By Bob Greene
STARS
Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic 3-6 6-0 6-2 to win the Family Circle Cup inCharleston,South Carolina,USA
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Angelique Kerber 4-6 6-2 6-4 to win the Monterrey Open inMonterrey,Mexico
DAVIS CUP
World Group Quarterfinals
Canada beat Italy3-1 at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Serbia beat United States 3-1 at Boise, Idaho, USA
Argentina beat France 3-2 at Buenos Aires, Argentina
CzechRepublic beat Kazakhstan 3-1 at Astana, Kazakhstan
Group I – Second Round
Americas Zone: Ecuador beat Chile 3-2 at Manta, Ecuador; Colombia beat Uruguay 5-0 at Cucuta,Colombia
Asia/Oceania Zone: Australia beat Uzbekistan 3-1 at Namangan,Uzbekistan; Japan beat Korea 3-2 at Tokyo, Japan
Europe/Africa Zone: Great Britain beatRussia 3-2 at Coventry, Great Britain; Poland beat South Africa 3-1 at Zielona Góra, Poland; Netherlands beat Romania 5-0 at Brasov,Romania; Ukraine beatSweden 3-2 at Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
Group I – Playoffs
Asia/Oceania Zone: China beat Chinese Taipei 5-0 at Tianjin, China; India beat Indonesia 5-0 at Bangalore,India
Group II – Second Round
Americas Zone: El Salvador beat Mexico 3-2 at Ciudad Merliot, El Salvador;Venezuela beat Peru 4-1 at Arequipa,Peru
Asia/Oceania Zone: New Zealand beat Pakistan 4-1 atYangon,Myanmar; Philippines beat Thailand 4-1 at Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines
Europe/Africa Zone: Finland beat Ireland 3-2 at Dublin, Ireland; Latvia beat Monaco 3-2 at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Monaco; Bosnia/Herzegovina beat Moldova 3-1 at Mostar, Bosnia/Herzegovina; Portugal beat Lithuania 5-0 at Lisbon,Portugal
Group II – Playoffs
Americas Zone: Barbados beat Puerto Rico 3-1 at St. Michael, Barbados; Guatemala beat Haiti 4-1 at Guatemala, Guatemala
Asia/Oceania Zone: Sri Lanka beat Lebanon 3-2 at Jounieh,Lebanon; Kuwait beat Syria 3-2 atMishref, Kuwait
Europe/Africa Zone: Bulgaria beat Estonia 3-0 at Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Belarus beat Tunisia 3-2 at Tunis,Tunisia; Luxembourg beat Hungary 4-1 at Budapest, Hungary; Cyprus beat Benin 3-2 at Nicosia,Cyprus
SAYING
“I left it all on the court and I’m so happy it paid off.” – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, following her Monterrey Open victory.
“It’s definitely the best result of my career.” Carlos Berlocq, after upsetting Gilles Simon in the fifth rubber to give Argentina an upset Davis Cup victory over France.
“This year my goal is to win a match at the French Open.” – Serena Williams, who was upset in the first round at Roland Garros last year.
“In the third set I had some chances but I got tired. It was my sixth match here and playing Serena is not easy. She’s so strong. She’s the number one player in the world for a reason. She was the better one at the end.” – Jelena Jankovic, after losing to Serena Williams in the Family Circle Cup final.
“It’s very strong emotion when you play for your country. I guess that’s the biggest reason why I kept playing. It meant a lot to me personally and the whole team and the nation, and we are very glad to be in semifinals again.” – Novak Djokovic, who won his tie-clinching victory over the United States despite being hampered with an injured ankle.
“Novak (Djokovic) is such a complete tennis player. We’ve seen him grow over the years not only game‑wise but mentally. He’s got a lot of that … to draw from the matches when he’s been pushed to the brink. There are not a lot of holes to pick on Novak.” –Jim Courier,United States Davis Cup captain.
SERENA WINS AGAIN
Jelena Jankovic got into a feisty exchange with Serena Williams. Bad move, Jelena. Williams complained Jankovic was serving before the world’s number one player was ready. Jankovic disagreed, but it was Williams who won eight consecutive points, six straight games and 12 of the final 14 games to win the Family Circle Cup for the second straight year and the third time in her career. “I don’t know what the turning point was,” Williams said. “I mean I think after that I just got really relaxed and I was like, ‘Honestly, Serena, you’ve got to kind of chill out and not get crazy.’” It was the second straight tournament in which Williams lost the opening set in the final before grabbing the title. A week earlier she dropped the first set to Maria Sharapova before winning 12 of the next 15 games to capture the Sony Open. It was Serena’s 49th career title, five more than any other active player and 10th most in history. Only Chris Evert with eight titles, Steffi Graf with four and Martina Navratilova with four have won the Family Circle Cup more times. Having won in her previous two visits in 2008 and 2012, Williams has now won 15 consecutive matches in Charleston and has lost just four matches since the start of last year’s clay court season.
