Thursday, March 06, 2008

Two More Surprising Winners

There were three more events last week, and two of them had surprising outcomes. In Memphis, Belgian Steve Darcis, who exactly 1 year ago was ranked # 461, beat Robin Soderling 6-3, 7-6 to win his 2nd ATP title and move up 35 spots in the rankings to # 46. His first title was even more amazing, though. Last summer, Darcis entered the Amersfoot, Netherlands event ranked # 297, and yet won the title, beating two very tough Russians in the quarters and semis, Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny. Darcis turns 24 in about a week, so by ATP standards, he’s a late bloomer, but he sure has bloomed loudly in the last year.

The other surprising win was Sergey Stakhovsky beating Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 6-4 in Zagreb, Croatia. Stakhovsky entered the tournament # 209 in the world, the accomplished veteran Ljubicic # 25. Nonetheless, the tall, skinny (6’4”, 176lbs) young Ukranian, now 22 yrs old, took down the vet for his 1st ATP tournament victory. He is still only 123rd in the world now, but expect to see him in the top 70 at least by the time the US Open rolls around.

Finally, in Acapulco, Mexico, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro won his 2nd clay court event in two weeks, defeating the top seed and # 7 player in the world David Nalbandian of Argentina in yet another straight set final, 6-1, 7-6. It was Almagro’s 4th career title, and it bodes well for his chances at the French, where he hasn’t yet shined as brightly as many thought he would, as he’s never gotten beyond the 2nd round in four attempts.

This week many of the stars are playing in Dubai, while there’s also a secondary event in Las Vegas. In Dubai, world #1 Roger Federer drew the tough Brit Andy Murray in the first round and lost, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Since this was Fed’s first match since losing to Djokovic in the Aussie Open semis, it got me to thinking – Fed now has a two match losing streak; when is the last time he lost two matches in a row?