Isner wins 1st Title; Dementieva bags Sydney

WEEK 2: It's the second week of the year and all tournament finals are completed by end of day Saturday as the players shift their focus to the first grand slam of the year. It's a tough calendar - just 2 weeks of official tournament tune-ups and boom, we have the Australian Open. It really would be great if there would be at least four weeks of tune-up tournaments before the first major of the year commences. Better still, why not make the first tournaments of the year be an Asia-Pacific swing? Bunch all of the tournaments in the Middle East, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, China, India, Australia and New Zealand and let them be the lead-up to the Australian Open in Melbourne. That would be swell. Anyway, I digress. This is my second edition of winners and non-winners as a wrap-up to the second week of this season's tennis calendar.

LOVE:

Gilles Simon. The #15 seed and number three Frenchman withdraws from the Australian Open draw. He was seeded to meet Roger Federer in the round of 16. #17 seed David Ferrer takes his place, while world #33 rank John Isner inherits Ferrer's place.

Gael Monfils. World #13 and top seed withdraws from the Medibank International Sydney tournament.

Sam Querrey. Don't look now but the US Open series champion has started the year with two consecutive first round losses.

FIFTEEN:

Juan Martin del Potro. 2009 US Open champion pulls out of the Kooyong exhibition with an injury. Hope it heals in time for the Australian Open.

Australian Ladies. Alicia Molik on the comeback trail, and Australian Open 2009 newsmaker Jelena Dokic both crash out in the second round of the MOORILLA HOBART INTERNATIONAL tournament.

THIRTY:

Dinara Safina. In first tournament of the year, world #2 wins two rounds in Sydney before getting blitzed by Elena Dementieva, 62 63 in the quarterfinals.

Tommy Robredo. World #16 and top seed loses in the quarterfinals of the Heineken Open in New Zealand. He did give a fight, going down in three sets to eventual champion John Isner.

DEUCE:

Belgian Ladies. Only one Belgian ladies player can make it to the semifinals as all four Belgian women tennis players are put in one quadrant. Kirsten Flipkens was drawn to play Justine Henin in the first round. Yanina Wickmayer and Henin will fight each other for a quarterfinal berth if both make it to the fourth round. Awaiting the winner of that match will be 2009 US Open champion Kim Clijsters.

Serena Williams. Sure, she won four matches in reaching the Sydney finals but her limited mobility in the tournament's last match may be a concern heading into the Australian Open.

ADVANTAGE:

French Players. Arnaud Clement and Richard Gasquet reached the finals in Auckland and Sydney, respectively. Aravane Rezai reached the semifinals of Sydney that boasted nine of the top ten players in the world. She pushed the younger Williams in to a third set before going down 36 75 64.

Shahar Peer. Israeli second seed reaches the finals of the Hobart tournament.

GAME:

Alona Bondarenko. The older Bondarenko sister wins her second WTA tournament at the Hobart tournament after winning her only other tournament three years ago. She last won in the Luxembourg tournament in 2006.

John Isner. Unseeded American wins his first ATP tournament. I remember watching this guy lose to India's Somdev Devvarman in an NCAA championship match some years back. Their pro careers have turned out to be very different though. At current rank of #33, Isner also gets seeded for the first time in a grand slam after Simon of France pulls out. Devvarman on the other hand, lost in the last round of the qualifying tournament.

Elena Dementieva. Enters the Australian Open after scoring resounding straight set victories over #6 Victoria Azarenka, #2 Safina, and #1 Williams. She scored wins over Safina and Williams last year but fell to Williams in the semifinals of the Australian Open. She'll be hoping for a different ending this time.

Marcos Baghdatis. Though unseeded, the 2006 Australian Open finalist beat seeds Lleyton Hewitt and Viktor Troicki on his way to the Sydney final. He then downs Richard Gasquet 64 76(2) in the finals and will be heading to Melbourne as one of the unseeded players who could surprise a seed or two. With the victory, he ups his ranking from #42 to #31.