City: Montreal, Canada
Surface: Outdoor Hard
Championship Points: 1000
2008 Singles Champion: Rafael Nadal
2008 Doubles: Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic

Rafael Nadal is back on tour and will defend his title. This tournament everyone will get a chance to see how fit the Spaniard is. Hopefully, the Mallorcan champ is back in fine form because I missed watching him beating up on everyone.

Again this tournament will be between the top four. Between the top four, they have won all of the Masters titles this year. It should be interesting to see if someone else can break up their monopoly.

Of late, Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick have had the hot hand and are always dangerous. It is only a matter of time until Juan Martin del Potro breaks through. Tommy Haas has had a great summer, but we shall see if he is still holding up since he has played a lot of tennis in the last month. Robin Soderling has had a good spring and summer, but he injured his elbow this past week.

It should be a good tournament this coming week. Hopefully, someone else steps up and shakes up the tournament up this year.

Tournament Draw
Singles / Doubles - TBD

Tournament Evils (formerly Tournament Malfeasance)
8 Gilles Simon (FRA) vs. Frank Dancevic (CAN)
10 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
13 Gael Monfils (FRA) vs. Marat Safin (RUS)
14 Marin Cilic (CRO) vs. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)
David Ferrer (ESP) vs. Viktor Troicki (SER)
Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs. Igor Andreev (RUS)

Sunday's Order of Play

(Image: Getty Images)

Roger Federer has done it. He upset Rafael Nadal on clay in Spain 6-4 6-4 after 86 minutes of play.

The Swiss played great. He, most importantly, kept the points short and prevented the Spaniard from getting into any rhythm. His serve helped him get ahead in games, so Federer was never really in trouble during the match. Being ahead shielded him from his mental meltdowns that have hurt him in the last five tournaments. Also, inopportune errors did not help the Nadal's cause.

The win gives Federer his first title of the year. It also snaps Nadal’s 33 clay-court streak and denies Nadal from winning all three Masters titles on clay this year. It should also give Federer a boost for the French Open.

On the doubles side, second-seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic maintained order by beating Simon Aspelin and Wesley Moodie 6-4 6-4. This is their fifth title of the year.

Championship Sunday
Singles Final
2 Roger Federer (SUI) def. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) 6-4 6-4

Doubles Final
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) def. S. Aspelin (SWE)/W. Moodie (RSA) 6-4 6-4

(Image: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images)

It was a bad day for some of the seeded players in Belgrade. Brazilian Marcos Daniel took down sixth-seed Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 6-3. Qualifier Flavio Cipolla upset seventh-seed Arnaud Clement 1-6 6-4 6-2. Luckily, fourth-seed Andreas Seppi restored order by beating Leonardo Mayer 6-4 6-1.

Perhaps the surprise of the day came on the doubles side. Marko Djokovic (that’s right, Novak’s younger brother) and Darko Madjarovski (pictured) defeated top-seeds Daniel Nester and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6(2) 2-6 10-6. The Serbian pair will play Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer in the quarterfinals.

Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki, the other Serbian pair, were not so lucky. They were defeated by second-seeds Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach.

(Image: Serbia Open)

Rafael Nadal beat countryman David Ferrer 6-2 7-5 after 106 minutes of play. Nadal started out strong in the first set. The two players traded breaks, and Nadal was the first one to hold. The Mallorcan began making ridiculous shots and went into total beatdown mode. Nadal made Ferrer go for a lot, which caused the Valencian to hit a lot of unforced errors. The combination allowed Nadal to run off with the set.

Ferrer, always a hustler on the court, persevered on in the second set. The players again traded breaks early in the set, but this time Ferrer held first. Ferrer, more importantly, cut down on the unforced errors, and he started hitting amazing winners of his own to keep the Mallorcan honest. The Spaniards then stayed on serve until 5-5. In game eleven, Nadal had three break points and converted on the third one. He held easily to take the set, match and the championship.

