Tursunov, Moya, Chaky Wins Titles, US Open Series Moves On

Dancevic, ranked outside the Top 100 entering the tournament, was appearing in his first final, playing primarily on the Challenger circuit during his career.

"It was my first final ever and I kind of felt a little bit nervous," Dancevic said. "I kind of felt like I was catching up the whole match...Going into the tournament I was just happy to beat a guy like (Benjamin) Becker in the first round."

Dancevic warmed up for the final with his sister, Monica, who plays college tennis at the University of Georgia, and actually drove down to Indianapolis from Canada when he learned he was the last to make the main draw due to his low ranking.

Tursunov has little sympathy for the plight of U.S. tennis.

"You have poker 24 hours a day and rock-paper-scissors competition," Tursunov commented earlier on tennis in the U.S. "So I think people want to see that more than they want to see tennis."

The US Open Series next moves on to Washington where Roddick, Blake and company hope to reach the televised weekend matches to remind American fans that there is more to pro tennis than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal -- and apparently Radek Stepanek and Dmitry Tursunov.

Monaco Beats Starace for ATP Kitzbuhel Title

No. 5-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco came from a set down Sunday to defeat No. 10-seeded Potito Starace of Italy 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 for the ATP Kitzbuhel Austrian Open title.

It was the third minor claycourt title this year for the Argentine, who beat Top 10-ranked Tommy Robredo en route.

"I feel an immense joy because I never thought in the beginning of the year that I could win three tournaments at this stage," Monaco said. "I believe the reason is I was always very humble in my practices, I believed in my team."

Monaco also bemoaned the approach of the US Open and the claycourt events coming to an end.

"It is true I feel comfortable on clay," Monaco said. "I don't feel so comfortable on other surfaces. But we are now reaching the last step of the year, where everything will be on fast surfaces. I will try to play the game I have now, but on cement. That's the biggest challenge I have now."

The Italian Starace said the week couldn't have worked out much better.

"I was a little lucky this week," Starace said. "I saved two match points against Mayer, and one against Seppi. I lost two finals this year. But it doesn't matter. I won a lot of matches on clay. I was down several times. It's a good week. For sure, I want to win a tournament some day, but I have time. I will win one next year."

In the doubles final, Starace and Peruvian Luis Horna beat Tomas Behrend and Christopher Kas 7-6(4), 7-6(5).

Moya Tops Pavel in All-30-Something Final at ATP Croatia

Former No. 1 Carlos Moya won his fifth Umag title Sunday, defeating fellow 30-something Andrei Pavel 6-4, 6-2 in the Studena Croatia Open final.

The 30-year-old Moya has won 16 of his 20 career titles on clay.

Moya is now 43-8 career in Umag, winning five times in 13 tries.

Pavel has not won a title since his shocking win at the Masters Series-Canada in 2001.

Crying Chaky Wins 2nd Straight U.S. Title at Stanford

Anna Chakvetadze is the best women's tennis can put forward as the top seed in the first two hardcourt events leading up to the US Open, and the Russian has lived up to her seeded, Sunday winning at the Bank of the West Classic with a 6-3, 6-2 win over surprise finalist Sania Mirza of India.

"I'm pleased with the way I played and happy I won," said Chakvetadze, who also won the week prior at Cincinnati as the top seed. "I didn't serve that well the whole week but I played well. I had to concentrate more on every point."

The Russian improved to 6-0 in tournament finals, and with the result cemented her Top 10 ranking at No. 6.

"It means I know I can do it and that I have to work harder to get (to the top five) and be more consistent," said Chakvetadze, who like fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva isn't exactly known as an emotional ice queen, busting into tears during matches when things aren't going well

"I have to say I'm a little tired," said Chakvetadze, who looked like she could turn on the waterworks at any time during the match. "I wasn't feeling that great to run around for three sets so I told myself to finish it fast."

Mirza, not known for her fitness level, said the scrappy Russian was too much for her.

"In the first set I was there for the most part and I had a couple of chances to come back," she said. "After I lost the first set she dominated. She comes up with her best in the finals. I wasn't feeling it as well as I have this week. I wasn't hitting the ball as cleanly."

Schiavone Breaks WTA Title Duck at Bad Gastien

Riding the wave of leading Italy into the Fed Cup final, Francesca Schiavone won her first WTA Tour title Sunday, beating Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastien, Austria.

"I didn't put pressure on myself," Schiavone said. "I'm a different player now and I just went out today to enjoy myself and hopefully win."

The Austrian Meusburger was appearing in her first final and had a nervous start in front of the home crowd.

"The match was much closer than the result shows," Meusburger said. "Anyway, the final was a good experience for me and it will help me to further raise my game."

Bad Gastien is a new event on the WTA Tour calendar, with Tournament Director Sandra Reichel remarking she was unhappy to go up against the ATP Kitzbuhel event held during the same week.

