Indoor Champions

I kicked the ATP to the curb to cover the Sony Ericsson Championships, but the beloved-by-all Marat Safin played his last match in Russia, bowing to the eventual champion, a few veterans took titles, a young qualifier won his second, and another Argentinean announced himself.



Seventh seed Jurgen Melzer ended a 21-year wait for a homegrown champion at the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy Sunday in Vienna as he defeated top seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament on November 1, 2009.


Reuters

Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia kisses his trophy after winning his Lyon Open final tennis match against Michael Llodra of France in Lyon November 1, 2009.


Reuters

Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine holds up the trophy after defeating Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in the men's final match at the St.Petersburg Open tennis tournament November 1, 2009.

::

This week, Roger Federer, despite rumors he was going to rest the rest of the season, returns to action to defend his title at his hometown tournament in Basel and Andy Murray descends upon Valencia to take on the Spanish stars in a new old event.