ATP First Week Winners Are…

Written by: Staff on 6th January 2013

Tennis Classics gala tournament in Budapest

ATP First Week Winners Are...

epa03496483 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia returns the ball to Gilles Simon of France during their match at the gala tournament Tennis Classics in Papp Laszlo Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary, 04 December 2012. HUNGARY OUT EPA/LASZLO BELICZAY |

Andy Murray in Brisbane, Richard Gasquet in Doha, and Janko Tipsarevic in Chennai. Their roads were not easy as each faced considerable opposition in their matches throughout each of their tournament runs.

Andy Murray was down to Nishikori in the semifinals and really looked like he was not interested. Fortunately Nishikori slowed down due to a knee injury and gave Murray safe passage to the final. Dimitrov was beating Murray and served for the first set, but choked it in a tiebreaker. He went up a break again in the second set but Murray strung together an incredible couple of points to break back then sneak the match in straight sets. Lucky Scot.

Gasquet was down 5-2 in the third set to Grega Zemlja in the second round! Gasquet managed to hang around and win in a tiebreak. Getting through to the final he faced Nikolay Davydenko who was on fire. Down a set and 4-2 multiple break points, Gasquet managed to hang around just long enough for Davydenko to run out of steam – the 31yr old Russian unable to capitalize on a forehand sitter in the middle of the court on one of the two break points in that 4-2 game. At least Davydenko can bring confidence to Melbourne having known he utterly obliterated David Ferrer playing tactical Agassi-like tennis. For Gasquet, a “defensive” title in Doha.

Janko Tipsarevic came through a couple of unknowns in Chennai. First, Bedene in the semifinals, and then Bautista-Agut in the finals. Both unknowns gave him trouble as they were playing inspired tennis. Coming from the off-season and rest, this is understandable. It’s also understandable that the reason Tipsarevic is higher ranked than these two (who were playing just as well as him), is that he can play at a high level more consistently throughout the year. Kudos to Tipsarevic for maintaining the order in Chennai but also to Bedene and Bautista-Agut for their efforts, hopefully they can continue well in 2013.