ATP Washington:

[WC] David Nalbandian def. [8] Marcos Baghdatis 6-2 7-6(4)

David Nalbandian continued his fine form from the Davis Cup to win his first tournament in a year and a half. It really is great to see the 28-year-old back and playing such attractive, attacking tennis. Even now his backhand remains one of, if not the best in the game. It’s also great to see Marcos Baghdatis stringing a good week together and you would be forgiven to think that we jumped back in a time machine to 2008. Both men will be looking to push back into the top 20 and beyond and after their level of play this week, they definitely will have a good shot. If Nalbandian just misses the seeding cut, he is going to be by far the most dangerous floater in the US Open draw and he could really crush anyone in the world when he is on his game. Watch out Roger and Rafa!

WTA San Diego

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. [4] Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 6-7(9) 6-3

2009 French Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Aga Radwanska in the San Diego final to clinch her first title in 10 months. While slightly lacking in quality at times, the match was such an absorbing, exciting and intense spectacle. Kuznetsova held a 5-1 lead in the first set, only to watch Radwanska fight back before she eventually clinched it 6-4. Similarly, in set two she held a *5-2 lead but this time she couldn’t crawl over the finish line as Radwanska dug deep to eventually take the set by a tiebreak.

The second half of the second set was full of titanic rallies and some spectacular shotmaking as Radwanska leveled the match but Kuznetsova quickly raced to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak and looked like the winner. Radwanska clawed her way back yet again but eventually Kuznetsova had three match points - to which she double faulted and hit two backhand errors off lengthy rallies. After the pair hilariously traded double faults at 6-6, Radwanska came up with a pair of breathtaking forehands and backhands to take the match into a decider. Kuznetsova eventually found her form again in the third set after an early 0-2 deficit and the match was never really in doubt as she clinched the final set 6-3.

The WTA tour is really struggling at the moment with the stars and elite players all underperforming at the exactly the same time. So many of the Grand Slams have been filled with surprise runs and while they can be exciting stories, usually they’ll get to the semis, quarters or finals and then just get completely blown away. Hopefully for the sake of the WTA and quality tennis, Svetlana and her grand slam winning/former world number one contemporaries will begin to rise again. It certainly is an encouraging week for Svetlana this week as well as Maria’s run to the Stanford final last week. We need the best players competing in the final rounds of slams and putting on exiting and sensational matches.

WTA Copenhagen

[1] Caroline Wozniacki def. Klara Zakopalova 6-2 7-6

Copenhagen got its fairytale ending as Caroline Wozniacki took home the title at the e-boks Danish Open. The Dane struggled all week in tight matches against players outside of the top 40 but she fought all the way to clinch the eighth title of her career. She will now move onto Cincinnati as the second seed and with the people surrounding her injured, it is looking more and more likey she will clinch the second seeded spot for the US Open.

(Photos: Zimbio)