Heroes and Zeros: Venus, Woz Back in Winner's Circle

Our picks for the best and worst of tennis this past week, including Venus' and Caroline's return to the podium and -- cue the trombones -- the continued slide of former No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko.

By Chris Oddo

(October 22, 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 cover the Kremlin Cup, Stockholm Open, Erste Bank Open and the Luxembourg Open.

Where to start? The days are getting shorter but the list of heroes this week has gotten longer, with big efforts from our favorite stars in four different cities last week. Meanwhile, in other news, it's getting harder and harder to find a zero -- but don't worry, it's our job, so we'll take care of it.

Hero: Venus Williams

First off, it was a big enough surprise just to see Venus Williams in action at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open this week. But to see her winning it in style, then posing for pictures with her dog Harold by her side, an ear-to-ear grin that could light up a small country (and did) emanating from her face -- well who expected that?

Most likely, Venus did, and to tell you the truth, given the way the Venus competed in Cincinnati and at the U.S. Open just a few months ago, some others did as well.

Williams stormed through the draw, taking out top-seeded Roberta Vinci in the quarters before settling into a long, grueling battle with Andrea Petkovic in the semis. Finally, in a final that was never in doubt, Williams put the icing on her first title run in over two years with a nice, casual 6-2, 6-3 victory.

The 32-year-old, who has battled illness and injuries for the better part of two years, now can boast her 44th career WTA title (second among active players). More importantly, we can now consider her among the players to watch for 2013. If that isn't good for women's tennis, I don't know what is.

Zero: Sabine Lisicki

Lisicki's run of poor play continues. She lost her 6th match of her last seven in Luxembourg, bowing out to Kirsten Flipkens in three sets in the first round. Lisicki reached a career-high ranking in May, but is now in danger of falling out of the top 40 at 37.

Hero: The Bryan Brothers

Bob and Mike Bryan clinched their 8th career year-end No. 1 finish--also their fourth in a row--this week. Much like Roger Federer, not many records remain to be broken for the twin-killers, but rest assured: if there are anymore to be broken, the Camarillo kids are in hot pursuit.

Zero: Nikolay Davydenko

The 30-is-the-new-20 thing is completely lost on the diminutive Russian. His first-round loss to Alex Bogomolov Jr. at the Kremlin Cup (in his hometown no less) highlights Davydenko's lack of consistency in 2012. How can a player as talented as the former World No. 3 not reach a single final in a season?

Hero: Andreas Seppi

Seppi has been wonderful all season, from his career-high ranking to his near upset of Novak Djokovic at the French Open. Last week, when he became the first Italian to ever win the Kremlin Cup and the first Italian to win two titles in the same season in 10 years, the feelgood story that is Andreas Seppi (and Italian tennis in general) continued to bloom.

Hero: Caroline Wozniacki

After finishing the last two seasons as the year-end No. 1, 2012 hasn’t been as kind to Caroline Wozniacki. But credit the great Dane--she hasn’t let that little fact keep her from putting her best foot forward down the stretch this season.

On Sunday, Wozniacki won her 20th career title, and her first of the season, by defeating Samantha Stosur in a hard-fought, three-set final. With the title, Wozniacki becomes one of only four active WTA players with more than 20 titles to her name, and she introduces to the notion to pundits and peers alike that 2012 might be the bump in the road that provides the 22-year-old with the motivation to have another big year in 2013.

Zero: Sam Stosur

It was another near miss for Sam Stosur in Moscow, as she fell to Wozniacki 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the Kremlin Cup final. It hasn’t been a bad year by any stretch of the imagination for the Aussie, but a player of Stosur’s caliber should not go a whole season without at title, nor should she have a career record of 3-12 in finals.

Hero: Angelique Kerber

Kerber's amazing breakout year just keeps getting better: The left-hander reached No. 5 in the world on Monday for the first time, becoming just the fifth German to reach the WTA’s top five (Steffi Graf, Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, Anke Huber, Sylvia Hanika).

Zero: Gael Monfils’ Right Knee

Lamonf has slogged through an injury-ravaged 2012, missing the Olympics and three Slams (including the French Open), and now Monfils magical mystery tour has been forced to shut it down for the rest of 2012 (a major bummer considering how much fun it has been to watch Monfils play the Paris Masters in years past) because of that danged right knee.

Let us now continue with the heroes...

Hero: Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka

The Czech duo recorded their 100th career win en route to their fourth title of 2012 in Luxembourg.

Hero: Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova

The Russian duo became the last team to qualify for Istanbul when they defeated Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in a winner-take-all semifinal at the Kremlin Cup last week.

Hero: Tomas Berdych

The big, bad Czech took out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to claim the Stockholm title and the sixth spot in the ATP World Tour finals for the third consecutive year.

(Photo Credit: AP)