STOPPED BY A HOLE
Pakistan’s Davis Cup team can’t win even when it wins. Pakistan won the opening match and its top player, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, was leading in the second singles when referee Asitha Attygalla of Sri Lanka stopped play and awarded the Asia/Oceania Group II tie to New Zealand after a hole “an inch deep and half a foot wide” developed on the grass court surface, rendering the court unplayable. Though it wasPakistan’s turn to host the event, the tie was played at a neutral site in Yangon,Myanmar, due to security concerns. Under International Tennis Federation (ITF) rules, it is the host nation’s responsibility — even when the tie is played on neutral ground — to provide a playable match court. Since Pakistan was unable to so, it was defaulted. “The courts have been a disaster from the start,” New Zealand captain Alistair Hunt said. “We’ve changed each grass court and then there was some word we might change to hard court, which the ITF said no to. The referee has made a brave decision.” Pakistan Tennis Federation president Kaleem Imam said, “We had no option but to complain to the ITF after the referee awarded the entire tie to New Zealand claiming the playing surface was dangerous. … What we have complained is that when the grass surface was OK for the first match, what went wrong in just a few hours time that it turned unplayable? We also met all requirements asked for by the referee.”
Myanmar will also host the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III and IV events from April 22 to May 5 as part of a two week-festival of tennis at the Thein Byu Tennis Stadium, the national tennis center in Yangon. Pakistan and New Zealand played at the Pun Hlaing Golf and Country Club in Yangon.
A total of 19 nations will participate in the Zone III and IV competition. Eight nations –Cambodia, Hong Kong China, Iran, Malaysia, Oman, Pacific Oceania, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam– will contest Asia/Oceania Zone Group III in the first week. There will be 11 teams taking part in Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV, including Bahrain,Bangladesh,Iraq,Jordan,Kyrgyzstan,Myanmar,Qatar,Saudi Arabia,Singapore,Turkmenistan and Yemen.
SHOCKED
In a decisive fifth match, Carlos Berlocq upset Gilles Simon to give Argentinaa surprising 3-2 Davis Cup quarterfinal victory over France. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga crushed Juan Monaco 6-3 6-3 6-0 to level the match at 2-2 and leave it up to Simon, who is ranked 13th in the world. But it was the 30-year-old Berlocq who shocked everyone, beating the Frenchman 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4. “We were confident. We played against a very good team, we deserved to win … The fans were incredible,” Argentine captain Martin Jaite said of the crowd’s passionate support.Argentina was playing without its top player, Juan Martin del Potro. On the first day, Berlocq lost a tough five-set match to Tsonga. Against Simon he ran up a 5-2 lead in the final set before sending the South American squad into the semifinals against the Czech Republic.
SERBIA VICTORIOUS
Even an ankle injury couldn’t keep Novak Djokovic from leading Serbia into the Davis Cup semifinals. The world’s top-ranked player gamely defeated Sam Querrey 7-5 6-7 (4) 6-1 6-0 to clinch Serbia’s 3-1 victory over the United States. The final singles match was not played. “I sincerely hope that I didn’t make it worse and I’m going to have a few days off,” Djokovic said of his ankle. “I was able to play some good shots at the right time. If I wasn’t playing for Serbia, if I didn’t have my teammates’ support, I don’t know if I would’ve played. The first half hour it was very painful.” The injury occurred when Djokovic fell to the court in the third game of the match. He was helped off the court and had his right ankle wrapped. Although he visibly limped at times throughout the remainder of the match, his movement was not seriously hampered. Djokovic said it was after Querrey won the second-set tiebreak that the anti-inflammatory medication he took kicked in. Djokovic lost only one more game the rest of the way. “He broke me early and got some momentum and then just kind of started swinging more freely,” Querrey said. “He started to become a great frontrunner at that point. Made it tougher on me.”Serbia will play Canada in the semifinals in September.
