South Africa’s Kevin Anderson claimed his second career title with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win over the 173rd ranked-Australian.

“I’ve been training really hard. People have been telling me hard work pays off, and I guess in some small way, a little bit paid off this week. Before the week, if you told me that I’d make the final, I’d be the happiest guy in the world. Then when you get there and you play the match, I feel like I was just a few points from winning the match or turning the match, but I just couldn’t do it. It can only help me I guess.” said Matosevic after the match.

After his win Kevin Anderson has climbed to no. 30 on the ATP rankings which matches his career high from October 2011. Matosevic jumps 44 places to a career high 129.

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Matosevic now awaits the winner of the match between top seed John Isner and No. 7 seed Kevin Anderson.

Prior to the Delray Beach tournament Matosevic was 3-15 on the ATP tour. He mainly competes in the challenger circuit where he has recently won the Caloundra tournament.

This time last year Matosevic reached a career high ranking of 131 only to see it drift out to 212 by November 2011.

The win could have come sooner for Matosevic who had two match points serving at 5-3 but could not convert. In the tie-break the Australian held another match point serving at 6-5 only to kiss it goodbye with a double-fault.

You have to give Matosevic credit as he hung in there and finally closed out the match to advance to his first ATP World Tour final.

Matosevic will  be looking to repeat Jarkko Nieminen’s effort of winning a title after going through  qualifying when he won the Apia International in Sydney in January 2011.

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Rogowska plays Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in the quarters. The winner will play Hsieh Su Wei in the semis after she advanced with a walkover after top seed and world no. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska withdrew. In what will be a tough ask for the winner, they have to back up on the same day as rain has played havoc in Kuala Lumpur.

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Matosevic is ranked 173 and before the current tournament he had a 3-15 career win/loss record on the ATP tour. He spends most of his time playing on the challenger circuit. His Latvian opponent is ranked 78.

In the previous round Matosevic had an impressive win over Alex Bogomolov Jr 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 and has done well to back up from that win to reach the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

Bogomolov’s was voted by his ATP peers as the most improved player of 2011 after he took his ranking from 166th in the world to No.34.

Fellow Australian, Bernard Tomic lost to John Isner 6-3, 6-2 in the quarters.

Matosevic will face Dudi Sela in the semi after Sela defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0.osevic has defeated Ernests Gulbis 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to advance to an ATP tour event semifinal for the first time. He is playing in the Delray Beach event.

Matosevic is ranked 173 and before the current tournament he had a 3-15 career win/loss record on the ATP tour. He spends most of his time playing on the challenger circuit. His Latvian opponent is ranked 78.

In the previous round Matosevic had an impressive win over Alex Bogomolov Jr 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 and has done well to back up from that win to reach the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

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First up in her title defence Dokic will play France’s Kristina Mladenovic who is ranked 159 compared to Dokic at 76. It will be the first meeting of the two players.

In the past two events Dokic has won the first set only to lose her opening round matches and she has only reached the second round of a tournament on two occasions from five tournaments contested in 2012.

The top seed for the tournament is world no. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska who just won the Dubai title.

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Last year it was more of a battle for Jankovic to win, taking the match 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), coming from 4-1 down in the third set. She then lost the semi final match to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.

“The key was my return,” Jankovic said. “She has one of the best, if not the best, serves in the women’s game, and it’s never easy to return against her. So I was really focused on that and tried to make as many returns as possible, and then I would feel comfortable afterwards. Usually she likes to serve and then dictate the point with her forehand. I didn’t really allow her to do that today – I kind of broke her rhythm and was pretty much in control the whole time.

“I’m happy with the win. It’s never easy. Great to be in the semifinals again.”

Stosur was a bit flat as she battled the effects of a cold, not that she used that as excuse. Last week Stosur lost the final in Doha to world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka who missed the Dubai tournament due to an ankle injury.

In the other matches Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Sabine Lisicki 62 61. Caroline Wozniacki defeated a fellow former world no. 1, Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 7-5. Julia Goerges defeated Daniela Hantuchova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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The Australian won the first game of the final before Azarenka ran off nine straight games to take control of the match. She ran out a 6-1, 6-2 winner to stay perfect in 2012. After winning in Brisbane and in Melbourne to claim the Australian Open she is 17-0.

“It feels amazing to win this title. I have been coming here quite a few times, also for the WTA Championships, and I never even reached the final, so for me it’s extra special to win here. I really like this tournament a lot.” said Azarenka after winning.

