Wk.39- Sousa Surprise

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

This week, Raonic won another title and Sousa became the first Portuguese man to ever win an ATP tour final. Berdych still hasn't won a title and is the only man in the top ten without a title this year. In fact, only Almagro and Janowicz have failed to win a title this year in the top twenty along with Berdie. Berdie appears to be an enigma wrapped in a conundrum, or something to that effect. Raonic beat Gasquet and Berdych back-to-back to win another title this year. I think the young Canadian is a future world number one, but that is just my opinion. In fact, I think he will make a slam semi next year barring injury.

Will Benny ever win a title? If the answer is yes then he has just missed a massive chance. He led by a set against Sousa in the final but somehow still lost. Sousa beat a couple of big seeds on his way and then beat Benny, but if you get to a final and Benny is across the net, you gotta be feeling confident. He lost again and now I just want to win one. Any title, anywhere. He should enter a 250 just after a slam. You can sometimes get slightly weaker fields then.

Also, the race for London is really hotting up now with Gasquet, Wawrinka and Tsonga all in the hunt. Federer, I think, should be safe but only just. All Gasquet has to do to qualify is to reach quarterfinals or better at the rest of his tournaments. That should push him over the line but, unfortunately, consistency is not his strong suit.



*WEEK 39 CHAMPIONS*
*BANGKOK*
S: Milos Raonic/CAN def. Tomas Berdych/CZE 7-6/6-3
D: J.Murray/Peers (GBR/AUS) d. Bednarek/Brunstrom (POL/SWE)
*KUALA LUMPUR*
S: Joao Sousa/POR d. Julien Benneteau/FRA 2-6/7-5/6-4
D: Butorac/Klaasen (USA/DEN)d. Cuevas/Zeballos (URU/ARG)


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: MILOS RAONIC, CAN
...The Canuck showed mental fortitude to come through and win another title. He is an outside challenger for London, although I would bet my house that he will be at the WTF's at some point in the next five years as long as he doesn't get injured. He has already gotten to 9 singles finals since February 2011 which makes up for his average performances at slam level. He won the SAP Open in February, beating Haas, and has now won this event. He goes 5-4 with this victory. That 2 and 2 loss to a resurgent Nadal was forgivable although it would have been nice to see a bit more fight from Milos. This week, he served fantastically well. He hit 70 aces easy. He edged Matosevic 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. He then battled past Lopez 6-4, 6-3 before going through against Gasquet. He did not beat Gasquet but merely watched as the Frenchman choked. He reached the final and rallied past Berdie 7-6, 6-3. Berdie has played a grueling match against Simon the round before winning 6-7, 6-2, 7-5. He is in Japan next where he is the defending finalist.
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RISER: JULIEN BENNETEAU, FRA
....Todd has a phrase -- "Oh, Nadia." This applies to Benny. Benny is like the little engine that couldn't and frankly it's getting painful to watch. Where does he go from here? Sousa is a journeyman, a good one yes, but a journeyman none the less. He is in form but Benny shouldn't be losing in a final to Sousa. The Frenchman beat Przysiezny in two sets, Andujar 7-6, 6-2, and Mannarino 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semis. He then dispatched Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3. He was in form and playing well. He even took the first set 6-2 and then...well and then...umm I don't know. He just sort of lost I guess. Oh Benny...
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SURPRISE: JOAO SOUSA, POR
...I thought the semi appearance in St. Petersburg was a fluke. Apparently, it was not. Joao is in some serious form. This week, he opened by dismissing Harrison 3 and 2. Then her came back from nowhere to beat Cuevas convincingly in the end 4-6, 7-6, 6-0. He followed that up with a victory over a slumping Ferrer 6-2, 7-6. He also beat Melzer in an epic semifinal 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. He then beat another in form man, Benny, in three sets. He is very dangerous right now but has opted out of the two upcoming 500's. Perhaps we shall see him in Shanghai.
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VETERAN: JURGEN MELZER, AUT
...The Austrian lefty is now thirty-two. That is old in most sports although, admittedly, golf. But then again golf is not the most athletic of sports. He won junior Wimbledon in 1999, which is now over fourteen years ago. He beat Kristian Pless in tha final. Pless reached three junior finals during that year. He lost to Nieminen at the US but beat Youzhny at the 1999 Australian Boys. If not for an injury, how successful might he have been? Melzer has a French Open semifinal and fourth rounds in every slam. He has also won five titles and made thirteen finals. He lost in the finals of Zagreb this year to Cilic but beat Monfils at Winstom-Salem when Monfils retired. He still is within the top thirty in the world but perhaps he is on his last legs.
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COMEBACK: CUEVAS/ZEBALLOS, URU/ARG
...They lost in the final to Butorac/Klaasen 6-2, 6-4 in Malaysia but they had a couple of extraordinary comebacks on the way. After an easy first round win over Carreno-Busta and Merzuki, they beat Knowle/Melzer 2-6, 7-5, 10-7. Even more amazingly, they won their next match against De Voest/ Devvarman 0-6, 6-2 [10-7]. Incredibly, Benny and Zimonjic were the last seeds standing and they went out in the second round.
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NEW FACE: Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul, THA
...Maybe he has a nickname?
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DOWN: DAVID FERRER , ESP
...The loss to Sousa is very poor, but even more poor is the fact that he went down so easily. He didn't even take a set. Ferrer looks to be finally on the way down -- that is the disadvantage of being a late bloomer, you get less time to do your thing. Ferrer is starting to go down but he is still one of the world's best players. He just appears to be struggling to put together any wins.
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1. Kuala Lumpur Final - SOUSA d. BENNETEAU
...2-6/7-5/6-4. Sousa capped an incredible two weeks with a title. He beat big players, he made two surprise runs and he looks a class act. He beat Benny in a memorable final. Perhaps Benny was channeling his inner Gasquet mentally. I should warn you this is never the right thing to do. Anyway, Benny cruised at first before succumbing and still no win for him. Perhaps he is cursed.
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2. Bangkok SF - BERDYCH d. SIMON
...6-7/6-2/7-5. Simon is extremely frustrating -- he is the kind of player I would hate to play against. I would smash my racket. I used to be a real smasher of rackets. Anyway, he and Berdych battled it out for almost three hours. The rallies were grueling and Simon was unrelenting. It was all kinds of brutal.
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3. Kuala Lumpur QF - WAWRINKA d. TURSUNOV ...2-6/6-3/7-6. A contrast in styles made this clash that much more interesting. Wawrinka prevailed in an epic contest, winning 7-3 in the final breaker against the powerful Russian.
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*TOKYO*
=SF=
Del Potro [1] d. [4] Nishikori
Raonic [3] d. [2] Tsonga
=FINAL=
Del Potro [1] d. [3] Raonic

*BEIJING*
=SF=
Djokovic [1] d. [5] Gasquet
Berdych [4] d. [2] Nadal
=FINAL=
Djokovic [1] d. [4] Berdych

...Still not sure about Nadal on indoor hard, but we shall see.


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