The Prince of Clay

Yeah, so we have winners in Acapulco -Venus (surprise surprise) taking out Flavia Pennetta and then Nicolas Almagro beginning his annual surge with a good win over Gael Monfils. Actually, let's talk about Almagro for a sec, though I hadn't intended to. He is so impressive at this time of the year. As soon as the tour hits the clay, he becomes a contender. That said, put him on hard court and grass and he becomes basically a non-entity. However, when he hits the red stuff...

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I think we can safely say he is the Prince of Clay. Rafa is the king, and ain't no one gonna challenge that one - remember the Roland Garros quarters last year, when Rafa beat him one, one and one? However, I think that beatdown was due to the fact that Rafa took him extra seriously. So it's good to see that Almagro hasn't gone away during the non-clay part of the season and is back, ready to take on the world on the red stuff again.

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Now, onto what I really want to talk about. Bernard Tomic won his first ever Challenger title in East Bentleigh. It's only his third ever Challenger tournament, so I have to say that that is very very good - very very good indeed! He's ranked 536 - this win will catapult him into the #400s. It's still too soon to admit him into my Stars of the Future fold, but hot damn, that boy is going to be good!

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That said, Marinko Matosevic pushed him all the way. It was 5-7 6-4 6-3, so that's clearly one that could have gone either way. I still can't say I know much about it, but he's doing well round this satellite circuit, so the boy clearly has some mojo going on.

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Today's Result

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Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

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Men's Draw

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Nicolas Almagro def. Gael Monfils, 6-4 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Venus Williams def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-1 6-2