Heroes and Zeros: Watson's Milestone, Nole's Magic, Fed's Faults

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Heroes and Zeros: Watson's Milestone, Nole's Magic, Fed's Faults

By Chris Oddo

(October 15, 2012) – Heroes and Zeros is Tennis Now's weekly look at the brightest stars of the game -- and the biggest flops. This week we'll look back at Linz, Osaka, and Shanghai.

Hero: Heather Watson

British tennis has been on fire since this year's Olympic Games, and Heather Watson -- snubbed during those games when her friend and fellow fire-starter Laura Robson was chosen to partner with Andy Murray for the mixed doubles despite a lower ranking -- added some more gasoline to the flames this week in Osaka, Japan.

Watson became the first British player to win a WTA title in 24 years when she saved four match points to edge Chang Kai-Chen 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(4) in the final.

For good measure, Watson also reached the doubles final with Kimiko Date-Krumm. The Guernsey, England, native cracks the top 50 for the first time in her career this week, after jumping from 71 to 50 to become the British No. 1.

Zero: Isner, Raonic, Monaco, Almagro, Gasquet

All five of these players needed inspired efforts in Shanghai to nudge closer to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic for the eighth and ninth spots in the race to London. Of the five, Isner was the only player to reach the third round.

Hero: Victoria Azarenka

The World No. 1 has won 26 straight sets since her loss to Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final. With her title in Linz, she tied Serena with six titles in 2012, causing fans to begin to drool over a possible Azarenka-Williams rematch (or two) in Istanbul.

Zero: Sabine Lisicki

A 6-1, 6-3 first-round loss in Linz to wildcard Patricia Mayr-Achleitner puts Lisicki's post-grass-court season record at 1-5. It doesn't take a rocket scientest -- or even a tennis coach -- to know that it isn't good.

Hero: Roberta Vinci

Vinci takes over the No. 1 ranking in doubles this week, becoming the third Italian woman (Pennetta and Errani were the other two) to ever own a No. 1 ranking.

Hero: Novak Djokovic

It's good to know that the miracle man of tennis is not resting on his laurels. For many, saving those two match points against Roger Federer in the 2011 U.S. Open semifinals would have been enough, but for Djokovic, encores have been the norm. Evidently the 25-year-old still has a big chip on his shoulder, and tennis fans should be happy for that.

On Sunday, Djokovic stared down five match points against Andy Murray in the second set in the finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, and once the World No. 2 had finished his latest Houdini act, he went about the business of wearing Murray down physically. The electrifying 5-7, 7-6(11), 6-3 triumph nets Djokovic his 70th win of the season, his 13th Masters 1000 title, and places him within 200 points of Roger Federer for No. 1.

Zero: Roger Federer

Federer is a god, but when a god double faults three consecutive times in a Masters semifinal against an archrival, that god gets a zero.

Hero: Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears

The unsung American doubles tandem was at it again this week in Osaka, winning their fourth title of the year and closing within 32 points of Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko for the fourth and final spot in the WTA Championships draw.

Hero: Kimiko Date-Krumm

The 42-year-old wunderkind partnered with Heather Watson, half her age and then some, to reach another doubles final in her home country. Singles wins have been hard to come by for the 42-year-old, but Date-Krumm does have a doubles title and now two finals to her name in 2012.

(Photo Credit: AP)