Bryan Brothers Win Record Breaking 62nd Title

Congratulations to Mike and Bob Bryan who won the doubles title at the Farmers Classic event this past weekend. This win brought their total pro tour doubles titles to 62, making them the most successful men's doubles team in history. Previously the record had been 61 doubles titles, held by Mark and Todd Woodbridge who were known by many in the tennis world as "the Woodies."

"There is no way I could have imagined this," said Bob Bryan. "To get one of the Woodies' records is special. I could barely hold a racket near the end I was so nervous."

Murray Fades Against Querrey at Farmers Classic

Andy Murray is defeated in the finals of the 2010 Farmers Classic with a surprise win by American Sam Querrey.

Top seeded Andy Murray was the favourite to win the title in L.A., and after a shaky start in his first match against the 192nd ranked Tim Smyczek, Murray beat Falla in the next round to reach the semifinals against Feliciano Lopez. In a bizarre match, Murray easily won the first set 6-0, Lopez unexpectedly broke back to win the second set 6-1, and then Murray closed out the match with a 6-4 win in the third set.

In the finals against Sam Querrey, Murray took the first set 7-5 and seemed to be in control of the match when Querrey upped his game and won the second set in a tiebreak. Breaking early in the third, Querrey managed to stay strong mentally and he won the match, and the championships, with a 6-3 win in the third set.

It's hard to say how much this loss will affect Murray in the coming weeks. Yes, Murray had some questionable moments throughout the event, and he lost a final that he should have won. And yes, he will need to play much, much better next week in Toronto if he has any chance of defending his 2009 title there. But unlike players like Federer and Nadal, who have not played in any events since Wimbledon, at least Murray has had some match play, and going into the Rogers Cup with some matches under his belt might give him some much needed confidence. On the other hand, going into the Rogers Cup knowing you just lost to Sam Querrey is not going to help you when you're preparing for your match against Rafa Nadal. 

Murray will have a bit of time to reflect on his play in L.A., as he is not scheduled to play in any events this coming week. Hopefully he'll figure out what went wrong and be ready to defend his title in Toronto. 

And in the last big tournament before the Rogers Cup, top players like Roddick and Berdych will compete at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic taking place this week in Washington, D.C. Click here for information on the draw and player chances.

Andy Murray Loves Entourage

Murray Looks Questionable at Farmers Classic

Andy Murray did not look good yesterday. True, he did win his match, but it took him three sets to win against an opponent who he should have beaten very easily. It was obvious when watching the match that something was wrong, but it was hard to tell exactly what. In a later interview Murray said "I was struggling a little bit with my movement, when I got stiff and sore. But I managed to find a way to win." So there you have it. He was stiff and sore. Which is fine I guess, but also a little worrisome. But maybe it was just a "first match back" thing and he'll be totally fine for the rest of the tournament, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Looks like there will be some good Quarterfinal matches today at the Farmers Classic. In fact, all of the singles matches have the potential to be interesting:

Schuettler vs. Querrey (predicted winner: Querrey)
Tipsarevic vs Baghdatis (predicted winner: Tipsarevic)
Lopez vs. Blake (predicted winner: Lopez)
Murray vs. Falla (predicted winner: Murray)

Sam Querrey is the defending champion but he's likely going to have to go through Murray to win the title. In a previous post I predicted a Murray/Querrey final and I still think that's likely.  Let's just hope Murray isn't stiff and sore tonight.

Baghdatis, Tipsarevic, Murray and More!

Nice work by Marcos Baghdatis to beat American Ryan Sweeting 36 62 63 at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. Okay, so maybe Baghdatis should have won in straight sets since this Sweeting character is only ranked 118th in the world, but this is the first tournament back for Baggy since Wimbledon so let's just be happy for him, okay?

Congrats also to Janko Tipsarevic (who is quickly becoming my favourite player on tour because he is the best tennis tweeter ever!) who defeated Somdev Devvarman from India 76(9) 62. At least this was a straight sets win. Goooo Tipsy!

Baghdatis and Tipsarevic will face each other in the next round, and my money is on Tipsarevic to win the match. I think I'm choosing Tipsarevic solely on the fact that he seems to be on a roll with his twitter account, and therefore I assume he'll be on a roll on the court. And yes, I'm aware that my thought process in this instance is idiotic.

On to Andy Murray! Very, very excited that he'll be playing tomorrow. My Murray love seems to be growing everyday and I have no idea why. He should win his match fairly easily since I've never even heard of his American opponent, Tim Smyczek (just looked him up and he's ranked 192 in the world, so yeah, Murray might want to beat him).

Other matches tomorrow include Feliciano Lopez vs. Dudi Sela (worth watching just because Feli Lopez is perhaps the most attractive athlete on the ATP tour), Alejandro Falla vs. Ernests Gulbis (remember how Falla almost beat Federer at Wimbledon?) and James Blake vs Benjamin Becker (not so interesting).

Is it bad that I just want all of these smaller tournaments to be over so that the Rogers Cup can start and I can see Federer and Nadal again?

Farmers Classic, Early Predictions

Definitely excited to see Andy Murray back in action again, and he's the clear favourite to win the Farmers Classic this week in Los Angeles. Keep in mind though that I said Andy Roddick was the clear favourite to win in Atlanta last week and he didn't even make it to the finals. But really, did anyone have Mardy Fish as the favourite to win that tournament? I don't think so.

Okay, on to my predictions...

Semifinals:
Andy Murray vs. Feliciano Lopez
Janko Tipsarevic vs. Sam Querrey

Finals:
Andy Murray vs. Sam Querrey

Winner:
Andy Murray

I'm not feeling very confident about my Lopez and Tipsarevic picks, but I do think that a Murray/Querrey final is a real possibility.