The rest of the winners which I've missed last weekend

In Doha, Andy Murray defeated the other Andy, Mr. Roddick 6-4, 6-2 to win his first ATP title of the year, and ninth overall.

Fernando Verdasco failed to stop Radek Stepanek a.k.a. the Worm in Brisbane which resulted him to lost 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.

Verdasco also failed to win in the men's doubles final match. Marc Gicquel and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Verdasco and Mischa Zverev in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

In the women's doubles Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Vania King won 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 over Poland pair Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosollska.

Somdev Devvarman who had beaten Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic earlier at the Chennai Open tournament, failed to convert the final match against Marin Cilic into a win. Cilic recorded a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory in two hours.

Somdev's achievement last week helped him to climb from 202 to a 154 in the ATP rankings. Way to go for this young man from India!

In the men's doubles, Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram defeated Jean-Claude Scherrer and Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4 to take the Chennai Open title.

ATP aside, in the ITF's China F1 Futures event, world's top-ranked junior Yang Tsung-hua who has just turned pro won both men's singles and doubles titles.

Yang who partnered with Lee Hsin-han thrashed Li Zhe and Wang Yu Jr. 6-0, 6-3. Then he defeated Zeng Shao-xuan6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the men's final.

(Images via Yahoo! Sport, sports-1apple.com.tw)

Victoria Azarenka wins title in Brisbane; yikes, the ponytail!

Seriously, Victoria Azarenka's phython-sized braided ponytail is very distracting. The other braided ponytail that I dislike is Mary Pierce's.

Put the hairy issue aside, the good news is, Azarenka earned her first WTA title, defeating Marion Bartoli in the final at the Brisbane International.

Belarus’ Azarenka, the no. 2 seed, cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over the third-seeded Frenchwoman in the second career meeting between the pair.

“Everybody says the third time’s the charm but for me it is the fifth one - I’m just glad I got it,” Azarenka said.

“I just go out and play no matter what happens. That probably helped me. It was like playing a regular match - that is what helped me finish it so quickly.”

Azarenka defeated Bartoli in just 71 minutes.

(Via Yahoo! Sport)

Venus Williams leads team America to victory in Hong Kong

Venus Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva in straight sets to seal victory for the Americas over Russia in the Hong Kong JB Group Classic World Team Challenge yesterday.

Williams wins 6-2, 6-2 to give her team a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five gold group final.

It followed a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win for Gisela Dulko over Anna Chakvetadze after the Americas and Russia were tied at 1-1 overnight.

Williams, who struck 10 winners and six aces, looks in great shape for this month's Australian Open, which she has never won.

Earlier in the tournament she crashed world number one Jelena Jankovic by the same scoreline.

"I've been here so many years and this is the perfect way for me to prepare for the Australian Open," Williams said after her team's win.

Referring to her victories over Jankovic and Zvonareva, Williams said: "(They are) very accomplished players and experienced and both of them played great last year so it's definitely a great way to start the year with wins against such talented players."

In the final match of the exhibition tournament, Williams and Coco Vandeweghe beat Chakvetadze and Alexandra Panova 6-4, 6-1 in doubles to seal a 4-1 victory for the Americas.

On Friday, Williams beat Chakvetadze 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 to give the Americas the lead but Russia hit back through Zvonareva, who beat Dulko 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.

Asia-Pacific won the silver group final 3-0 against Europe.

(Via AFP; Images via Yahoo! Sport)

Defending champion Dmitry Tursunov at the official draw of Medibank International Sydney

Dmitry Tursunov and Svetlana Kuznetsova were at the Myer Department Store in Sydney's city centre.

They were getting some help from fans in conducting the official draw. There was an also autograph session with the players including Mario Ancic and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Check out the draws and OOP here.

Dima will be defending his title here. He's definitely an interesting player to watch out for, whether it's on court or off court. If you have missed his 'off court adventurous ride' recently in MTF or DtL, check it out here. Click for a larger version.


(Images via Medibank Sydney website, downthelinetennis)