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

Sending A Message

Well, I'm sure Djokovic/Ferrer was not exactly the final that the Dubai tournament organisers were hoping for - it is definitely a poor bastard cousin of Federer/Nadal, which they seemed all set for until a few weeks ago - but it could have been a lot worse for them. And, though I might have pulling for Ferrer, at least their big guy pulled it out and won the tournament for them. But it's going to be very interesting to see what happens with Dubai next year, after the whole Shahar Peer debacle... we saw one political pull-out here this year in the form of Roddick (massive kudos) - but will we see more next year, when players have more time to consider their schedule?

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Guess those appearance fees will have to be jacked up even higher...

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But my real interest at the moment isn't in Dubai - or even Acapulco or Delray Beach. No, it's all about the Maccabi Men's Challenger in East Bentleigh, where a very interesting final has been set up, after Marinko Matosevic blew right past Colin Ebelthite and Bernard Tomic ground it out in straights over Brydan Klein.

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The latter result is probably the most interesting, considering that Davis Cup is coming up. Both Klein and Tomic were on the squad (though did not make the actual team) in Chile last year. Both made it to the second round at the Australian Open this year. But Klein got the call up ahead of Tomic. This is probably purely because he's a bit older, and also he's had some really good results in Challengers lately (remember how he just won two in a row?) but I bet Bernard is a little irritated. I would not be surprised at all if he wanted to prove something with this match, to send a message - a message something along the lines of, 'hey, yeah, remember me? Don't forget me next time, bitches.'

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So it's going to be a good final tomorrow. You've got to pick Tomic on talent - and also because I know virtually nothing about Matosevic except that he has the same birthday as Roger Federer - but you never know what's going to happen in tennis, and that's the beauty of it.

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Today's Results

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Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

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Novak Djokovic def. David Ferrer, 7-5 6-3

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Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

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Nicolas Almagro def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-4 6-4

Gael Monfils def. Jose Acasuso, 6-3 6-4

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Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

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Mardy Fish def. Florent Serra, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4)

Evgeny Korolev def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-2 6-2

Boys Light Up

There's tennis going on all over the world right now - in Dubai, in Acapulco, in Delray Beach - but there's another tournament going on that no one's really going to write about, and it's in my own country, so I think that makes it my duty.

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That, of course, would be the Maccabi Men's Challenger in East Bentleigh. It may only be a Challenger, but I think it offers some signs of hope for the future - how often do you see four Aussie blokes in the semis of a tournament, even one of the satellites? Sure, it is on home soil, but I'm not sure how much I believe in the home court advantage in tennis... it's not like cricket or football or anything like that, where you can legitimately know the way a stadium plays better than your opposition. So, good on you, Aussie boys - it's going to be an Aussie holding up the trophy for sure!

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The four we have to choose from are Colin Ebelthite (winner of the December Showdown), Marinko Matosevic (who shares a birthday with Roger Federer), Brydan Klein (newest member of the Davis Cup team) and Bernard Tomic (boy wonder). Ebelthite and Matosevic are one semi, then the blockbuster, one would imagine, would be Klein and Tomic in the other, Australian Open junior champs from '07 and '08 going head to head. That should be an absolute corker.

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Who do I want to win? Well, to tell the truth, I don't much mind. It'd be good to see Klein go well so he has a big lead-in to Davis Cup next week... Ebelthite's been round for a while and could use some love... I don't know a whole lot about Matosevic but he's definitely on the up and up... and I always pull for Tomic, as you all know. But it's just so great to see Aussie boys doing so well, even if it is 'just' a Challenger. Tennis drought my foot. We've got some good boys - and even if they aren't #1, they doesn't mean we can't still be very proud of them.

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Today's Results

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Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (Dubai)

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Novak Djokovic def. Gilles Simon, 3-6 7-5 7-5

David Ferrer def. Richard Gasquet, 6-2 6-2

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Abierto Mexicano Telcel (Acapulco)

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Men's Draw

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Gael Monfils def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 4-1 retired

Jose Acasuso def. Tommy Robredo, 7-5 6-2

Nicolas Almagro def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-2 7-6 (7-2)

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

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Women's Draw

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Flavia Pennetta def. Iveta Benesova, 6-3 6-3

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Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (Delray Beach)

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Jeremy Chardy def. Marcos Baghdatis, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-3)

Christophe Rochus def. Stefan Koubek, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

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PS. Another gratuitous spruik for my other blog, The Black Valentine's Day Manifesto - http://blackvalentinemanifesto.wordpress.com. It has nothing to do with tennis - it's more about ... well, being 23 and living in Canberra, I suppose. So if you've ever wondered what I do when I'm not writing Tennis From The Backseat or crying over Roger Federer matches (a question which I'm sure has kept you awake at night) please check it out!