Week 8 Review

With another week of tennis in the bag, we had one new titlist and a pair of matches that had just taken place a week before, with the results switched. This next week is a short week, with only Davis Cup taking place on the men's side, so I'll have some other things to talk about in the next few days. But first, to look back on the previous week.

The final in Acapulco was perhaps the most exciting, as it was a rematch of last week's final in Buenos Aires, which the elder Spaniard had won in three, despite a pretty bad head-to-head against his opponent. Ferrer was denied his first title since 2008 in Argentina, but he would not be denied again in Mexico, which would be his last chance on clay for a month. But ultimate, Ferrero was just too tired from having won 14 straight matches, and wilted in the third set to go down 1-6. After his run, Ferrero's ranking is up to 14, his highest since 2004. Both Spaniards should be excited for the European Clay Court swing in April.

In Dubai, we also had a repeat match in the final, with Youzhny against Djokovic. They had played in last week's semis in Rotterdam, with the Russian eking out a win in two tiebreak sets. He then went on to retire against Soderling in the final, so it may be surprising that he was able to make a sustained run to the finals again this week in Dubai. He didn't look like he was going to be able to mount the same kind of resistance though, going down a set and a break in short order before heavy rain began to fall and the match was delayed until the following day. He staged a comeback, winning the second set 7-5, but still lost in three. Youzhny is now 5-9 in career finals, while Djokovic is 17-11. It's pretty clear which record you would prefer. Both players should be eager for the upcoming pair of hard court Masters Series events.

But the most exciting final of the weekend was a first-time match-up between Ivo Karlovic (who turned 31 on the day of the match) in his first final since 2008, and Ernests Gulbis, in his first final since, well, ever. Gulbis, for those who don't know, has been a very highly-touted player for several years, with an enormous amount of talent but maybe not the dedication to win. This is not only his first title, but it's his first ATP final. Karlovic didn't play his best today, but Gulbis played the way people have thought he was capable for quite a while. He broke one of the best servers in the game five times in nine service games.

The question will be whether this was the first step in a real emergence, or whether it was a fluke, somewhat like his quarterfinal run at the French Open in 2008. He'll have a week to digest his victory and then see if he can make a dent at Indian Wells or Miami. But there's really no reason for him not to make it to the top 20.

This was also a good week for the Bryan brothers, who won their 600th match as a doubles pair and won the title in Del Ray. This should help them on their way to the Davis Cup match in Serbia, but unfortunately, their compatriots did not do terribly well in Mexico. Querrey and Isner failed to win a match, but at least that gave them plenty of time to get to the new courts and get used to the conditions. They can only hope that Djokovic will be a bit tired from winning the tournament.

I'll have a full Davis Cup preview before the thing starts up on Friday, and I hope to have some other things up in the meantime.