trophy watch: hometown heroes x3 (+ more short(er) balls)

Feeling blue? Andy Murray certainly isn’t, even if he and all of Queen’s Club seems to be wearing the color. The Scot boy took another step towards winning his country’s big title by beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in an entertaining final, 3-6 7-6 (2) 6-4. (Image via Getty) | TSF Vault: Andy Murray 

Me, too. Caroline Wozniacki showed that Murray wasn’t the only one who could win in front of a home crowd. The Dane won the e-Boks Copenhagen Open in a decidedly easy draw, beating Lucie Safarova, 6-1 6-4 in the final.

Third time’s a charm. Philipp Kohlschreiber wasn’t about to be left out of the home-country equation, either. The German 27-year-old won an all-German final when countryman Philipp Petzschner retired during their match with a lower back injury. It was the world no. 49’s third career title and second on home soil. Kohlschreiber led 7-6 (5) 2-0 when Petzschner called it quits.

Short(er) balls: With Wimbledon right around the corner, we figured there were too many good tennis-y items out there to pass up. Here’s a few we scooped together earlier today. | The first — it would happen — is a golf item. With the US Open underway today, this hilarious vid of four pro golfers doing their best boy band impersonation has gone viral. And for good reason. |  Wimbledon qualies are underway (Men | Women). Some notable notes: American Ryan Harrison is the last Yank standing. The no. 14 seed has made another good showing in the lower ranks. He has one more match to win to get in. As do Americans Alexa Glatch, Irina Falconi and veteran Lindsay Lee-Waters. Bernard Tomic is in the final round of the men’s as well, as is former main draw quarterfinalist Tamarine Tanasugarn on the ladies’ side. Glatch took out Caroline Garcia — of almost-beating Sharapova fame — 6-1, 6-0 in the second round. And disappointedly, Slovak Lenka Wienerova lost out in the first round. | The Guardian has this great look at tennis fashion through the years. | Missed Billie Jean King on the Today show this morning? Watch her appearance here. 

(Wozniacki image by Ron Angle via the WTA; Kohlschreiber via the Gerry Weber Open)

tattoo watch: philipp kohlschreiber

German Philipp Kohlschreiber fell to second seed Nole Djokovic at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open — but not without a fight. He took the second set and pushed Djokovic to a tiebreak in the third, exposing the Serb’s weakened game; Djokovic lost to veteran Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 6-3 in the round after. Up next for Ivan in the quarters is Juan Monaco (!), who beat Gigi Lopez in three sets. (Draw: Men’s Singles.)

Buy: adidas Men’s Spring Competition Crew, in black/core teal/white, $38.99; the Barricade-esque Tirand III, $59.95.

Tattoo Watch: TSF ran into Kohlschreiber during one of his practice sessions. Did you know he has a tattoo on his right shoulder? Up close: See it

trophy watch: monfils hatches a green egg, date set a date with history, etc.

Proud achievement or slap in the face? Japanese phoenix Kimiko Date-Krumm became the oldest SEWTA winner since BJK in 1983 by beating Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-3 at the Korea Open. Set this win beside Kimmie‘s U.S. Open triumph (and alongside Dinara‘s first round disaster in Tokyo) and what you get is fodder for naysayers of the deflated WTA Tour. Either way, congrats to Kimiko!

You can’t Photoshop that even if you tried: Israeli Shahar Pe’er beat local (Uzbekistani) Akgul Amanmuradova 6-3, 6-4 at the Tashkent Open. Shahar also won the singles title at last week’s Guangzhou Open.

More: The men, and toasts to Agassi and Kramer

nole’s sex face

If we don’t think about these things, then who will?

Scoreline: Nole lost his third round match on Saturday to Lips Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. This, after he won a clay title in Belgrade and made the finals of Monte Carlo and Rome. Too bad, too: he just lost the No. 3 ranking to Andy Murray. Back to the drawing board!

(Thanks, Fullerton)

and the burt’s bees award goes to…

The freckly Jeremy Chardy turned his second-round loss to Nole Djokovic at the Australian Open into his first appearance in an ATP Tour final. He lost to compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the inaugural South African Open in Johannesburg.

Chardy’s giving Philipp Kohlschreiber a run for his money in the luscious lips department.

More: A few more pics of Jeremy

trophy watch: roger retreats to routine while rafa rolls on with record

The Queen’s Cup

Rafael Nadal continues to make his case for winning this year’s Wimbledon title with a 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic at The Artois Championships in London. Rafa, who took home $133,000, is the first Spaniard to win a grass court title in 35 years (bookending Andres Gimeno‘s 1972 Eastbourne feat).