Roddick Only Hope at ATP Washington

Andy Roddick is likely the only U.S. hope this week at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington as fellow Top 10er James Blake sits out. Who will put one on the board for U.S. men's tennis, who are 0-2 thus far after two weeks of the US Open Series?

Roddick is the top seed, joined by Top 8 seeds Tommy Haas, Marat Safin, Arnaud Clement, Hyung-Taik Lee, Mardy Fish, Ivo Karlovic and Benjamin Becker.

The Top 16 seeds in Washington receive first-round byes, but some potential mildly second round match-ups of note exist in (4) Clement vs. former Slam winner Thomas Johansson, and (6) Becker vs. Brit Tim Henman.

Other seeded Americans are (12) Vince Spadea, (13) Amer Delic, and (16) Michael Russell.

Clement won the title last year, beating Andy Murray who is currently out with injury.

Davydenko, Robredo Head ATP Sopot

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko returns to defend his title this week at the Orange Prokom Open Sopot, joined by another Top 10er in Tommy Robredo.

Other seeded players in Poland are Juan Ignacio Chela, Filippo Volandri, Agustin Calleri, Nicolas Almagro, Florian Mayer and Potito Starace.

Davydenko's tough draw begins with Andrei Pavel who is coming off a runner-up effort at Umag, and continues with the No. 6 seed Almagro in the quarterfinals.

In last year's final Davydenko beat Mayer in three sets.

Sharapova, Venus, Hingis Highlight WTA San Diego Acura Classic

The stars, or some of them, of the WTA Tour return to play for the first time in almost a month since Wimbledon this week at the Acura Classic in San Diego.

Maria Sharapova is the top seed, joined by fellow Top 8 seeds Jelena Jankovic, Anna Chakvetadze who has won her last two events, Nadia Petrova, Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli, Daniela Hantuchova, former No. 1 Martina Hingis, and Russian Dinara Safina.

Among the lower eight seeds are No. 10 Venus Williams and No. 11 Patty Schnyder.

Opening-round matches of interest are (12) Shahar Peer vs. Stanford runner-up Sania Mirza, (7) Hingis vs. Michaella Krajicek (second round after a bye), (11) Schnyder vs. American Jamea Jackson, (16) Lucie Safarova vs. American Meilen Tu, and (2) Jankovic vs. American Vania King (second round).

Sharapova is the defending champ, last year as the No. 2 seed upending the top-seeded Kim Clijsters in the championship match.

Medina Garrigues Top Seed at WTA Stockholm

Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues is the lone Top 30 player and the top seed this week at the WTA Tour's Nordea Nordic Light Open in Stockholm, Sweden.

She is joined by fellow seeds Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, France's Emilie Loit, Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, Russian Elena Vesnina, Italy's Karin Knapp, and Russian Vera Dushevina.