This is Nadal’s fifth-consecutive Barcelona Open title to go with his five-consecutive Monte-Carlo titles. This is Nadal’s second-consecutive title. His record is now 29-3 for the year, which includes four titles. He streak continues with 25-consecutive victories on clay. Today's victory gives him 35 career titles. These are some pretty amazing stats for just a 22-year-old.

In doubles, second-seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 6-3 7-6(0) after 93 minutes of play. This is their third title of the year and second-consecutive title likel Nadal. They pair have now won nine titles together.

Championship Day
Singles Final
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. 4 David Ferrer (ESP) 6-2 7-5

Doubles Final
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonijic (SRB) def. 4 M. Bhupathi (IND)/M. Knowles (BAH) 6-3 7-6(0)

(Images: AP/Manu Fernandez)

Andy Murray teams up with David Beckham for an anti-malaria campaign (Sky News)
Wimbledon gets lights and a roof (Herald Sun)
Gael Monfils could miss the French Open with a knee injury (The Guardian)
Other than Daniel Nestor, Canada had a bad tennis week (Open Court)
The India-Australia match will be held in Chennai (Tennis)
An excerpt from Monica Seles's autobiography (Times Online)

Rafael Nadal has done it again, again, again, again and now again. The Spaniard successfully defended his Monte-Carlo title for the fifth time, a tournament record. He beat Novak Djokovic 6-3 2-6 6-1 to win his fifth-consecutive title after 2 hours and 43 minutes of play. The Serb did something that no one has done since Roger Federer in 2006, which is to take a set from the clay-court king in the tournament.

In the first set, Djokovic jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Nadal then went on a five-game streak to take the set. After Djokovic called the trainer in game seven at 3-4 and then lost three-consecutive games, it looked like it was going to be another dominant performance by the Spaniard. Djokovic stepped up his game and had the Spaniard on his heels. The Serb secured a double break from the Spaniard and then cruised to take the set.

Nadal went back to business in the final set and wore down the Serb. He won the first-two games which were hard fought. Djokovic then broke Nadal in game three to get onto serve, but Nadal buttoned down the hatches and won the next five games to secure his fifth title in Monte-Carlo.

Though he lost, Djokovic should be proud of his game because this is his best performance since his win in Rome last year. It’s good to see him back in the mix. This was also the Serb's second-consecutive Masters final.

In doubles, the second-seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic upset the top-seeded Bryan brothers 6-4 6-1 after 47 minutes of play.

Championship Sunday Singles Final
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) 6-3 2-6 6-1

Doubles Final
1 B. Bryan (USA)/M. Bryan (USA) vs. 2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) 6-4 6-1

(Image: AP)

Second-seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic ended Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki’s run in Monte-Carlo. They will play top-seeds the Bryan Brothers for the championship.



Saturday’s Results
Singles Semifinals
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. 4 Andy Murray (GBR) 6-2 7-6(4)
3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. 13 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 4-6 6-1 6-3

Doubles Semifinals
1 B. Bryan (USA)/M. Bryan (USA) def. 3 L. Dlouhy (CZE)/L. Paes (IND) 6-7(3) 6-3 14-12
2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB) def. N. Djokovic (SRB)/V. Troicki (SRB) 3-6 6-1 10-5

Championship Sunday
Singles Final
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB)

Doubles Final
1 B. Bryan (USA)/M. Bryan (USA) vs. 2 D. Nestor (CAN)/N. Zimonjic (SRB)

Sunday’s Order of Play

Watch Live
The Tennis Channel - 8:00 AM EST

AP

Andy Murray won the singles title in Rotterdam. This is his second title of the year and tenth career ATP World title. He beat Rafael Nadal in three sets 6-3 4-6 6-0. Murray appeared to be in good form though there was speculation about Murray's ankle injury, but it was Nadal, who was hampered by a knee injury, with the physical problems today. The Brit's victory brings him to two wins over the Spaniard in their eight career meetings.


AP

In doubles, tops seeds Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor beat second seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 6-2 7-5. This is their first ATP Doubles title this season.