Novak Djokovic defended his Canadian Masters title on Sunday night. The Serb defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the championship match from Toronto 6-3, 6-2. The tournament results saw Djokovic stay close to Roger Federer in the ATP rankings while Richard Gasquet jumped up eight spots to the World No. 13 position.
There were no other tour level events this past week, however there were several challenger events. In Aptos, California 22 year old American Steve Johnson was victorious. The challenger title saw him rise 141 positions in the rankings.
In San Marino top seeded 23 year old Martin Klizan lived up to his billing as he took down 110 ranking points with a title. The Slovak has been making a bit of a name for himself recently and he is now into the Top 50 (ranked 48th). He won the entire tournament in straight sets without facing a tiebreaker, clearly showing that the competition in challenger events is well beneath him now.
In other events Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut cruised to a challenger title on home soil in Pozoblanco, a result that has catapulted him into the ATP’s Top 100 for the first time. Dusan Lajovic of Serbia won the Samarkland challenger event and took down 80 ranking points as a result. In Sibiu home favorite Adrian Ungur of Romania claimed a challenger title by defeating Victor Hanescu in a fairly competitive final.
The main event in the upcoming week will be the 2012 Cincinnati Masters, an event that has already started. Roger Federer is the top seed and he will be playing with the advantage of a full week’s rest over much of the field. A four-time champion at the event, Federer does not really need an edge to do well at the Western & Southern Open. The fact that he has one at this season’s Cincinnati Masters suggests that he should be making a strong bid for the title.
Federer’s draw in Cincinnati is highly favorable. Juan Martin del Potro, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray are in the draw but they are all on the opposite side of the World No. 1. If Federer makes the final, as I think he will, he’ll likely face one of those players. What makes the draw so soft is that there is no scenario where he’ll have to face even two of those threats in Cincinnati en route to a possible title: they are in one another's way ahead of the final, but not Federer's.
The ATP challenger circuit will not be busy this upcoming week. There are only two events scheduled, one in Italy and one in Uzbekistan. Blaz Kavcic is the top seed in the Italian hosted tournament while Igor Kunitsyn is the top seed in the Uzbekistani event. All the events continue to build up to the 2012 US Open later this month from Flushing Meadows, New York.