Monday Morning News - May 5, 2008
Here is the big tennis news from the weekend…
- Another weekend on clay and another title for Nadal. His 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory over David Ferrer gave his four straight Barcelona titles. This is the second tournament in a row that he has won four straight times (Monte Carlo is the other). Nadal is now playing in Rome this week, and just like in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, he is hunting for his fourth consecutive title. Nadal will face either Nicolas Kiefer or Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round in Rome. There is one player in this week’s draw that Nadal didn’t have to deal with last week: Roger Federer. Now, we all know how dominant Nadal has been against Federer in the past on clay, but Federer is capable of pushing the Spaniard to the limit.
- Fernando Gonzalez captured his 10th career title, and second of 2008, over the weekend at Munich. Gonzalez defeated Simone Bolelli in the finals 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-3. With the win, Gonzalez jumped four spots in the rankings from #15 to #11. He is playing this week in Rome, and will face Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the first round.
- One of the feel-good stories from last week that may have gotten lost in all the Nadal-hype was the return of 36-year old Younes El Aynaoui. The former top 15 player, has won a Challenger and a Future already this year and played in Munich last week. He reached the semis, before he fell to eventual champion Gonzalez. He did beat two top 100 players last week in Steve Darcis and Juan Martin Del Potro. Now ranked 295th, he had not reached a semi-final since October 2003 and - with his effort here this week - he became the oldest semi-finalist in an ATP tournament since 40-year-old Jimmy Connors reached the round of four at San Francisco in 1993. Younes is one of my favorite guys. He spent quite a lot of time at the Academy in the past, and is always a crowd pleaser. It is great to have him back on the tour and playing.
- On the women’s side, Vera Zvonareva and Gisela Dulko both won titles. Zvonareva beat Victoria Azarenka in the finals at Prague to win her sixth career WTA Tour title, and her first of 2008. In Fes,
Morocco Gisela Dulko won her third career title and first of the year, beating top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues in the finals 7-6(2), 7-6(5). Congratulations to both Zvonareva and Dulko!
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