Former US Open champions Juan Martin del Potro and Samantha Stosur started their build-ups to the year’s final Grand Slam by picking up titles in Washington and Carlsbad respectively.
Both players entered their respective tournaments as wildcard entrants and both justified their decisions by winning morale-boosting titles ahead of the US Open, which starts on August 26.
Firstly, in the American capital, del Potro won his third title at the Citi Open, and his 15th career title overall, by defeating local marathon-man John Isner in three sets.
The Argentinean, whose ranking dropped to No. 485 in the 16 months that followed his lone Grand Slam triumph at the US Open four years ago, was playing in his first tournament since losing an epic five-set semi-final to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last month.
Isner, meanwhile, was looking to pick up his second title in as many weeks following his triumph in Atlanta.
And though it was Isner – best known for his marathon match against Nicholas Mahut at Wimbledon five years ago – who took the first set, del Potro rallied to win in three sets to claim his second title of the year.
He had earlier triumphed in Rotterdam and also lost to Rafael Nadal at the Indian Wells tournament back in March.
The last time del Potro won in Washington, he went on to win the US Open taking out Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer en route.
That was back in 2009. To date, his breakthrough that year remains the only time since Nadal won his first Grand Slam title at the 2005 French Open in which somebody other than the ‘Big Four’ has won a Grand Slam title.
The question this year will be: can he do it again?
On the basis of his run, you can consider him to be one of the favourites to triumph in New York, along with Nadal, Federer, world number one Novak Djokovic and defending champion Andy Murray.
All except Federer will be back in action when the Rogers Cup starts this week.
Djokovic, Murray and Nadal have won the last six editions between them. Federer has withdrawn with no clear reason given, further adding to rumours that the great Swiss could be nearing the end of his illustrious career.
Meanwhile, in Carlsbad, it may have taken nine attempts, but finally Stosur has, believe it or not, beaten top seed Victoria Azarenka in straight sets to win her first trophy since triumphing in New York less than two years ago, and only her fourth career title overall.
The Australian accepted a wildcard entry into the Carlsbad tournament after losing to another Belarusian, Olga Govortsova, in the second round in Stanford.
And her decision to play in the south-Californian city paid off.
She beat world number four Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals, her first victory over any top four opponent since toppling Maria Sharapova in Tokyo last September.
Azarenka, meanwhile, had looked all the more flawless in her run to the final, taking out former French Open champions Francesca Schiavone and Ana Ivanovic, as well as Agnieszka’s younger sister, Urszula, en route.
She had been favoured to win her third title of the year not only on the basis of her 8-0 head-to-head against Stosur, but also her experience in winning hard court titles.
But for the time being, the Belarusian remains title-less since losing her world number one ranking to Serena Williams in February. Ironically, Azarenka beat Williams for the Doha title, in the same week the latter reclaimed the top ranking following her resurgence in the second half of 2012.
Stosur’s victory will boost her confidence massively after not only ending a two-year title spell but also defeating two top four players in her run.
But does she deserve to be among the favourites for the US Open title?
That will depend on how Azarenka, Sharapova and Williams fare in New York next month.
Between Stosur’s US Open victory in 2011 and Marion Bartoli’s Wimbledon triumph last month, the trio had combined to win seven Grand Slam titles between them, and also occupied the medal podium at last year’s Olympic Games.
Additionally, the trio have also shared the number one ranking since Azarenka broke through for her first Grand Slam title at last year’s Australian Open, where she crushed Sharapova in the final in straight sets.
All three crashed out of Wimbledon last month, marking their worst collective performance at a Grand Slam since the 2008 French Open.
Radwanska, who lost the Stanford final to Dominika Cibulkova (the woman she wiped out to win her most recent title earlier this year in Sydney) to precede her quarterfinal exit in Carlsbad, also deserves to be among the favourites, but she has never reached the final eight in New York.
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