Mardy Fish wins the Delray Beach Tourney while the Bryan Brothers take the Doubles (3/09)
The Delray Beach International Tennis Championship had some popular name players but lack some flare. Local Floridian, Mardy Fish was the 1st #1 seed to ever win the tournament ousting qualifier Eugeny Korolev (pictured above opposite Fish) 7-5, 6-3 in the final. Fish didn’t have a lot of tough competition as he didn’t lose a set en route to his 3rd career singles title and first since 2006. He took out Canadian, Dancevic, American veteran, Vincent Spadea, #6 and #7 seeds Florent Serra (pictured below in the hat) and Jeremy Chardy (pictured below) from France before defeating Korolev from Russia.
Korolev, on the other hand, had a long road first having to qualify and having to play 8 matches in 8 days to play in the final. The 21 year old Korolev, shoes cousin is Anna Kournikova reached his first ATP Final while showing flashes of talent. He hits with a lot of pace and has a strong forehand when he is on. He didn’t play will in the finals vs. Fish and had many unforced errors.
Name players to exit in the first round included Tommy Hass (vs. Chardy), wild card Lleyton Hewitt (vs. #8 seed Yen-Hsun Lu), Jarkko Nieminen (vs. Serra), #3 seed youngster Ernests Gulbis from Latvia (vs. Marcos Baghdatis- pictured below), and American, Taylor Dent who had to qualify as he is trying to come back after 2 back surgeries.
#2 seed, Sam Querrey defeated the touch Argentine, Guillermao Canas before falling to Christopher Rochus in the 2nd Round. The personable and fan favorite Baghdatis advanced to the 3rd round before losing to Chardy in the most exciting match of the tournament.
In doubles the Bryan Brothers (pictured below), also won their first Delray Beach tournament defeating Andre Sa and Marcelo Mello in the finals. They had to save a match point in an earlier, close quarterfinal. The brothers will now get ready for Davis Cup next weekend in Alabama vs. Switzerland (without injured Roger Federer).
The weather was pretty nice all week with some heavy winds coming in and out. The final was interrupted by a brief rainstorm with delayed play for about an hour.
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