STILL PERFECT
Monterrey, México, is just perfect as far as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is concerned. The Russian has never lost a match inMonterrey, and came away with her third straight title on the clay courts in México. This time she squeezed past Angelique Kerber in the final, 4-6, 6-2 6-4, winning nine straight games and building a 5-0 lead in the third set. Kerber, however, wasn’t through. She won four consecutive games before a huge Pavlyuchenkova forehand on the fifth match point closed out the victory. “I was excited to be in the final but I was a little bit negative in the first set, because I was missing a lot, and you can’t beat a player like her if you’re playing like that,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “I was getting upset and angry with myself, and she’s so good, she was there every point. I knew I had to change things, so I just fought hard and managed to stay calm and find my good game in the second set.” Pavlyuchenkova has four career WTA titles, three of them coming in her three trips to the Monterrey Open – in 2010, 2011 and 2013. She also won in Istanbul,Turkey, in 2010. “It’s amazing. I still can’t believe it, really,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “After my first match this week I said it would be a dream come true to win it three times in a row, and I did, so the dream really did come true.”
SALUTED
Brothers Bob and Mike Bryan were given the much-coveted Davis Cup Commitment Award during the United States-Serbia tie in Boise,Idaho,USA. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) developed the new honor to coincide with the organization’s 2013 Centenary celebrations. It commemorates a dedication of Davis Cup involvement in a minimum of playing 20 home-and-away ties or 50 ties at any level of Davis Cup. The Bryans boast a 20-4 record in Davis Cup doubles together. They were presented the award by ITF board member Roman Murashovsky and United States Tennis Federation (USTA) president Dave Haggerty. “Davis Cup has been a big part of our career and our life and it really inspired us to play this game at 10 years old (when they attended a Davis Cup match),” Bob Bryan said.” We couldn’t do it without a lot of people, my dad over there. Patrick McEnroe and Jim Courier and all of our teammates. And our fans, especially all you guys.” His brother Mike agreed. “We fell in love with the game that day and we’re very lucky to be able to play for our country. We have our greatest memories playing for the stars and stripes.”
The Bryan brothers weren’t alone in receiving the new ITF awards. Others who were awarded their trophies in on-court presentations were Mauricio Hadad of Colombia; Jeremy Bates, Billy Knight, Greg Rusedski and Bobby Wilson of Great Britain; Kornel Bardoczky, Gergely Kisgyorgy, Robert Machan and Balasz Taroczy of Hungary; Anand Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi, Ramanathan Krishnan and Ramesh Krishnan of India; Bartlomiej Dabroski of Poland; Ilie Nastase, Andrei Pavel, Florin Segarceanu and Ion Tiriac of Romania; and Vadim Kutsenko and Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan. A total of 300 players have qualified to receive the award, of whom 253 are still alive. Presentations will be made to award winners at Davis Cup home ties throughout 2013.
SIXTH TO ACCOMPLISH FEAT
The Czech Republic has become the sixth nation to be in the top spot on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Davis Cup Nations Ranking. The Czechs clinched the ranking when they defeated Kazakhstan3-1 in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, supplanting Spain in the top spot. Other countries to be ranked number one include Australia,France,Croatia and Russia. The Czech Republic also becomes on the third country after France and Russia to top both the Davis Cup and Fed Cup rankings at the same time.
STOSUR HURT AGAIN
Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard got a win over her highest-ranked opponent ever when Samantha Stosur retired during their match with apparent right leg problems. The 19-year-old Bouchard is the reigning Wimbledon Junior Girls singles champion. But until now, she had never beaten a top-10 player. Bouchard led 6-1 2-0 when Stosur retired. “I believe that I can beat these players,” Bouchard said. “It’s time to happen.” Ranked ninth in the world, Stosur had her right leg wrapped to begin the Family Circle Cup match in Charleston,South Carolina,USA. After the first set, the Australian spoke with a trainer. She then played two more games before ending the match.
SIBLING RIVALRY
It’s a match neither player really wants to play. But sisters Serena and Venus Williams wound up on the opposite side of the net in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup. It was no contest as Serena crushed her older sister 6-1 6-2, the most one-sided result in the sister’s long rivalry, but the first time they have played each other in a tournament since 2009. Serena has won the last five meetings and leads 14-10 since they first faced each other at the Australian Open in 1998. Venus won five of the first six times the two played. “Obviously Serena is playing extremely well,” Venus said, “and it’s great to see her at number one and just fulfilling every dream.” The 32-year-old Venus was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjogren’s syndrome in 2011 and took six months off from the game. The condition saps her strength, and the weather at this year’s Family Circle Cup was not conducive to her game. Because of rain delays earlier in the week, both sisters had to play twice the day before their meeting. “I mean she’ll never admit it, ever, but I don’t think she was 100 percent,” Serena said of Venus after their battle. “But you will never get that out of her, and quite frankly, three matches for her is much tougher than three matches for me.”
