The first of the major tune-up events for the US Open is complete and two players have set themselves apart from the field as favourites for the year's final Grand Slam.
On the men's side, Novak Djokovic continued his hard-to-find-words-to-describe season with a three set win over American Mardy Fish in the finals of the ATP Rogers Cup in Montreal. The win was the Serb's ninth title this year, his 5th Masters series event (an all-time record for most Masters series on one single season) and takes his record to 53-1, bested only by John McEnroe's 1984 season which at the same point in that year ran to 59-1.
Fish reached his third consecutive final on the American summer hardcourt stretch and pushed Djokovic all the way. The soon-to-be 30 year old avenged his loss two weeks ago to Ernests Gulbis and also beat Thomas Berdych and Stanislas Wawrinka to reach his first Masters final and move to no. 7 in the rankings. Outside the top 4, Fish has a good chance of making a deep run in New York - something he will be hoping to - having never made the semi-finals of a Slam yet.
It was a strange week for the other top men - Rafael Nadal let go of a winning lead against Croatian Ivan Dodig and lost in a third set tie-breaker; Roger Federer lost for the second consecutive time to Jo-Wilfred Tsonga; and Andy Murray, winner of the last 2 titles in Canada, was beaten by big-serving South African Kevin Anderson.
Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic both made the semi-finals in Montreal. The Frenchman had to retire in his semi-final against Djokovic but earned enough ranking points to move six place to no. 10 in the rankings while 27 year old Tipsarevic moved four spots to a career-best no. 20 - making him the third Serb inside the world's top 20.
The men move on to Cincinnati for the combined Western & Southern Union Masters with an even stronger field. David Ferrer and Andy Roddick return form their injury lay-offs to join the Montreal field - setting up another exciting week of big tennis ahead.
On the WTA Tour, a woman who was written off a few months ago has turned conventional wisdom on its head once again. 13 time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams won her second consecutive title in Toronto, beating Samantha Stosur, Victoria Azarenka and Julia Georges on the way - extending her winning streak to 11 matches.
Williams has now moved more than 150 places in the rankings in the span of three weeks and is now up to no. 31 in the new rankings - almost ensuring herself of a seeding at the Open.
The 29 year old still feels she is not playing her best tennis and the manner in which she has been able to beat the rest of the women maybe a harbinger of things to come in the next 12 months.
Asutralia's Sam Stosur had a badly-needed runner-up finish, trying to salvage some of her sophomore breakthrough season - also moving back into the top 10 rankings. Agneizska Radwanska, winner in Carlsbad last weekend, and Victoria Azarenka were the semi-finalists.
For some of the other women, Toronto was one week to forget. Venus Williams pulled out before her first round match due to a viral illness while Kim Clijsters pulled out after one set of her first match with an abdominal injury. Both have withdrawn from Cincinnati this week meaning they will go into the US Open with none or very little match play if they choose to play the New Haven event next week.
World no. 1 Caroline Woznaicki did nothing to solidify her status as world no. 1 with an early loss to the veterna Italian Roberta Vinci; Maria Sharapova felt "rusty" in her loss to 135th ranked Kazakh Glaina Voskoboeva.
French Open winner Li Na, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, world no. 3 Vera Zvonareva, Francecsa Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Marion Bartoli all lost early - none being able to make the quarter-finals.
With the exception of Clijsters, who drops to no. 3 in the new rankings behind Wozniacki and Zvonareva, the rest of the women will also be in Cincinnati where Serena and Stosur could have a repeat of their final match in Toronto as early as the second round.
The US Open is only two weeks away; and Djokovic and Serena will be the players that everyone will be attempting to stop in New York
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