kenneth in the (212): Weekend Tennis Roundup

Monday, January 08, 2024

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Titles for Dimitrov, Rublev, Gauff, Rybakina and Team Germany. My full report plus all the ATP beef that's fit to post BELOW.

Here we go ...

Andrey Rublev captured his 15th tour-level title on Sunday at the Hong Kong Tennis Open, where he defeated Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, 6-4, 6-4.

Their bromance, however, remained firmly intact.

Grigor Dimitrov ended a six-year title drought Sunday, beating Holger Rune 7-6(5), 6-4 in the Brisbane International final to collect his ninth ATP Tour title.

A disappointing result for the Next Big Thing Dane, but awfully nice to see a bearded Patrick Rafter at the trophy presentation!

Germany completed a memorable comeback in the early hours of Monday morning to stun Poland 2-1 in Sydney for the United Cup trophy. After Alexander Zverev saved two championship points against Hubert Hurkacz, Zverev returned to Ken Rosewall Arena alongside Laura Siegemund to defeat Hurkacz and WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 for all the glory at 12:45 a.m.

I was happy Angie Kerber's return to the tour post-childbirth was as part of a winning team. But did she really have to be paired up with the poster child for domestic abuse?

After last year's epic Australian Open final, it seemed like 2023 might be the beginning of the Rybakina-Sabalenka "era." Instead, Elena got Covid and had a patchy season while Sabalenka went back to being a head case, essentially giving away the French Open semifinal and U.S. Open final, both of which she was firmly in control.

So it wasn't that shocking that we got yet another odd outcome to kick off 2024, with Rybakina destroying Sabalenka over the weekend, 6-0, 6-3, in just 73 minutes to claim the title in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, No.1 seed Coco Gauff successfully defended her ASB Classic title by defeating No.2 Elina Svitolina 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 in Sunday’s final at the WTA 250 event. Despite the win, she falls to No. 4 in the rankings while Rybakina inches up to 3.

In the Hong Kong doubles final, Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic had a winning start as a team together, knocking out top seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-6(3), 6-4 to lift the trophy.

A Mate-less Nikola Mektic was looking fetching in Auckland

And in Brisbane doubles, Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer capped their first week together in style on Sunday when they saved match points en route to victory against top seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the final, triumphing 7-6(3), 5-7, 12-10 in two hours.

Elsewhere around the net ...

Got to see Daniel Altmaier pound Marcos Giron in Auckland

Giron, parading around the court looking like a sex worker ...

took it like a champ

Was hard to focus when Yannick Hanfmann, pretty in purple, battled James Duckworth in Brisbane ...

The Aussie's dark briefs ended up "winning" in three

Your Brisbane champions

Austin Krajicek and Nico Jarry signed autographs for fans in Adelaide. I'm guessing the former also gave out fishing tips while the latter explained how to become a father of 12(???) by age 28 ...