Stosur had this to say “For sure I’m happy with the week I’ve had. It’s been great to turn my form around so quickly after a disappointing month first up. As far as tonight goes, I think she played very well, very solid, as usual. She doesn’t stand up and hit 50 winners a match, but she makes you work for every point and moves very well, stays on the baseline and really takes time away from you that way. It was obviously pretty tough for me to play aggressively.”

Azarenka now has to see how her ankle feels going into the Dubai tournament. She will be out to better Maria Sharapova’s 18-0 start to a season in 2008. Azarenka also extended her head-to-head record against Stosur to 6-0. The Australian is yet to win a set against Azarenka.

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The US Open champion lost early in all three tournaments she contested during the Australian summer of tennis. Most disappointing was a first round loss at the Australian Open losing to Sorana Cirstea in straight sets.

At the Qatar Open in Doha Stosur was drawn first up against Cirstea. She won that match 6-4, 7-6(5) after being down 2-5 in the tie-break. Call it revenge or just another win it gave the world no. 5 some much needed confidence.

Stosur then had the chance to do what she had not done so far in 2012 and that was win back-to-back matches. Up next was Petra Cetkovska. Stosur won that match 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Now with a bit of confidence coming back Stosur faced off against Monica Niculescu. The Australian easily won the first set 6-2 but then dropped the next 2-6.

At 3-all in the third set and down 0-30 Stosur could easily have let another match slip away but to her credit she stepped it up to win 12 of the next 13 points and secure the win with a 6-3 third set.

Stosur will face Marion Bartoli for a spot in the final against the winner of the match between Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska. Bartoli leads the head-to-head 3-2 including two wins in 2011.

Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan talk about their win.

After John Isner played out of his skin to defeat Federer on the clay at Forum Fribourg the Swiss were in trouble. Mardy Fish had given the US team a 1-0 lead after his epic 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7 win over Stanislas Wawrinka.

The Swiss had it all to do when the pairing of Wawrinka and Federer faced off against Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish. The Swiss combo had teamed up to win gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but they were up against one half of the mighty Bryan brothers who teamed up with Fish.

An early break for the Swiss got them in a good position to win the first set which they took 6-4 but from there the US team led by Jim Courier got on top and went on to win the tie with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory.

For many they see this as a disaster for the Swiss considering Federer was playing at home. You have to give credit to the US. Perhaps having a two-time French Open champion as captain made a difference.

The US advances to an away tie against the winner of Canada and France in April. For Switzerland they have to wait until September to play-off to remain in the elite world group of the Davis Cup.

In other results Spain easily accounted for Kazakhstan wrapping up their tie 3-0, The Czech Republic advances after taking a 3-0 lead over Italy. Argentina also advances after going 3-0 against Germany. Austria leads Russia 2-1 as do Serbia against Sweden and Croatia against Japan.

France and Canada are 1-1 after the opening day and are just about to play the key doubles match in Vancouver, Canada.

John Isner talks about his win over Roger Federer.

Roger Federer talks about his Davis Cup loss to John Isner on day 1.

Stosur was on fire early in the match and got an early break to set herself up for the first set win. She held her composure to win the set 6-2. Stosur got two breaks in the first set.

Early in the second set Serena hit a big winner but before Stosur had completed a shanked shot she called out “C’mon”. The umpire called for a replay of the point and Serena was not too happy. After some discussion she was given a point penalty. That handed Stosur the break.

Serena was mad and was hitting the ball with anger and got a break. It looked like she might get on top of the Australian. Stosur did not let this get to her and she got the break back.

From there it was still a long way to go and nerves can quite often crush a player. Not today, not for Sam. She maintained her composure and broke two more times to win the match 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour 13 minutes.

This was not just any match. It handed Stosur her first Grand Slam singles title. After missing out on her chance at the 2010 French Open Stosur would have wondered if she could get back to a final for a second chance. After playing great tennis thoughout the fortnight she did it.

Not many picked the no. 9 seed to go all the way, especially today playing against Serena, the former world no. 1 and three time US Open champion.

Sam Stosur is the first Australian women to win the US Open singles crown since Margaret Court back in 1973. It is also ten years since an Australian won at the US Open in singles when Lleyton Hewitt claimed the title.

“I’m still kind of speechless. I can’t actually believe I won this tournament,” Stosur said later.

Below is a video of Sam Stosur thanking her fans after she won the 2011 US Open women’s tennis title.

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