Our 1st weekly wrap up consisted of a few surprises that I did not foresee. My prediction for Marseille, France, was a bust, with both Novak Djokovic (SRB) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA), losing in the 2nd and 1st rounds respectively. Djokovic, clearly had not recovered from his Davis Cup woes and Tsonga, was feeling the hometown pressure. Can anyone see a Martin Verkerk on the horizon, anyone? Congrats must be given to Andy Murray (GBR) who captured his 2nd title of 2008 with a straight set win over a rejuvenated Mario Ancic (CRO). Good job for Murray, to take advantage of Djokovic and Tsonga’s early exit.

My predictions for Delray Beach, Florida were the same as Marseille, wrong. 2nd seeded Tommy Haas (GER) was brushed aside by unheralded Argentine Diego Hartfield (ARG) in the 1st round. Americans enjoyed success throughout the tourney, with 6 Americans reaching the quarters. Not so impressive, however, was that 14 of 32 players in the main draw were American. The story of the tournament, without a doubt, was the rise of 18 year old Kei Nishikori (JPN). Kei, beat Blake, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. He will move from 244 in the ATP rankings, to around 122, great effort! Bad loss for Blake, plain and simple.

The last tournament of the week in Bahia, Brazil, was filled with no suprises with top seed Carlos Moya (ESP) and 2nd Nicolas Almagro (ESP) reaching the finals. My predictions for this tournament were the closest I got all week out of the 3 tournaments played. Almagro, upset the top seeded Moya, in a great final, with the final score being 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-5. The story of the tournament, however was the emotions of the home town hero. Gustavo (Guga) Kuerten (BRA) made a 1st round exit in his home town tournament for the last time. In the on-court speech, Guga was in tears as he thanked the crowd for all of their support throughout the years and all they have given to him. To be honest, I saw video of him hitting and playing his match, and unfortunately for all you Kuerten fans out there, I’m not so sure how he is gonna make it through the next few tourneys he has entered. His movement was sub par, although he was still hitting a clean ball. One of the classiest guys on tour, here’s hoping that Gustavo will make a decent run at this years French Open.

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