Does Rafa already have a toothpaste endorsement deal? It could be very lucrative…

Meanwhile, Roger Federer scurried back to the teat of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, where he tried to erase last week’s French Open drubbing with his fifth title at this smaller grass event. He beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4. He didn’t drop a set in five matches, helping extend his record to 25-0 at this event (and to 59 straight wins on grass dating back to 2002).

Looking forward: Roger will seek his sixth straight Wimbledon title this coming week.

Top seed Nikolay Davydenko chips away some more of that (unfounded) match-fixing notoriety with another title, this time at the Orange Prokom Open in Warsaw. He has racked up three titles so far in 2008, tying Nole and trailing only Rafa’s five. Kolya beat second seed Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-3. Great track jacket from Airness!

Kateryna Bondarenko switched to a more even K-Swiss outfit for the DFS Classic final. Kateryna overcame Yanina Wickmayer 7-6 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (4).

In this week’s only clay contest, Maria Kirilenko made quick work of Maria Martinez Sanchez (6-0, 6-2) in the Barcelona Open. Maria turned this around with a first-round exit at Eastbourne this week.

(photos by Getty Images)

rafa leaves his mark at the top of the world

Okay, Rafael Nadal earns some brownie points with me by leaving his mark on the Burj Dubai, which will be the tallest artificial structure in the world once it is completed later this year. The 160th floor of the skyscraper will sit at 2,066 feet above ground level!

Nadal is taking part in this week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. He struggled in the first round but got by Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

I really like that white Nike tee on him. If you know where we can find it, leave a comment.

trophies: heineken, hobart, kooyong, sydney

The girls and boys warmed up for the start of the Australian Open with another week at various tournaments Down Under. The usual fare of crystal and silver were doled out, save for minikegs in Auckland…

Philipp Kohlschreiber ends up with a silver trophy and a keg (yes!!!!) for winning the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand. He beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6 (4), 7-5 in the finals.

More photos: Kooyong, Sydney, and Hobard (plus Auckland doubles)

davis cup: russia downs germany

The Davis Cup tie between Russia and Germany (in Moscow) ended up 3-2 in favor of the home team. (See full results here.)

Davydenko wore Airness in his straight-set loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber. Kolya’s probably still distracted by the match-fixing scandal that emerged at the Polish Open. (Investigators were scheduled to talk to him next week.)

That’s a photo of Kohlschreiber and his gorgeous lips; German team captain Patrik Kuhnen wears the German-themed wristband that we love. Awesome.

Mikhail Youzhny, in adidas, does his traditional post-win salute after beatng Davis Cup rookie Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Youzhny redeemed his loss in the doubles rubber (with teammate Dmitry Tursunov). Look at that… Fila and the three stripes of adidas sync up for a nice doubles look.

Igor Andreev, in his new style from Under Armour, clinched the win by beating Kohlschreiber 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

“It’s an amazing feeling playing here in Moscow and it’s the second time I won the deciding point … it’s great,” said Andreev. “I like this feeling of adrenaline in your body before going on the court, it’s so exciting to play here and it’s great for our country to reach the Davis Cup Final for the second year in a row.” (source)

The final will be played against the U.S. on American soil.

And here’s Marat Safin, fresh (stale?) from his trek up the mountain, knowing how important it is to cheer on his teammates.

this week’s trophies + Sa watch

It was a busy week for small tournaments, since they pretty much won’t be heard from until early June (when the French ends). Let’s take a look at the trophies. At least they all looked different this time…

SEWTA: At the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Justine Henin beat Alona Bondarenko in straight sets for the gold trophy (photo, left), and Greta Arn (wearing blue) got a crystal cup for beating Victoria Azarenca (in orange) at the Estoril Open.

ATP: Estoril did slightly better on the men’s side with these white and green urns painted with guys in old-school sporting outfits. Nole beat Richard Gasquet in a three-setter, 7-6 (9-7), 0-6, 6-1. Doubles winners Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa received the same:

And Philipp Kohlschreiber (left) beat Justin Timberlake doppelganger Mikhail Youzhny in three sets to win the BMW Open in Munich. What is giong on with that trophy? It looks like a car phone my dad had in the early ’90s.

Finally, Champions Cup Boston is DEAD to me. But Kudos to Pete Sampras on his win:

RELATED POSTS
>> trophy watch: battle of the surfaces
>> trophy watch: open letter to Boston
RELATED PAGES
>> CBHM main trophies page
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