Autumnal Champions

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French Gilles Simon holds his trophy after defeating German Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-2 in the Metz Open final match on September 26, 2010, northeastern France.


AP

Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina holds the trophy after defeating Spain's Pablo Andujar in the final of the BCR Open Romania tennis tournament in Bucharest, Romania, Sept. 26, 2010.


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Alisa Kleybanova of Russia holds up her trophy after defeating Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic in their final match of the Hansol Korea Open tennis tournament at Olympic Park in Seoul on september 26, 2010. Kleybanova won the match 6-1, 6-3.


AP

Wearing traditional Uzbek costume Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva holds up the plate after winning the Tashkent Open Final tennis match against Russia's Elena Vesnina in Tashkent, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010.

Indian Wells Semifinals Open Thread

AP

The men come down to two today. Andy Roddick takes on Robin Söderling, and big surprise Ivan Ljubicic takes on defending champ Rafael Nadal.

Last night, Caroline Wozniacki out counterpunched her good friend Agnieszka Radwanska, while Samantha Stosur couldn't subdue Jelena Jankovic in the day session.

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Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
[6] R Soderling (SWE) d [4] A Murray (GBR) 61 76(4)
[7] A Roddick (USA) d [18] T Robredo (ESP) 63 75

Women's Singles - Semifinals
[2] C Wozniacki (DEN) d [5] A Radwanska (POL) 62 63
[6] J Jankovic (SRB) d [8] S Stosur (AUS) 62 64

Men's Doubles - Semifinals
[1] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) 64 62
[WC] M Lopez (ESP) / R Nadal (ESP) d [6] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) 64 64

Women's Doubles - Semifinals
[3] N Petrova (RUS) / S Stosur (AUS) d [6] B Mattek-Sands (USA) / Z Yan (CHN) 63 62

Venus Defends, Ferrer Topples Ferrero

Reuters


Reuters

The men's final just began on Tennis Channel as I type this and there was no live feed for the women's final at all. But Venus Williams rallied from a set down against Polona Hercog to retain her Albierto Mexicano crown 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, and David Ferrer found a way past the red-hot but weary Juan Carlos Ferrero in a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to exact revenge from last week's final to win his first title since 2008.

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Men's Doubles Final
[1] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) d F Fognini (ITA) / P Starace 60 60

Women's Doubles Final
(4) Hercog/Zahlavova Strycova (SLO/CZE) d. Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) 26 61 10-2

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Reuters

Malaysian Open

Singles - Final
(4) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. (1) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 63 62

Doubles - Final
(2) Chan/Zheng (TPE/CHN) d. Rodionova/Rodionova (AUS/RUS) 67(4) 62 107

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Reuters

Dubai Tennis Championships

Singles - Final
[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d [7] M Youzhny (RUS) 75 57 63

Stop the presses: the Serb finally defended a title.

Doubles - Final
S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) d [2] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) 62 63

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Delray Beach International Tennis Championships

Singles - Semifinals
[2] I Karlovic (CRO) d M Fish (USA) 62 63
E Gulbis (LAT) d J Nieminen (FIN) 64 64

Doubles - Semifinals
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d [WC] T Dent (USA) / R Harrison (USA) 67(6) 75 10-4
P Marx (GER) / I Zelenay (SVK) d B Becker (GER) / L Mayer (ARG) walkover

I'm Falling In Love

With the comeback kid. What a match. What atmosphere. How did Jelena Dokic even finish her 7-5, 5-7, 8-6 victory after rolling her ankle?

That was among the gutsiest matches on the WTA I've ever seen.

Huge kudos to Alisa Kleybanova.

Gobsmacked.

Fireworks?

The official site is reporting that Jelena Dokic and Alisa Kleybanova have been practicing together all week.

Their fourth round match in prime time is going to be a barn burner.

Quote For The Day

“It's just great to play one of the matches like this. I’m so happy that I pulled through, because it was not just a win, but I really felt that I played almost my best tennis today. It was so exciting to be out there. We live our life to be there and to play on this court, and for all those people that came to watch. Just the feelings that you get out there was amazing today. It was just so great for me today.” --Alisa Kleybanova on her upset

What's Up, Ana?

Another Slam, another early exit for Ana Ivanovic. No confidence whatsoever. When a lower ranked player shows you she's too anxious to win the match, you make sure she doesn't win the match.

Alisa Kleybanova deserves credit for recovering from her many mini-chokes and finally taking the match deep in the third set.