Federer, Safarova, Bartoli Win Titles

In 2005 Monfils captured his first title in three finals.

"It was a great experience to play against him and I hope I will get another opportunity," Monfils said. "I am not sure I played very well today as I had problems with my serve and missed a lot of shots when he was slicing to my backhand.  But I played better than in the last two finals I lost, I enjoyed myself more."

In the Friday doubles final (1) Bjorkman/Mirnyi won the title with a third-set breaker win over the Rochus brothers, Christophe and Olivier.

Moya Advances, Ljubicic Rained Out at ATP Chennai

Top seed Ivan Ljubicic led unseeded Belgian Kristof Vliegen 3-1 on Saturday when the match was suspended due to rain, with the Croat hoping to advance to the final to meet No. 3 seed Carlos Moya who edged No. 2 seed Radek Stepanek 7-6 in the third set.

In the doubles semis the homecountry crowd thrilled to unseeded wildcards Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna saving four match points in a third-set breaker win over No. 2 seeds Schuettler/Waske.

In the final the Indian pair will face Mertinak/Pala, who dropped only three games against Lee/Phau.

Malisse, Serra in All-Unseeded Final at ATP Adelaide

Belgian Xavier "X-Man" Malisse (d. (6) Berdych, bagel in the second) and France's Florent Serra (d. (2) Hrbaty) made for an all-unseeded final Sunday at the ATP stop in Adelaide.

Malisse is 1-6 in career ATP finals.

"I think the key to the match was the first game of the second set," Malisse said. "I returned really well and I broke him at love and then I started reading his serve really well. I didn't make any mistakes and hit good passing shots and everything was good."

Serra will be looking to add to his lone career title in 2005 at Bucharest.

"I'm very happy to be in the final," Serra said. "I'm very happy with my game and I tried to be aggressive and go to the net and I'm pleased with my game."

The doubles final will be (1) Hanley/Ullyett vs. (2) Erlich/Ram.

Teen Safarova Pummels Pennetta for WTA Gold Coast Title

The return of Martina Hingis was the big news this week at the WTA stop in Gold Coast, but Czech teen Lucie Safarova was the player flying under the radar to collect her third career title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Flavia Pennetta of Italy Saturday.

"I was a little bit tired today but I think she played a great match," said Pennetta, who suffered back stiffness during the final after a long match versus Hingis in the semifinals. "She has a great return, a great serve and she hits the ball hard. She's a great player."

The powerful left-hander Safarova reveled in the fast points on the slick tented court.

"The tennis now is about power and it's very fast," Safarova said. "I always play like that. I never wanted to just run and put the balls back. My father taught me as a child that I have to be the one to make the winners."

In the doubles final, Dinara Safina and Meghann Shaughnessy beat top-seeded Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs 6-2, 6-3.

Bartoli Breaks Through for 1st Title at WTA Auckland

Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli won her career-first title Saturday at the WTA stop in Auckland, rolling past Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-2.

"I think I played really amazing tennis today," said Bartoli, appearing in her first WTA final. "During November and December I did a lot of physical training, which helped me today because sometimes we had some very tough rallies and I was winning these points and a couple of points later I was still winning them because I was not tired."

Zvonareva, a Top 10 player in 2005, is now struggling to stay in the Top 50 after suffering injuries.

"Maybe I wasn't able to show the best of myself today," said Zvonareva, who had won all three of her prior encounters with Bartoli. "I tried, but Marion played really well. Still, it's a good start to the year for me and maybe I have to come back and win it next year."

Zvonareva bounced back in the doubles final, pairing with fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva to defeat No. 4 seeds Emilie Loit and Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-4.

TENNIS T-SHIRTS
Be the coolest cat on court in 2006 with one of the unique t-shirt designs found only at the Tennis-X t-shirt shop: http://www.tennis-x.com/shop/tennis-tshirts.php

DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. A year's subscription costs less than a meal. Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php

X-CORRECT
Finland's Jarkko Nieminen married Anu Weckstrom, Finland's No. 1-ranked badminton player, in 2005.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Mark Philippoussis has withdrawn from Auckland citing a back injury, while Juan Carlos Fererro was reportedly left out of the draw after messing up his entry...Andrew21 from the X-Discussion board weighing in on player injuries: "I happen to work in a tennis shop South Florida (lots of pros around). We do a lot of customizing of racquets for players, and most of their racquets are customized, but not to the extremes you suggest...The other proposal I would like to make to the injury problem is the stringing of these racquets. Most pros have begun to use polyester strings, which are very stiff. Using such a tough string, at high tensions, is asking for injuries. For example, Lisa Raymond strings her racquets at 68 lbs. from what I understand. Playing Poly at 68 will kill your arm very quickly. I think that pros are catching on to this, too. [Roger] Federer now blends a poly main string with a very soft Natural Gut cross string which gives him a little more playability and still keeps the poly durability. Doing all of this 50 weeks a year has to kill a body, no matter how fit it is. Something has to change, and I don't think it's going to be the technology."...Guillermo Coria on his feud with Fernando Gonzalez: "If he has a problem with me he doesn't need to go to the press. All the more so if, when he sees me in the changing room, he doesn't say anything."...Taylor Dent choosing to play the Hopman Cup rather than defending his Adelaide points will likely see him unseeded at the Australian Open...Kim Clijsters beat Lindsay Davenport in straight sets to win the Hong Kong exhibition.