Weekend Tennis Roundup

Martin Klizan celebrated his easy win over Denis Istomin in the final of the Generali Open on Sunday by RIPPING HIS SHIRT OFF. It was only the second ever all-qualifier final on the ATP World Tour, with the Slovak dominating from the start against the helpless Uzbek, winning the title 6-2, 6-2.

(Klizan also beat top seed Dominic Thiem along the way.)

It was the 29-year-old's fourth title on clay. 

Alexander Zverev’s second Citi Open title in a row is merely the latest sign that he is separating himself from the other up-and-coming youngsters in tennis, writes The Washington Post. That doesn’t mean he is sure that guys such as Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal are worrying just yet. “You’ve got to ask them. I don’t think Roger’s too concerned about it,” Zverev said with a smile. “He’s somewhere in Switzerland right now, enjoying ... his milk from his cow.” Zverev became the first man in nearly a decade to win consecutive titles at Washington’s hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open, overpowering Alex de Minaur 6-2, 6-4 in the final Sunday.

The tournament's semifinals were noteworthy for their youth, which is increasingly rare in the 30-something world of men's tennis.

5️⃣3️⃣9️⃣ matches it took for the Zverev brothers to meet on the ATP World Tour... . Here’s the highlights you don’t want to miss 👀 . 🎥 @tennistv #ATPWorldTour #ZverevBrothers #Tennis

A post shared by ATP World Tour (@atpworldtour) on Aug 3, 2018 at 2:57am PDT

Washington was also noteworthy for featuring the first-ever pro meeting between the Zverev brothers. I was rooting for the big brother, natch! 

Fabio Fognini and his idiotic hair upset top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday night in the Mifel Open final. Fognini, the 31-year-old Italian ranked 15th in the world, won his first-ever hard-court event for his third victory of the year. (Didn't see the match but have to think the Argentine wasn't awake yet.)

Mihaela Buzarnescu carved out a ruthless 6-1, 6-0 victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari in San Jose, for her first main-tour title. The tournament featured several bizarre results -- a resurgent Johanna Konta handed Serena her worst loss to date, only to lose to clay-court specialist Elise Mertens, and Venus lost to Maria Sakkari of Greece in straight sets.

And finally, the women's event in Washington was a bittersweet affair. I'm thrilled that Svetlana Kuznetsova -- a Hall of Fame sure thing -- is back in form under the tutelage of Argentine Guillermo Cañas, defeating Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Sunday for her second title in the nation’s capital. But at the same time it was heartbreaking to see the young(er) Croatian lose after playing so well, even holding four match points.  

A gutted Donna Vekic shows dignity and class after a tough loss. 😍👏

"Tennis is not an easy sport, sometimes you win being match points down and sometimes you lose with match points up, but I love this sport and hopefully I can be in a few more finals and win some more titles." pic.twitter.com/NcMvm4sYc3

— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) August 5, 2018

Vekic's new partnership with ex-Kerber coach Torben Beltz seems to be paying dividends -- and at least she had Stan to go home to ...

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Couldn't ask for too much more from this weekend's Wimbledon warm-ups. Mischa Zverev won his first ATP title at the ripe age of 30, taking out Lukas Lacko 6-4, 6-4 in Eastbourne.

The hunky Russian-German also joined the Adidas Short(er) Shorts club ...

Damir Dzumhur captured his third career title, defeating Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 at the Antalya Open in Turkey.

The Bosnian cutie has won 16 match this year, his best to date.

And on the women's side, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki won Eastbourne for the second time Saturday, beating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in straight sets for her 29th career title. Wozniacki, who was runner-up last year, triumphed 7-5, 7-6 (5) in just under two hours.

And now we're off to Wimbledon, where you can be on the lookout for THESE NINE WATCHES being worn by the world's top players, including this Rolex Sky-Dweller donned by Roger Federer. 

And speaking of Roger, Damian and I caught "Strokes of Genius" on the Tennis Channel last night, a documentary about the 2008 Wimbledon final between the Swiss legend and Rafael Nadal that many consider to be the greatest match of all time. I'm not sure if I would call it that -- the 1980 Borg vs. McEnroe Wimbledon final and 1992 French Open final between Graf and Seles still rank higher for me -- but it is certainly right up there. And more than anything, it signified the end of the Federer era, who would not beat the King of Clay in a major final again until the 2017 Australian Open. (Ouch.) It was highly entertaining to watch again, though. And noteworthy that the only points I really remembered were ones Roger won -- I was a full-blown fan back then, watching in The New York Times newsroom with my pal/boss Ray -- like that backhand winner match point down in the fourth-set tiebreak. Documentary also has a lot of great footage of Federer's early career temper tantrums -- I've actually never seen another player throw his racket as far as he did! -- and junior-era Nadal, who is exactly the same person that he is today. 

How incredible that 10 years on Roger and Rafa are still the favorites going into most events. 

(Docked the doc 10 points, though, for using a clip of Martina Navratilova crying after losing to Tracy Austin to illustrate the ups and downs of her rivalry with Chris Evert!)

