Men's Tennis Weekly Roundup: Nishikori, Anderson, Bautista Agut begin season with titles; Switzerland deny Germany in Hopman Cup once again

After over a month of absolute calm, the world of tennis heated up immediately, in the very first week of the 2019 season. The action on the men’s side began with ATP 250 tournaments in Brisbane, Doha and Pune, all with very different time-zones, which meant that tennis was on display for almost 20 hours a day for most of the week.

Along with the official ATP tournaments, the ever so entertaining Hopman Cup was also on display this week and provided the fans with a few unique match-ups.

So, without any more delay, let’s take a look at who all started the 2019 season in the best possible manner:

Tata Open Maharashtra: Kevin Anderson goes one step further this year and grabs the title in Pune

Anderson defeated Karlovic after being down 2-5 in the final set tiebreak

After losing to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition, Anderson didn’t stumble at the last hurdle this week in Pune as he defeated the 39-year-old Ivo Karlovic, who became the oldest finalist in the men’s game since Ken Rosewall (43) in 1977, in an absolute thriller, winning 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 7-6(5) from being down 2-5 in the final set tiebreak.

‘Dr. Ivo’, as many call him, also became the oldest man to win an ATP Challenger title in October last year, when he defeated Jordan Thompson in Calgary. So, he is not new to rewriting history.

On the way to his sixth singles title on the ATP Tour, Anderson also took some sweet revenge in the semi-finals against Gilles Simon, who had defeated the South African in last year’s final.

In the doubles action, the Indian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, who played for the first time together on the ATP Tour this week, went past the British pair of Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara, 6-3, 6-4 in Saturday’s final to start the partnership in the best possible manner.

On the way to their first title together, the home favorites and top seeds pulled off incredible wins in their two rounds prior to the final as they saved multiple match points in both those matches, saving six against the Indo-Mexico pair of Leander Paes and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in the quarterfinals, and two against the pair of Simon Bolleli and Ivan Dodig in the semis.

Qatar ExxonMobil Open: Roberto Bautista Agut caps off incredible week with title in Doha

Bautista Agut completed one of his best weeks with the title in Doha

Roberto Bautista Agut, who had a magnificent week, getting wins over the likes of Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic, got the better of a resurgent Tomas Berdych in the final with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline.

The Spaniard probably had the best week of his career in terms of level of play and handling pressure against high-quality opposition, and he has now won a title in one of the first two weeks of the season for a fourth consecutive year.

Tomas Berdych, who played his first match on the tour this week since Queen’s last season, also had a brilliant week as he produced a similar level of tennis that saw him cement his place in the world’s top 10 over many years.

World no. 1 Novak Djokovic, who lost in an incredible semi-final against Bautista Agut after being a set and a break up, had a lot of work to do on court this week.

After beating Damir Dzumhur in straight sets in his opener, he battled hard in his next two matches against Marton Fucsovics and Nikoloz Basilashvili, as he came back to win against both of them after dropping the first set.

The Serbian also featured in doubles action this week along with his younger brother Marko Djokovic. The pair had never won a match together on the doubles court before this tournament (previously 0-5), but reached the semi-finals here, winning both their matches in 3 sets.

Djokovic spent a total of nearly 10 hours on court this week and that was probably the reason why he lost steam during the third set in his semi-final against Bautista Agut.

In doubles action, the pair of David Goffin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who last played in a doubles final together way back in their junior days, in the Banana Bowl of 2008, won the title, defeating the Dutch duo of Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop, 5-7, 6-4, 10-4.

Brisbane International: Kei Nishikori ends his title drought to lift Brisbane title

Nishikori finally ended his finals losing streak and defeated Medvedev

Kei Nishikori, who was beaten by Daniil Medvedev in the Tokyo final last season, finally ended his title drought and with that, his streak of losing 9 finals on the ATP Tour as he captured his first title since February 2016 with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win, taking revenge ahainst the young Russian.

Even though he lost most of those finals to the likes of Djokovic and Nadal, it was still pretty unusual for a player of his quality to be without a title for such a long time. So, with the win, the Japanese will likely be very relieved and also gain a lot of confidence going into the first Grand Slam of the season.

Daniil Medvedev, who lost in the final, may not be the most eye-catching player on tour, but he has been one of the most in-form players over the past few months and this week, he proved once again that he will be the one to watch for in the 2019 season.

The 22-year-old Russian, before losing to Nishikori, defeated some of the veterans of the men’s tour in Andy Murray, Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to the final.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who missed most of last season due to surgery and multiple injuries, came back this week after, hopefully, gaining full fitness, and had an extremely positive week as well.

The Frenchman defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis, Taro Daniel and the Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur, all in straight sets, before going out to Medvedev in the semis. He will be looking to get back to his best in the coming months.

Hopman Cup: Switzerland deny Germany once again to capture second straight Hopman Cup

Federer/Bencic scraped past Zverev/Kerber in an incredible mixed doubles match

For a second year in a row, Switzerland faced off against Germany in the final of the Hopman Cup, and once again, it was the Swiss team of Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic who denied the German duo of Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber, 2-1.

First up, it was the men’s singles encounter between Federer and Zverev, and it was the Swiss star who simply steamrolled the frustrated German, 6-4, 6-2, to get the all-important first point for Switzerland.

Then, just like last year’s final, Kerber got Germany back into it and leveled the tie as she defeated Belinda Bencic after a little blip deep in the second set, 6-4, 7-6(6).

So, all the impetus was on the Mixed Doubles match, and once again, it was the Swiss pair of Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic who scraped past the Germans in one of the most entertaining and thrilling mixed doubles matches one will ever witness, especially in the Fast 4 format, 4-0, 1-4, 4-3(4), to grab a second straight Hopman Cup for Switzerland.

Catch the highlights of the incredible final here:

Earlier in the tournament, everyone witnessed what most probably was a once in a lifetime encounter between arguably the two greatest players of the men’s and the women’s game, Roger Federer and Serena Williams, as they faced off in the Mixed Doubles match between Switzerland and USA.

Catch the short highlights of the unique 'GOAT vs GOAT' match-up here:

Even though the Hopman Cup has proved to be one of the most entertaining and successful tournaments in the first week of the season over the years, this might have been the last time people got a chance to witness the event.

This is because of the introduction of the ATP Cup that is all set to begin from 2020, in the same week.

After an incredible first week of the 2019 season, next week, the men's tour will shift its focus towards two ATP 250 tournaments in Sydney and Auckland, along with the exhibition event - the Kooyong Classic.

The various events will feature the likes of Nick Kyrgios, Fabio Fognini, Denis Shapovalov, Marin Cilic and many more.