TENNIS in DEPTH.

Tommy Robredo won titles in consecutive weeks for the first time in his career Sunday by toughing out a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(5) win over 2007 champion Juan Monaco in the final of the Copa Telmex, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Buenos Aires.

Robredo extended his winning streak to 10 matches following his title run last week at the Brasil Open. Robredo now has won nine ATP World Tour titles, with eight of those victories coming on clay.

Collecting $93,000 and 250 South African Airways ATP Rankings points, Robredo boosts his chances of qualifying for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Robredo, 26, who also needed three sets to win the Costa do Sauipe final over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci last week, lost momentum when rain interrupted the final in the second game of the second set. And in the third set he was down 0-3 and later 2-4 before fighting back.

Having worked his way into a winning position late in the match, Robredo was unable to convert three break point opportunities at 0/40, 5-5 on Monaco’s serve in the third set. And in the deciding tie-break he let slip a 6/2 lead before closing out the match on his fourth match point.

“Coming back from the rain break I felt a bit tired,” Robredo said. “All of a sudden I wasn’t moving as well. But in the third set I picked back up and played great tennis.

“Juan played very well and the truth is the match was decided by a few points. Anyone of us could have won the match.

“I am very happy for having won back-to-back titles for the first time in my career. It feels great.

“I trained hard to be able to play well in consecutive weeks. I have to thank my team for helping me to get ready for this week.”

The Spaniard boasts an ATP World Tour-best 12-1 record on clay this season and a 16-3 overall match record. Last week in Costa do Sauipe he won the singles and doubles titles (w/Granollers) at the same tournament for the first time in his career

Robredo was playing in Buenos Aires for the first time since suffering a second round exit (l. to Vicente) on debut in 2001. He finished in the Top 30 for eighth straight year in 2008.

Monaco said: “I had my chances in the third set when I was up 3-0 and 4-2 with opportunities to go up 5-2. I have to give the credit to him for fighting hard and playing the important points very well. At 5-4 in the third set, he played two very good points from 30-all to win his service game. In the end of the day I had my chances but it was fair for him to win the match.

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After Andy Roddick defeated Radek Stepanek 7-5, 7-5 in an entertaining, well played final, the trophy presentation was screwed-up by the host announcer. Fortunately Radek figured out that a mistake had been made and in a humerous moment he presented Andy with the correct winner’s trophy. Andy did receive the correct winners check of $300,000, and as Radek was quick to point out if had been given the wrong check and the wrong trophy he might not have given them up so easily.

The 26-year-old American, who was appearing in his fourth Memphis final, earned his second tournament title (2002) and the 27th of his career. He also improved his match record to 17-3 on the season.

Stepanek was attempting to capture his third ATP World Tour title of the season and second in a row. Last week he won the SAP Open in San Jose, defeating Roddick in the semi-finals and Mardy Fish in the final, both in three sets. The top Czech Republic player is off to a career-best 16-3 start in 2009.

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has won more matches this year than any other player, claimed his second ATP World Tour title this month with a 7-5, 7-6(3) win over Michael Llodra in Sunday’s final of the Open 13, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Marseille, France.

Tsonga collects

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Top seed Andy Roddick beat Australian Lleyton Hewitt to book a clash with Radek Stepanek in the Memphis Championship final.

American Roddick won 2-6 7-6 6-4, while Czech fifth seed Stepanek beat Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-3 6-1.

“I was lucky to get through,” Roddick said afterwards. “He had me up against it for the better part of the match.”

Roddick, 26, hit half his 16 aces in the second set and six more in the third and has reached the semi-finals at all four events this year, though he has yet to claim a title.

He is through to his fourth final at Memphis, where he triumphed in 2002, and said: “I’d love to win this tournament again. It has been a long time.”

Stepanek won last week in San Jose and has not lost a set this week.

But the world number 21 has only beaten sixth-ranked Roddick once in their five meetings.

“I’m feeling great on the court,” Stepanek said. “With every match, the confidence grows and grows. I’m very happy for that.

“I’m healthy, I’m not having problems with my body, which is very important for me, and I can build on that.”

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Venus Williams won her 40th singles title Saturday, defeating Virginie Razzano of France 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championship.

During the trophy presentation, Williams spoke about Shahar Peer, the Israeli player who was denied entry into the United Arab Emirates for the tournament because of what organizers called security concerns.

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In awesome dispaly of serving and shot making, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga blew by world’s #3 Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 to take his place in an all French final tomorrow. He will meet the winner of the Simon/ Llodra semi final.

Tsonga’s win confirmed the suspicion that Djokovic is not the same player he was in 2008. Except for one game in the second set when he saved 3 break points, he showed little of the agression and emotion that used to be his trade mark. He made too many errors on his forehand side and had no answer for Tsonga, who may have played his best game ever.

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2009 Men’s Line Up

This is a prestigous ATP 500 event with total purse of $2.2 million, and yet only 3 top ten players will be participating. Of the 7 who are not playing only Andy Roddick is making a statement about his feelings over the Shahar Peer situation, the others are either injured or committed to another event. It almost seems as if some higher tennis power is directing a message to the UAE tennis organizers.

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