Looks like someone’s got ⚽️ on their mind as 🇪🇸 v 🇷🇺 draws closer 👀 . @fifaworldcup @rafaelnadal @wimbledon #ESPRUS

A post shared by ATP World Tour (@atpworldtour) on Jul 1, 2018 at 6:21am PDT

⚫️🔴🔵 Before tennis, we played croquet📍 . #Wimbledon #TakeOnHistory

A post shared by Wimbledon (@wimbledon) on Jul 1, 2018 at 11:17am PDT

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Roger Federer was in fine form as he beat Rafael Nadal to win the Shanghai Masters title. It was his fifth straight win over Spaniard -- lifting his head-to-head vs. Nadal to a losing 23-15 -- and left me scratching my head saying, "WHY couldn't you ever beat him in your (first) heyday?????"

In majors Nadal leads 9-3.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won a three-set thriller against Daria Gavrilova, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3) in Hong Kong, the Russia's third title of 2017. (She won no awards for that hairdo, however.)

Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic won her  second career title in Linz, defeating Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4, 6-1. It was a six-year gap between the wins.

And in the biggest news from the women's tour, meldonium spokesmodel Maria Sharapova won her first title in more than two years, defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in a hard-hitting affair, 7-5, 7-6(8), to win the Tianjin Open on Sunday. The competition wasn't particularly deep. But it could still prove to be a turning point for the former No. 1 as she looks to become a threat in the majors in 2018.

Both Zverev bothers lost early in Shanghai -- Mischa retired in the first around against Jan-Lennard Struff and Alex lost in three to a slowly resurgent Juan Martin del Potro in the round of 16 -- but still managed to keep the cameras on themselves all week long. 

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Little David Goffin defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 to win in Shenzhen, his third career title and first since 2014.

The match that caught my eye was Goffin versus Henri Laaksonen, a surprise semifinalist. The 113th ranked Finland-born Swissman looked very poised for a journeyman, and very fit in his red shirt and black shorts.

Denis Istomin won his second ATP career title at the 2017 Chengdu Open after Marcos Baghdatis was agonizingly forced to retire in the final with a back injury.

Worth noting that Guido Pella had a great week. Before losing to Baghdatis in the semis, the Argentine beat three of the hottest men on tour -- Borna Coric, top-seeded Dominic Thiem and surprise quarterfinalist Taylor Fritz -- all in straight sets.

Meanwhile on the women's tour, Caroline Garcia captured the biggest title of her career in Wuhan, beating Ashleigh Barty 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-2 in two hours and 44 minutes. French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko made the semis -- defeating Wimbledon champ Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets -- before getting creamed by Barty.) It should be noted that U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens and runner-up Madison Keys were both knocked out of the Wuhan Open in the first round on Monday. In their first matches since the final at Flushing Meadows, the 17th-ranked Stephens lost to Wang Qiang of China 6-2, 6-2, while the 12th-ranked Keys was beaten by fellow American Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-6 (4). (Way to go, gals!) The last time Grand Slam finalists lost their next match was after 2005 Wimbledon, where Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport. (Keys is reportedly suffering from wrist pain again.)

Meanwhile, a little history was made in Tashkent. Kateryna Bondarenko, playing her first WTA singles final in NINE years, finally won her second title, defeating Timea Babos of Hungry, 6-4, 6-4 to win Tashkent. Bondarenko became the first mom to win a title since Kim Clijsters captured the 2011 U.S. Open -- although I think it's likely to happen again soon. (P.S. Fun to see Vera Zvonareva back in the mix, reaching the semis before being forced to retire. She's been in a few qualifiers and seems to be making progress.) 

Now that Serena Williams has broken Steffi Graf's open-era record for most majors, I want her to blast past Margaret Court's (quasi-bullshit) all-time record. (Don't forget that many of those Aussie Opens were tiny local events at the time.) Court has proven herself to be a hateful human being, and I would love to see Serena rob her of her most treasured claim to fame.

The men and women are in Beijing this week, including living dolls Mischa and Alexander Zverev! 

ATP Invades China

Thirty-two-year-old Marcos Baghdatis and 20-year-old Borna Ćorić make a cute couple in Chengdu.

Late night with the BOYS?

David Goffin expresses himself in Shenzhen ...

Top four seeds David Goffin, Alexander and Mischa Zverev and Paolo Lorenzi at the players party. See the draw HERE.

Tennis Tuesday

This photo of the Zverev brothers was so hot I had to bump a previously scheduled post about Alexander and Dominic Thiem!

Florian Mayer Defeats Less-Attractive Zverev to Capture Halle

German Florian Mayer defeated Alexander Zverev in the final of the Gerry Weber Open on Sunday, after having already dismissed a red-hot Dominic Thiem in the semis. World number 192 Mayer had not claimed an ATP singles tournament victory since back in 2011 before dismissing Zverev -- fresh off a win over Roger Federer -- 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, in a triumph for experience over youth. 

What does it mean when a 32-year-old who reached his career-high ranking five long years ago suddenly knocks out two of the game's most-promising rising stars to win only his second title? It's hard to say, But as Damian points out, goofy Alexander has a hunky 28-year-old brother named Mischa Zverev, who we can only hope will suddenly come into his own in his thirties too so we can see A LOT MORE of him ...

Watch him take it off HERE.