John Isner and Dominika Cibulkova won the US Open series’ opening tournaments with dramatic 3 set wins that we can only hope were fore-shadowing.
Isner’s win will certainly have generated strong interest if the excited crowd were anything to go by. The American beat Kevin Anderson 7-6 (2) in the third before the home crowd, saving two match points when serving at 5-6, his big serve and forehand delivering under pressure against the equally big serving Anderson. At 6-6, Isner ran with the momentum and with the tie-break to win the title. It was Isner’s first trophy since his victory on the Houston Clay. The American plays comfortably and confidently before his home crowd, perhaps due to his years playing for College, and if can keep the form and momentum going, and, most importantly for the injury prone Isner, his health, he might finally get the success in a Major he works so hard for.
Meanwhile in Stanford, Dominika Cibulkova upset Agnieszka Radwanska to win her third career title. The Slovakian came back from a set down to outhit the world number four 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. The 5’3″ player never gave up the challenge of putting away Radwanska, also coming back from 2-4 down in the third to lead 5-4. Four championships points came and went but on the fifth one a backhand cross-court winner finally did the trick. The win was not just a fine chapter in Cibulkova’s career but was also fine revenge for the double bagel she was forced to eat by Radwanska back at the beginning of the season in Sydney. Back then Radwanska was still doing what she does, or used to do, best: beating who she is supposed to beat. However, since her loss to Robson in Madrid, she has been losing to those same players. If she cannot pick up the titles she was winning when the opportunity arose, then maintaining her top four status will be tricky. Unless she is able to stop the rut soon, a tumble down the rankings as suffered by Jankovic and Wozniacki may be the result of too much play the last couple of seasons. And as those case studies demonstrate, getting back up to the top echelons of the pro game is even harder than getting there in the first place.
Watch highlights of Cibulkova’s revenge over Radwanska in the Stanford final
Once again the illogical nature of the Tour came to the fore as tournaments were played on clay. One of those tournaments was played in Gstaad and won by Mikhail Youznhy, the Russian defeating Hasse. But Youznhy’s win was overshadowed somewhat by the defeat of a rather important player in Swiss sporting history:Roger Federer. The Swiss world number five lost 3-6, 4-6 to Daniel Brands. It was Federer’s first appearance there since 2003 at tournament where he played his first professional match. It was another shock loss for the homeboy. Saddled with a bad back, the task of getting used to his new racket and the loss of confidence the three defeats will bring him, not forgetting the comprehensive defeat to Tsonga at Roland Garros, Federer will do well to get his game and health together in order to put in a status-worthy performance this US Open series and in the US Open itself. Being Federer, he could win the whole thing or go out in the first few round, the latter possibility unthinkable a few months back. The last three defeats might prove not just to be a false dawn but the harsh reality in the light of day, an early departure for the Swiss as likely as him raising the trophy.
Meanwhile, in Umag, Tommy Robredo, who entertained us with his run at this year’s Roland Garros put an end to another fine run on the red stuff as he put paid to Fabio Fognini’s 13 match winning streak in the final, winning 6-0, 6-3 to win his 12th title in what is proving to be a mightily impressive comeback.
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