GoodDave Turns Up

Seems Big Dave took umbrage at me suggesting that his time was past and this was the time of del Potro, by resoundingly beating said del Potro to reach the final of Basel. Even though del Potro is one of my Stars (though I still don't know if I can legitimately claim him - I definitely jumped late on that bandwagon) I have to say that I was pleased for Nalbandian. I'm not a huge fan of his - he seems like a pretty unpleasant kind of guy - but I am a big fan of that generation, the generation of Federer and Safin and Hewitt and those guys. So kudos to Dave - it was GoodDave, seemingly, and not LameDave, that showed up. I don't really care which Dave shows up tomorrow, as long as Federer wins. That partisanship of mine will not be changing any time soon.

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Roger and Dave aside, as they were the top two seeds in Basel and regulars in finals (well... Roger is, anyway) we have some very strange men in the finals this week. Andy Murray in St Petersburg is no great shock, but what about Andrey Golubev? I'm sorry, but who? He stomped all over Victor Hanescu in his semi-final, and I have totally never heard of him. His ATP profile tells us that he is twenty-one, ranked #150 and won a Challenger event this year. I'll have to keep an eye on him. He may yet be young enough for admission to the Stars program, but he'll have to prove himself a little more first. Look at Eduardo Schwank. He won three Challenger events this year and he's only hanging on to his spot in the program by his teeth. Because it is such a highly-sought after honour, after all.

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Then in Lyon, we have a final between Robin Soderling and Julien Benneteau, who knocked out Gilles Simon and Jo-W Tsonga between them. I bet no one was expecting that. Soderling is seeded #7, so I guess he's the favourite... it's about time he did something. He's been considered 'dangerous' for a long time, but he really needs to step up to the plate and produce good results on a week-to-week basis if he wants to move up the rankings. As for Benneteau, I can't say I know too much about him. I think he maybe knocked out Andy Roddick in the first round of the US Open one time, though I could be getting him confused with someone else. Oh, and I saw him play Stan Wawrinka at the Australian Open this year on Show Court 3. It was fun.

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And guess who else is in a final? ANA IVANOVIC! Horror of horrors, shock of shocks! And she beat a decent player to get there. I say 'beat' - she totally scraped through by the skin of her teeth against Agnieszka Radwanska. But a win is a win, and she obviously hung tough throughout the match. Please let this be the sign of good things to come. Doha is coming up so soon, and I'd love to see Ana do well.

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Speaking of Doha, the field is finalised: Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and my special favourite, Dinara Safina. Dinara's been so close at so many of the Slams this year that I feel she deserves this one, to go along with the rest of her Tier I lovin'. That said, I am oddly sad that Sharapova is going to miss out with her injury. I am definitely not a Sharapova fan - we all know that - but that final between her and Henin last year was so spectacular that it's a shame she doesn't get to have another crack at it. Oh well. Next year, Shazzapov.

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Today's Results

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Davidoff Swiss Indoors (Basel)
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Roger Federer def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-3 6-2

David Nalbandian def. Juan Martin Del Potro, 6-4 6-4

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St Petersburg Open (St Petersburg)

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Andy Murray def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-0 6-3

Andrey Golubev def. Victor Hanescu (ROU) 6-3 6-0

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Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon (Lyon)

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Julien Benneteau def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5

Robin Soderling def. Gilles Simon, 5-7 6-3 6-3

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Generali Ladies Linz (Linz)

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Ana Ivanovic def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2 3-6 7-5

Vera Zvonareva def. Marion Bartoli, 6-0 6-1

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FORTIS Championships Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

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Elena Dementieva def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki def. Li Na, 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-2