David Haggerty Archives - World Tennis Magazine

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Milos Raonic beat Joao Sousa 6-3 3-6 6-3 to win the St. Petersburg Open in St. Petersburg, Russia

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-2 to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Gilles Simon 7-6 (5) 1-6 6-2 to win the Moselle Open in Metz, France

Jelena Jankovic beat Denisa Allertova 6-2 6-0 to win the Guangzhou International Women’s Open in Guangzhou, China

Irina-Camelia Begu beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 6-1 to win the Korea Open in Seoul, Korea

Hyeon Chung beat Yuki Bhambri 7-5 6-4 to win the OEC Kaohsiung Challenger in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

SAYING

“It’s such a great feeling to come to St. Petersburg and to be able to win this event. It was a great experience overall with the event, the city and the people.” – Milos Raonic, who won the St. Petersburg Open.

“I think I played my best. Of course I feel sad that I couldn’t have the title here. I was really confident that I could beat him today, but he played and served very well in the important moments.” – Joao Sousa, who lost to Milos Raonic in the St. Petersburg Open final.

“I’m never going to be a powerful tennis player, even if I spend the whole day in the gym. That’s the way I play, trying to find a way to beat those stronger players.” – Agnieszka Radwanska, after winning the Pan-Pacific Open.

“It’s amazing to win a title in China for second time this year. Obviously China is very special to me.” – Jelena Jankovic, following her victory at the Guangzhou Open.

“It was an amazing time for me here. I’m so happy I could beat so many good players here and play my first final. Jelena was too good, but I’m happy with my week.” – Denisa Allertova, who upset Simona Halep and Sara Errani on her way to the Guangzhou Open final.

“The key today was to stay calm and make my opponent run more, and I think I was successful in those. I was also hitting the balls deep and close to the lines,” Begu described. “I also think I was better on the important points. I wasn’t dominating every game, but I did better on the big points.” – Irina-Camelia Begu, after beating qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich to win the Korea Open.

“Happy to be back home from hospital. I feel much better and hopefully I will be back soon on court. Thank you for your support and many nice messages.” – Lucie Safarova, who spent a week in the hospital with a bacterial infection.

“Tennis is a very selfish sport and I have always loved getting together as a group and playing for your country.” – Lleyton Hewitt, saying how much he enjoyed playing Davis Cup for Australia.

“We have an opportunity to win the event in the next match, but there’s so much tennis still to go. We still need to win three matches and there’s two or three months until the next tie, and a lot can happen between now and then.” – Andy Murray, who is seeking to become only the fourth player to win the Davis Cup, Olympic gold and multiple Grand Slam tournaments.

SUPER ANDY

Milos Raonic ended a 14-month title drought, winning his seventh ATP World Tour crown at the St. Petersburg Open. It was the Canadian’s first tournament victory since he underwent surgery on his right foot in May, forcing him to miss Roland Garros. Raonic’s last title came in the Citi Open in Washington, DC, in August 2014 when he beat fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil. In the Russian final, Portugal’s Joao Sousa became the first player in the tournament to break Raonic’s serve. But a Sousa double-fault helped Raonic break his opponent in the second game of the deciding set. The winner finished with 22 aces and saved nine of 10 break points. “This year has been a tough one,” said Sousa, who lost in the final for the third time this year. “It has been my best year, but a tough one as I lost three finals. It’s really, really tough to accept it. But I think I can improve. I’m going to work for it and hopefully I can win the next one.”

SAME FOES, DIFFERENT WINNER

This time it was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who came out on top. In a rematch of the 2013 Moselle Open final, Tsonga defeated fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon to capture his 12^th ATP World Tour title. Two years ago, it was Simon who ended up with the biggest trophy. It was Tsonga’s third title in five years, winning also in 2011 and 2012. “It’s always tricky to play against Gilles, the ball always comes back,” Tsonga said. Simon led the first-set tiebreak 5-2 before Tsonga won five straight points and the opener. After Simon dominated the second set to pull even, Tsonga overpowered his opponent in the decider, converting on his second match point. “He was more solid than me on the important points, especially in the first set,” Simon said. Tsonga extended t4he run of homegrown dominance in Metz, becoming the sixth Frenchman to win the Moselle Open in the past seven years.

