15th week

On his knees Tommy Robredo [72] celebrated 11th title, the first one in more than two years, and the first one using sunglasses. The 30-year-old Spaniard was injured five months (leg), dropped to No. 471 (May ’12) and obtaining another title seemed dubious. Casablanca is a lucky place for him though, twelve years ago he made his name in Morocco reaching his first ATP final. “I have been practising very well during a month in Barcelona before coming here,” said Robredo. “I knew that I could play a good tournament here and you never know what can happen. I went match by match and kept winning. Today, I was pretty nervous since this is very important for me. I really wanted to win this.” The finalist Kevin Anderson, hadn’t played an ATP semifinal on clay prior to this week. In the final he blew a 4:1* lead in the opening set and lost his serve at 2:3 in the decider with very poor shots. He could break back in the 9th game having a double break point but mis-hit two consecutive backhands attempting to return Robredo’s kick serves. Anderson snapped Pablo Carreno-Busta’s (b. 1991, No. 293) 39-match winning streak (!; manufactured on the Futures level), beating the Spaniard easily in the second round. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez has halted his 12-match losing streak on the main level (in the meantime won six qualifying matches).
John Isner [23] was struggling with his form lately, lost his Top 20 position, perhaps has regained a confidence for the rest of the season in Houston where he captured his 6th title (first on clay). In the second round he survived a tough match against Sock (two points away from defeat – his specialty, has won 15 matches of this type); then stunned in the last two matches two clay-court specialists: Monaco & Almagro, starting both matches poorly, lost first set 1-6 in the former, was *1:3 down in the 1st set of the latter.

Finals

Casablanca (250)
S: Tommy Robredo d. (2)Kevin Anderson 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3
D: (1)J.Knowle/F.Polasek d. D.Brown/C.Kas 6-3, 6-2

Houston (250)
S: (5)John Isner d. (1)Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 7-5
D: J.Murray/J.Peers d. (1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan 1-6, 7-6(3), [12-10] – 1 m.p.

Choker of the week:
Matthias Bachinger, who led a set and a break (twice) against Grega Zemlja in Casablanca (first round). Bachinger also led 4:2* (30/15) in the 3rd set before Zemlja won 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(2)