Tomas Berdych, Caroline Wozniacki win Japan Open titles

Ninth seed Tomas Berdych powered past Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro in straight sets to win the Japan Open, his first ATP title of the season.

In the women's competition, top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark battled to a 6-2 3-6 6-1 win over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia to claim her third WTA title of the year.

Berdych, who shocked American second seed Andy Roddick and third seed Fernando Gonzalez on his way to the final, surprisingly had a one-sided 6-1, 6-4 victory over the fifth-seeded Del Potro.

"In this condition and at this level of tennis, I think the most important thing is to... just be 100 percent on the court - then the results can come," said the 23-year-old Czech.

"I think it happened to me this week and I'm very happy for that. I'm really happy to win here, especially here in Tokyo, I hope I will be here next year."

Berdych, currently ranked 27th in the world, said his goal was to finish 2008 in or near the top 10.

Del Potro - ranked 12th after a blistering summer during which he won four titles - appeared to be off form, taking an injury time out during the first set and another before the start of the second set.

Del Potro said he had taken some medication, but did not blame the loss on his illness, saying:

"He played much better than me. I was feeling confused (by his play), but he did a great match."

"After the first set I started to play a little better, but it was too late."

It was Berdych's first title since winning at Halle in June last year, and his fourth overall, after victories at Palermo in 2004 and Paris in 2005.

On the women's side, the 18-year-old Wozniacki added to her 2008 success, after winning in Stockholm and New Haven in August.

"I feel amazing. I just won another tournament. It's been an incredible year. This is my first title here in Japan and I'm very happy," said a jubilant Wozniacki, ranked 16th against Kanepi's 33rd.

"I think I improved a lot last year."

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy's bid for a second successive ATP title ended in disappointment after the top seeds were stunned by the Russian-German pair of Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev in the finals of AIG Japan Open in Tokyo today.

The unseeded Youzhny and Zverev beat the Indo-Czech pair 6-3, 6-4 to capture their second ATP title together.

It is the second time this year that Youzhny and Zverev have combined to deny Paes and Dlouhy a title win, having also done so when they claimed their maiden ATP title at Halle in June.

(Via news.theage.com.au, Images via Yahoo! Sport, zimbio.com)

Wimbledon 2008: Racquet abuse

Every tennis player wants a piece of that fame and fortune and their names to be remembered in the history book of Grand Slam. The championships do not just take the physical toll out of the players but also their emotions as well.

I'm not a fan of racquet abusers but I guess I understand how frustrated these players are especially when they are playing in such a prestigious tournament like the Wimbledon.

Jurgen Melzer throws his racquet onto ground, during the third round match against Arnaud Clement. Arnaud won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Janko Tipsarevic throws his racquet, during the third round match against Dmitry Tursunov but won 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Dinara Safina's defeat to Shahar Peer is another upset of the day. Peer won 5-7, 7-6, 8-6.

A chair is broken after Czech' Radek Stepanek smashed on it during the match against Mikhael Youzhny. Youzhny won 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.

Lucky no one is hurt in these racquet abuse incidents.

(Images by AP Photo/Sang Tan/CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)

When tennis turns bloody: Mikhail Youzhny's racquet self-abuse

I hate seeing blood. When I first saw this video, it freaks me out.

Mikhail Youzhny gets too emotional by his poor play against Nicolas Almagro at the Miami tennis tournament, he smacked his head three times enough to draw blood running down his face.

(Picture via Tennis Served Fresh)

Australian Open 2008: Awaiting for the nail-biting match between Nadal and Tsonga

Nadal will definitely have all the fans' support in the semifinal match.

All Rafa's (although I prefer to call him Nadal) fans around the world will be eagerly waiting for this match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the semifinal at the Australian Open.

I haven't really watch Tsonga played until last night, the match against Mikhail Youzhny. I wasn't impressed when he beat Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet but when I saw him played in the quarterfinal yesterday, I realized how dangerous and threatening this Frenchman is.

Tsonga is enjoying the best moment in his life,
his breakthrough in the men's tennis.

Tsonga could create another upset and deny Rafael Nadal a chance to play in the final at the Australian Grand Slam for the first time. After all, Youzhny was the guy who beat Nadal few weeks ago at the Chennai Open final.

He looked so relaxed and calm even in the most crucial moment, when he needed to close the deal in straight sets during the tiebreak against Youzhny.

Nadal in deep thoughts strategizing to move into
the final at the Australian Open for the first time.

Nobody exactly knows Tsonga's style because he is basically not 'the star' before the 2008 Australian Open starts. Hopefully Nadal will stretch him more and make him run around and keeping up with the balls all the time.

Whatever the result is, this year is going to be an exciting for all tennis fans. At least we know tennis is not heading towards something like the F-1 where only the big guns win.