ATP & WTA Tour- Week 1 Review

The opening few weeks of the season are the toughest to predict with many players needing time to settle into their rhythm. My picks last week suffered badly from underperformances from players. I thought Milos Raonic might upset Andy Murray in Brisbane but he lost in the opening round to Grigor Dimitrov who lost to Murray in the final. David Ferrer was in good form in Doha but he ran into the resurgent Nikolay Davydenko who upset him in the semi finals. I picked Tomas Berdych in Chennai but he was very disappointing when losing to Roberto Bautista-Agut early on. In the women's events I was slightly more successful. Agnieszka Radwanska managed to win her event in Auckland and Na Li did win her event in Shenzhen. The only event I got wrong was in Brisbane where my pick, Victoria Azarenka, had to pull out before her semi final match with Serena Williams and Williams went on to win the title. So it was an average start to the year but let's see if we can't improve on those numbers in the coming weeks. 

          Getting back to last week thought and the performance of the week on the men's side had to be Nikolay Davydenko. He rolled back the years and looked in fantastic form throughout the week. He was taking the ball very early and dictating the points. He destroyed David Ferrer in the semis and looked certain to lift the title but for an inspired Richard Gasquet to steal the limelight. Gasquet himself had a very good week. He came from a break down in the final set against Zemlja and again against Davydenko when he was  a set down. He was determined last week and had a consistency about his game that we don't normally see. The credit for that must go to his coach Riccardo Piatti who has worked wonders with the Frenchman since joining his camp. Grigor Dimitrov had a fantastic week too which ended in him reaching his first ATP final. Andy Murray was just too good for him on the day but we can expect a lot more appearances from the Bulgarian in the latter stages of tournaments in the future. Murray wasn't at his best this week but he always had enough to get the job done and will be looking forward to the Aussie Open. Janko Tipsarevic got his hands on the Chennai title, just twelve months after losing in a thrilling final. He was in good form throughout the week and done well to win.

           Young Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova showed why many are tipping her to have a great future as she reached the final in Brisbane last week. She defeated Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber on her way to the final but the imperious Serena Williams was simply too powerful in the final. Victoria Azarenka was in great form but an infection halted her progress. Radwanska was also in great form as she cruised to the title in Auckland. Young Jamie Hampton was playing very well in Auckland and did manage to push Radwanksa to two tie breaks but she lacked the experience on the big points. Li Na made hard work of some matches on her run in Shenzhen but she will be happy with the title she picked up and will be hopeful of another Grand Slam when she makes the trip to Melbourne. 

          At the Hopman Cup, Bernard Tomic scored a massive win over Novak Djokovic but it wasn't enough to guide Australia to the final. Ana Ivanovic was in brilliant form as she won all but one of her singles matches. Unfortunately for her the one she lost was in the final and that allowed the surprise package of Fernando Verdasco and Anabel Medina-Garrigues to lift the title for Spain. Finally, Thanasi Kokkanakis made his debut for the USA when John Isner pulled out and the 16 year acquitted himself well as he pushed Verdasco hard in two sets.