Alison Van Uytvanck Stuns Defending Champion Garbine Muguruza

Congrats to 24-year-old Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck on her stunning 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 3 seed and defending champion Garbine Muguruza at Wimbledon today. 

Believe it or not, Van Uytvanck is one of the few openly gay players on the women's tennis tour. 

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Fabio Fognini, with whom I have a complicated relationship -- he's HOT but apparently not a great person at times  -- rallied to defeat Nicolas Jarry of Chile, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to win the Brazil Open, the Italian's sixth career ATP title. 

The 6-6, 22-year-old may have lost the match, but he definitely won my heart ...

Juan Martin del Potro captured the Mexico Open on Saturday night for his 21st ATP Tour title, beating Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 to improve to 7-0 against the 6-foot-8 South African.

On the women's side, Lesya Tsurenko successfully defended her women's title with a 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Stefanie Voegele.

Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain won his second ATP title of the year, defeating Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-4 in the Dubai Championships final on Saturday. The third-seeded Bautista Agut denied the second-seeded Pouille his own second title this year and a chance to break into the top-10 rankings for the first time. The big-assed Frenchman was a bridesmaid last weekend too -- although he got revenge on Karen Khachanov, whom he played in the second round this time.

Errani does an underarm serve at MP and wins. pic.twitter.com/EDNQ2TCUJs

— Ashish TV (@Ashish__TV) March 4, 2018

I normally wouldn't mention a 125K event like the Oracle Challenger Series in Indian Wells. But with Sara Errani -- a former Top 5 player and French Open finalist -- and former rising star Kateryna Bondarenko squaring off in the final, I thought it was worth noting. Errani fell behind 4-1 in the first set before finding her game and winning 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 20 minutes. Not sure why she served underhanded on match point, but it got the job done.

This was probably the last time i shook my opponents hand and gave him back his racket 😂🎾 #juniors #thedropper #detmold #haasome

A post shared by tommy haas (@tommyhaasofficial) on Feb 28, 2018 at 11:25am PST

Everybody's in Indian Wells now for the season's biggest non-Slam event. Tournament director Tommy Haas has been posting some great stuff from the desert, but nothing greater than this flashback. I love how his game is so fully formed -- that one-handed backhand! -- even if he had to borrow a racket from his opponent. (Get a load of the post-match handshake!) 

UPDATE:

Cheers to the happy couple!

Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, who upset Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Hungarian Ladies Open two weeks ago to clinch her second career WTA title, has come out publicly in an interview where she discussed her relationship with Greet Minnen, who is also a player. In a segment on a Belgian sports TV show this weekend, Van Uytvanck discussed for the first time that she is in a relationship with Minnen. A reader from Belgium offered Outsports a translation of key parts of the segment, which you can read HERE. 

Weekend Tennis Roundup

 Frances Tiafoe won the title in Delray Beach, Fla., yesterday, hitting two consecutive aces to defeat Peter Gojowcyk of Germany, 6-1, 6-4. It was particularly nice to see that he didn't suffer a letdown after upsetting Juan Marin del Potro in the fourth round -- and that he was able to beat fellow NextGen stars Denis Shapovalov and Chung Hyeon, about whom you hear so much more. The breakthrough title for the 20-year-old inserted a much-needed burst of energy into American men's tennis, with Tiafoe becoming the youngest U.S. man to win a tournament since Andy Roddick captured Houston at 19 in 2002. 

And between Tiafoe's ass and Gojowcyk's cute hair, the match was an eye candy feast!

Diego Schwartzman won the Rio de Janeiro Open with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Fernando Verdasco. The title raises the Argentine's ranking to 18th. (The Jewish Telegraphic Agency points out that it is the first time that a Jewish player is among the top 20 in the ATP rankings since 1990, when American Brad Gilbert was fourth.) “I’m very happy to break into the top 20,” Schwartzman, 25, said afterward. “It’s a very difficult tournament, with top 10 [players], great players in the draw and when the week starts you don’t think you are going to play the finals.”

Dominic Thiem working on his volleys earlier this week at the Rio Open! 👏🔥🎾#tennis #news #channel
🎥 tenis.argentina ✅ @ThiemDomi pic.twitter.com/zTXBZo9tLN

— tennisnewschannel (@tennisnewschan1) February 25, 2018

No. 1 seed Marin Cilic was taken out by Gael Monfils and No. 2 Dominic Thiem inexplicably lost 4 and 0 to Verdasco. 

And in another porn-worthy final, Karen Khachanov outlasted Frenchie Lucas Pouille 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 for the crown in Marseille. It was the big-serving Russian's second ATP title of his career.

"I hope there are many more finals between us in the future," Khachanov said to Pouille, who celebrated his 24th birthday at the event. "I felt I was playing good here from the first day. It's nice to play on a full court in the final, and I hope to come back next year."

In Budapest, 23-year-old Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck upset Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the final of the Hungarian Ladies Open, to clinch a second career WTA title. 

And finally, just when it seemed we were safe from Elina Svitolina overtaking the No. 1 ranking, she easily defended her title in Dubai, with a 6-4, 6-0 blowout against unseeded Darya Kasatkina. (En route to the final, the 20-year-old Russian had saved two match points to beat seventh-seeded Johanna Konta in the second round, and three against second-seeded Garbine Muguruza in the semifinals.) Angie Kerber looked like she was continuing her strong play by killing Barbora Strycova and Karolina Plishkova, only to lose to Svitolina 3 and 3. (Sigh.)  

Of course, this photo with Andrew Bettles sort of softens the blow ...