Ending With A Whimper

Oh, Tokyo. You redeemed yourself with a respectable final, and then the final was a sham. Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.

How very sad that Sharapova/Jankovic - which could have been a totally excellent match - ended in a retirement. I bet the tournament organisers - and Sharapova, come to think of it - are pretty mad with Jankovic. I'm pretty sure that this wasn't the way MaSha wanted to win her first tournament back.

But win she did - and let's talk about this for a minute. It's not quite Kim Clijsters winning the US Open, but to win a big tournament like Tokyo on the comeback is pretty sweet. Though it would have been sweeter if the draw had put up slightly more of a fight... but still. Well done, MaSha.

And in Tokyo - Gilles Simon is in the final! When was the last time we saw that? He's been the top ten's non entity for so long now, the seed you could count on to be upset, and now here he is in the final. He'll face Troicki, who surprised Tsonga. And then in Kuala Lumpur, we have #1 vs #2 - Davydenko vs Verdasco. Now there's some tournament organisers who can be very content...


Today's Results

PTT Pattaya Open (Bangkok)

Viktor Troicki def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 1-6 6-2 6-3
Gilles Simon def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)


Proton Malaysian Open (Kuala Lumpur)

Nikolay Davydenko def. Robin Soderling, 1-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2
Fernando Verdasco def. Fernando Gonzalez, 6-4 7-5


Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo)

Maria Sharapova def. Jelena Jankovic, 5-2 retired