I Told You So!

I told you Ernests Gulbis was going to be good. I told you so. And what a time and a way to prove it. That's really a way of serving notice to the tennis world - knocking off Novak Djokovic in the first match of the season.

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While the organisers of Brisbane are probably sobbing quietly into their drinks, I am laughing. He really is a wonderful player to watch. All the weapons are there - all that he needs is a little maturity and consistency to be a real threat. As it is, he is enormously dangerous - as Novak Djokovic will attest to! His forehand is insanely good, as is his serve. His backhand needs a little work, but you wouldn't want to get in the way of it if he has time to get set - he's just a gorgeous player.

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And he beat Novak Djokovic. Excuse me while I say AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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Added to which Roger Federer won, cruising past Potito Starace, which means the #2 ranking is safe, and we can ready the ship to launch back at the #1 spot. A la la la la la.

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But yesterday's tennis did have a black spot - and no, it wasn't the fact that Australia got beaten in the Hopman Cup by a Slovak team who really have been playing outside their skin. No, I refer to the disgraceful behaviour of Victoria Azarenka in her match against Jarmila Gajdosova. It was seriously disgusting. Not only did she throw a couple of tantrums that a toddler would be proud of, but then she accused the umpire of nepotism, because he was Australian and Gajdosova, though nominally Slovakian, is Australian. That is just childish and disgusting and Azarenka is going down there with Djokovic on my list of objectionable tennis players.

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But Gulbis won! Djokovic lost! Victory for the Stars!

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Today's Results

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Harry Hopman Cup (Perth)

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Italy 2, France 1

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Alize Cornet def. Flavia Pennetta, 7-5 6-2

Simone Bolelli def. Gilles Simon, 6-3 6-3

Pennetta/Bolelli def. Cornet/Simon, 6-4 7-6 (7-2)

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Slovak Republic 2, Australia 1

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Dominika Cibulkova def. Casey Dellacqua, 7-5 6-2

Lleyton Hewitt def. Dominik Hrbaty, 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (1-7) 6-4

Cibulkova/Hrbaty def. Dellacqua/Hewitt, 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 10-4 (match tiebreaker)

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Brisbane International (Brisbane)

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Men's Draw

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Robin Soderling def. Julien Benneteau, 6-3 6-3

Richard Gasquet def. Taylor Dent, 7-5 6-4

Ernests Gulbis def. Novak Djokovic, 6-4 6-4

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Agustin Calleri, 6-2 7-5

Tomas Berdych def. Brydan Klein, 6-0 6-4

Florent Serra def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)

Mario Ancic def. Amer Delic, 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6)

Kei Nishikori def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-3 6-2

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS) 63 63

Michael Llodra def. Joseph Sirianni, 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Victoria Azarenka def. Jarmila Gajdosova, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5

Marion Bartoli def. Melinda Czink, 5-7 6-3 6-1

Tathiana Garbin def. Alisa Kleybanova, 4-6 6-4 6-2

Lucie Safarova def. Samantha Stosur, 6-4 6-4

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Chennai Open (Chennai)

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Nikolay Davydenko def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-2 6-3

Flavio Cipolla def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4 6-1

Ivo Karlovic def. Rajeev Ram, 6-4 6-3

Carlos Moya def. Danai Udomchoke, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Janko Tipsarevic def. Pablo Andujar, 6-3 6-2

Andreas Beck def. Roko Karanusic, 6-1 6-0

Denis Istomin def. Rohan Bopanna, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)

Ivo Minar def. Wayne Odesnik, 6-3 6-0

Somdev Devvarman def. Kevin Kim, 6-3 6-3

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Qatar Exxonmobil Open (Doha)

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Rafael Nadal def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-0 6-1

Roger Federer def. Potito Starace, 6-2 6-2

Andy Murray def. Albert Montanes, 6-2 6-4

Mikhail Youzhny def. Igor Andreev, 4-6 6-3 6-4

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Marco Chiudinelli, 6-4 6-3

Alexander Peya def. Dmitry Tursunov 2-6 6-3 6-4

Arnaud Clement def. Diego Junqueira, 6-1 6-2

Kristof Vliegen def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5)

Karol Beck def. Michal Przysiezny, 4-6 6-4 7-5

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ASB Classic (Auckland)

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Elena Dementieva def. Chan Yung-Jan, 7-5 6-3

Caroline Wozniacki def. Alberta Brianti, 6-1 6-0

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Kristina Barrois, 6-3 6-1

Carla Suárez Navarro def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-4 6-0

Anne Keothavong def. Mirjana Lucic, 6-4 6-2

Marina Erakovic def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 7-5 6-4

Elena Vesnina def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-1 6-0

Ayumi Morita def. Marta Domachowska, 6-4 4-6 6-4