David Ferrer, Venus Williams win in Acapulco

David Ferrer gets the pear.

David Ferrer defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero to end his fellow Spaniard's 14-match winning streak yesterday.

Ferrer who lost to Ferrero at the Copa Telmex last week in Buenos Aires got a sweet revenge with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory in Acapulco.

Ferrero's winning streak had included ATP titles in his last two tournaments, in Brazil and Argentina.

Venus Williams gets the hat.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams defended her Mexican Open title after beating Slovenian Polona Hercog 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 for her second consecutive title - here on clay and on hard courts in Dubai last week.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Rewind: Unseen before footage from the Malaysian Open '09

I had too much free time last weekend so I decided to put some of the unused footage clips from the Malaysian Open back in September into some sort of a music video.

As usual, I appreciate off court a lot, so you'll only find off court footage in this MV.

Spain Davis Cup team meet the Prime Minister

Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero honoured the Davis Cup champs in a ceremony at his official residence yesterday.

Rafael Nadal and his teammates including Albert Costa, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero successfully defended the title after completing a clean 5-0 victory over the Czech Republic in the final on Sunday.

Nadal and Ferrer sign a shirt for Spain's PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

Spain has won the Davis Cup in 2000, 2004 and 2008, and is the first country to successfully defend the title since Sweden in 1998.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Davis Cup: Spain's win is perfect therapy for HCFoo to blog again

My blogging mood is pretty much determined by Rafael Nadal's performance and success.

So, to know that the Spanish team won in the Davis Cup final and Nadal is indeed a huge boost for me to blog again.

Rafael Nadal closed out this season with a bang by earning two points for Spain in the Davis Cup final.

Here are the final scores:

Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 7~5, 6-0, 6-2
David Ferrer (ESP) def. Radek Stepanek (CZE) 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 8-6
Feliciano Lopez/Fernando Verdasco (ESP) def. Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek (CZE) 7-6(7), 7-5, 6-2
Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Jan Hajek (CZE) 6-3, 6-4
David Ferrer (ESP) def. Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) 6-4, 6-2

Hopefully 2010 will be a better year for Nadal after this win.. perhaps he could start by defending his Australian Open title :D

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Unseen before practice photos: Lesson learnt

Practice court supposed to be a popular hangout place for tennis fans during any tennis tournament.

However, it was a different case at the PROTON Malaysian Open last week.

The seats at the practice courts (gym hall) were empty. Popular players came in and out without being mobbed by fans simply because there were almost none.

The crowd was slightly better when the players practice on Court 1, behind the Centre Court.

Hopefully the number of fans at the practice courts improve next year.

We attended a few practice sessions and here are some of the pictures we've got.

Left - Thumbs up from Rohan Bopanna
Right - Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi experimenting a simple yoga position

Igor Kunitsyn - "What are you looking at?"

Mikhail Youzhny - Maybe it's a Russian thing. They are not impressed with Nikon-toting mamarazzi

Tennis talk - David Ferrer, Andre Sa, Marcelo Melo, Jose Acasuso

Left - Marcelo Melo says hi to Jose Acasuso
Right - Ferrer crotch grab picture revealed

Keep your chins up, Acasuso

Happy people are beautiful people - Jose Verdasco, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez

Fernando Gonzalez arrives at the practice court with his entourage

(Photos credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

VIDEO: Ferrer, Lopez meet a wild friend at KL Tower (updated)

David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez were at the top of the KL Tower this morning for a photo shoot session to promote the PROTON Malaysian Open tennis tournament.

It was kind of hazy so the photos that we've got weren't that impressive.

Then, we came down for another photo shoot session, this time the Armada boys posed with a parrot.

It was kind of fun. Here's the pictures and video.

(Photo credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

Spanish Armada ready to invade Malaysia

One third of the Spanish Armada has landed in Malaysia and the other two will follow soon.

I was at the airport tryingy to catch the first glimpse of David Ferrer as he touched down this country with his fellow 'entourage'.

Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez are expected to arrive very soon.

While waiting for them, hope you'll enjoy these pictures. I have to tell you that I totally underestimated Ferrer's awesomeness!

To follow my Twitter update, go to http://twitter.com/hcfoo

(Photo credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

Spain to meet Czech Republic in Davis Cup final

Spain will host Czech Republic in the December's Davis Cup final after the two teams recorded 3-0 victories in the semifinals.

Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo clinched the tie for Spain, defeating Israel's doubles specialist Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Spain, winners in 2000, 2004 and 2008, play without Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco who were watching from the sidelines.

David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero filled in for their injured team mates and recorded straight-set wins in both matches on Day 1.

Ferrer defeated Harel Levy 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 and Ferrero ground down Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-2, 6-0.

Meanwhile, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic defeated Croatia's Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 yesterday.

The first day of play stretched to almost 10 hours as the Czechs narrowly win two five-setters to go up 2-0.

Stepanek withstood 78 aces for almost six hours to edge past big server Ivo Karlovic 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 16-14, while Berdych held firm after losing a two-set lead to defeat Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.

It will be the Czechs’ first final since their only Davis Cup triumph in 1980, led by Ivan Lendl.

(Via AP, tennis.com)

10th Annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis

I've been out of town for the past couple of days so I haven't been able to update some of the pre-US Open events that took place over the weekend.

In a quick update, let's start off with the 10th annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis, which is famous for its food, drink and celebrities.

Held at the W Hotel, and the Food Bank for New York, it has some of the biggest names in tennis including Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Billie Jean King, Sam Groth, Vera Zvonareva, Fernando Gonzalez, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer and Asia's very own Rendy Lu Yen-hsun.

Roddick mixing drinks with Natural Food Chef Bethany Frankel.

Left to right - Chef Ariane Duarte, Jo-Willy, newscaster Hannah Storm and chef Carla Hall.

HCFoo's favourite, Rendy Lu serves up a tennis-themed cake :D

David Ferrer

Vera Zvonareva

Fernando Gonzalez

(Images by Donald Bowers/Getty Images North America)