SOME LONG HOURS
It was a long, hard week for Lucie Safarova, but at least she came away from the Family Circle Cup with a trophy. Because of rain, matches at the clay court tournament in Charleston,South Carolina,USA, got backed up. On Friday, Safarova had to play three matches – two singles and a doubles. “I actually don’t remember doing that,” Safarova said when asked if she could remember ever playing three matches in one day. She started with a three-set win over Sorana Cirstea before losing her quarterfinal to Serena Williams. Then she and Mladenovic upset the third-seeded team of Vania King and Lisa Raymond to advance to the semifinals. In the final, they trailed 3-1 in the opening set, then fought off five set points in the second set to beat top-seeded Andrea Hlavackova and Liezel Huber. “It was an amazing day – an amazing feeling to win this title here with Lucie,” Mladenovic said. “It was our first time playing together and I would like to thank Lucie.” It was Safarova’s second WTA doubles title – the first coming last year at the Family Circle Cup when she teamed with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Mladenovic has now won four doubles crowns with four different partners.
STICKING AROUND
It pays to stick around sometimes. Just ask Kimiko Date-Krumm. The Japanese veteran retired in her first-round match because of a back injury while trailing Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-2 2-1. Six days later Date-Krumm teamed with Timea Babos of Hungary to capture the Monterrey, México, doubles title by beating the third-seeded team of Eva Birnerova and Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1 6-4. It was the second straight year Babos has won in Monterrey. In 2012, she captured her first WTA singles title. “Of course I’m really happy to win and kind of defend my title, even though it’s doubles,” Babos said. “But this is a really special place for me. I’m really happy to share this with Kimiko. In the beginning of the week she was having some problems with her back, but she’s so tough and fought through it.”
STOP THE PRESSES
Even without Andy Murray, Great Britain pulled off a Davis Cup miracle, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Russia and reach the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group playoffs. It was the first time in 83 years that Britain had won after losing both opening singles matches. Colin Fleming and Jonathan Marray teamed to win the doubles and give Great Britain its first point of the weekend. Then James Ward battled to a 6-4 5-7 5-7 6-4 6-4 win over Dmitry Tursunov before Dan Evans crushed Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 6-4 6-1 to clinch the tie.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Charleston: Kristina Mladenovic and Lucie Safarova beat Andrea Hlavackova and Liezel Huber 6-3 7-6 (6)
Monterrey: Timea Babos and Kimiko Date-Krumm beat Eva Birnerova and Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1 6-4
SURFING
Houston: www.mensclaycourt.com/
Guadalajara: www.jalisco-open.com/
Katowice: www.bnpparibaskatowiceopen.com/pl
Casablanca: www.frmt.ma/
Monte Carlo: www.monte-carlorolexmasters.com
Sarasota: www.sarasotaopen.org/
Fed Cup: www.fedcup.com
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)
MEN
$584,400 US Men’s Clay Court Championships,Houston,Texas,USA, clay
$525,700 Grand Prix Hassan II,Casablanca,Morocco, clay
$100,000 Aeromexico Jalisco Open Guadalajara,Guadalajara,Mexico, hard
WOMEN
$235,000BNPParibas Katowice Open,Katowice,Poland, clay
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$3,437,000 Monte Carlo Rolex Masters,Monte Carlo,Monaco, clay
$100,000 Sarasota Open,Sarasota,Florida,USA, clay
FED CUP
World Group Semifinals
Italyvs.CzechRepublicatPalermo,Italy, clay
Russiavs.SlovakRepublicatMoscow,Russia, clay
World Group Playoffs
Germanyvs.SerbiaatStuttgart,Germany, clay;Switzerlandvs.AustraliaatChiasso-Seseglio,Switzerland, clay;Spainvs. Japan at Barcelona, Spain, clay; United States vs. Sweden at Delray Beach, Florida, USA, hard
World Group II Playoffs
Belgiumvs.PolandatKoksijde,Belgium, hard;Francevs.KazakhstanatBesançon,France, hard;Argentinavs. Great Britain at Buenos Aires, Argentina, clay; Ukraine vs. Canada at Kiev, Ukraine, clay
Group II
Europe/Asia Zone at Ulcinj, Montenegro, clay: Estonia,Finland,Greece,Latvia,Lithuania,Montenegro,South Africa,Tunisia
