Juan Singular Sensation

Slowly but surely, the post-Wimbledon tennis is going to start to get interesting again - for we are embarking on the US Open series, which, although I think it is a little overmarketed, is always an interesting time. And there's a lot of money involved, which I'm sure makes it interesting for the players as well.

*

It's quite easy to write off everything in the tennis year after Wimbledon, except for perhaps the minor blips of the US Open, the Masters Cup and, for those involved, the Davis Cup final. I've been guilty of it myself - but last year, while the rest of the world was off in Beijing playing for Olympic glory and not paying attention to the little US Open series, we saw one of the most remarkable runs of form I can remember from someone not called Roger or Rafa. Juan Martin del Potro won four tournaments on the trot and blazed his way into the quarters of the US Open.

*

What was most remarkable about the del Potro run was that he actually came from nowhere. He was ranked somewhere around #60-odd, had been booted out of Wimbledon early and wasn't considered good enough to take on the four man tennis squad from Argentina to the Olympics. Instead, he was left behind to play what were basically the schlep tournaments, devoid of any real talent.

*

But even still, winning four of them on the trot is extreme.

*

But is it a fluke? people said. No one of any real substance is there. Maybe - oh yeah, there he goes, winning through to the quarters of the US Open. Del Potro made his mark on the game and he has stayed at the top - currently in the best of the rest position at #5. And he is certainly playing well enough to do very well indeed - he has wins over all the top four except Federer, and we saw how close he came at Roland Garros. Del Potro has the ability to go even deeper at the US Open this year, I believe.

*

But this didn't start off being about big Juan M. The question I wanted to pose was this - are we going to see another Juan-esque run this year? Is someone suddenly going to find their form and their feet and make a tear to the top of the game? And if so - who do you think it will be?

*

*

Today's Results

*

Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad (Gstaad)

*

Victor Crivoi def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-4 6-0

Igor Andreev def. Diego Junqueira, 7-5 6-4

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-3

Teimuraz Gabashvili def. Paul Capdeville, 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Jan Hernych def. Flavio Cipolla, 6-1 6-0

*

*

LA Tennis Open (Los Angeles)

*

Chris Guccione def. Kevin Kim, 6-1 6-4

Jesse Levine def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-2 6-3

*

*

Bank of the West Classic (Stanford)

*

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-0 6-1

Monica Niculescu def. Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-1 6-0

*

*

Istanbul Cup (Istanbul)

*

Aravane Rezai def. Viktoriya Kutuzova, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Olga Govortsova def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-2 5-7 6-4

Timea Bacsinszky def. Polona Hercog, 6-2 6-2

Maria Elena Camerin def. Ipek Senoglu, 6-0 6-2

Marta Domachowska def. Patricia Mayr, 1-6 6-2 6-0

Pemra Ozgen def. Arantxa Rus, 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-2