Andy Murray, Janko Tipsarevic, Richard Gasquet - Weekend Warriors

The first week of the 2013 wrapped up today with Janko Tipsarevic winning theAircel  Channia Open.

Let us have a look at our champions and runner-ups.

Qatar ExxonMobil Open : Richard Gasquet d. Nikolay Davydenko 3-6 7-6(4) 63

Aircel Chennai Open : Janko Tipsarevic d. Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6 6-1 6-3

Brisbane International: Andy Murray d. Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(0) 6-4

Image via news.yahoo.com

Richard Gasquet became the first ATP champion of 2013 when he came back from a set down to defeat Davydenko in the final of Doha. Gasquet won the title by defeating Jan Hernych, Grega Zemlga, Lukas Lacko, Daniel Brands and Nikolay Davydenko. Surprisingly Gasquet did not have to face any seeded opponent.

Nikolay Davydenko had a great week, being un-seeded he defeated Victor Hanescu in the first round, Mikhail Youzhny in the second round, Simone Bolelli in the quarter-finals, and David Ferrer in the semi-finals, but just ran out of gas in the final against Gasquet.

The performance of the week came from Davydenko in the semi-finals when he crushed the top seed and world no.5 David Ferrer in straight sets 6-2 6-3.

Two top 10 players made it to Chennai, but by the time the championship match arrived, only one was left standing. 

Image via tennis.co.uk

Janko Tipsarevic made his way by defeating Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Go Soeda and Aljaz Bedene. The final was a great show of tennis put on by both Tipsarevic and Bautista Agut. Bautista Agut started strong winning the first set breaking Tipsarevic at the only break point opportunity he got. Bautista Agut did not face a single break point in the opening set, but cracks begin to appear in the second set, as he lost serve twice to lose the second set. The trend continued in the third set where Tipsarevic broke Bautista Agut twice to claim victory and win his first title of 2013 and 4^th career title.

Roberto Bautista Agut had the week of his life, defeating top seed and world no.6 Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals 7-5 2-6 6-3, and then 5^th seed Benoit Paire in the semi-finals (3-6 6-1 6-4) to make it to final. He put up a great show in the final taking the first set from Tipsarevic, but ran out of gas after that, losing the second and third sets. Bautista Agut is definitely the player to watch in the Australian Open.

Brisbane International provided the in-sight on the young guns, with Dimitrov beating Raonic in straight sets and making his first ATP tour level final. 

Image via telegraph.co.uk

Andy Murray had his share of drama, and drop in his concentration, but at the end he came out as the last man standing, defeating Jhon Millman, Denis Istomin, Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov. Andy Murray successfully defended his title.

Grigor Dimitrov had a great week, making it to the final by defeating Brian Baker, Milos Raonic, Jurgen Melzer and Marcos Baghdatis, but could not close out Andy Murray. He had his share of opportunities but could not close it out. Dimitrov kept it up with Murray, served for the first set but got broken, had a set point on Murray’s serve at 6-5, but lost it and went on to lose the first set in tie-break. He went up a break in the 2^nd set, but faded away after that completely and lost the 2^nd set 6-4. However, there were a lot of positives for Dimitrov to take away from this match and tournament. It also showed us what Dimitrov is capable of doing.

The performance of the week came from Grigor Dimitrov in the second round when he beat Milos Raonic in straight sets 6-3 6-4.

Off to the awards now, let us see who got what:

Players of the Week

Richard Gasquet

Andy Murray

Janko Tipsarevic

Performance of the week

Nikolay Davydenko

Roberto Bautista Agut, and

Bernard Tomic (He won all 3 of his matches in the Hopman cup, including win over world no.1 Novak Djokovic)

Honourable Mentions

Grigor Dimitrov

John Millman (For taking a set off Murray), and

Aljaz Bedene (for making it to the semi-finals of Chennai Open, he lost to Tipsarevic in 3 sets)

Surprises of the Week

Roberto Bautista Agut

Daniel Brands, and

Lukas Lacko

Disappointments of the Week

Tomas Berdych

Image via brisbaneinternational.com.au

David Ferrer

Milos Raonic, and

Giles Simon

Players to watch for Australian Open

Grigor Dimitrov

Bernard Tomic

Nikolay Davydenko,

Roberto Bautista Agut and

Aljaz Bedene

This is all for this week's events. Anything that you want to see, or add, just let me know. Happy tennis 2013 season.