SECOND TIME

Agnieszka Radwanska finally has another title, and this time a familiar. Poland’s top female player won the Pan-Pacific Open for the second time, crushing Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the title match. It was Radwanska’s first title since capturing the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada, last year. The 26-year-old also won the Pan-Pacific in 2011, and is the first player to have won the event twice since it moved outdoors and onto a hard court in 2008. “This is the first tournament I have won twice, so it’s very special for me,” Radwanska said. The victory also boosted her back into the Top 10 in the rankings. At 2-all, Radwanska won eight straight games to lead 6-2 4-0. “I really didn’t expect that kind of score against Belinda, she’s playing so well,” Radwanska said. The 18-year-old Bencic said her hard-fought victory over top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals took a toll on her. “Agnieszka made me run a lot and my serves were so slow today because, after yesterday, I couldn’t do anything with my legs anymore,” Bencic said. “In the second set I tried to go for my shots more, even if it meant making more mistakes. I still have a lot to learn to play like her, she’s so smart.”

SEED TRIUMPHANT

It was left for Jelena Jankovic to uphold the seeding at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open. The fourth-seeded Serb stopped the surprising run of Denisa Allertova to capture her first WTA title of the year. And she did it in a romp. With Allertova leading 2-1 in her first WTA final, Jankovic ripped through the next 11 games, serving an ace on match point, to win the tournament. En route to the final, Allertova ousted both top-seeded Simona Halep and third-seeded Sara Errani. Then, after trading service breaks with Jankovic, Allertova held for a 2-1 lead. That’s when Jankovic, the only seeded player left in the tournament, began her run, losing just 20 points in those 11 games and giving the Serb her first WTA title in more than two years. She did win a $125,000 tournament in Nanchang, China, this past summer. Jankovic now has 14 WTA titles to her name, her biggest coming at Indian Wells, California, USA, back in 2010.

SWITCH IN LEADERS

American David Haggerty is the new president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The 58-year-old Haggerty succeeds Italy’s Francesco Ricci Bitti, who had headed the sport’s governing body for 16 years. Haggerty will serve a four-year term.

Katrina Adams, president of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), was one of three vice presidents selected at the ITF annual general meeting in Santiago, Chile. Others named were Anil Khanna of India and Rene Stammbach of Switzerland. “The selection of vice presidents reflects the diversity on the new board and the experience of these board members,” Haggerty said. “The whole ITF Board is committed to working together over the next four years to enable the continued growth of the organization.” Others elected to the board were: Martin Corrie, Great Britain; Sergio Elias, Chile; Ismail El Shafei, Egypt; Bernard Giudicelli, France; Jack Graham, Canada; Thomas Koenigsfeldt, Denmark; Celia Patrick, New Zealand; Aleksei Selivanenko, Russia; Stefan Tzvetkov, Bulgaria; and Bulat Utemuratov, Kazakhstan. Elias, Graham, Khanna and Stammbach were reelected to the board.

STOPPED

Qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich’s run through the Korea Open draw was halted in the final of the Seoul tournament by Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. The winner captured eight straight games to build a 6-3 5-0 lead. Sasnovich held at love to stop the streak, but the top-seeded Begu served out the victory. “I’m so happy to win my first WTA title in three years. It’s been a long time and I’ve improved a lot, I think,” said Begu, who hadn’t won since conquering Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2012. “I’ve learned a lot from many matches and many experiences, and most of all I think I’ve become much more consistent when I’m playing. I feel totally different from three years ago.” Sasnovich came out of qualifying and upset two of the top three seeds, including third-seeded Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the semis.

SERVING TIEBREAKS

Leonard Mayer of Argentina and Joao Souza of Brazil will more than likely keep their record now that the International Tennis Association (ITA) has come up with new rules. Beginning next year, Davis Cup fifth-set matches will be decided in a tiebreak. Earlier this year, Mayer and Souza played the longest Davis Cup singles match on record – 6 hours, 42 minutes. The fifth set alone lasted 2 hours, 30 minutes before Mayer won 7-6 (4) 7-6 (5) 5-7, 5-7, 15-13. The Davis Cup has had tiebreakers in all sets except for the fifth since 1989. Only one match remains to be played under the old rules. Belgium will play host to Great Britain in this year’s final at Ghent, Belgium, November 27-29.

SPEARHEADING RUSSIAN TEAM

Maria Sharapova has been named to the Russian squad that will face the Czech Republic in Prague in the Fed Cup final November 14-15. Others named by Russian captain Anastasia Myskina are Ekaterina Makarova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina. “It’s great that all the girls agreed immediately to play,” Myskina said. Sharapova is ranked third in world, Makarova 20^th, Pavlyuchenkova 33^rd and Vesnina 117^th. The two nations have met five times in Fed Cup, but three of those meetings were between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. The Czechs are defending Fed Cup champions and lead their head-to-head record with Russia 3-2, including winning their most recent encounter in the 2011 final in Moscow. Russia has won the Fed Cup four times and will be playing in their 11^th Fed Cup final.

