ATP Week One Review

After the first week of the ATP season, Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic and Xavier Malisse were the happiest men on tour after winning titles in Adelaide, Doha and Chennai respectively. Adelaide saw the introduction of the round-robin system for the first time on the ATP Tour. During the group phase, seven of the eight groups were won by a player with a 100% record (two wins from two). Group four had to be decided by percentage of sets won after Joachim Johansson, Florent Serra and Gilles Simon ended the round-robin action with a win each. Johansson’s straight sets win over Simon proved crucial and enabled the Swede to progress.

The biggest shock of the group phase saw Lleyton Hewitt knocked out by Igor Kunitsyn, and soon after losing his coach too, as Roger Rasheed jumped ship claiming that ‘within the current environment, I don’t believe it is possible for us to get the results we are looking for.’ Hewitt has since pulled out of Sydney and his participation in the Australian Open may be in some doubt also.

The quarter-final line up consisted of some the younger talents on tour expected to achieve greater things in the years ahead, Novak Djokovic, Juan-Martin Del Potro and Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman, Gasquet, fell at the quarter-final stage to Chris Guccione, an Australian wildcard. Djokovic safely moved on to the last four, while Del Potro had his quarter-final delayed by rain. With the prospect of having to play two matches in a day to reach the final, the 18 year old Argentine, crushed Kunitsyn for the loss of just two games. The semi-final was a far tighter affair and eventually it was Guccione who progressed, winning 7-5 in the 3rd. Djokovic ensured his passage to the final with a straight sets win over Johansson (who like Del Potro had to play twice in a day).

For the first time in the tournament, Djokovic was taken the distance, but still prevailed over Guccione to claim the third title of his career.

Meanwhile in India, many expected to see a long awaited encounter between Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian, the top two seeds in the tournament. However, neither player made the final. Having celebrated his 25th birthday a day earlier, Nalbandian was knocked out in the first round by Kristian Pless. Nalbandian cited tendonitis in the left leg as a reason for his early departure, and his participation in Melbourne for the Australian is also in some doubt. The exit of the Argentine had all eyes focused on world number two, Rafael Nadal. Without a title since the French Open in 2006, Nadal would have hoped to go on and claim the title in Chennai to get his 2007 season off on the right note.

After recording three routine victories, the Spaniard met Xavier Malisse in the last four, and his tournament came to an end. Malisse triumphed 6-4, 7-6 in an entertaining encounter. His opponent in the final would be Austria’s Stefan Koubek, who produced some excellent tennis on his way to the final, including two emphatic victories against Paradorn Srichaphan and Carlos Moya.

Malisse claimed the second title of his career after a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3 victory. It was his first title since 2005, while Koubek last won a title in 2003.
The tournament in Doha was without its defending champion and world number one, Roger Federer. Two of the world’s top five were present, Nikolay Davydenko and Ivan Ljubicic. Last year’s finalist, Gael Monfils, was unable to replicate his performance from the previous year, losing in straight sets to Mikhail Youzhny. The outstanding performance of the week came from Sweden’s Robin Soderling, who completely outplayed and outclassed Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals. His reward was a semi-final with Ivan Ljubicic after the Croat had taken out Youzhny in a third set tie-break. The Croat would repeat the trick in the semi-final, after Soderling had to contend with the disappointment of being unable to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third.

In the other half of the draw, the seeds upheld their rankings, as Davydenko faced Andy Murray in the last four. Murray had lost his previous two encounters with the Russian and on this occasion was able to gain a measure of revenge by winning 7-5, 6-2. The final between Ljubicic and Murray began with a 14 minute game, where Ljubicic was able to eventually hold serve. The big serving Croatian went on to claim the title 6-4, 6-4, picking up his seventh career title. Up to 2005, Ljubicic had only won one title, but has won six in the past couple of years during the best period of his career.

The ATP Tour moves on to Auckland and Sydney before the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne begins on January 15th.