Title winners
It was third time lucky for Argentina’s Mariano Navone on Sunday in Bucharest when the 25-year-old defeated Spain’s Daniel Merida 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to claim his first ATP title in his third final.
Navone, who also made his way to the final in the Romanian capital two years ago, managed to come out on top in a chaotic final against the Spanish qualifier, who was in his maiden ATP final.
Just like Navone, who had even saved a pair of match points in a three-hour and 31-minute quarter-final victory over Botic Van de Zandschulp in Bucharest, 19-year-old Rafael Jodar also celebrated winning his first ATP trophy on Sunday in Marrakech.
The Spanish youngster beat surprise Argentine finalist Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour. The 36-year-old Trungelliti was the oldest first-time ATP finalist in the Open era, and on Monday, he becomes the oldest debutant in the men's top 100 since 45-year-old Dane Torben Ulrich in 1973.
Tommy Paul was as close to defeat as possible Sunday in Houston as the American saved three championship points to defeat Argentine Roman Andres Burruchaga 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in the ATP 250 tournament in Houston to claim his fifth ATP Tour title and first on clay.
1085 miles east of Houston, another American, Jessica Pegula, came from a set down in each of her first three matches to reach the final in Charleston.
She became the first to defend her title since Serena Williams in 2013, as she won 6-2, 6-2 in the final against first-time finalist Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Finally, in Bogota, top-seeded Marie Bouzkova came back from a set down to beat Panna Udvardy 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2 to capture her third career singles title at the WTA 250 tournament.
Biggest strugglers
While he has consistently been a strong clay-court specialist, Argentina's Sebastian Baez struggles significantly on faster surfaces. Over the last two years, he has gone 8–27 on hard courts, with limited success at Grand Slams outside of Roland Garros.
So, as the clay season starts to gather momentum, this is the time of the year when you would expect Baez to lay the foundation for a successful year.
However, Baez, who otherwise began the year in impressive fashion with a hard-fought three-set win at the United Cup against Taylor Fritz, certainly hasn't had the start to the clay season that he had wished for.
Baez, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 18 in June 2024, has become too error-prone in recent matches, losing the consistent rally tolerance that previously defined his game, and has seen his ranking drop to 50th in the world.
The Argentine suffered a shocking defeat against 'lucky loser' Jaime Faria in the first round of the ATP tournament in Rio de Janeiro, and in Bucharest, he crashed out in the second round against Titouan Droguet (No. 122 in the world).
Baez will now enter the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event of the season in Monte-Carlo with concerns about his ability to consistently sustain high-intensity physical effort during long rallies.
Standout moment
This week's standout moment took place off the court as Stefanos Tsitsipas hit back at the criticism from his former coach, Goran Ivanisevic, regarding his fitness level, following the Greek tennis star's forced retirement from Wimbledon last summer.
Ivanisevic, who won Wimbledon during his own distinguished career, suggested that he was even in better shape than the 27-year-old ace when he slammed Tsitsipas' motivation to keep fit.
“He has to find a solution for his back issue. I was shocked. I’ve never seen such a poorly prepared player in my life. Me, at my age and with this bad knee, I’m three times in better shape than him,” the former world No. 2 told SportKlub last year.
Tsitsipas says that Ivanisevic had no sympathy for the fact that an injury had hampered the Greeks' preparations for the Grand Slam tournament.
“I didn’t see any point to the criticism. If it was a way of him pushing me into working harder and getting my s*** together, it was definitely not the right tactic. I never expected that a coach could do that to me, and the worst thing is that what he said was not true. It was like he kicked me when I was already down", Tsitsipas said in an interview with the Times.
Best rallies
Paul eventually won in Houston, but he was put to the test in a gruelling encounter in the round of 16 against Paraguay's Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, who also won this baseline battle with a strong forehand winner. Clay tennis at its best!
Hailey Baptiste brought the crowd to their feet in her clash with Mexico's Renata Zarazua in the opening round in Charleston when she, on two occasions, incredibly managed to stay in the point and eventually turned the tide in her favour in a superb display of on-court resilience.
Upcoming events
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the main attractions as the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event of the season takes place in the glitz and glamour of April’s Monte-Carlo.
Nine of the current top 10 players in the ATP Rankings have arrived in the Monegasque hide-out for the rich and famous to take part in the tournament from April 5th to 12th in Monaco.
After claiming the title last year, Alcaraz will be the man to beat after he fought through three deciding-set victories en route to the trophy.
If you want to watch top women's tennis, you will have to travel to the indoor clay courts in Linz this week, where the WTA-500 tournament takes place with a competitive field led by world No. 10 Mirra Andreeva.
The top-seeded Russian teenager heads into the tournament boosted by an impressive 11-4 clay court record over the past 12 months.
Andreeva will, however, not be short of competition in a draw that features eight seeded players ranked in the top 40 and notable clay-court specialists.
Ekaterina Alexandrova, who won the title last year, arrives in Austria on the back of an impressive 13-5 clay record that matches her overall consistency. Liudmila Samsonova and former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko are also part of the top four despite recent struggles.