Neither of last year's finalists return this year. In the 2006 final, Chinese No. 3 seed Zheng Jie upset No. 1 Anastasia Myskina 6-4, 6-1.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Wilson is the No. 1 racket brand, according to the recently released Sports Marketing Surveys 2007 Wimbledon Census, reported by Tennisnews.com. The annual census takes place each year at Wimbledon and represents the one fully comprehensive official survey of equipment used on tour...Andy Murray has pulled from Washington with his ongoing wrist injury...Who wrote that lame NBC intro to the Indy final? Sure it's no easy task pumping some excitement into Frank Dancevic vs. Dmitry Tursunov, but the ending was positively comedic with Ted Robinson reading the script, to paraphrase, [with video of Dancevic] "There's a Canadian looking to win his first title, and [video of Tursunov] someone looking to add to his trophy collection." "Someone"? That sure pumped us up to watch the final. May have well just cut to the chase and said, "We've got a Canadian you've never heard of, and a Russian somebody or other -- and by the way CBS is showing golf, or you could catch the end of the Tour de France." If that wasn't enough, then commentators Robinson and Jimmy Arias make their first appearance on camera in brand new fresh-out-of-the-plastic still-see-the-creases pink (or was it "salmon"? was our color contrast a little off?) matching NBC shirts that were at least -- no joke -- three sizes too big. The short sleeves on each went well past the elbows. You had to do a double-take to make sure they weren't long-sleeve shirts that were too short. Were they expecting Ivo Karlovic and Shaq for commentary duty and they just didn't show?...Countries will be able to field six players in the women's tennis tournament at next year's Beijing Olympics, an increase of two from the 2004 Athens Games, according to the AP...From Reuters: "Anna Chakvetadze said world number two Maria Sharapova will not be chosen to represent Russia in the Fed Cup final despite making herself available to play this week."...Sam Querrey set an Open Era record by hitting 10 consecutive aces in a win over James Blake at Indy...Marion Bartoli after losing in Stanford: "Today I lost against a girl who is 100 in the world and two weeks ago I was beating the No. 1 (at Wimbledon). I'm trying to figure out which result I should expect."...From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Andy Roddick has funded a series of scaled-down tennis courts at the Horseshoe Bay Resort, just outside Austin, Texas, where children 10 and younger can learn the game."...MaliVai Washington will compete in his first senior tour match in August at Newport...Liezel Huber is an American after picking up her Green Card -- and in the process missing her World TeamTennis match that had her team miss the playoffs...From Ravi Ubha writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Don't expect best-of-five set Grand Slam finals among the women anytime soon -- so says the women's tour. Christian Bimes, president of the French tennis federation, made noises about making a change after another dud final at Roland Garros, when Justine Henin routed Ana Ivanovic. Venus Williams eased past Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon, prompting media to bring up the issue again, and let's not forget that Serena Williams crushed Maria Sharapova in Australia. "No one has discussed it with us yet," said Larry Scott, chairman and chief executive of the WTA Tour. "My own view is that it's probably counter to the direction we've been heading in from player-health and well-being standpoints."...Mats Wilander will coach France's underachieving Tatiana Golovin during the hardcourt season...Ana Ivanovic signed an exclusive three-year partnership with Verano Motors, the distributor of Peugeot automobiles in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia...From the LA Times: "It was Lindsay Davenport against her brother-in-law, Rick Leach, in a TeamTennis mixed doubles match Saturday in Sacramento, her first organized competitive outing on the court since giving birth in June. Davenport and partner Mark Knowles beat Leach and Michaela Pastikova, 5-1. Perhaps the highlight was when Davenport aced her brother-in-law, who also once coached her on the tour. "I didn't mean to," she told the Sacramento Bee."...American Sam Querrey ended a seven-week losing streak at Indy, and sources say he is simply not willing to put in the hours on the practice court, to the point of pissing off fellow American practice partners when he bails after 30 minutes on court...Justin Gimelstob is 0-8 this year in ATP play...At the ATP stop in Indy, Andy Roddick questioned why the ATP calendar is still offering up claycourt events during the run-up to the US Open: "It's not surprising to see us (Americans) here and the Europeans on clay, but it feels like we're at least building for something while they may be just trying to stack up (ranking) points."...Mark Philippoussis has been approached about doing another reality show, this time documenting his attempted comeback to pro tennis after injury...Pete Sampras went 1-1 this week in World TeamTennis when his Newport Beach Breakers lost to the St. Louis Aces, beating Andy Ram in singles but losing with partner Rick Leach to Ram and Jonathan Erlich in doubles...From the ATP on no longer being sued by one of its tournaments: "The ATP and the Masters Series Monte Carlo are pleased to announce that they have resolved the litigation pending between them in Delaware Federal Court. The Monte Carlo tournament will continue in its traditional date in mid-April as part of ATP's top series of events, with the same ranking and prize money levels as those events. From 2009, Monte Carlo will receive a different player commitment and a specific entry system will be adopted which will allow players wishing to enter the Monte Carlo tournament to satisfy some of their playing obligations under the ATP's new calendar."...The Houston Chronicle reports that the World TeamTennis Houston Wranglers will disband after this year: "Although Mashona Washington protested, "We are so much better than our record it's unbelievable," the Houston Wranglers' record for 2007 was irrefutably a World Team Tennis-worst 1-13 after Tuesday night's 22-16 home loss to Kansas City. And there will be no rebuilding for 2008. The team is being disbanded after three bad seasons, owner Linda McIngvale has confirmed. "This is not the right type of community for the Wranglers," said Linda McIngvale, who runs Westside Tennis Club with her husband Jim. "We're just too big of a city with too many options. There's a jillion other things to do in the summertime in Houston."...Donald Young is 0-11 in ATP play after losing first round at Indianapolis...Andy Roddick on one year ago hooking up with coach Jimmy Connors: "Last year, I was one match from dropping out of the Top 20 at Cincinnati in the first round. Here I'm back at the top three or four (on the tour) for a little while. I feel like I'm back making runs at majors. It's been a good first year and I think we're looking to build on that."...Dmitry Tursunov after beating Mike Russell at Indy: "He can stay out there for five or seven sets if he needs to. It's very important to keep his head in the toilet and make sure you drown him, so to speak. I watch a lot of movies and 'The Sopranos.' But basically if you let go of him for a little bit, you never know what happens."...From InsideBayArea.com: "There is no Serena Williams at the Bank of the West Classic, or perhaps any other player recognizable to the mainstream public. But for truly hardy tennis fans, Anna Chakvetadze may be enough." -- Or maybe not. Thrilling lead...Serena Williams (thumb) and Ana Ivanovic (knee) pulled from San Diego.