STEPPING DOWN

Stacey Allaster is leaving her job as the WTA Tour’s chief executive officer, a position she has held for the past six years. She announced that she was stepping down for personal reasons. “It has been a privilege to lead the organization that Billie Jean King founded and to have worked with the world’s best female athletes, dedicated tournament promoters and passionate and professional WTA team members,” Allaster said in a statement released by the WTA. She said the death in 2013 of Brad Drewett, the former ATP Tour chief executive and her brother-in-law, pushed her to devoting more time to family. She led the WTA through a growing period with more events in the Asia-Pacific region and expanded media exposure worldwide. She was named on the Most Powerful Women in Sports by Forbes magazine. WTA board member Lisa Grattan said a search for Allaster’s replacement has begun.

SAFAROVA READY?

When the Czech Republic takes on Russia in the Fed Cup final, Lucie Safarova hopefully will be in the lineup. A finalist at Roland Garros in June, Safarova recently spent a week in the hospital after contracting a fever and suffering from pain in her neck – pain caused by a bacterial infection. The 28-year-old left-hander may be ready to play the China Open in Beijing next week. She is expected to play in the Fed Cup final in Prague against Russia on November 14-15.

STAN STOPPED

An ankle injury caused Stan Wawrinka to pull out of the Moselle Open in Metz, France. Wawrinka was playing Germany’s Dustin Brown in a second-round match when he twisted his right ankle. “It was painful in the match, but still OK with tape on it,” said Wawrinka, the reigning Roland Garros champion who was the top seed in Metz. “But after a lot of treatment last night and some tests this morning, it’s dangerous for me to play because the pain is still there. So I will have to see a doctor to see if I will be OK in the next few weeks.”

SITE SET

The Davis Cup final will be held in Flanders Expo, a 13,000-seat arena in Ghent, Belgium. The Belgium team opted to play indoors on a clay court in an attempt to neutralize Great Britain’s Andy Murray, the world’s third-ranked player. Clay is Murray’s least favorite surface. Britain is appearing in its first Davis Cup final since 1978. Belgium’s last appearance in the final of the international team competition was in 1904. The Davis Cup final will be held November 27-29.

SIGNS ON AGAIN

It’s Yannick Noah to the rescue once again. The last French man to win a Grand Slam tournament title, Noah has been named captain of the French Davis Cup team for the third time. Noah, who won the French Open in 1983, was named to succeed Arnaud Clement. In his first two stints as captain, Noah led the French team to the Davis Cup title in 1991 and 1996. France also won the Cup in 2001, but were beaten in four other finals: 1999, 2002, 2010 and 2014, the latter against a Switzerland team that included Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.

STILL WINNING

The doubles team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza just keep on winning. After capturing the US Open, they won their sixth title of the year, this time at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open with a powerful performance that saw them not lose a set the entire week. The pair has now won six of the 13 events they’ve entered since joining forces in March, posting a combined 42-7 record as a team. At Guangzhou, Hingis and Mirza beat Xu Shilin and You Xiaodi 6-3 6-1 in the title match. “Thankfully we watched them play last night so we knew the way they played, how they won, and we were very well prepared to play them today,” Hingis said. “There were definitely no surprises out there.”

SET FOR ABU DHABI

Rafael Nadal will spend New Year’s Eve in Abu Dhabi. The Spaniard has confirmed he will play the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC), which begins on December 31. Six of the world’s best players have agreed to play the three-day event, including Canada’s Milos Raonic, who will be making his MWTC debut. Nadal has won the exhibition twice.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Guangzhou: Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza beat Xu Shilin and You Xiaodi 6-3 6-1

Kaohsiung: Hsieh Cheng-Peng and Yang Tsung-Hua beat Gong Mao-Xin and Peng Hsien-Yin 6-2 6-2

Metz: Lukasz Kubot and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 2-6 6-3 10-7 (match tiebreak)

Seoul: Laura Arruabarrena and Andreja Klepac beat Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson 2-6 6-3 10-6 (match tiebreak)

St. Petersburg: Treat Huey and Henri Kontinen beat Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya 7-5 6-3

Tokyo: Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro beat Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan 7-5 6-1

SURFING

Kuala Lumpur: www.malaysianopentennis.com/2015/

Shenzhen: www.shenzhenopen.com/

Wuhan: www.wuhanopen.org/

Tashkent: www.tashkentopen.uz/en/