA winner of the decade as she defeated Elena Rybakina, 6-2, 6-4 to win the Shenzhen Open and win her maiden title. (Bencic, Sabalenka and Muguruza were all upset early in the week.)
On the men's side, Russia's Andrey Rublev took home the crown in Doha with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory over #NextGenATP Frenchman Corentin Moutet. It was the Russian's third ATP Tour title.
And while I pretty much ignored it, I guess I should mention that Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal and then went back on court within an hour and won the deciding doubles encounter to secure Serbia's victory over Spain in the inaugural ATP Cup final.
Second-ranked Djokovic had a 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over No. 1 Nadal on Sunday night to level the final after Roberto Bautista Agut had given Spain a 1-0 lead by beating Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-1 in the first singles match.
Djokovic then teamed with Viktor Troicki for a 6-3, 6-4 win over Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez to seal the deal.
"I'll remember this experience for the rest of my life -- it's one of the nicest moments of my career," Djokovic said. "I've been very fortunately blessed, had an amazing career over the last 15 years, but playing for a team, playing for a country with some of my best friends is just -- you can't match that. It's too special."
He joked in an on-court TV interview that the team would fly home to Serbia to celebrate before the Australian Open, which starts a week from Monday, but decided the party should start in Sydney.
"There's a lot of Serbian people in Sydney," Djokovic said. "If you want to make a celebration, we're ready."
So, yes.: If this had to be played I was happy to see Serbia win it -- especially with Nole beating Rafa. But I fully agree with Nadal -- who was pretty sweet on "60 Minutes" last night -- when he said something's got to give. The 20-time major champion just led Spain to a victory in the revamped Davis Cup in November and is urging the men's tour and the sport's international governing body to form one major team tournament. "I think [the ATP Cup] is a great competition, but at the same time is -- I can't change my mind that two World Cups [within two months] is not real. So is not possible," he said. "We need to find a way to fix it and we need to find a way to make a big deal with ITF and ATP to create a big World Team Cup competition, not two World Cups in one month. I think that's a confusion for the spectators, and we need to be clear in our sport. And for the health of our sport and for the benefit of our sport is, in my opinion, mandatory that we fix it."
(Djokovic, of course, turned around and pulled out of the REAL event this week in Adelaide.)
Hear, hear.
Borna topped Dom
That's dreamy Nikola Cacic in the middle and hot daddy coach Nenad Zimonjic on the right!
And in Challenger land, Zimbabwean Benjamin Lock reached the final in Ann Arbor, Mich., falling to 19-year-old Russian Alexey Zakharov (not pictured).
Around the net ...
Pretty boy Tommy Paul seemed to go into hiding after posting his HOT ASS a couple weeks ago.
But luckily for us his other sweet cheeks have resurfaced.
Not sure how to feel about this. Oliver Marach posted an adorable video of his little girl working out on Daddy's exercise equipment.
But then he turned the camera on himself and captured a titillating moment. (Does this qualify as kiddie p**n?)
Reilly Opelka and his beard made a new friend in Australia, where more than one billion animals are said to have died in the fires.
Vasek Pospisil is one to talk!
Thommy Fabbiano and the luckiest massage therapist on earth.
The No. 1 men's doubles team in the world split up in Adelaide to play mixed with two recent WTA Number Ones: Simona Halep and Angie Kerber!
Jan-Michael Gambill has been handling a lot more assignments over at the Tennis Channel and is doing a great job.
He and Mary Carillo are especially cute together!
Is Chrissie teasing a reunion with Andy Mill, whose marriage to Debra Harvick has been known to be on the rocks?
(With wire services)
1 comment:
Oliver Marach has a gigantic head. Maybe it's the camera angle.
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